Lab Classrooms
Lab Classrooms is a hands-on, reflective action research framework. It’s designed to allow educators to focus on specific areas of their teaching practice, test new strategies, and evaluate the impact. It’s simple and flexible enough for educators of all levels, whether you're a middle leader looking to enhance departmental collaboration or a seasoned teacher ready to dive deeper into classroom dynamics.
The process is about much more than just improving student outcomes — it’s also about your professional growth. Through Lab Classrooms, you’ll sharpen your skills in reflective practice, action research, and collaborative learning, which can be applied not only to pedagogy but also to broader areas such as improving attendance or fostering student well-being.
You can take part in Lab Classrooms via two pathways:
Self guided project
You can participate in a self-guided project using the supporting tools and resources on our Digital Network to choose a research question, conduct research, create an action plan, capture baseline date and trial something in your classroom. This is accessible to Network Members, as well as to participants of our Words for All and Early Years / SEND School Improvement programmes.
Supported programme
You can participate in our supported programme where you take part in a project alongside a cohort and are provided coaching support along the way. We usually run the programme from November through to the Summer Term. This is included as part of the Whole Education school membership, but can be provided to non-school members at an additional cost. In either instance get in touch with Shane Roberts (shane@wholeeducation.org) for more information on how you can get involved.
Our supported programme provides guided support on the following strands :
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Strengthening the way feedback is given, received, and acted upon to deepen learning.
E.g. How can structured peer critique improve the quality of student writing? -
Embedding reading, writing, and language development across the curriculum to unlock learning in every subject.
E.g. How can disciplinary literacy approaches improve understanding of key concepts in science? -
Helping students to understand, monitor and direct their own learning.
E.g. How can metacognitive strategies support students to persevere when facing challenging tasks? -
Developing students’ ability to think, learn, and express themselves through talk.
E.g. How does explicit teaching of talk structures improve collaborative problem-solving in maths? -
Creating opportunities for learners to take ownership of their learning and make meaningful choices.
E.g. How can project-based learning increase student agency in KS3 humanities? -
Designing learning that enables every student to thrive, with particular attention to those with SEND.
E.g. How can scaffolding approaches be adapted to support the independence of students with additional needs?