I believe that the ‘Just reading’ findings from the University of Sussex have the potential for significant impact on outcomes for all pupils, particularly those with lower starting points.
I wrote about the findings here and in my view, they apply not only to literacy in primary and English in secondary but have the potential for improving outcomes across all subjects.
If we are intent on closing the gap in our schools, particularly for those pupils who do not reach the expected standard in reading by the end of Y6, then it’s worth underpinning topics and units in other subjects with high quality texts. Underperformance in the reading SATs paper is generally due to a lack of vocabulary. So how do we develop pupils vocabulary? It’s through the wider curriculum underpinned by vocabulary rich texts.
A high-quality text used to underpin the unit will help with the following:
· It will provide background knowledge which we know is helpful when learning new material
· A well-chosen text will contain the concepts and big ideas underpinning the unit
· It will support pupil’s vocabulary development, because the written word is of greater depth and complexity than the spoken word
· A great text will make learning accessible for all pupils
This is backed up by research from Susan Newman Professor of Childhood and Literacy Education; New York University
Non-fiction texts build vocabulary, as these texts tend to include words that are more academic and conceptually dense, such as ‘predict’ and ‘investigation’.
Taking account of this research, opens up great potential for how we think about curriculum planning.
Since talking about the importance of high quality texts, schools have been asking for suggestions for books to underpin the content they are teaching.
So I’ve created The Teachers’ Collection with text suggestions, planning units and vocabulary lists, linked to the National Curriculum programmes of study.
You can see a sample for KS2 science here and we’ve been careful, in each of the units to answer the question ‘Why are we teaching this, why now?’ And that’s not just because inspection teams regularly ask this question, but because it helps with sequencing: our pupils can make connections with what they have learnt before and it gives them a sense of the journey they are on in these beautiful subjects!
Until next time
Mary
PS When you’re ready, Huh Curriculum Leaders is our popular online course to support your work on the curriculum, with live check-ins with John Tomsett and me
Leading the Diverse Curriculum also with live check-ins with Hannah Wilson and Bennie Kara
We’ve used our reading lessons in the morning to supplement the afternoon non-core subjects - this, like you say, gives everyone some background knowledge and opens up the non-core learning for deeper and more complex lessons. It’s worked really well this year, even though it’s meant rewriting our reading planning (meaning it’s only our first year doing it). Looking forward to seeing how much more of an impact it makes.