A Position of Knowledge

When working within cycling both at the 2012 Olympics and onwards with the SKY or INEOS racing team, Sir Dave Brailsford employs a significant principal in all he does.

The 1% principal is based on the small changes that TOGETHER make a big change.

As Brailsford said, Speaking to the BBC…

“The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of, that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together. 

There’s fitness and conditioning, of course, but there are other things that might seem on the periphery, like sleeping in the right position, having the same pillow when you are away and training in different places. They’re tiny things but if you clump them together it makes a big difference.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34247629

He believed that if it were possible to make a 1% improvement in a whole host of areas, the cumulative gains would end up being hugely significant.

The key principle behind this idea was knowledge.

Over many years, he and his team built up a real understanding of what was required to ride a bike both from a technical and personal point of view.

By studying the details of aerodynamics, his team was able to design the perfect bike.

By studying the timings charts and areas of acceleration, his team was able to build the perfect profile for training and peak condition.

Then, by studying the abilities, limits and mannerisms of his cyclists, he was able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of his athletes and what would help them reach peak fitness and performance.

He embarked upon marginal gains from a position of knowledge.

But What is Knowledge?

A study of leadership in the American military discovered a link between leadership across learning environments and the importance of four types of knowledge.

Declarative knowledge is a true understanding of the facts – like knowing how a bike works.

Procedural knowledge is pushing the boundary, looking for that new and unknown idea that the facts will achieve for you – experimenting if you will.

Contextual knowledge places the strategy in context – knowing the material’s limitations and understanding what is possible to create the outcome – putting the matter in context.

Somatic knowledge places an emphasis away from the direct but onto more understanding. Why? How does this help? What will it create? What will it affect?

Dave Brailsford understood every part of his team and equipment. He knew their limits and capabilities. He understood what it would take to reach his goal and was then able to search for the marginal gains to push for Gold.

He embarked upon a push for success from a position of knowledge.

Position of Knowledge

A Position of Knowledge is vital for teachers to teach in a classroom.

The whole of education is underpinned by the relationship between the teacher and pupil. Teachers are the experts in their field and the correct people to be leading their pupils on their learning journey.

All research has shown that pupils learn at different rates and will respond differently to different tasks.

A teacher takes these points and brings them together allowing each pupil to learn in their own individual way.

Teachers need to know their pupils’ strengths and weaknesses to help them succeed.

An early assessment with detailed analysis enables staff to work for the needs of their pupils regardless of the appearance (or not) of examinations later in the year.

The answer is Question Level Analysis.

Question Level Analysis

Every assessment tells you what pupils scored. Question Level Analysis (QLA) tells you why.

Without QLA, schools are often making decisions based on headline data alone. They can see where attainment is low, but not the specific knowledge gaps, misconceptions, or curriculum weaknesses driving those results.

With QLA, every question becomes a source of insight.

You can pinpoint exactly where pupils struggled, identify patterns across classes, year groups, and pupil groups, and target intervention where it will have the greatest impact. It takes the raw materials of an assessment (for example the KS2 SATs) and dives deeper looking for the insight that can make a difference…

Focus Teaching

QLA helps teachers to focus their teaching on the needs of their individual pupils – refining the curriculum to secure those marginal gains and enable better results. By breaking down a test result into different areas, it enables the teacher to focus on these topics knowing the overall improvement will come.

“Enormous thanks for the QLAs. I’m really pleased with them. My Y6 teachers can now focus their teaching on specific areas during the spring and early summer to give the children the best possible chance of achieving their potential in the SATs.”

Headteacher, Grangehurst Primary School, Coventry

Guide Interventions

QLA can guide interventions with tutors or support staff as it clearly informs the topics needed by individual pupils. Individual pupil profiles make this analysis easy to understand.

““Thank you so much for these reports – they have been really useful and saved us a mountain of work. Daisi Transition provides key topic evaluation to prioritise areas of focus in the catch up sessions enabling more targeted and focused intervention to take place.“ 

Deepings School, Peterborough

Dive Deeper into Groups and Cohorts

QLA enables staff to look closer at pupil groups, cohort groups, SEN needs and more. Bespoke Cohort analysis gives the evidence across your school putting the teachers in a true position of knowledge

“In regards to the QLA as we have such a large cohort – it is good to look for areas/types of questions where children have struggled and we need to focus on further in the future. The QLA for each individual child is useful when looking at specific children within groups SEN, FSM, PP looking particularly at their individual progress in each subject.”

Headteacher, Fernwood Primary School, Nottingham

Provide Evidence for Curriculum Decisions

QLA guides school decisions when targeting resources, or creating a new curriculum – giving valuable instructions for the future by looking at the gaps from the past. By looking at how your pupils performed, you can see exactly where you will want to make changes for later in this year or even the next.

“In my role as deputy headteacher of a big school as well as assessment coordinator, there is no way I have the time or capacity to complete QLA to the level & in the detail that the DAISI team do. They save me days of work & the information this gives me allows us to develop whole school targets that we can show improve the attainment of our pupils. I am a massive fan of QLA and find it invaluable. “

Deputy Headteacher, Seely Primary & Nursery School, Nottingham

In summary, Every assessment without QLA is a missed opportunity.

You know the score, but do you know the cause?

You know who struggled, but do you know why?

Without question-level insight, improvement planning is often based on instinct. With QLA, it’s based on evidence.

QLA places teachers into a position of knowledge. 

DAISI Education Question Level Analysis

Everything You Need In One Report

Trusted by school leaders for over 15 years, our Question Level Analysis does the heavy lifting. With clear commentary, powerful visualisations and intuitive charts, we highlight exactly where pupils excelled, why learning gaps exist, and what action is needed next. And the impact is proven: 

80% of schools who used our Question Level Analysis consistently saw increased attainment.

So Stop settling for headline figures and discover the insights hidden within every assessment and give your staff the knowledge they need to drive improvement. Because when leaders understand precisely why pupils performed as they did, they can make better decisions, target support more effectively and drive measurable improvement.

Join hundreds of schools already using DAISI QLA today…