What is meant by pace in lessons?

A topic which I have thought a lot recently is what exactly is meant by pace in lessons. I have read a few inspection reports from schools judged good or outstanding recently and in the detail there has often been mention that a few lessons lacked pace.

This set me to thinking about exactly what the inspectors were looking for. We can all recognise a lesson which moves along at a high speed as pupils are experiencing a wide range of great activities. A lesson like this clearly has pace.

However, I have also seen a lot of really good lessons where pupils were being given the opportunity to reflect on their learning. A lesson like this may appear to lack pace at first sight but is just as essential to high quality learning over a series of lessons.

What I think inspectors should be looking for is whether lessons have the appropriate pace for the stage in the learning cycle that pupils are at. This is much harder to do than simply looking for the bells and whistles spectacular that some teachers are so good at producing for inspector visits.

Some of the really great teachers that I know think “to hell with the inspection game” and just concentrate on doing what they are really good at – teaching a series of high quality lessons that lead pupils to a really deep understanding by the end of the topic.

If the inspection regime is as good as it thinks it is then it needs to recognise this!