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 2006

- England 25th just above Romania at 26th 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)

2007 84 (80/88)

2005 85 (81/89)

2000 83 (79/86)

1995 79 (74/84)

% of children reaching level 4 or above

Reading (Boys/girls)

2007 84 (81/87)

2005 84 (82/87)

2000 83 (80/86)

1995 No data

Key Stage 1 Key Stage 2

ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTAINMENT TABLES 2004: KEY STAGE 2 TEST RESULTSKey Stage 2 Test Results: Eligible pupils achieving Level 4 or above

Pupils eligible for Key Stage 2assessment English

Averagepointscoretotal

With SEN

with statements

without statements

L4+ L5

England Average       3.4%    18.3% 78% 27% 27.5

Worcester, Our Lady Queen of Peace

26 0 0.0% 8 30.8% 85% 27% 28.9

Worcester, St Clement's CofE Primary

39 2 5.1% 11 28.2% 90% 36% 28.2

Worcester, Pitmaston Primary School

86 1 1.2% 18 20.9% 83% 29% 28.3

Worcester, Oldbury Park Primary

65 1 1.5% 4 6.2% 82% 40% 28.1

Worcester, Dines Green Primary.

33 3 9.1% 11 33.3% 33% 3% 23.6

The Rose review The Independent review of the teaching of reading

March 2006

1- Best practice High quality, systematic phonic work as defined by the review should

be taught discretely.

2. Early yearsFor most children, high quality, systematic phonic work should start by

the age of five

3. SENIrrespective 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, TeachingReading, came to much the sameconclusion:In sum, the incontrovertible findingfrom the extensive body of local andinternational evidence-based literacyresearch is that for children duringthe early years of schooling (andsubsequently if needed), to be able tolink their knowledge of spokenlanguage to their knowledge ofwritten language, they must firstmaster the alphabetic code – thesystem of grapheme-phonemecorrespondences that link writtenwords to their pronunciations.Because these are both foundationaland essential skills for thedevelopment of competence inreading, writing and spelling, theymust 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 ContestWas very exciting The characters were described well with good strong wordsIt’s not that long and could use connectivesIt 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 introductionGood sport choiceWe like it because it was all of the above However, title did not suit the story Humorous

AtalantaGood 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?