Nudging Norms

Hey 👋

Happy birthday (for whenever your birthday was)! I hope you’re feeling happier and wiser than ever. This week, we’re kicking off a new snack series on norms & rituals. EVERYONE is talking about it…

Big idea 🍉

Norms are the unwritten rules that govern the behaviour and attitudes of a group (such as a society or school). How students enter classrooms, how they answer questions, how they think about further education, and so on…

Norms are incredibly powerful—when they diverge from more formal school rules, norms will win every single time. They’re also highly invisible—we’re rarely conscious of how norms are playing out around us, and in turn: what we might do to influence them.

However, the way to nudge norms is relatively simple: we just need to elevate the visibility of those behaviours and attitudes that we want others to adopt. In short: what we amplify, we encourage.

Most teachers do much of this naturally. But there’s probably room for us be even more intentional in our approach, including how often we:

• Catch them being good: Isla has her book out and is working through the task.

• Narrate the positive: Nearly everyone has their hands folded and is tracking me.

• Reward to reinforce: A merit for Maya for answering in a complete sentence.

To harness the full force of these strategies, there are a few nuances to bear in mind:

1. 100% adoption is the ultimate lever. Even the presence of one dissenter breaks the magic spell.

2. It’s best to focus on what we want (nearly everyone has their book out), not on what want we don’t want (Rupi hasn’t got their book out yet).

3. The more students feel like they belong to a class (or school), the greater the effect the norms of that group will be.

4. The norms of adjacent groups influence each other. The more teachers that share the same norms, the more powerful they will be for all.

🎓 For more, check out this systematic review of norm interventions in healthcare.

Summary

• Norms are powerful, but also invisible.

• We can nudge them by amplifying those behaviours and attitudes that we want others to adopt.

• This works best when we pursue 100%, narrative positively, and secure norm alignment between staff.

Little updates 🥕

• Review of how prior knowledge affects learning → finds it helps or hinders through many processes, depending on context and learner.

• Study tracking over 100k EAL students in Aus schools → suggests that most need 6+ years of support to learn English alongside curriculum.

• Study comparing overt (talking/writing) vs covert (thinking) retrieval → finds that overt works better for complex info, while covert is faster but less thorough.

• Plus: free e-book on Assessment for Learning from OG Prof. Dylan Wiliam.

Access 100-word summaries of studies & more → Learn about Snacks PRO