Leadership

Writing Enjoyment, Behaviours And Attitudes In 8 To 11-Year-Olds In 2017/18

This report by the National Literacy Trust looks at how many pupils aged 8 to 11 enjoy writing, how often they write in their free time and whether they face any barriers to writing. Leadership Briefing (141)

The report uses data from 9,170 pupils aged 8 to 11 who answered writing questions as part of our Annual Literacy Survey that we conducted between November 2017 and January 2018.

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      string(6176) "Leadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports Summaries – a weeklyservice of essential summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents.CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S WRITINGIN 2015KeywordsWriting, childrenyoung people,writing attitudes,writing skills,social network,text messages,writingenjoymentSummaryA quarter of eight- to 18-year-olds rarely or never write something that is not for school,according to this report by the National Literacy Trust. The report outlines children’senjoyment of writing, writing frequency and writing attitudes.Just one child in five wrote daily outside of school in 2015, compared with 27.2% in 2014. And thatwriting was dominated by social network posts and text messages, the survey of 32,500 pupilssuggests. The trust warned the development could have a negative impact on pupils’ results.Those who write outside school daily were five times more likely to have writing skills above theirage group, it added. And those who enjoyed writing were seven times more likely to have advancedwriting skills.The report said: “Since we started measuring writing frequency as part of the annual literacy survey,in 2010, the percentage of children and young people who write daily outside of class has remainedrelatively stable, with just over a quarter of people saying that they write something outside of classdaily.“However, in 2015, there was a significant change in the frequency with which children and youngpeople write outside class, with fewer children and young people in 2015 writing as frequently as theirpeers did in 2014.”The survey did not just focus on children putting pen to paper, but instead included writing ontechnology-based formats. Text messages were the most common form of writing children indulgedin, followed by emails, social network site messages and instant messages. Children most commonlyput pen to paper in the form of notes, with a third of children writing them at least once a month.Letters were the next most common form of writing, with a quarter of children writing letters at leastonce a month.Key Findings: ■ Fewer children and young people enjoyed writing in 2015 compared with the previous year, withenjoyment levels dropping from 49.3% in 2014 to 44.8% in 2015. Levels of writing enjoymentalso continue to lag behind levels of reading enjoyment. ■ Fewer children and young people wrote something daily outside class in 2015 than in 2014, withdaily writing levels decreasing from 27.2% in 2014 to 20.7% in 2015. Daily writing levels alsocontinue to be in stark contrast to daily reading levels, which have increased dramatically overthe past couple of years.Week Commencing7th November 2016http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0003/5710/Young_people_s_writing_2015_-_Final.pdfhttp://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0003/5710/Young_people_s_writing_2015_-_Final.pdfLeadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports Summaries – a weeklyservice of essential summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents. ■  When asked whether they ever write something that they don’t share with anyone else, nearlyhalf (46.8%) of children and young people said they did. Nearly 1 in 5 (18.8%) said they do thisdaily, while a further 27.5% said they write something private a few times a week. ■ Technology-based formats, such as text messages (68.6%), messages on social networking sites(44.3%) and instant messages (46.2%) continue to dominate the writing that children and youngpeople engaged in outside class in 2015. Notes (3%), letters (25.8%) and lyrics (24.6%) are themost frequently written non-technology formats. With the exception of poems, most formats ofwriting have again decreased in 2015. ■ Attitudes towards writing have remained unchanged in 2015 ■ When asked what makes a good writer, 7 in 10 children and young people believe that a goodwriter enjoys writing, uses his or her imagination and uses punctuation correctly. ■ Children and young people who enjoy writing very much are seven times more likely to writeabove the level expected for their age compared with children and young people who do notenjoy writing at all (50.3% vs. 7.2%). Similarly, children and young people who write outsideschool daily are five times more likely to be writing above the expected level for their agecompared with young people who never write outside school (30.9% vs. 5.8%). ■ Girls enjoy writing more than boys (51.9% vs. 36.8%) and are more likely to write somethingoutside class daily (23.9% vs. 17.0%). There was no difference between boys and girls in theirattitudes towards writing. However, when asked what makes a good writer, more girls than boyssaid that a good writer enjoys writing, uses his or her imagination and tries things out, while moreboys than girls believe that a good writer writes neatly and knows how to type. ■ Children aged 8 to 11 (KS2) enjoy writing (64.1%) more than children and young people aged 11to 14 (KS3: 41.1%) or aged 14 to 16 (KS4: 31.5%). Similarly, more KS2 than KS3 and KS4 pupilswrite something that isn’t for school on a daily basis (25.2%, 20.2% and 15.7%). KS2 pupils alsothink more positively about writing than their older counterparts. For example, 63.1% of KS2pupils agree that writing is cool compared with 30.6% of KS3 and 19.8% of KS4 pupils. ■ More pupils who receive free school meals (FSM) say that they enjoy writing (49.2% vs. 43.8%)and that"
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Leadership

