Sharing learning intentions is an explicit teaching strategy. It allows a teacher to effectively communicate learning goals with students. It allows students to connect new learning to existing knowledge, skills and understanding. When used with success criteria students have a clear idea of the learning goal and how to get there (AERO 2024).

A learning intention is a short statement that clearly explains to students what they are learning.

Effective learning intentions are:

• aligned to syllabus outcomes and focused on the concepts and skills being developed in that lesson, or series of lessons
  
• developed during planning and shared in ways that make sense to the students
  
• referred to throughout a lesson or lesson sequence
  
• focused on what students should learn as a result of the teaching and learning activities
  
• used together with success criteria.
  

Strategy learning module

Due to the connectedness of learning intentions and success criteria, the learning module combines both explicit teaching strategies. The Strategy learning module – Learning intentions and success criteria (PPTX 14.9 MB):

• breaks down the strategies
• shows how the strategies can be applied using different techniques
• offers professional learning support for a whole-school approach to explicit teaching.

More information about how to implement this professional learning can be found in Leading explicit teaching.

Technique guides

Explicit teaching strategies are implemented in the classroom through a range of techniques that are intentionally selected by the teacher. These techniques are not an exhaustive list of every approach a teacher may use to implement this strategy. The technique guides provided support teachers to understand and apply the technique as part of their explicit teaching practice:

• Technique guide – Planning syllabus aligned learning intentions and success criteria (PDF 674.6 KB)
• Technique guide – Sharing learning intentions and success criteria (PDF 660 KB)
• Technique guide – Developmental rubrics (PDF 681.5 KB).

What it isn’t

• Statements that detail the task/activity rather than the learning
• Vague statements that don’t make sense to students
  
• Developed in isolation from previous learning
  
• Routinised in their presentation to students, for example, they do not need to be written into student books at the beginning of each lesson.
  

Further resources

• AERO (Australian Education Research Organisation) (2022) Explain learning objectives.
• Clarke S (2014) Outstanding Formative Assessment: Culture and Practice, Hodder Education, Great Britain.
• NSW Department of Education (2022) Determining why and what.
• NSW Department of Education (n.d) Digital Learning Selector – LISC and WAGOLL.