Breaking the Generational Cycle of Low Literacy

One in three children leave primary school with a reading level that is below national expectations, with profound consequences for both the child and society. It doesn’t have to be this way, argues Jonathan Douglas.

England is facing a serious literacy crisis. Last year, one child in three left primary school unable to read and write to the level expected for their age; rising to one child in two from disadvantaged backgrounds. Young people in England aged 16 to 24 have among the lowest literacy levels internationally and, what’s more, 5.1 million adults in England don’t have the reading and writing skills expected of an 11-year-old.

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      string(2272) "without the spoken language they need to thrive in education. If ignored, this gap in achievement will continue beyond education and into adulthood. In some areas of Peterborough, as many as 1 in 5 people (20.3%) lack literacy skills considered to be functional, this is well above the national average of 1 in 7 (14.9%). Year 6 pupils at eight primary schools in Peterborough recently took part in an exciting writing competition launched by the National Literacy Trust Hub in Peterborough, Peterborough City Council and the Jack Hunt Learning Trust. Pupils were challenged to write an original story of less than 500 words on a subject that they are passionate about. Author and comedian Miles Jupp presented the winners with certificates and books at a special ceremony at Jack Hunt secondary school. Councillor John Holdich, leader of the council and cabinet member for education, skills and university, said: “This is another great initiative delivered by the National Literacy Trust in Peterborough. Writing imaginative stories is a superb way for a child to develop ideas and creativity at a young age and puts them in good stead for secondary school studies. I am sure the pupils will have an enjoyable and entertaining afternoon as a reward for all their hard work.”Partnerships with local events, author visits, a programme to support primary school pupils’ transition into secondary school, a ‘pop-up literacy shop’ and competitions and campaigns to drive awareness of the importance of literacy skills has helped the number of KS2 pupils who enjoy reading in Peterborough increase by 23.4% between 2014 and 2015, rising from 59.8% in 2014 to 73.8% in 2015.About the National Literacy Trust The National Literacy Trust is dedicated to raising literacy levels in the UK. We run projects in deprived communities, campaign to make literacy a priority for politicians and parents, and support schools and early years settings to deliver outstanding literacy provision. Our research and analysis make us the leading authority on literacy.www.literacytrust.org.uk Jonathan Douglas is Director of the National Literacy Trust."
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Reading

Breaking the Generational Cycle of Low Literacy

16 Oct 2017

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      string(3297) "running our popular 100 million minutes challenge again this year from 1st -9th March 2018. We want all schools, early years settings, colleges, parents, carers, childminders and other community groups across England and Wales to sign up. Last year, Monks Abbey Primary School in Lincoln won the challenge. One of 447 primary schools in England that took part in the challenge and raced to the top of the leaderboard after 420 pupils read for an incredible 667,895 minutes. Their prize, courtesy of Peters, was a brand new reading area worth £10,000. Charlotte Briggs, a Year 6 teacher at Monks Abbey Primary School, said: “The impact the new reading area has had has been phenomenal. It has not only made such a wonderful change to our learning environment, but has provided an exciting place for all our children to read and, for many, sparked an interest in exploring a range of texts. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Peters and Achievement for All for enabling us to continue on our journey of being a reading school and creating an inviting space for our children to develop their love for reading.”Sonia Blandford, CEO of Achievement for All, said: “Across the UK, up to two in five children in poorer communities have difficulties with literacy. Reading is key to helping children and young people learn and fulfil their potential’.Sign up to the challenge and make everyone a reader.ReferencesBlanden, J. and Mackin, S. (2010). Intergenerational inequality in early years assessments: Millennium Cohort Study Briefing 15, London: Institute of Education Blandford, S. (2017). Born to Fail? Social mobility: a working class view, Woodbridge: John Catt. Blandford, S. and Knowles, C. (2013). Achievement for All: Raising Aspirations, Access and Achievement, London: BloomsburyDepartment for Business, Innovation and Skills (2011) Skills for life survey: small area estimation data. London: DfBIS.Department for Education. (2017). National Curriculum Assessments: Key Stage 2, 2017 (provisional), London: DfEDouglas, J. (2017). Breaking the generational cycle of low literacy, Every Child Journal, vol. 6.(2): pp 20-35Nutbrown, C, Hannon, P, and Morgan, A. (2005) Early Literacy Work with Families: Sage National Literacy Trust. (2017). ROGO model evidence base, unpublished, London: National Literacy TrustHart, B. and Risley, T. (1995).  Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of American children, Baltimore: Paul H. BrookesRiley, J. and Reedy, D. (2003). Communication, Language and Literacy: learning through speaking and listening and reading and writing, in Riley, J. (ed.) Learning in the Early Years: a guide for teachers of children 3-7, London: Paul Chapman. Save the Children (2014). Read On Get On: How reading can help children escape poverty, London: Save the Children Save the Children (2014). Reading England’s Future: Mapping how well the poorest children read, London: Save the Children Wells, G (1987) The Meaning Makers: Children learning language and using language to learn, London: Hodder and Stoughton.Whitebread, D (ed.) (2003). Teaching and Learning in the Early Years, London: Routledge."
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Reading

