Month: May 2012

Categories
Thinking about decision-making and change Thinking about learning and skills Thinking about places and spaces

Flourishing neighbourhoods: what contribution can learning make?

One key concern in the regeneration of Birmingham over recent years has been that of creating economic prosperity for residents whilst also creating flourishing neighbourhoods.

These flourishing neighbourhoods are seen as small localities, each with its own distinct sense of place; where people are relatively happy to live; where public and private services are well delivered; where there is a strong network of activity and were residents feel that they have some degree of influence over their lives and there is a sense of hope for a positive future.

A number of managers from different agencies, each with their own differing concern for neighbourhood renewal in Birmingham, explored what a flourishing neighbourhood might look like in terms of learning, and established what data might be needed to substantiate this.

A neighbourhood might be considered to be flourishing, in terms of learning, when:

There are large numbers of families in which children are given an early learning start:

  • children have access to high quality learning experiences 0-3, in the home, in the community and in early learning organisations
  • there are sufficient pre-school childcare places, including well-resourced, well- nursery places for all children wishing them (age 3-5)
  • libraries and other community venues are well equipped and welcoming to families with children 0-5
  • additional support is available to specific groups and families (such as those in hostels; refugee/asylum seeking families; those wanting to develop bilingual skills in young children; those in need of parenting support or advice; young children in public care etc)
  • children enter school with adequate levels of language, literacy and a sense of number – as well as good emotional, social and behavioural skills.

There is high quality primary and secondary education available to young people who live in the neighbourhood

  • there are sufficient school places in, or close to, the locality
  • schools are reported as being of high quality, by internal and external reviews
  • pupils readily attend school and are happy in schools which are secure, attractive and welcoming
  • schools are well staffed, and have good resources and facilities across the curriculum
  • schools act as reliable information, access and referral routes to other opportunities and services
  • parents are able to support their children’s learning

There are interesting opportunities available out of schools:

  • there is a variety of well used youth opportunities re leisure, art, sport, technology, citizenship, culture etc
  • specialist 1:1 or small group support services exist for young people
  • young people are involved in local decision-making
  • libraries, supplementary schools etc are linked to mainstream schools and are well-equipped and well-staffed
  • there is good access to ICT facilities in the home and in the community
  • there are supported opportunities re mentoring, challenge, taking on community roles – by, and for, young people

There are high levels of skills achievement across all groups (11-25)

  • young people have access to significance, being able to define and implement a valuable set of activities for themselves
  • there are no substantial gaps in achievement levels between different groups
  • achievement rates at 11, 16, 19 are relatively high
  • there are high proportions of people qualified at level 3 and level 4
  • young people needing additional support know who to turn to
  • young people make the transition from learning at 14 to continuing learning, in work training etc by age 19
  • there are high levels of functional literacy, language, numeracy and ICT skills post-16

There are sufficient, appropriate opportunities to continue learning post-16

  • libraries and adult learning venues are well staffed and well stocked with appropriate materials
  • learning is available via a variety of loosely-linked organisations; in a variety of forms; and via a range if organisations
  • next-step learning is accessible in terms of place, time, by ICT etc
  • there are local training opportunities for adults wishing to take on community roles or be involved in community activities
  • there are people who are sufficiently motivated about learning, that they act as learning advocates
  • there is readily available information about learning opportunities
  • there are ways of learning that can happen anywhere/anytime
  • there are wide opportunities for families to learn together at a range of community sites

Throughout the neighbourhood there is an environment rich in stimulation and opportunity

  • good use is made of media and ICT, for own-time learning
  • people seek out opportunities for change and improvement; people take responsibility for own learning
  • there are openings for creativity and problem solving
  • area looks beyond the immediate, tries to get a sense of the bigger picture
  • homes and community venues are seen as places that stimulate learning
  • there are opportunities (for all ages) to learn to be healthy, to be safe, to be ‘green’, to be involved, to be employable etc
  • learning is related to art, sport, culture, spirituality, academic knowledge etc
  • organisations in the area link up to support learning
  • there is easy local access to the wider sets of social resources

