A learner can complete a worksheet and still wonder why the lesson matters. They may understand the instructions but struggle to see how the work connects with anything they care about. When education feels separate from everyday life, participation can become something students do to satisfy someone else rather than to develop their own understanding.
Making learning relevant begins with explaining its purpose and helping learners use knowledge in situations they recognise. For teachers, tutors and youth workers supporting 18–24-year-olds, this means connecting subject content with interests, responsibilities and possibilities beyond the classroom. It also means making room for discovery, including ideas students have not encountered before. Young people returning after time outside education, employment or training may need practical support to begin.
At IM MORE, Discover, Believe, Become gives that process a useful structure. Learners can discover where a skill applies, build belief through practice and use what they learn in a meaningful next step. Relevance becomes visible when someone can explain what they are learning, why it matters and how they might use it.
Begin with a question worth answering
Start a lesson with a practical question that requires the knowledge you intend to teach. An English session could explore how to write a clear request for information. A numeracy session might investigate whether a proposed event can fit within a fictional budget. The situation should lead naturally to the subject content.
Explain the learning goal in plain language. If students are comparing information, tell them what a sound comparison involves. A realistic setting can attract attention, but learners still need to know which knowledge and skills they are developing. Otherwise, they may remember the activity without understanding the intended learning.
Ask what learners already know about the situation. Their responses can reveal useful examples and misunderstandings. Avoid assuming everyone shares the same experiences of work, travel or managing money. Provide enough background for someone unfamiliar with the context to join in without having to disclose personal circumstances.
Find out what matters to the group
Invite learners to share interests and questions that could inform future examples. Some may care about sport, design, caring roles or starting a small project. Others may be more concerned with practical responsibilities or finding their next route into education. Offer private or written ways to contribute as well as discussion.
Look for connections that serve the learning objective. A learner interested in music could compare promotional messages, but the task should still teach the relevant features of communication. Interests can provide a route into unfamiliar knowledge. Build on them while introducing other topics and possibilities within the course.
Review your examples over time so the same interests do not dominate. A popular activity may engage several students while leaving others outside the conversation. Explain unfamiliar contexts and introduce a range of possibilities. Learners should be able to discover new interests as well as see existing ones reflected.
Connect learning with work without reducing its purpose
Workplace examples can help students understand why clear communication, accuracy and cooperation matter. Ask them to consider what a colleague would need to act on a message or what could happen if instructions were incomplete. Use fictional materials so learners can explore decisions safely.
The National Careers Service’s careers profiles describe tasks, skills and entry requirements for different roles. Teachers can use them to investigate how classroom knowledge appears in working life. Check information before using a specific occupation as an example, and distinguish what a role requires from what students are practising in a single lesson.
Keep other purposes of education visible. Learning can support independence, informed choices and participation in a community. Reading a persuasive argument or understanding a public notice can matter even when it has no immediate connection with a vacancy. Students benefit from seeing several ways knowledge can be useful.
Use realistic tasks with clear boundaries
A practical project should have a manageable scope. Planning a small community event could involve writing an invitation, comparing costs and organising responsibilities. Choose the parts that match your objectives and available time. A large project with many moving parts can make it difficult to notice what an individual has learned.
Explain which details are fixed and which students can decide. For example, the budget may be fictional and predetermined, while groups choose how to allocate it. Clear boundaries make decision making easier to follow. They also help learners recognise that a solution must meet requirements rather than simply reflect a preference.
Protect personal information during realistic activities. Use invented names, sample documents and demonstration accounts. Learners should not need to reveal household finances or send a real application to complete a teaching exercise. Explain when an activity is practice and when any action would have an effect outside the lesson.
Teach the knowledge needed for the task
Relevance does not remove the need for explanation. Before asking learners to compare offers, teach the calculations or vocabulary they will need. Demonstrate how to approach an example, then give them an opportunity to practise. A task that looks familiar may still contain unfamiliar academic demands.
Break a process into steps without hiding the relationship between them. When writing an email, discuss the audience before choosing the wording. Explain how the subject line and message help the reader understand the request. Learners can then see why the structure matters rather than copying a format mechanically.
Check understanding during the activity. Ask a student to explain a choice, interpret a result or identify a problem in an example. Use their answer to decide whether another explanation is needed. Completing something attractive or realistic does not automatically show that the learner understands the knowledge behind it.