Children’s and Young People’s Writing in 2015

3 Nov 2016

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immediate attention, or risk having their life chances severely curtailed. In her second article on the subject, Louise Kinnaird looks at some of the tried-and-tested ways schools can combat disengagement."
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      string(5793) "a result, parents are now much better placed to help their children and achievement hasrisen throughout the school.Case study: Giving pupils responsibilityOne report published in School Leadership Today, Aiming high with disengaged students, looks at using sport as a meansto re-engage previously disengaged pupils at Ashton-on-Mersey School11. The report highlights a number of strategiesthat have worked, such as offering positions of responsibility to disengaged pupils, allowing the pupils influence on theircurriculum and giving pupils something positive to channel their energy into.Case study: Using the artsJosie Maitland, a drama teacher at Angmering School in West Sussex, reported in the Guardian how she created anintervention programme called Inspire, which consisted of art, photography, drama and music workshops tailored tothe needs of a specific group of Year 8 and 9 boys and girls12. The project offers pupils creative skills such as lyric writing,graffiti stencil-making or photo editing, alongside helping them to develop key personal qualities such as trust, socialrelationships, organisation and self-motivation. Each unit culminates in an exhibition or event organised and run by thestudents, which has proven to be a powerful catalyst for change.The results of the Inspire project have been very positive. In the first cohort, for example, 50 per cent of students hadan attendance below 85 per cent, but at the end of the course, 80 per cent of the students had an attendance of above90 per cent. By the end of the programme, seven out of eight pupils had significantly decreased their bad behaviour, withstaff reports of ‘nicer students’ and ‘better attitudes’, and students ‘feeling more confident’ or ‘more focused’.The programme has since delivered both a sports and a creative writing themed unit, and is fast becoming bothcross-curricular and a collaborative way for staff to share best practice.Josie Maitland says: ‘If the content of the lesson is pitched at the right level for the student, if they can grasp theconcept and are interested by it, the head is engaged. Our next job is to coat the learning experience in emotion. Bybuilding a relationship of trust, mutual respect and security, we encourage the student to feel confident, valued, energised,and wanting and needing to learn in order to achieve a real and tangible goal. By instilling confidence, employing aplayful, no fear of failure, laddered experience, where the student falls in love with the process of learning, and sees thatgetting it wrong is actually a vital part of getting it right.’build relationships and provides consistency in re-engagement strategies.There is also an importance in establishing goodworking relationships with partner organisationsand parents. Ofsted have said that engagingclosely with parents and raising their awarenessof what can be achieved is an essential aspect ofimproving pupils’ engagement. Recent research bythe Joseph Rowntree Foundation too emphasisesthe importance of parental involvement in children’seducation as a causal influence on children’s schoolreadiness and subsequent attainment.10https://inspirecreateengage.wordpress.com/www.teachingtimes.com n Vol 5.1Education Every Child Journal41References1. Office for National Statistics (2013). Statistical bulletin: YoungPeople Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), May2013. [online] Available at: <www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/young-people-not-in-education–employment-or-training–neets-/may-2013/statistical-bulletin.html> [Accessed 18/02/2015].2. Ross, A. (2009). Disengagement from education among 14to 16-year-olds. National Centre for Social Research. [online]Available at: <www.natcen.ac.uk/our-research/research/disengagement-from-education-among-14-to-16-year-olds>[Accessed 18/02/2015].3. Ofsted (2008). Good practice in re-engaging disaffected andreluctant students in secondary schools. [online] Availableat: <dera.ioe.ac.uk/9213/1/Good%20practice%20in%20re-engaging%20disaffected%20and%20reluctant%20students%20in%20secondary%20schools.pdf> [Accessed 18/02/2015].4. Lumby, J. (2013). Education isn’t working for us – Listeningto disengaged young people. [online] Available at: <www.bera.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Insights-5-Educ-Isnt-Working-v1.pdf> [Accessed 18/02/2015].5. Ofsted (2008). Op cit.6. Ofsted (2013). Unseen children – access and achievement20 years on. [online] Available at: <www.gov.uk/government/publications/unseen-children-access-and-achievement-20-years-on> [Accessed 19/02/2015]7. Ofsted (2012). Ofsted Annual Report – 2011/12. [online] Availableat: <www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-annual-report-of-her-majestys-chief-inspector-of-education-childrens-services-and-skills-201112> [Accessed 19/02/2015].8. Ofsted (2013). Op cit.9. The Sutton Trust (2011). Improving the impact of teachers onpupil achievement in the UK – interim findings. [online] Availableat: <www.suttontrust.com/researcharchive/improving-impact-teachers-pupil-achievement-uk-interim-findings/> [Accessed19/02/2015].10. Gorard, S., Huat See, B. and Davies, P. (2012). The impactof attitudes and aspirations on educational attainment andparticipation. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. [online] Available at:<www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/education-young-people-parents-full.pdf> [Accessed 19/02/2015].11. Andrews, C. (2005). Aiming high with disengaged students.Managing Schools Today (now School Leadership Today), vol.14(5), pp.23-25.12. Maitland, J. (2013) The Inspire project:"
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Special Needs

