SOLO Taxonomy

SOLO describes the learning journey from novice to expert and reflects the sequential nature of the curriculum that has the INTENT of supporting pupils in building concepts into increasingly complex schemata.

There is no race to the top, it’s about learning new ideas and integrates them into previous knowledge and understanding.

Based on observation, this model solo progressions that illustrates the way learning builds sequentially useful model and that what you should be observing in learners is the move from behaviours and responses characteristic of the NOVICE to those typical of growing experts.  A bit like Bloom’s the verbs become increasingly sophisticated.

The key to making this work is in the planned opportunities that teachers create for pupils to demonstrate what stage in their learning they have reached. So the choosing the tasks/planned opportunities at each stage of the unit is clear and well thought out in all subjects to allow for this progression. At the start of the topic learners will be undertaking activities to increase their knowledge. So this may be defining facts, recall and activities will be simpler at the outset but then tasks can become more complex when they have more knowledge and understanding of the subject. The learning becomes deeper through the topic or unit and year on year the planned activities ensure the skills become more complex and sophisticated as they move through the year groups. The learning becomes deeper across the year and year on year!