Choose one shared outcome
Name the thinking all learners need: compare evidence, justify an operation or explain a process. Avoid treating language proficiency as a limit on reasoning.
EAL co-teaching · Practice guide 07
Support and stretch within the same task
Adjust access while keeping every learner engaged in the central subject thinking.
Offer a small scaffold menu
Match support to evidence: visual glossary for vocabulary, sentence table for language structure, oral rehearsal for writing, or chunked source for reading. Learners may need different supports across skills.
Build stretch into the goal
Extend the same reasoning through a counterexample, competing explanation, second source or limitation. Avoid unrelated extra work as the only challenge.
Group flexibly and reconnect
Use parallel or station teaching when it creates more purposeful talk and feedback. Change grouping when evidence changes and end with an individual response to the shared goal.
Worked classroom example
Maths shared goal: Justify whether two methods correctly solve 2x + 6 = 18.
Access: Show a balance diagram, teach “subtract from both sides”, and offer “This step is valid because …”. Learners still decide whether the steps are valid.
Core: Compare the methods and explain equivalence. Stretch: Analyse an incorrect method and give a counterexample. Exit: Explain one step on a new equation without the full frame.
Share the work
Subject teacher selects the shared reasoning and extension. EAL teacher selects language supports and rehearsal. Both teach varied learners, rather than assigning one teacher permanently to a labelled group.
Evidence to look for: All pathways address the same subject goal. The exit task reveals reasoning and the level of support used.
Your working template
Draft here, then download an editable HTML copy. Drafts are saved locally in this browser when available. Use anonymised observations.
Developed from Duncan Rose’s supplied co-teaching training and programme materials (2022–2025), with newly written classroom examples. School-specific procedures and individual staff responses are excluded.