SLANT policy comes in for criticism from parents and pupils at Astrea academy

A policy which has become fashionable in some schools and which sees children sitting up at all times, nodding their heads and with their eyes following the teacher comes in for some criticism as part of a parent and student campaign against tough disciplinary rules in a large secondary academy.

“SLANT” - which stands for Sit up, Listen, Ask and answer questions, Nod your head, Track the speaker – has come to popularity in some schools in England having featured in the book Teach Like a Champion, by the American educationist Doug Lemov.

But the approach was mentioned by critics of policies instigated at St Ivo Academy, in St Ives in Cambridgeshire, by the Astrea Academies Trust. The general controversy about this is covered in a longer piece on this website, here.

A detailed piece of research from parents, setting out their views on the school’s behaviour and related policies as a whole, includes some comments about the high-profile approach to managing how pupils interact with teachers.

One parent is quoted in the document saying: “There has been an impact on my year 10 child especially. She is a well-behaved, conscientious student who feels that through the systems such as SLANT and morning address [where children have to line up in the playground for uniform inspection] she is treated like she is a much younger pupil. She feels like she had more responsibility and was treated as a more independent pupil when at primary school.”

Another said: “The new ‘SLANT’ policy makes no difference to the kids who will behave [badly], whilst making well behaved children behave like robots (ie penalising the majority of good kids).”

The parent group which is campaigning for a change to the school’s policies also passed on some reactions from pupils, setting out current experiences of the school. Two mentioned SLANT negatively.

One, in year eight, said: “The term SLANT feels like a dog command and is extremely annoying.”

Another, in year seven, said: “SLANT it doesn’t work.”

ITV local news, one of several outlets to cover the story, also carried a balanced short piece on its website on the controversy over SLANT. This referenced a TES article which stated that the method “has not been extensively interrogated in research”.  

The original Teach Like a Champion book, at least in relation to SLANT, seems surprisingly free of references to research studies. SLANT is listed as one of 49 “techniques to put students on the path to college”, and in itself is given just a single page, as technique 32. I could not find any research references listed there.

In an update, “Teach Like a Champion 3.0,” SLANT features over two to three pages. Again, I could not see any research references: the only footnote reference in this text, at least in the copy, I have, seems not to then lead to any text in the notes.