Teaching: how to go from 'good' to 'outstanding' (primary)

Find out how to sustain and improve 'good' teaching to make it 'outstanding'. Discover the key concepts of an 'outstanding' lesson, and see what Ofsted said about teaching in 3 'outstanding' schools.

Last reviewed on 26 July 2023
School types: AllSchool phases: PrimaryRef: 1493
Contents
  1. Teaching needs to be consistently ‘good’ in order to progress
  2. How to sustain ‘good’ teaching over time
  3. 4 components of an ‘outstanding’ lesson
  4. How to engage pupils in an ‘outstanding’ lesson
  5. What teaching is like in 3 ‘outstanding’ schools

This article is based on information from our associate education experts - see more about them at the bottom of this page. 

Teaching needs to be consistently ‘good’ in order to progress

It’s not enough to just teach 1 ‘outstanding’ lesson.  

‘Securely and consistently’ meet the ‘good’ criteria  Meet the additional ‘outstanding’ criteria. For the quality of education judgement, these are:  Everyone knows your curriculum intent (what you're teaching pupils and why you're teaching them that) and how it's being implemented, including what it means for them Across all parts of the school, series of lessons contribute well to delivering the curriculum intent The curriculum, schemes of work, lessons and work given to pupils are coherently sequenced and planned so that pupils know more, can do more, and remember more Pupils' work across the curriculum is consistently of a high