Best Practice

How to help students who say they are ‘stuck’

Pedagogy
If teachers are too quick to jump in when students are ‘stuck’, then they will not develop those key skills of problem-solving or resilience. John Dabell advises

When someone cries for help we instinctively want to dive in and help. I am all for responsive teaching, but when students “get stuck” rushing to their side is not always the most appropriate course of action.

Sometimes it is best to stand next to the lifebelt and watch them struggle. Better still, just walk away – because the deep water they think they are in is often just a couple of centimetres.

No-one likes being stuck. It can make you panic and it can get your heart rate right up. But intellectual activity is like that if it is challenging and getting stuck is part and parcel of the learning process.

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