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NLT policy

Review of the Primary Curriculum

20 Mar 2008

As part of the Children’s Plan the Government announced that Sir Jim Rose would be asked to carry out a review of the primary curriculum. As part of the review a call for evidence was put out. The call for evidence was divided into five questions, subdivided into more specific themes. Below is the NLT response to any questions concerning literacy:

1 d) Should some of the Early Years Foundation Stage areas of learning and development, and pedagogy, be extended into the primary curriculum?

For many children the transition from early years education into the more formal setting of primary school is a difficult experience. The change in focus from play based to more structured learning can be a daunting challenge. When this is combined with the fact that children will naturally develop at different rates, there is a compelling case to extend certain areas of the pedagogy into the primary curriculum.

The National Literacy Trust (NLT) believes that the key challenges for the first years of primary education are: to value learning through play, and for providers to remain flexible enough to facilitate some play based learning where appropriate. Learning through play is a vital tool in educating children and it is essential that primary school teachers understand and place sufficient value on early years education. A greater respect and understanding of the work that goes into the early years sector, would enable the primary curriculum to benefit from the knowledge and skills imparted by early years professionals.

A sense of continuity between the early years and the primary curriculum will also benefit children, as it will help to reduce the stress and fear, which can impact upon young children’s enjoyment of literacy. Research has shown that the pressure on children to learn to read and write by a certain age can lead to persistent negative attitudes towards reading, something which is prevalent amongst English school children. The abolition of Key Stage 1 tests in Wales has seen positive results, and considering the different rates of cognitive development removing structured examinations from young children’s school experience is something that should be seriously considered.

2 a) How might schools be enabled to strengthen their focus on raising attainment in reading, writing and numeracy?

Recognising the centrality of literacy as a central building block for attainment needs to be a priority for all schools. Given that speaking and listening are the essential foundations of literacy, the NLT is concerned that none of the questions within the review include a focus on speaking and listening. This apparent assumption that speaking and listening is to be taken as read is an error and one that was made when the literacy strategy was first launched. The NLT believes that failing to explicitly focus on speaking and listening would be severely detrimental to the review.

To raise school children’s attainment in reading and writing, more needs to be done to help schools see the relationship between speaking and listening, and reading and writing: both speech and writing are strengthened by the language patterns acquired through reading, while reading is strengthened through familiarity with the language patterns acquired through focused talk. Writing in turn is strengthened by reading as a writer and discussion of what works, for example peer-group assessment could be used to improve understanding of how to become a more powerful writer.

The power of the written word to stimulate language in children is well summed up by literacy consultant Pie Corbett: “Poetry lies at the heart if language and experience. It is where children learn to savour words, play with language and use it to capture and celebrate their world. The poem is central – and so too should be the child’s own pleasure in language, for writer of love words. Nothing else much will follow without these conditions…

“Poetic writing is enriched and deepened by attentive reading, listening to and performing poetry. Without reading, writing may become proficient but it will never move beyond that.”

Within this virtuous circle, encouraging children to develop a love of reading is key. Not only is reading key to developing use of language both as a speaker and a writer but it has the potential to broaden outlook and experience. International comparative studies have long suggested that English schools are relatively good at teaching the skills of reading to the majority of children, but relatively weak in encouraging a love of reading. If children are not motivated to read, they will not be able to experience the power of reading to fulfil their potential.

Therefore, the NLT recommends that encouraging a reading ethos should be central to the schools goals. This should be a holistic focus involving the entire school community so that all staff who work within the school see it as part of their remit. This approach would include providing a wide range of texts to meet the needs of the diversity of interests and cultures that school children represent. Moreover, all primary schools should be supported in engaging and involving parents in their children’s reading, promoting family literacy to develop a love of reading.

The NLT, through funding from the DCSF has been enabled to successfully establish Reading Connects to support schools in building school communities that value and promote reading. The NLT hopes that the review will reflect the need to strengthen the development of sharing good practice in this vital area with a particular focus on engaging families and helping to build a coordinated approach to supporting literacy in the home.

5 a) How might schools make the best use of the information available about prior learning, and information from parents and other professionals working with children, to secure optimum continuity and progression for all children from the Early Years Foundation Stage onwards, paying particular attention to the key transition points?

As the Government rightly recognises, parents are a child’s first educator. It is vital therefore to engage and thereby involve parents with their children’s education from a very early age. One of the major problems in a child’s educational development is the failure to transfer information between the different schools they attend, with this is mind the NLT welcomes the announcement in the Children’s Plan of an educational version of the ‘red book’ for health. However, it is important that this continuous record is used as a tool for schools to keep in contact with parents and to chart educational progress, not as a journal of a child’s misbehaviour.

At transition stages, it is particular important that the engagement of parents is considered a priority so that good practice developed in the early stages of a child’s education is not lost as the child develops through the system. The NLT considers this focus important because it is not just children who will suffer strain a key transition points, but parents as well. Given the unequivocal research support for parental involvement, “parental involvement in their child’s reading has been found to be the most important determinant of language and emergent literacy.”, it is paramount that both child and parent are engaged in development and education

Downloadable version of this response: primary review interim report [pdf].

Tags: Policy, Schools & teaching