Sustained shared thinking: An episode in which two or more individuals “work together” in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate activities, extend a narrative etc. Both parties must contribute to the thinking and it must develop and extend.
Siraj-Blatchford et al., REPEY, DfES 2002
“Sustained shared thinking” occurs when two or more individuals “work together” in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate an activity, extend a narrative etc. Both parties must contribute to the thinking and it must develop and extend the understanding. It was more likely to occur when children were interacting 1:1 with an adult or with a single peer partner and during focussed group work.
The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project (2004)
This is a wonderful way of engaging in conversation with children and keeping the conversation flowing through open ended careful questions at the right time.
Use the links below to find out more.
- Supporting Young Children’s Sustained Shared Thinking – Early Education training video
- Siraj-Blatchford, I., Sylva, K., Taggart, B., Sammons, P., Melhuish, E. T. and Elliot, K. (2003), The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project: Technical Paper 10 – Intensive Case Studies of Practice across the Foundation Stage. London: DfES / Institute of Education, University of London
- Siraj-Blatchford, I., Sylva, K., Muttock, S., Gilden, R. and Bell, D. (2002), Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY): DfES Research Report 356. London: DfES, HMSO.
- Conceptualising progression in the pedagogy of play and sustained shared thinking in early childhood education: a Vygotskian perspective by Iram Siraj-Blatchford (2009)
- Kathy Brodie’s blog