Kagan Cooperative Learning
At Our Lady of the Annunciation Primary School, we want every child to be actively involved in their learning, confident in sharing their ideas and able to work successfully with others.
One of the approaches we use across our school to support this is Kagan Cooperative Learning – a structured, research-informed approach to cooperative learning.
🤝 What is Kagan Cooperative Learning?
Kagan Cooperative Learning provides teachers with carefully structured ways for children to learn with and from one another.
It is different from simply placing children in groups and asking them to work together. Kagan structures are designed so that every learner has an opportunity to think, participate, talk, listen and contribute.
Children may work with a partner or as part of a small team, with teachers selecting different structures according to the learning taking place.
🔎 Why Do We Use It?
There is a substantial body of educational research supporting structured cooperative and collaborative learning.
The Education Endowment Foundation reports that collaborative learning approaches have a positive impact on learning, on average, and highlights the importance of carefully structured tasks which ensure that all pupils participate and articulate their thinking.
Research also tells us that successful collaboration does not happen simply because children are seated together. Pupils need structure, support and opportunities to practise working effectively with others.
This is one of the reasons we use Kagan at OLA.
Kagan provides teachers with practical structures designed around four important principles:
Positive Interdependence – children recognise that they can support one another to succeed.
Individual Accountability – every child is responsible for participating and for their own learning.
Equal Participation – structures are designed to give everyone opportunities to contribute.
Simultaneous Interaction – rather than one child answering while the rest of the class listens, many children can be actively thinking, talking and learning at the same time.
Together, these principles help us move from simply “working in groups” towards purposeful cooperative learning.
🌟 The Benefits for Our Learners
Through Kagan Cooperative Learning, children have regular opportunities to:
- explain and develop their thinking
- listen to and learn from others
- develop confidence in speaking
- solve problems collaboratively
- take responsibility for their own contribution
- support and encourage their peers
- develop communication and teamwork skills
- rehearse ideas orally before recording their learning
Structured cooperative learning can be particularly valuable because it creates opportunities for pupils to articulate their thinking, share knowledge and address misconceptions through discussion and peer support.
💬 Every Child Has a Voice
A key reason we use Kagan at OLA is to increase active participation.
In a traditional question-and-answer situation, a teacher might ask a question and select one child to respond. With an appropriate Kagan structure, many children can be thinking, discussing and responding at the same time.
Structures are carefully designed to encourage equal participation and individual responsibility, helping us create classrooms where all children are included and encouraged to contribute.
🧩 What Might You See in an OLA Classroom?
If you visit one of our classrooms, you might see children sharing their thinking with a partner, taking turns to answer questions, coaching one another, comparing strategies, moving around the classroom to exchange ideas or working as a team to solve a problem.
You may hear children talking about structures such as Rally Robin, Time-Pair-Share, Quiz-Quiz-Trade, Rally Coach or Numbered Heads Together.
The particular structure may change, but the purpose remains the same: to increase meaningful participation and make learning active and cooperative.
🌱 Skills for Learning, Life & Work
Kagan is not used as a stand-alone programme or in every part of every lesson. It is one of a range of teaching approaches our teachers use when it can enhance learning and increase meaningful participation.
Through regular opportunities to communicate, collaborate, listen, explain, problem-solve and contribute to a team, children also develop important skills for learning, life and work.
This supports our wider aim of helping our children develop as Successful Learners, Confident Individuals, Responsible Citizens and Effective Contributors.
Find Out More
Parents and carers who would like to learn more about the research and principles behind Kagan Cooperative Learning can visit the official Kagan website.