There is a valuing of learning and of the variety of cultures

  • there is promotion of learning as well as courses, programmes, and groups
  • ‘achievement for all’ is celebrated
  • there is an expectation that provision will be high quality
  • each learning opportunity is strongly able to create a further desire to learn
  • draws on resources within different sectors; reflects a diversity of cultures and traditions
  • learning is seen as a valuable tool – as a solution not a problem
  • people learn from each other and see themselves as having something to teach others

The above focused on the links between learning and flourishing at the neighbourhood level. There was acknowledgement that there are other factors associated with Flourishing (not least around employment, income, occupation etc) and that some of the driving influences operate at the broader city or national level. At the same time the development of this potential framework was helpful in a number of ways:

  • to feed into discussions about measurement of progress towards flourishing neighbourhoods (not only in terms of contributing to Birmingham as a learning city, but also contributing to the wider considerations of Birmingham as a safe place, an environmentally sustainable place, a healthy place, an economically secure place, and a place with good housing and transport etc).
  • to advise local decision-makers about the best investments of local development money
  • to feed into local planning mechanisms, in terms of what are the puzzles (in terms of learning) for each area and what might the solutions be.
Categories
A variety of writings

Tales made in Birmingham: a taster selection

As Birmingham’s contribution England’s national Year of Reading a number of very short fictional ‘tales’ were written especially to help promote reading to new readers. These were intended to be distributed as widely as possible to people in Birmingham and beyond. These writings were produced essentially for an adult audience, but have general appeal within that.

These are (fictional) stories told to an imaginary researcher. They capture fragments of the lives of each narrator, told from their own unique perspective. The tales are also being brought together as an imagined account of social research under the ‘Sides and Edges’ heading. A selection is offered here as a taster. The full set is available as an e-book at the Amazon site under the title ‘Made in Birmingham: The Tales’ by Geoff Bateson.

The taster collection of Tales can be dowbloaded here: Tales Collection 1

Categories
A variety of writings

Poems made in Birmingham: a taster selection

As Birmingham’s contribution to England’s national Year of Reading a number of new poems were written especially to help promote reading to new readers. These were intended to be distributed as widely as possible to people in Birmingham and beyond. These writings were produced essentially for an adult audience, but have general appeal within that.

These were written in deliberate attempts to cover a range of lengths and styles. Some are meant to be taken quite lightly; others are meant to be lingered over. A selection of the poems is offered here as a taster. The full set is available as an e-book at the Amazon site under ‘Made in Birmingham: The Poems’ by Geoff Bateson..

The introductory taster selection can be downloaded here: Poems_Collection_1

Categories
Thinking about decision-making and change Thinking about employability and occupation

Work and Wellbeing: some recent UK policy approaches

This article looks at some of the interrelationships between health, wellbeing, disability, employment and support. It is a brief overview of some aspects and, by no means, the definitive summary of all there is to say on these complex issues. It was produced as part-contribution to a conference in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada in May 2011.

The paper looks at some of the positive effects  being in work, some changing perspectives and expectations, some of the context for adults with mental health difficulties, some of the context for adults with learning difficulties/disabilities, some of the things that help adults get (and stay) in work, and ends with a summary of some of the changes to the UK system.

The paper can be downloaded here: Wellbeing and employment

Categories
Birmingham Core Skills Development Partnership Thinking about learning and skills

Birmingham: recent development activity relating to reading and writing

This article was produced at the same time as a talk given as part of Birmingham’s Book festival. It provided the audience with a summary overview of the diverse range of ways that Birmingham had been bringing about changes to levels of all-age reading and writing across the city. Most of the activities were whole-city changes to the way mainstream learning and teaching was delivered across Birmingham. Many were initiatives ‘Made in Birmingham’ that subsequently went national (and, in a few cases, international). The momentum behind the developments was created, and driven forward, jointly by the several major public services acting in partnership, since 1995, under the Birmingham Core Skills Development banner. The article can be downloaded here: Birmingham reading and writing developments

Categories
A variety of writings Birmingham Core Skills Development Partnership Thinking about learning and skills

Where is all this reading and writing taking us?

