Abstract
Drawing on some recent work in schools in the UK, this paper considers some evidence that suggests that involving students in dialogue about their own learning helps young people become better learners, and teachers improve their pedagogy.
There continues to be significant barriers and challenges to the development of such innovations in schools in the UK. Chief among these are the fears of teachers relating to accountability for the performance of their students in standardised tests.
However, there are many teachers who are finding and creating opportunities to develop dialogic engagement with their students, even within this context. It is from their practice that examples and illustrations are presented and some implications are drawn out for school improvement.