Engaging the disengaged

26 Mar 2015

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      string(632) "This report by the National Literacy Trust, used data from 47,786 pupils in the UK aged 8 to 18 to find out how many children and young people enjoy writing, how often they write in their free time, and what they think about writing. It found that half (50.9%) of children and young people in 2017/18 said that they either only enjoy writing a bit or not at all. Overall, fewer children and young people in 2017/18 said that they enjoy writing compared with the year before, decreasing from 50.7% to 49.2%.
Leadership Briefing (142)
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      string(3542) "Fewer children and young people said in 2017/2018 that they enjoy writing and that they write something in their free time daily. Children and young people also think less positively about writing than they used to. Generally, girls more so than boys say that they enjoy writing, write something in their free time daily, write a variety of formats and think more positively about writing. The same is true for pupils who receive free school meals, who are aged 8 to 11 rather than aged 14 to 16 or who are from Asian rather than white backgrounds. Enjoyment of writing, writing frequency as well as attitudes towards writing are also influenced by where children and young people live, with children and young people in Greater London saying that they enjoy it more, do it more often daily and think about writing more positively than children in other regions in England. In terms of ethnic background, fewer children and young people from white ethnic backgrounds tend to say that they write song lyrics, in a diary, reviews, fiction stories and poems in their free time at least once a month compared with children and young people from other ethnic backgrounds. There were also regional differences in the types of formats written outside class at least once a month, with more pupils from Greater London saying that they write any of these formats compared with pupils from other regions in England. Key Findings: Half (50.9%) of children and young people in 2017/18 said that they either only enjoy writing a bit or not at all. Overall, fewer children and young people in 2017/18 said that they enjoy writing compared with the year before, decreasing from 50.7% to 49.2%. Less than 1 child in 5 (17.3%) said in 2017/18 that they write something that isn’t for school at least once a day. Daily writing levels have been falling since 2014, and in 2017/18 we recorded the lowest levels of daily writing since we began asking this question in 2010 (27.0%). Most children and young people said that they write text messages (88.1%) and instant messages (77.8%) in their free time at least once a month, followed by short stories/fiction (44.1%) and song lyrics (35.8%). 1 child in 6 also engages in online fiction writing at least once a month. Most children and young people in 2017/18 agreed with statements that highlight the functional aspect of writing, with 77.6% of children and young people agreeing that writing will help them learn more and 74.7% agreeing that the more they write, the better their writing becomes. Over half of them also agree that they will get a better job if they are good at writing. Fewer children and young people agreed with statements that highlight a fun aspect of writing, with only 41.6% agreeing that writing is fun, and only 34.0% agreeing that writing is cool. On the flip side, 2 in 5 agree that they only write when they have to. Overall, attitudes towards writing have declined over the past few years. WEB LINK Children And Young People’s Writing In 2017/18Keywords Children, young people, writing, enjoyment, free time, pupils, free school meals "
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Leadership