This is the text of a talk given to the Birmingham Book Festival. It looks at the development of reading and writing over the ages, and the speed with which things are developing. It projects forward to speculate on what things might look like in the near future. There is a comparison of levels of reading ability and levels of writing ability in Birmingham. There is a brief look at the connections between reading/writing and teaching/learning and the links between those skills and society in general. The full article can be down loaded here: Where is all this reading and writing taking us?

Categories
Thinking about learning and skills

Family Learning: Can it promote resilience in children and young people?

This article summarises the thinking that links family learning, resilience and the closing of educational gaps. It is based on some overview research commissioned by Core Skills Developments in Birmingham (UK). Insights are offered about how children can become motivated individuals. When educational settings actively engage parents directly in the learning and development of their children, and support parental involvement in learning in the home, children and young people are able to achieve greater attainments.

The report – final version can be downloaded here.

Categories
A variety of writings Thinking about places and spaces

History of Castle Vale

Castle Vale is a modern housing area on the north-eastern edge of Birmingham (UK). It is unique in many ways and has gone through distinct sets of changes. The things that most people noticed on their first visit to the area, when it was first built as a housing estate, was the flat and open landscape and the very distinct boundaries which seemed to almost cut Castle Vale off from the rest of the city to make a little island of people. These features have recently been changed, and will continue to change into the future, but each change is dictated by past developments. To understand what an area is like now, it is important to understand its history. The history of the Castle Vale area can be traced backwards, layer by layer and then built up again as a sequential record of those things that made the place what it was at each stage of its development.

The history follows the changing fortunes of this one relatively small area of land from its beginnings as a swampy forest, through the feudal times of battling barons, through the growing industrialisation of Birmingham to the First World War, on through its life as an airfield, finally to the construction of the modern housing estate and the very recent improvements to that area. From time to time little excursions are taken into the wider history of the region but only in order to set the very local events within their wider setting and make them even more interesting than they already are.

The full history can be downloaded as a PDF here: History of Castle Vale

Categories
Birmingham Core Skills Development Partnership Thinking about creative innovation Thinking about decision-making and change

Some thoughts on the approach to change

Over the years I have been involved in various larger-scale programmes meant to change the ways that services get provided in a big and complex city. As part of the ongoing evaluation of one of these, the partnership I worked through was challenged to make more explicit its change-model. If it was bringing about system-wide change, how did it think it was it doing it? There seemed to be four interconnecting strands.

Although these applied at the whole-partnership level there may be value in looking at any use the tools listed may have in other contexts (eg at the level of a single organisation; within a family, at the personal interactions level) changing the wording slightly to match each context.

1. Making use of factors influencing for change

There was an early recognition that the partnership was being established at a time of rapid change and that it would not be able to work in isolation. It would need to be highly alert to its environment. By its very nature it was driven by, and in turn added momentum to, the planning processes within the several major service provider agencies in the city each of which had its own set of agendas and priorities outside of coming together as partners to focus on one specific set of developments. The partnership arrangements were established at a time of rapid national policy change and was expected to forge a way forward through the national changes that would have impacts across the area. The partners, collectively, needed to be rapidly responsive to (and able to feed back into) shifting national and local developments.

There was a shift to be made in the way that the partner agencies worked. All of them were traditional/ formal/ , managerial organisations used to fixed annual planning cycles, with budgets allocated annually against predetermined headings. Responding in more agile ways as contexts changed around them would imply a different way of doing things that might not sit easily with their established routines.

