This Vocabulary Support CPD Resource and Teacher Toolkit provides practical, evidence-informed strategies to help teachers support pupils in understanding, learning, and confidently using key vocabulary across the curriculum. Designed for use in staff training or professional development sessions, the resource also includes ready-to-use classroom activities that teachers can implement immediately.

The toolkit focuses on approaches such as pre-teaching vocabulary, direct vocabulary instruction, and collaborative learning strategies, all of which are particularly effective for pupils who experience difficulties with learning, remembering, and applying subject-specific vocabulary.

The resource is grounded in evidence-based practice and reflects research showing that structured vocabulary instruction significantly improves pupils’ understanding of academic language. Supporting vocabulary development is essential for enabling pupils to access the curriculum, engage in classroom discussion, and develop reading and writing skills.

This resource also draws on school-based research, which demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in pupils’ knowledge of mathematics vocabulary when teachers and speech and language specialists collaborated to plan and deliver vocabulary-focused lessons together.

The toolkit includes:
• Clear explanations of why vocabulary instruction matters
• Practical strategies for pre-teaching and reinforcing key vocabulary
• Classroom activities and structured tasks teachers can use with their pupils
• Guidance on collaborative approaches between teachers and specialists
• Strategies that support pupils with EHCP provisions related to vocabulary development
• Adaptable materials suitable for use across different subjects and year groups

Many pupils have direct vocabulary instruction or pre-teaching written into their EHCP provision, making this resource particularly valuable for teachers working in inclusive classrooms or specialist settings.

The resource can be used as a CPD session, staff training resource, or ongoing teacher toolkit, supporting schools to develop a consistent, whole-school approach to vocabulary teaching that helps all pupils access learning more successfully.