Help learners take part from their own starting point
Ask privately what would help a learner attempt the task. They may need an unfamiliar word explained, time to prepare an answer or access to a suitable device. Agree one practical adjustment and check whether it helps. A realistic activity should be accessible to someone with limited experience of the situation it describes.
Give everyone thinking time before paired or group discussion. A written idea or a short prepared question can provide an entry into the conversation. Explain how contributions will be considered and check individual understanding afterwards. A group’s finished product gives only part of the picture of what each learner has understood.
Recognise specific progress, such as drafting a clear question or correcting a calculation. For learners rebuilding confidence after unemployment, IM MORE’s article on unemployment and self-worth can support a wider conversation about taking another step. Keep feedback on the lesson focused on the knowledge and decisions the learner has practised.
Make space for meaningful choices
Offer choices that maintain the intended challenge. Students might select an audience for a presentation or choose between two realistic situations requiring the same calculation. Explain what each option must demonstrate so learners can make a decision without accidentally avoiding the skill you need them to practise.
Ask learners to give a reason for their choice. This can reveal what they expect to learn and whether the task feels manageable. If someone chooses the least familiar context, help them identify the background information they need. Interest can provide motivation, while preparation makes participation possible.
Avoid making every decision open. Too many options can delay the start, particularly when learners are unsure of the subject. Begin with a small choice and expand it when appropriate. Students can gain ownership through a clear decision within a well-planned task.
Help learners use knowledge in a different situation
After practice, change an important feature of the task. A student who has written a request to a course provider could adapt it for a workplace contact. Discuss what stays useful and what needs changing. This makes the connection between examples explicit rather than assuming learners will notice it themselves.
Use questions that draw attention to underlying knowledge. What does the reader need to know? Which information affects the calculation? Why would the same wording be unsuitable here? Learners can compare decisions across situations and identify the reasoning behind them.
Provide support when the new context introduces additional demands. A learner might understand the communication structure but be unfamiliar with the organisation they are contacting. Explain that background and check the relevant vocabulary. Difficulty in a new example can help identify what needs teaching next.
Include reflection that leads to a useful next step
At the end of an activity, ask students what they learned and where they could use it. Encourage specific answers. “I checked whether the total included travel” gives more information than “I learned about budgeting.” Follow up with a question that checks the reasoning rather than accepting a familiar phrase.
Invite learners to identify something they still need to practise. Their answer can inform the next lesson or a short individual task. Keep this review focused on learning, rather than asking whether the activity was enjoyable and treating that as the only measure of success.
The Education Endowment Foundation’s metacognition guidance describes teaching pupils to plan, monitor and evaluate learning within subject lessons. That evidence concerns school settings. For tutors working with young adults, it offers a starting point for planning task-specific reflection and checking which strategies learners can use.
Return to earlier examples after a suitable gap. Ask learners to use the skill again with less support and check what they remember. Relevance can help explain the purpose of practice, but knowledge still needs opportunities to be revisited and used accurately.
Plan a lesson around a useful communication task
One possible session could ask learners to write an enquiry about a fictional training opportunity. Begin by showing the information available and asking what remains unclear. Identify a sensible question, demonstrate a message and discuss why the recipient would be able to respond to it.
Learners then draft their own enquiry using a different example. They check whether the question is clear, the necessary context is included and personal details are appropriate. Partners can review the message against those criteria before the writer revises it. No message needs to be sent during the activity.
Finish by asking students to adapt the enquiry for another purpose and explain their changes. This gives the teacher evidence of understanding while helping learners see the wider use of the skill. Offer targeted feedback on the feature that most needs improvement.
For a 45-minute session, allow five minutes to introduce the situation and check vocabulary, ten minutes to model the task and fifteen minutes for supported drafting. Use ten minutes for review and revision, then five minutes for an individual transfer question. Adjust the pace when learners need additional explanation or practice.
Connect relevance with Discover Believe Become
During Discover, help learners identify what they already know and where new knowledge might be useful. During Believe, provide enough teaching and practice for them to complete a meaningful task. Recognise the specific decisions they made successfully so their confidence rests on evidence they can describe.
Become involves choosing an appropriate opportunity to use the learning beyond the practice example. That might mean asking about a course, contributing to a community activity or completing another classroom task more independently. Check the learner understands the action and has the information they need.
For your next lesson, choose one learning objective and one believable situation in which it matters. Teach the knowledge explicitly, give learners a chance to use it and check their understanding in a second example. Education becomes more relevant when its purpose is explained and learners can recognise what their growing knowledge allows them to do.