Tools used:

  • Turning any national and local reviews, reports and evaluations into a checklist of action points re changes to be made within partner agencies’ own activities
  • Regularly scanning horizons for changes and updating (e.g. checking internet updates; ensuring local receipt of key documents; securing appropriate involvement in national and local key groups)
  • Reading the waves; knowing what is coming re changes in local and national arrangements and strategies; interpreting wider trends for the local context, allowing partners to be in the right place when waves of change swept across the area.
  • Keeping some capacity for rapid reaction and repositioning of resources; not tying everything up so tightly that agility became impossible
  • Covering changed emphases through short term flexible team attachments; having a strong centrally-directed project-development approach
  • Close financial monitoring and continuous redeployment of resources to best effect
  • Setting times for outcome/vision focusing, ‘Where was it we were supposed to be getting to?’; identifying ‘distance still to be travelled’
  • Target setting, not as tick-box items that might get artificially met but as aspirations to be collectively achieved in terms of real changes to services or improvements in outcomes for groups of people; having an approach to action planning that was flexible and adaptable as the year went on

2. Managing change

The reasons the various agencies had agreed to work in partnership was partly driven by the availability of some shared resources (although previous models had seen one agency simply holding all the money and asking the others to join them in a required list of partners but not playing any active role after that), but mostly because of a shared commitment early on that things in the city needed to be changed and that this could only be done in collaboration, if real structural progress was to be made over the long term. There was a moral dimension as well as a pragmatic one.

Some necessary early principles were worked on:

The need to reiterate a common, consistent, transparent purpose; keeping to the same overall aim of changing the ways that mainstream services operate

Consistent leadership: pushing for change whilst appreciating the constraints that different agencies were working with

Repeated messages: establishing a culture of change that all could agree with

Strategic objectives: identifying a small number of key levers of change and using these as a framework for agreeing development activities year on year

Steerage: actively engaging particular senior managers from partners, those with the power to immediately change things within their own organisation

Flexible development team, not seconded to the partnership but continuing to work within their home organisation, but able to be brought together as necessary to focus on specific common issues: people with the ability to directly operationalise change back on the ground

Retaining sufficient/adequate resources to be able to respond when opportunities arise to push changes through ; includes keeping any central infrastructure/expenditure as small as possible so resources aren’t spent on internal processes

Ensuring reputation is built up through practice rather than through promotions (More of a ‘Get down to work’ focus than over-concern with high profile launches/publicity)

Recognising the respective roles both of partners and of the partnership ways of working; working in ways to avoid the development of boundary wars between partners by stressing the common cause

Tools used:

  • Early agreement of key principles and systems
  • Use of key intermediaries from partners, loosely attached as a network of knowledgeable practitioners/developers able to focus on partnership’s objectives from within the day-to-day work of their own organisation
  • Annual business planning, in shifting context – identifies the agreed progress to be made each year
  • Appraisal of development proposals by someone other than the organisation responsible for delivery
  • Partnership represented within key steering groups/ planning groups -able to influence things at their early stages of developments
  • Communications promote the work of partners (as much as promoting the partnership) keeping a focus on broad developments
  • Partnership level reviews undertaken of various aspects re strategic objectives. Partnership mechanisms reviewed annually
  • Early system-compliance work done to ensure that partners aren’t distracted by having to constantly do later remedial work

3. Leverage on Partners

The partnership was set up to operate through its partners rather than take on a high-profile up-front role for itself. This was quite different from previous partnership arrangements which had spent energy and resources on having their own building, their own dedicated large team of staff, their own separate structures, and a clear identity that others were expected to subscribe to etc. The partnership referred to here was to remain in the background, to be more of a way of operating rather than a visible structure, yet have powerful leverage on the plans and actions of the varied partners. This required some mechanisms for influencing partner organisations at a number of levels. This would entail leverage on the content of organisational plans; but would also mean exerting some leverage on the style of planning: taking organisations away from fixed annual planning, action charts etc towards looser, more flexible, more uncertain ways of aiming to bring about widespread changes to mainstream Activities.

