Implementation Intention

Here’s one of my favourite studies to share with teachers and school leaders.

Psychologists at the University of Bath asked three groups of people to exercise for 20 min in the following week. The control group were simply asked to keep track: 38% exercised. The second group also got a motivational talk and reading materials on the health benefits: 35%. All that persuasion made no difference whatsoever. We’ve heard it all before!

The third group got the same motivational materials, plus one extra task – completing a single sentence: ‘During the next week, I will partake in at least 20 min of vigorous exercise on [day] at [time] in [place].’

91% of them exercised.

That sentence is called an implementation intention, and the pattern holds across hundreds of studies: motivation is overrated, and specificity is wildly underrated. Deciding that you’ll do something barely moves the needle. Deciding when, where and what – in advance, in writing, publicly – changes behaviour.

The format is simple: when [cue], I will [action], so that [outcome].

Some oracy examples:

• ‘When I ask a question, I will count five seconds of thinking time before taking any answers, so that more pupils formulate a response.’
• ‘Every Monday with 9×2, I will open the lesson with a two-minute ‘talking point’ discussion exercise, so that pupils practise giving reasons for their views.’
• ‘When we do learning walks this term, I will spend five minutes looking at who is doing the talking, so that we notice participation patterns.’

It works for teachers, it works for leaders – and it works for pupils, too (‘I will do my French homework at the kitchen table on Monday at 5.30, with my phone in a different room’).

Try this (5 min): write one implementation intention for talk in your classroom this week. Put it somewhere visible. Then notice what happens.

James