100 Million Minutes Reading Challenge Matters

17 Apr 2018

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      string(5324) "result in mood disorders includingdepression, anxiety, impulsive aggression and substance abuse. These individuals showedless activity in areas of the prefrontal cortex, an area in the brain thought to regulatenegative emotion.Research suggests that lower socioeconomic status is often associated with a lackof hope and optimism in children. Children will be influenced strongly by their parents’attitudes to the world and if exposed to attitudes of financial hardships and struggles,with no hope of the situation improving, will carry those feelings into the classroom. In theface of these more immediate family financial problems, the child will be less likely to seelearning as important.The Good Childhood Report 2014, published by The Children’s Society, explores therelationships between children’s wellbeing and other factors in their lives – their activitiesand behaviours, parental wellbeing, parenting and household economic factors. Whenasked about happiness or life satisfaction, children in households living in poverty tendedto have lower wellbeing than more affluent peers. Children living in families where no-oneis in paid work also tend to have lower than average wellbeing.The report authors recognise that children’s living standards have a strong influenceon their lives. Their key findings include:n Material deprivation is significantly associated with subjective wellbeing, and explains13 per cent of the variation in children wellbeing in 2014.n Children who saw themselves as poorer were twice as likely to say they were unhappyand almost three times more likely to say they had low life-satisfaction.n Children who felt their families had about the same level of material resources asothers tended to have slightly higher wellbeing than those who felt their families hadmore.n Children who said that the economic crisis had a greater impact on their families hadsignificantly lower levels of subjective wellbeing.“A child’s developing brainoften becomes insecureand stressed resulting inthe prolonged activation ofhis immune system, taxingavailable resources andmaking it difficult for him tolearn.”http://www.pnas.org/content/110/46/18442.full.pdf+htmlhttp://www.pnas.org/content/110/46/18442.full.pdf+htmlhttp://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may13/vol70/num08/How-Poverty-Affects-Classroom-Engagement.aspxhttp://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may13/vol70/num08/How-Poverty-Affects-Classroom-Engagement.aspxhttp://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do/research/well-being-1/good-childhood-report-2014Vol 4.6 n www.teachingtimes.comEducationEvery Child Journal96Factor 4: LiteracyThe JRF published a report called The influence of parents, places and poverty oneducational attitudes and aspirations, which looked at the aspirations, attitudes andbehaviours that effect educational attainment from pre-school through to secondaryschool. Children from poorer backgrounds are off to a disadvantaged start as the researchshowed that educational shortfalls emerge even before they’ve started school, with aconsiderable gap in cognitive test scores between children in the poorest fifth of thepopulation compared with those from better-off backgrounds.The Millennium CohortStudy found that by age five,children from low-incomehouseholds were over a yearbehind in vocabulary comparedwith children from high-incomehouseholds. One study foundthat by the age of three, childrenfrom the most prosperoushouseholds have heard 30million more words than childrenfrom impoverished households.6Exposure to words help childrenrepresent, manipulate, andreframe information. It meansthat once a child is in school,the challenges caused by alimited vocabulary are likely toaccumulate as the child movesthrough the school unlessremedial action is taken. Thestudent may be reluctant to read,engage in classroom discussionsor participate in class for fear oflooking stupid and instead mayrespond by tuning out, beingdisruptive and generally feelingthat school is a waste of time– all of which raises his risk foracademic failure.According to The National Literacy Trust, we need to address low literacy tostem the tide of disengagement. Low levels of literacy and living in poverty create amutually reinforcing cycle that is difficult to break.7 The Trust also says low literacyneeds to be addressed by policymakers in order to give people the chance to break aninter-generational cycle of poverty and isolation, and confirms that literacy skills arethe foundation stone for success in educational attainment, employability, communityparticipation, individual confidence and wellbeing.Ofsted in its 2003 report Unseen children: access and achievement 20 years onidentifies the difficulties faced by school leaders working in the most disadvantagedcommunities as follows:n Low levels of social skills and prior learning, especially in reading and communication,mean that children are not ‘ready’ for school.n Parents and carers often have weak parenting skills, low levels of education and/ornegative experiences of schooling.n High unemployment in families can lead to mental health issues for parents and lowaspirations for"
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Special Needs

