Literate Well-being: Children and Reading in the Primary School Robyn Cox

My purpose in this paper: -To ‘fly some ideas’

International Content of Reading Achievement – PIRLS, PISA National Context – political, policy statements, national data School and LEA context – rankings, funding models Trends in reading pedagogy Am I a reader? What is school learning for? How do I feel about reading

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) - measures trends in children's reading literacy achievement in year 5. -is an indicator of success of the Government in raising standards of reading through the National Literacy Strategy -provides comparisons with many other countries, in terms of the attainments of pupils and the strategies used to teach reading -involved 150,000 children aged 9-10 years old in 35 countries -The Russian Federation, Hong Kong SAR, and Singapore were the three top-performing countries in PIRLS England 25 th just above Romania at 26 th and identified as one of the countries with significant decreases since 2001

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) - PISA is a triennial survey of the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds. -It is the product of collaboration between participating countries and economies through the (OECD) -The mean score for reading in England was slightly above the OECD mean – but this was not statistically significant

Children’s literacy levels in England % of children reaching level 2 or above Reading (Boys/girls) (80/88) (81/89) (79/86) (74/84) % of children reaching level 4 or above Reading (Boys/girls) (81/87) (82/87) (80/86) 1995 No data Key Stage 1Key Stage 2

ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTAINMENT TABLES 2004: KEY STAGE 2 TEST RESULTS Key Stage 2 Test Results: Eligible pupils achieving Level 4 or above Pupils eligible for Key Stage 2 assessment English Average point score total With SEN with statements without statements L4+L5 England Average 3.4% 18.3%78%27% 27.5 Worcester, Our Lady Queen of Peace %830.8%85%27% 28.9 Worcester, St Clement's CofE Primary %1128.2%90%36% 28.2 Worcester, Pitmaston Primary School %1820.9%83%29% 28.3 Worcester, Oldbury Park Primary %46.2%82%40% 28.1 Worcester, Dines Green Primary %1133.3%33%3% 23.6

The Rose review The Independent review of the teaching of reading March Best practice High quality, systematic phonic work as defined by the review should be taught discretely. 2. Early years For most children, high quality, systematic phonic work should start by the age of five 3. SEN Irrespective of whether intervention work is taught in regular lessons or elsewhere, the gains made by children through such work must be sustained and built upon when they return to their mainstream class.

4. Leadership Head teachers and managers of settings should make sure that phonic work is given appropriate priority in the teaching of beginner readers 5. Value for money In order to ensure that initial training and professional development provide good value for money in the teaching of reading, including phonic work, the TDA for Schools should consider all the steps set out under Aspect 5 of the remit.

The recent Australian report, Teaching Reading, came to much the same conclusion: In sum, the incontrovertible finding from the extensive body of local and international evidence-based literacy research is that for children during the early years of schooling (and subsequently if needed), to be able to link their knowledge of spoken language to their knowledge of written language, they must first master the alphabetic code – the system of grapheme-phoneme correspondences that link written words to their pronunciations. Because these are both foundational and essential skills for the development of competence in reading, writing and spelling, they must be taught explicitly, systematically, early and well. Teaching Reading,the final report of the national inquiry into the teaching of literacy, Rowe,K.,on behalf of the Australian Government,2005.

Pupils also view primary schools as a place where they can meet their friends and where there may be, as a consequence, more entertainment than at home. Former school students who are now unemployed view their primary schooling, and schooling in general, as being of little help in equipping them with the skills needed for employment and for the world in which they now find themselves. Robinson, C. and Fielding, M. (2007) Children and their Primary Schools: pupils’ voices (Primary Review Research Survey 5/3), Cambridge: University of Cambridge Faculty of Education.

Pupils confirm what teachers themselves believe: that primary education is constrained and to a degree determined by the emphasis on SATs and SAT results. Pupils seem particularly concerned about the loss of curriculum breadth as their teachers concentrate on the tested core subjects. Pupils find themselves under considerable pressure to perform well in the national tests. If external accountability is the aim, then alternative systems are needed which gauge the performance of both pupils and schools in rather broader terms. SATs figure prominently in the minds of pupils in years 2 and 6. Children are generally aware that SAT results constitute some sort of official judgement of them. Robinson, C. and Fielding, M. (2007) Children and their Primary Schools: pupils’ voices (Primary Review Research Survey 5/3), Cambridge: University of Cambridge Faculty of Education.

“…some sort of official judgement of them.”

National Literacy Trust- Young People’s self- perceptions of themselves as readers: Most people associated reading with positive feelings, such as feeling calm and happy. A third of pupils said that reading makes them feel bored, only a few children saw reading as a stressful activity Self-defined readers associated reading with positive feelings.

Robin Hood and the Archery Contest Was very exciting The characters were described well with good strong words It’s not that long and could use connectives It needs to introduce the reader to the story a bit more The Three Strong Women Vocabulary is good and it is easy to understand Needs more of an introduction Good sport choice We like it because it was all of the above However, title did not suit the story Humorous Atalanta Good story Describe more about the people in the story More details about the story I do like the story would like to know a bit more about the King

How can I measure my literate well being? Is there a literate wellness measure that is not linked to SATS? Can systems report, compete and gain funding on any other kinds of measures?