Improving Inference

This training is aimed at KS3 teachers and Teaching Assistants and can be used with your whole school team.

Inference is an important life skill and is a key focus in the National Curriculum. Inference is a prerequisite for higher-order thinking (Marzano, 2010) and is often described in research into reading as ‘foundational’.

“A key finding of the review was that the ability to draw inferences predetermines reading skills: that is, poor inferencing causes poor comprehension and not vice versa.” Effective Teaching of Inference Skills for Reading: Literature Review DfE

In this session we explore:

• The importance of vocabulary and ‘context knowledge’ to pupils’ ability to make inferences (Ofsted Research Review Series:English 2022)
• The use of questioning to support the development of inference skills.
• Active strategies and instructional activities to develop inference (which can be used at a whole class level or as part of reading intervention).