Unlocking joy in our classrooms

Joy is one of our strategic big moves across our trust, and we’ve defined joy as a state of deep contentment and fulfilment that arises from engaging and meaningful activities, connecting with others and growing as individuals. But how do we unlock joy in our classrooms, and how do we ensure joy throughout our schools whilst maintaining rigour?

We know that some rigorous classrooms may not be joyful, and seemingly joyful classrooms may not be rigorous. We also know that we cannot have joy without high quality teaching and excellent culture, meaning students are always challenged, their needs are being met, and that they feel safe to be their authentic selves. Any joy strategy should consider these fundamentals first.

One significant factor in joy in the classroom is success. As well as success happening organically, as part of the day-to-day craft of teaching, we can engineer moments of success that bring joy. As well as these teacher actions, we should take opportunities to talk about success, and we should be clear about what success looks like. 

But we should also help our students to understand that success takes different forms. Success is about them achieving their own learning goals, and not in comparison to others. It’s also important to attribute success to controllable factors.

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