Literacy

The latest news, analysis and best practice advice when it comes to literacy, from recent research and how to implement it to new guidance and what it means

Tuesday

16th May 2023

Why don’t we screen for comprehension?
Our assessment of children’s reading skills is currently missing a crucial component, says Megan Dixon
Football, reading

Thursday

11th May 2023

Why I’m torn about using SSP with my class
Using a systematic synthetic phonics scheme has improved decoding at her school, but are the costs to engagement and reading for pleasure worth it, asks Helen Pinnington
Why I’m torn about using SSP with my class

Friday

10th Feb 2023

How to help children with speech and language difficulties
According to research, around 1.7 million children are struggling to talk and understand words – so how can teachers help in the classroom? Jane Harris, chief executive of Speech and Language UK, shares her advice
How teachers can support children with speech and language challenges

Friday

20th Jan 2023

Could this be the way to boost students’ vocabulary?
One trust in Blackpool has come up with a simple solution to improve pupils’ vocabulary knowledge. Kate Parker finds out more
students vocabulary

Friday

13th Jan 2023

How immersive theatre helped boost reading for pleasure
After working with a theatre school, one primary established its own ‘immersive’ reading space, with great results, as Kate Parker finds
How immersive theatre helped us boost reading for pleasure

Friday

2nd Dec 2022

Is there a vocabulary ‘slump’ in transition?
Teachers have observed an apparent decline in children’s literacy as they move from primary to secondary school. But does this slump really exist? Reading researcher Jessie Ricketts finds out
Literacy

Thursday

1st Dec 2022

Why has the number of struggling readers tripled?
It’s tempting to point the finger at Covid for falling reading scores, but we can’t ignore underlying problems that were there before the pandemic, says Megan Dixon
Why has the number of struggling readers tripled?

Friday

25th Nov 2022

Sats: How can schools address the primary writing crisis?
Writing outcomes this year may tell a bleak story, but the situation isn’t hopeless, says Alex Quigley, with simple classroom practices able to have a big impact
Pencil
How we’re turning around pupil reading outcomes
New data this week showed just how challenging a problem reading is in schools, says Claire Heald, director of education at AET. Here, she outlines how her trust is approaching it
Book butterfly

Tuesday

25th Oct 2022

Why we have to put children first in education research
A recent trial into popular phonics programmes raises some questions about how we balance competing priorities in research, says Megan Dixon
Phonics

Tuesday

20th Sep 2022

Readability: a measure teachers should handle with care
Assessing pupils’ reading levels against the ‘readability’ of texts is a simple way to measure progress, but only provides a snapshot of a pupil as a reader, warns Megan Dixon
Readability: a measure teachers should handle with care

Monday

12th Sep 2022

Does reading fluency really matter?
Teaching students to read aloud isn’t a priority for most secondary teachers, but new research shows reading fluency may matter more to older students than we think, says Alex Quigley
Speaking aloud