Going off script

How a plan can work across a whole school

Photo by Brooks Leibee on Unsplash

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If teachers and researchers know anything about the work of Zig Engelmann and his Direct Instruction programmes, it is that they are scripted. This is often presented as evidence enough to dismiss them. Yet, it was never Engelmann’s original intention to write such scripts. In a 2009 interview, he explained that it was a response to rolling out the programme to new teachers and the amount of training required for them to deliver it with fidelity.

Fidelity is a major issue in scaling-up approaches that seem to work in one area. I have learnt a few strategies that may help, although this is an ongoing learning process for me.