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7 Jun 2018

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      string(5892) "summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents. ■ In 2014, 38% of 11 to 15 year olds had tried alcohol at least once, the lowest proportionsince the survey began. ■ 8% of pupils had drunk alcohol in the last week. Boys and girls were equally likely to havedone so. The proportion of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last week increased withage from 1% of 11 year olds to 18% of 15 year olds. ■ The average (mean) consumption of alcohol among those who had drunk in the last weekwas 9.8 units. Pupils’ consumption varies widely and 22% of those who had drunk alcoholin the last week had drunk 15 units or more. ■ Drinking in the last week was associated with a number of factors, including other riskybehaviours: smoking, taking drugs and truancy. Pupils with low wellbeing were more likelyto have drunk alcohol in the last week. Family influences were important as was schoolcontext, specifically the proportion of pupils at school that were eligible for free schoolmeals and the proportion with English as a second language. ■ 6% of pupils said that they sometimes or always drank energy drinks at the same time asthey drank alcohol. ■ 28% of pupils had obtained alcohol in the last four weeks. This was most likely to be bybeing given it by family or friends. Parents were the main source for younger pupils; by theage of 15 friends were equally important. ■ Two in five (40%) of pupils who drank alcohol said that they sometimes bought alcohol.This was most likely to be the case among older pupils and those who drank ten or moreunits in the last week. ■ Pupils who drank alcohol were most likely to say that they usually did so at their own orsomeone else’s home or at parties with friends (56%, 43% and 46% respectively). Theywere usually with their parents (56%) or with friends of both sexes (52%). Younger pupilswho did drink alcohol were most likely to drink at home with their parents. Older pupils stilldrank at home with their families but were more likely to drink elsewhere with friends. ■ Almost half of pupils who had drunk alcohol in the last four weeks had been drunk in thattime. ■ Family context is an important influence on whether or not young people drink. 86% ofpupils who did not live with anyone else who drank alcohol had never drunk it themselves.In comparison, 40% of pupils who lived with three or more people who drank had neverdrunk alcohol. ■ In recent years there has been a shift in parental attitudes to their children’s drinking. In2008, 45% of pupils said that their parents would not like them to drink alcohol. In 2014, Leadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports Summaries – a weeklyservice of essential summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents.this had increased to 56%. ■ Pupils’ behaviour is generally consistent with what they say their parents feel about themdrinking; for example, just 2% of pupils who said their parents did not like them drinkinghad drunk alcohol in the last week, compared with 16% of those who said their parentsdidn’t mind as long as they didn’t drink too much and 44% of those who said that theirparents didn’t mind how much they drank. ■ About half (48%) of pupils thought that it was OK for someone of their age to try drinkingalcohol, and 24% thought it was OK to drink once a week. Less than one in five (18%)thought it was OK for someone of their age to try getting drunk to see what it was like,and 7% thought it would be OK to get drunk once a week. There has been a downwardtrend in these attitudes since 2003. ■ Pupils were most likely to say that people of their age drank alcohol to look cool in front oftheir friends (79%). ■ Parents were the most often named source of helpful information about drinking alcohol(75%).Drug use ■ The prevalence of drug use among 11 to 15 year olds in England declined between 2001and 2010. Since then the decline has slowed. In 2014, 15% of pupils had ever takendrugs, 10% had taken drugs in the last year, and 6% had taken drugs in the last month. ■ The prevalence of drug use increased with age. For example, 6% of 11 year olds saidthat they had tried drugs at least once, compared with 24% of 15 year olds. A similarpattern was seen for drug use in the last year and the last month. ■ As in previous years, pupils were more likely to have taken cannabis than any other drug.In 2014, 6.7% of pupils reported taking cannabis in the last year. 2.9% of pupils hadinhaled glue, gas, aerosols or solvents in the last year. Very few pupils reported the useof other types of drug. ■ Pupils who had truanted or been excluded from school were more likely than other pupilsto say that they took drugs once a month or more or that they had taken Class A drugsin the last year. However, among these vulnerable pupils, both frequent drug use andClass A drug use have declined considerably since 2003. ■ The proportion of pupils who had ever been offered drugs declined between 2001 and2010 and has remained stable since. In 2014, 26% of pupils reported that they had ever Leadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports Summaries – a weeklyservice of essential summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents.been offered drugs. ■ 6% of pupils said that they had been offered legal highs. 2.5% of pupils said that they hadever taken legal highs,"
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Leadership

Survey of Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England

29 Jul 2015