Start‑of‑lesson scripts matter
- SecEd this week published Helen Webb’s start-of-lesson guidance for new teachers, arguing that the first minutes need explicit routines, scripted expectations and immediate “Do Now” work to stop drift. - Webb’s clearest warning: starter tasks can still be running 20 to 30 minutes into a lesson for trainees, wasting teaching time before core learning has properly begun. - The advice matches England’s teacher-training guidance, which says behaviour should be taught proactively, with rules explained precisely from first contact. (gov.uk)
The first minutes of a lesson are not dead time. SecEd’s latest guidance says they are where teachers teach behaviour, set expectations and protect learning time. (sec-ed.co.uk) Helen Webb’s article for SecEd was published in late April 2026 as part of a three-part series on early behaviour management for new classes and new teachers. She focuses first on start-of-lesson routines. (sec-ed.co.uk) Webb’s most concrete warning is about drift: she says it is “not unusual” to observe a trainee whose starter activity is still going 20 to 30 minutes into the lesson. That turns the opening routine into the lesson itself. (sec-ed.co.uk) The alternative is a routine students can perform on arrival without negotiation: enter, sit or stand where directed, begin the prepared task, and follow the same sequence every lesson. Kate Jones at Evidence Based Education describes a “Do Now” as work students start as soon as they arrive. (sec-ed.co.uk) (evidencebased.education) Jones says the task should already be ready and should move students quickly into focus, not just grab attention. Her examples include retrieval questions, entrance tickets and short quizzes tied to previous learning. (evidencebased.education) That approach lines up with England’s Department for Education guidance for trainee teachers. The government summary says behaviour management should be proactive and that teachers should introduce classroom rules and expectations “as soon as possible, preferably on the first encounter.” (gov.uk) The same guidance tells teachers to be precise about what good conduct looks like in specific moments: when pupils line up, listen, work in pairs, get stuck or arrive late. It says teachers should “teach, rather than tell,” the behaviour they expect. (gov.uk) Research cited in the wider lesson-start literature points in the same direction. Jones notes Rob Coe and colleagues argued in 2014 that visible engagement can be a poor proxy for learning, while Rosenshine’s principles recommend starting with a short review of previous learning. (evidencebased.education) On rewards, the evidence base is narrower than the social-media version of the debate suggests. A 2024 systematic review in *Frontiers in Education* says behaviour-specific praise supports academic engagement and helps prevent or reduce disruptive behaviour. (frontiersin.org) School-wide behaviour support guidance also warns staff to look at the function of disruption, using office-discipline data and classroom analysis to identify patterns before choosing interventions. That is a more structured response than simply removing a pupil and sending them back with a treat. (alabamaachieves.org) The through line in all of this is repetition. If students know exactly how a lesson starts, and teachers use the same script every time, the opening minutes stop being a daily negotiation. (sec-ed.co.uk) (gov.uk)