Through a 3 level matrix of influence with partners (strategy level;

management level and doing level), the partnership was able to impact on:

Staffing capacity for change within partners

Leadership for change within partners

Culture/language of change within partners

Inter-relationships between partners

Quality of planning within partners

Effectiveness of operational mechanisms within partners

Use of partners’ own resources for development

Quality standards in partners’ own provider networks

Establishing and maintaining the reputation of partners i.e. partners’ capacity to implement change

Tools used:

  • Annual agreements between partners re the next-steps changes and each agency’s contribution to these developments (and how feasible and cost effective these were)
  • Quarterly monitoring of progress to keep momentum going; to identify any potential underspend for reallocation
  • Tracking back to identify the remaining ‘gap to outcome’, stress ‘getting there’ re strategic objectives
  • Working back from target outcomes – focus on numbers still to be worked with in order to get whole-system progress; no falling back on small-scale projects when things get difficult
  • ‘At the right time’ conversations across sets of people who are the best ones to focus on a specific issue, taking a task-and-finish approach. Few regularly scheduled meetings other than the minimum number needed for good governance.
  • Reviews at level of broad developments, each covering a range of developments within different agencies
  • Whole-system querying rather than worrying about small activity detail
  • Central structures kept small, and things done right, so that energies can go on futures-thinking

4. Key phrases are used to establish working culture

Most of the agencies’ core role was to ensure the effective delivery of their own programmes (at certain quality standards) for target client groups.

‘Changing the system’ needed a different way of thinking, and work needed to be done via the Partnership re thinking for change. This required a language for change, in the sense of a set of frequently repeated phrases used between partners to establish a culture:

being well positioned in shifting landscapes

keeping stable relationships with each partner, even where relationships between partners are not strong

the basic operating rules are well known, and complied with

promoting change as opportunity as well as necessity

communicating a compelling purpose for change – keeping an eye on ‘What’s it all for?’

inspiring trust, through behaviours – ‘This is the way we do things, isn’t it?’

adequate resources, deployed in agreed framework; ensuring that money doesn’t become the main discussion. Money (once adequate) is not as important as having properly planned ways forward

Tools used:

  • Rehearsing the track record of changes brought about – consolidating the success of how far we have come together
  • Repeated emphasis on work through the partners- it’s not about the partnership as a separate entity
  • Emphasis on getting there; descriptions of ‘How will we know when we’ve got there?’; focus on distance still to go in terms of desired outcomes for groups of people (even if the exact direction and speed of travel remained relatively uncertain).
  • Strategies clear yet flexible to use in context: key thrust kept to consistently repeated strategic objectives/purposes – not getting bogged down in fine detail of activity
  • Bigger picture regularly rehearsed: ‘What was it we were supposed to be doing; How does it all fit together?’
  • Support collaboration across agencies; language is that of joint and collaborative etc with dampening down language of fragmented and competitive
  • Right mix of leadership and management; linkage between bigger directional statements and day-to-day operational statements. Not all vague intents.
  • Keeping ‘progress’ the topic of discussions/meetings/plans/reports rather than letting agendas become dominated by a focus only on the money or procedures.
  • Critical friend role – challenge and support; stressing partnership not as an organisation, or as funding mechanisms  but as a function that supports organisations re change, but also pushes them to do that bit more.

This has outlined the responses when challenged to make more explicit our approach to bringing about system-wide change, across a range of partner agencies’ service deliveries, within a large and complex city through joint working across several years. It tries to capture the approaches taken as well as highlighting some of the specific mechanisms/tools that were consistently applied in order to maintain credible momentum for change.