The rules of engagement

11 Dec 2014

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      string(5635) "Vol 3.5 n www.teachingtimes.comEarly YearsEvery Child Journal84An innovative activity programme to promote play toparents of young children in Scotland has now beenevaluated. Irene Miller and Ali MacDonald look at thefindings.Playing to learnPlay is important for healthy development in children. Recent researchhas concluded that play contributes to physical, emotional and cognitivedevelopment as well as a sense of wellbeing and quality of life.1 Knowledge andawareness of how children play, what they play and where they can play hasbeen building over recent years with concerns growing that children are not being givenopportunities to play and that their Right to Play –as defined in Article 31 of the UNCRC– is being eroded.Play@home is a book-based play and physical activity programme for children frombirth to five which has been developed in Scotland. This three-stage programme is heldby parents and supported by health, education, childcare, play and family support workersusing an assets-based approach recognising that parents are their children’s first teachers.This holistic approach to supporting child development of physical, cognitive, social andwww.teachingtimes.com n Vol 3.5Early Years Every Child Journal85emotional skills through play with parents leads to parent-child bonding and goodattachment. Maintaining the original format of the programme from its originsin New Zealand, the play@home books have been refreshed to meet the needs ofparents in Scotland. Two DVDs for professionals using the programme with familiesare also available as well as training for early years workers to help parents acrossScotland give their children the best start in life.In 2008 the Scottish Government funded and rolled out the programme to thewhole of Scotland. Now funded by NHS Health Scotland, the national agency forimproving health and reducing health inequalities, the programme is delivereduniversally to all new parents. This provision is then enhanced by giving additionalsupport to more vulnerable families both in family homes and group settings to usethe activities effectively.BackgroundAims of play@home:To encourage parents/carers to participate in a programme of regular physicalactivity with their children.To strengthen family bonds and communication.To develop skills involving thinking, moving, socialising and imitating.To stimulate curiosity, imagination and creativity.To promote the benefits of positive praise and reassurance.To link with providers of early years care and education outside the home,providing a coordinated approach to promoting physical activity as fun.To link home and nursery through positive social interaction and shared goals.nnnnnnnThe overarching aim of the programme is to promote thebenefits and importance of play and physical activity for childrenand their parents and carers. The programme is designed tosupport parents to establish daily health-related routines andgood patterns of movement in their children.The baby book, for children from birth to one year, andtoddler book for children from one to three years are issued byhealth visitors. Each book is separated into four age-relatedsections to reduce the reading volume for parents into moremanageable stages.The pre-school book, for children from three to five years, isissued through the education service on enrolment at nurseryor in the Scottish Book Trust’s Bookbug Pack for three-year-olds.This book is not separated into sections as the activities are relevant to all pre-schoolers.The recent physical activity strategy Start Active, Stay Active (DoH 2011)3recommends that physical activity should be promoted from birth with at least threehours of physical activity per day for children able to walk independently. In additionthe report recommends that sedentary time should be kept to a minimum. Play@home provides parents and carers with practical, simple and inexpensive ideas andactivities to achieve those recommendations.Early intervention in the early years has been widely recognised as important toaddressing the social and emotional wellbeing of children and breaking the cycleof generational deprivation. Informing parents of the capabilities of their infant hasbeen shown to enhance parental interaction. This enriches the home environmentwhich can mitigate against some of the challenges experienced by children in low-income homes. Working collaboratively with parents is supported by the current“Physical activity should bepromoted from birth with atleast three hours of physicalactivity per day for childrenable to walk independently.”Vol 3.5 n www.teachingtimes.comEarly YearsEvery Child Journal86policy framework in Scotland. The Parenting Strategy (2011)4, the Early Years Framework(2008)5 and Getting it Right for Every Child (2006)6 all adopt a person-centred approachwith agencies working together to achieving the best outcomes for children and families.TrainingIn order to reach the most vulnerable families and encourage them to try to use theactivities in the programme, a two-stage training programme has been developed tosupport early years staff who work with families. A one-day Training for Trainers courseis delivered at local venues across Scotland to make the course more accessible to earlyyears workers from both statutory and third sector agencies. The training is deliveredfree of charge and is evidence-informed, using a six-step approach to consider playin its widest sense, understand parents’ perceptions of play and barriers to play andfamiliarisation of the play@home resources.The training has consistently"
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Special Needs

Playing to learn

18 Jun 2013

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