Some of the most important moments in school don’t arrive with certificates, applause or giant posters announcing Well Done Year 11! Most of the time, progress doesn’t feel like fireworks. It feels like a tiny click in the brain — the kind that says:
“Oh… I actually get this now.”
Or:
“That paragraph wasn’t terrible.”
Or:
“I didn’t know that last week.”
Those are the moments schools rarely celebrate, and yet they’re the ones learning is built on.
The Myth of the Big Win
Ask pupils what success looks like and you’ll hear big outcomes: a top grade, a glowing report, a brilliant exam score, a finished essay, a public achievement.
Those things matter, of course — but they can take weeks or months to arrive, and some pupils never experience the thrill of the “big win” until it’s too late to change the story.
Teachers know this tension painfully well. They see pupils improving quietly in the background — fewer red marks, more complete drafts, better recall — but school culture doesn’t always highlight those gains. It waits for the final reveal.
But brains don’t wait for the final reveal.
Brains reward micro-progress — small, satisfying steps that build confidence, momentum, and belonging.
Enter Dopamine & Micro-Progress (Don’t Worry, We’ll Explain Nicely)
Cognitive science suggests that when we make progress, even tiny progress, the brain releases dopamine — not because we finished the task, but because we made a step. That chemical nudge says:
“Keep going. This is worth your energy.”
This matters for pupils who often feel like school is a conveyor belt of being told what they’re not good enough at yet. Micro-progress reminds them that improvement is happening, and that the effort loop is working.
This pairs beautifully with the idea of retrieval practice, which your article on Improving Focus in the Classroom touches on indirectly — successful recall feels good because it confirms growth, not perfection.
What Small Academic Wins Actually Look Like
Small wins are everywhere once you know how to spot them:
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finishing an independent task without asking for help
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answering a question they would’ve avoided last term
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remembering the formula without being prompted
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using paragraph structure correctly for the first time
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completing homework for two consecutive weeks
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moving from “I can’t” to “I’ll try”
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asking a genuine question instead of hiding confusion
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catching a mistake and correcting it before handing in
These aren’t just nice moments — they are early indicators of future success.
A Lesson From Year 10 (English Classroom)
Imagine a pupil named Liam. Liam is smart but convinced he’s “bad at English”. When the class writes analytical paragraphs, he stalls at the blank page. The teacher tries a new structure and gives the class a sentence starter:
“The writer presents…”
Liam completes one sentence. Just one.
That’s a tiny win.
The next week he writes two sentences. The week after that, he adds a quotation. In March, he writes a full paragraph with analysis. In June, it becomes two paragraphs. Liam never had the big win first. He built his big win through a dozen small ones.
For the pupil, the graph never looks dramatic. For the exam, it’s transformational.
Why Secondary Pupils Need Micro-Wins (Possibly More Than Primary)
Primary schools are brilliant at celebrating effort — stickers, stamps, assemblies, reading logs, the lot. Secondary schools, under the weight of exam machinery and timetables, often forget that adolescents crave competence too.
The tension is that secondary pupils also crave dignity. A 15-year-old rarely wants a sticker, but they definitely want to feel like:
“I’m actually getting better at this.”
When you help pupils notice micro-progress, you are quietly building self-efficacy — Bandura’s term for the belief that “If I try, I can improve.” It is one of the strongest psychological predictors of academic success.
Teachers Benefit From Micro-Progress Too
Teachers are also wired for big wins: results, Ofsted praise, parent emails, exam outcomes. But teaching is full of days where the “big win” is nowhere in sight, yet small wins are everywhere:
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pupils settling faster than last term
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fewer redirections during silent work
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better attendance from a previously disengaged pupil
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a student asking for help instead of shutting down
These are signs of real change — behavioural, emotional, and cognitive.
Your recent guide, Managing Behaviour During Low-Motivation Months explored how winter can be a tough term for motivation. Small wins are the antidote — they restart momentum in cold months.
What Pupils Can Do: The 1% Better Rule
One of the most powerful models for pupils is the 1% better rule popularised by James Clear and supported by psychological research on habit formation. The idea is simple:
If you improve at something by 1% every day, the compounding effect over months is enormous.
For school work, 1% might mean:
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improving handwriting
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learning one new keyword
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finishing one extra question
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reading five minutes longer
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revising one topic instead of all of them
The barrier to entry becomes tiny. The reward becomes long-term confidence.
What Teachers Can Do: Make Progress Visible
Pupils often do not realise they are improving. Visibility is everything.
Secondary teachers are masters of modelling and explanation; the next challenge is showing improvement over time. Some ways teachers already do this without even labelling it as micro-progress:
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keeping the first and latest paragraphs
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highlighting what improved, not just what’s missing
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mini-quizzes to reveal knowledge growth
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comparing September work with January work
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oral rehearsal before written tasks
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annotating improvements on worked examples
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using “before/after” samples in class discussions
This is the cognitive equivalent of strength training. Improvement becomes measurable and motivating.
Parents Matter Too (But Without the Pressure)
Parents often only hear about “results” or “targets”. But at home, progress often looks like:
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finishing homework independently
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studying earlier than usual
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asking questions at the dinner table
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being proud of a piece of work
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not melting down over revision
Parents celebrating these micro-wins creates a positive feedback loop that supports school culture.
External Research & Reading
For the research-minded:
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Bandura’s work on self-efficacy (the belief that effort = improvement)
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Carol Dweck’s studies on growth mindset (misused in pop culture, but solid in original form)
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BJ Fogg & James Clear on habit micro-steps
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Cognitive science papers on retrieval practice & desirable difficulties (EEF summarises well)
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Teresa Amabile’s Progress Principle (small wins drive major motivation)
The Education Endowment Foundation provides a useful overview of how effective feedback supports incremental learning gains — which is micro-progress by another name.
Final Thought: Progress Doesn’t Feel Like Progress
The paradox of learning is that big improvements rarely feel big while they’re happening. They feel like tiny shifts, invisible in the moment but undeniable in hindsight.
Whether you’re a pupil, a teacher, a parent or a school leader, celebrating small academic wins isn’t soft, childish or sentimental — it is the mechanism by which confidence, motivation and achievement are built.
Every grade is made of tiny wins.
Every essay is made of tiny wins.
Every breakthrough is made of tiny wins.
If we wait for the big win, we miss the point.