Categories
Thinking about learning and skills

Making all lessons more learner-friendly

In any group of learners there will be significant differences in the way that they best work. Teachers will want to reflect learning styles that take account of dyslexia, dyscalculia, and so on across the spectrum of learning differences. It is important to look positively on how the opportunities created by these ways of thinking relate to learning; but at the same time to also help minimise any difficulties that can get in the way of effective learning.

Learners will process information in different ways and have different levels of awareness of sequencing of words and letters, and links between sounds and words. Others may have little sense of number relationships. In particular cases this should lead to an in-depth assessment of specific learning needs. In general, however, there are practices that can be followed with all groups of learners that will give underpinning support to those with any level of difficulty.

There is no one specific set of activities that will meet the needs of everyone, given how different people’s needs are. There may, however, be relatively simple things that can be built into all learning situations and which will make it easier for all learners. These include the following:

1. Some general approaches, such as:

  • avoiding labelling; comparison with others.
  • avoiding undue pressure; discuss things that are found difficult;
  • recognising skills and abilities that exist, not simply focusing on difficulties and errors.
  • trying to identify those factors that seem to have biggest impact on learning. Use errors made as clues to how the learner is dealing with information presented. Look for patterns of errors.
  • asking learners about any issues they have identified for themselves; they are often the expert in their own patterns of learning
  • having high but realistic, expectations of success
  • acknowledging the effort put in by the learner
  • recognising that some people need to do things in a different way (because of ways different brain work) i.e. not a matter of simply ‘working harder’.
  • understanding that (for some learners) daydreaming, visualisation, fidgeting and fiddling about with things etc all have their place in an individualised approach to learning. Providing tactile resources and ‘toys’ such as stress balls may aid concentration.
  • helping some learners to benefit from self-organisation strategies such as colour coding; timelines; to-do reminders.
  • not expecting everything to be remembered in the same detail.

2. Handouts and other text materials that:

  • break up large sections of text using line breaks, bullet points, sub-headings
  • use large, clear type (e.g. 12 to 14 point); sans serif (or a learner’s preferred clear font). Usual preferred fonts are Arial, Comic Sans, Tahoma, Verdana i.e. rounded, simple fonts.
  • are printed on creamy, off-white or pastel matt paper. Avoid patterned backgrounds. The learner could try out text printed on a range of coloured paper to see which works best for that person. This could lead to a fuller assessment of colour preferences, which is a more specialist task (usually for an optometrist).
  • are left-justified; well spaced lines (e.g. 1.5 spacing)
  • avoid italics; whole word capitalisation
  • avoid underlining (which changes the visual shape of letters)
  • avoid abbreviations and acronyms
  • are written in clear, succinct style
  • have space lines between paragraphs to separate ideas into different blocks of text
  • use headings, bullet points, lists, numbers, indents to give structure to the document
  • have some text within borders (but avoiding text-boxes) could help
  • accompany text with simple pictures or line diagrams if this helps with clarification.?? Using charts and diagrams to outline the bigger picture
  • use colours to highlight different key aspects
  • have short lines; make sure sentences don’t begin at end of a line
  • avoid starting new page mid-sentence

Even better may be to have text in digital format. This allows the learner to select their own preferred font, size, spacing, colour of text and background; and to be able (with text reader software) to isolate difficult words, to select key passages, to highlight to help reinforce word recognition; to link to an electronic dictionary.

 

3. If a learner needs to see the whole picture first (why things are being learnt, how new knowledge relates to what they already know, and how any parts relate together), then it will be beneficial to:

  • discuss the subject; whole topic; whole text before looking at any detail
  • explain the purpose of the overall task and how it is relevant to the learners own situation, before getting into specific instructions
  • use mind maps or spider diagrams
  • use story boards or flow diagrams for learners who still like to see a sequence in what they plan
  • go from particular concrete examples to more abstract generalisations when trying to draw general conclusions
  • Provide a context for learning; make it relevant; involve learners in process; let learners know how they are doing.

