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

Friday

25th Nov 2022

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

Friday

12th Aug 2022

How to close the Year 7 vocabulary gap
Many children struggle with basic vocabulary when they start secondary school – but Crispin Chatterton has some tips to help teachers address the issue

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How to close the Year 7 vocabulary gap

Thursday

11th Aug 2022

Want to close the word gap? Focus on talk
Teachers are brilliant at enabling talk in the classroom – but if we want to reduce the word gap, we need to timetable specific time for talk, says Ros Wilson
Want to close the word gap? Focus on talk

Wednesday

10th Aug 2022

Welcome to the children’s book club... for teachers
Could taking the time to engage in children’s literature with other teachers have tangible benefits for teaching and learning? Kate Parker finds out
Welcome to the children’s book club... for teachers

Wednesday

3rd Aug 2022

91¶¶Òõ Podagogy: 11 episodes to listen to this summer
Season 15 of 91¶¶Òõ Podagogy has finished and we’re taking a break over the summer. But here’s a round-up of new episodes from the past six months
Podcast

Tuesday

2nd Aug 2022

Why there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to learning to read
Some learners start school lacking the foundational skills they need to succeed – something that off-the-shelf reading schemes don’t always acknowledge, says Megan Dixon
Oversized

Monday

25th Jul 2022

Why it’s time to drop cursive writingÌý
As long as children write in a legible way, is it really necessary to teach them to write in cursive? Definitely not, argues trainee teacher Aimee Robinson
Why it’s time to drop cursive writing

Friday

22nd Jul 2022

How to support EYFS children to develop story-making
Developing children’s oracy, imagination and sequencing skills is the key to supporting them to become great storytellers, says Jess Gosling
How to support EYFS children to develop story-making

Thursday

23rd Jun 2022

How did ‘literacy’ become so hard to define?
When we talk about English and literacy, there is a tendency to refer to them as being the same thing, says Megan Dixon – but teachers deserve to know exactly what it is they are teaching
Meaning, dictionary