Primary and Secondary Tasks

This article discusses research which sought to investigate the quality of the tasks set by teachers for their pupils. Dr Kerry suggests that the majority of the tasks set by the secondary teachers he studied fall into the category of low cognitive demand. He further compares the tasks set by primary and secondary teachers in science lessons as part of a study to examine whether pupils regress on transfer to secondary school. Dr Kerry concludes by suggesting that teachers need to adopt a system whereby they are encouraged to analyse the quality of the tasks they set the pupils, and pupils are given an evaluation of their work in accordance with the prespecified objectives of the task.