4. As far as is practicable, teaching and learning should use a range of techniques (and avoid persistent repetition of methods that have failed with that learner in the past). The menu could include:

(a) Support for learning

  • 1:1 support; recognising that learners are not all the same and that some may need additional specific input
  • access to highlighters; tape recorders; lined coloured paper; pre-drawn blank mind maps
  • access to text-to-speech software; voice-recognition software; electronic dictionaries
  • use of computers to enable planning and redrafting
  • use of colour coding for resources; using different colours for different tasks
  • adding mime and gesture to words

(b) General approaches to learning

  • Keeping instructions short and well sequenced
  • only small amounts of new information introduced at any one time
  • making the most of a learner’s high interest or passion in a topic as a vehicle for learning
  • multi-sensory (auditory, visual, kinaesthetic) methods. Using both a varied range with the group and some work differentiated or personalised to preferred styles
  • supporting use of humour, colour, stories, images (remembering that each child will be different in their response to these)
  • opportunities to learn by trying as well as being told
  • use of role play; use of games (e.g. to consolidate vocabulary)
  • use of pictures and diagrams to give clues
  • same content organised and presented in several different ways
  • no disconnected rote learning but linking to things already known. This is not the same as maintaining routine and repetition in learning, which may still be important
  • not having to copy from a book or screen; little use of worksheets
  • key words selected from text and taught, within the overall context; building a bank of key words related to the topic
  • pointing out patterns where these exist. Stressing any patterns or visual features to the words; stress also any interesting auditory patterns
  • grouping information and linking to a visual image, use of mind maps, flow diagrams, story boards
  • opportunities for rehearsing, repeating, practising; opportunity to check back on facts and instructions
  • opportunities to try out strategies to boost memorising, for example mnemonics, jokes, story-telling, and active visualisation
  • learning tasks that are given immediate practical application

(c) Giving feedback

  • prompts and specific feedback given, as soon as possible
  • feedback on some meta-processes, about how an individual best learns, e.g. ‘You usually confuse ‘b’ and ‘d’; so check back for these’
  • not overloading feedback with corrections
  • not using sarcasm

(d) Internal/external conversations

  • frequent opportunities for learners to verbalise their understandings and rationales for the strategies they use to solve problems.
  • Opportunities for each learner to talk to another learner about what they are doing.
  • Encouraging learners to talk before and after tasks to reinforce understandings

(e) Practising writing and reading

There are many things that can be suggested re improving reading and writing. Some commonly recurring ones include:

  • reading and writing linked to meaningful contexts (rather than approached as an abstract exercise)
  • taking time to find out what strategies for reading and writing work best
  • providing some structured teaching of how sounds and letters are linked, where this is appropriate; deliberate teaching of literacy skills
  • use of regular practice times
  • practising sentence jigsaws, where ends or beginnings of cut up sentences are colour coded
  • using writing frames; use of diaries as support
  • consistent build-up of continuous cursive writing, in a flow to improve speed, on lined paper
  • reconstructing cut up text by matching to clear pictures already in sequence
  • ‘look, say, cover, write, check’ method to learn spellings (alongside other methods) to ensure a routine for consolidating learning into long-term memory
  • practising sequencing; segmentation; categorisation; identifying patterns; rhymes and alliterations; exploring words and the differences between them
  • re-reading of familiar texts to consolidate reading strengths
  • reading collaboratively, in pairs or small groups
  • providing lots of opportunities for daily practice, reading daily, reading together or alongside a tape

Summary

This overview has been drawn from a range of sources and sets out the commonly-recurring pieces of advice about what every teacher can be doing with every group of learners in order to open up learning more. It has been shared with a number of agencies whose prime focus is supporting learners.

It is a set of prompts to be reflected upon. It is a thinking tool rather than a checklist. Most learners need a range of approaches. In trying to cover generalised approaches, it does not remove the need for some learners to have access to more specific assessment and support.