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Random Partners

A classroom management strategy where partners or respondents are selected randomly rather than by choice or ability, ensuring all learners work with different people and every voice is heard.

Group work
Random Partners diagram

What is random partners?

  • Use a random selection method (lollipop sticks, name generator, numbered cards)
  • Pair or group learners randomly for discussion, activities, or questioning
  • Change pairings regularly so learners work with a wide range of classmates
  • Use random selection for questioning to keep all learners accountable

How it works

Random partners disrupts the comfort of self-selected groupings. When learners choose their own partners, they gravitate towards friends and ability-similar peers. This limits their exposure to different thinking styles and perspectives. Random selection ensures variety and equity.

The most common method uses lollipop sticks with learner names. The teacher draws a stick to select a partner, a respondent to a question, or members of a group. Digital random name generators serve the same purpose. Some teachers use playing cards, where matching numbers form pairs and matching suits form groups.

Random selection for questioning works alongside no hands up. Drawing a name at random ensures the teacher is not unconsciously selecting the same learners repeatedly. It also creates genuine accountability because every learner knows they might be called upon at any moment.

For partner work, random pairing produces unexpected and often productive combinations. A confident speaker paired with a quieter thinker often produces better discussion than two confident speakers, because both must adjust their communication style. Over a term, learners who have worked with many different partners develop more flexible collaboration skills.

Classroom example

A Year 6 class in a Flintshire school uses lollipop sticks for all partner activities. At the start of a Humanities lesson, the teacher draws sticks to create pairs for a think-pair-share activity about the causes of the Great Fire of London. Two learners who have never worked together discover that they bring complementary knowledge: one knows about the bakery on Pudding Lane, the other about the firefighting methods of the era. Their combined response is richer than either would have produced alone.

Curriculum for Wales connection

Random partners develop the "Plan" strand of thinking skills by requiring learners to adapt their communication and collaboration to different partners. They support the Four Purposes by developing "ethical, informed citizens" who can work respectfully and productively with anyone, not just their friends.

Rainbow Curriculum's Thinking Tools lens helps you plan where inclusive partnering strategies are used across your curriculum, ensuring that all learners experience diverse collaboration throughout the year.

Tips

  • Commit to the randomness. If you re-draw when an "awkward" pairing comes up, learners learn that randomness is negotiable.
  • Keep a record of pairings to ensure genuine variety across a term.
  • A common pitfall: using random selection without thinking time. Always give learners a moment to think before drawing a name.
  • Use random groups for low-stakes activities first to build the culture before using them for assessed work.
  • Combine with ground rules for talk so learners know how to collaborate with any partner.

Source: Adapted from "How to develop thinking and assessment for learning in the classroom", Welsh Assembly Government, Guidance 044/2010.