Teacher Clarity is a measure of the transparency of communication between teachers and their students and is vital in ensuring students learn. Indeed, with an effect size of 0.75 (Hattie, 2016) there is strong evidence that teachers whose students perceive them as demonstrating a high degree of clarity in their communication are more likely to succeed.

Much more than whether a teacher speaks clearly, teacher clarity means a teacher has complete understanding about what their students are to learn, know, and be able to do in an upcoming unit of work before they plan any instruction and assessments. Teacher Clarity is therefore not a single thing but an umbrella concept that captures four key facets of practice:

Organisation

Relates to whether lessons are constructed in a logical manner that links learning intentions, success criteria, and outcomes. For a teacher to be perceived as demonstrating Clarity of Organisation they must deliver structured lessons (and units/courses). A prerequisite to this is that from the outset stating learning intentions and relating them to success criteria. They must also explicitly link teaching to the stated learning intentions as well as regular review what has been learnt by students.

Explanation

Relates to whether instruction is comprehensible to students. Essentially, this is about a teacher being able to clearly explain new content to students. To do this the teacher must introduce new content in small, engaging, steps whilst at the same time relating it to past learnings. They must repeat and stress directions and draw students’ attentions to common mistakes and areas of difficulty. A further consideration is being able to teach at a pace that is appropriate to the topic and the students.

Examples and Guided Practice

Relates to how effectively a teacher demonstrates relevant skills and processes that students are expected to be able to do (i.e. Work Examples) and, of equal importance, provides students practice tasks clearly focused on they need to know and be able to do (i.e. Deliberate Practice). As a part of this a teacher must provide examples of answers to post-test type questions students are likely to be assessed with which makes the success criteria for learning obvious. Teachers must provide enough time, support and guidance to students to practising and consolidate their learning (i.e. answering questions, providing appropriate feedback).

Assessment of student learning

A teacher cannot communicate to their students well without regularly seeking and responding to feedback from their students. Within the classroom this can involve and seeking and responded to various forms of feedback from their students. This is about teachers having a clear understanding of how students are engaging with new learning by utilising appropriate Formative Assessment strategies to evaluate the impact of their teaching (Formative Evaluation). Teachers cannot communicate well without receiving feedback from the students.