The Literacy and Numeracy Strategy PISA Report 2009 The National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011-2020

Literacy :The Background to the national strategy Decline in performance of second level students in international tests Second-level teachers and principals have identified poor literacy levels as a barrier to accessing the post-primary curriculum and making a smooth transition into post-primary school Employers and third-level institutions have been consistently critical of the standards of literacy of students leaving post-primary education 1 in 10 children in Irish schools has serious difficulty with reading or writing. In some disadvantage schools this is as high as 1 in 3

PISA REPORT 2009 PISA aims to assess students’ preparedness for the reading, mathematical and scientific demands of future education and adult life and therefore focuses on ‘real-life’ tasks rather than on specific curricular knowledge.

Pisa 2009 - Literacy 17 % of all Irish fifteen year olds lack the literacy skills to function effectively in today’s society 1 5 year olds read significantly less as a leisure time activity in 2009 than in 2000 The percentage of lowest-performing students (those scoring below proficiency Level 2) increased from 11.0% to 17.2% The percentage of highest performing students (those scoring at or above a Level 5) halved from 14.2% to 7.0% in 2009 Opportunity here to emphasise that literacy is relevant to all students at all levels. 42% of students in Ireland said that they never engaged in reading for enjoyment (in 2000 this figure was 33%). The mean score of students who read for enjoyment for more than one hour a day was almost 100 points higher than students who didn’t read for enjoyment.

Definition of Literacy Literacy includes the capacity to read, understand and critically appreciate various forms of communication including spoken language, printed text, broadcast media and digital media. (Literacy and Numeracy Strategy)

Some Literacy Targets Improve our attitudes to literacy and numeracy Raise public awareness of the importance of oral and written language in all its forms (including print, writing and digital media) Foster an enjoyment of reading among children and young people Set and monitor progress of literacy and numeracy in School Improvement Plan While these may seem like ‘soft’ targets they are not to be underestimated. These targets lie at the heart of what the strategy is trying to achieve. Improving attitudes to literacy – for many they see this as the job of the SEN and English teachers, it is important that attitudes change around this, literacy is on everyone agenda. Raising awareness is always the most fundamental step when implementing change and raising awareness around what literacy is will form a big part of what they will be doing back in their school. PISA tells us that those who read for pleasure achieved better scores across the board. Need to set and monitor progress – this is referring to SSE

Literacy- what works? 1. Increase student motivation and engagement 2. Explicit vocabulary instruction 3. Direct and explicit teaching of comprehension strategies 4. Provide opportunities for extended discussion of texts These approaches are taken from an article entitled “Five Key Strategies for improving adolescent literacy” (Clearing house- Michael L Kamil) Generally a lot of the research highlights the areas above as being the main approaches to improve adolescent literacy. Each of these areas are substantial and will need careful consideration and teachers will need to be supported to deepen their understanding of these areas. The way that we propose this happens is through the literacy link teacher model. The link team will use the SSE process to identify a starting point and will tackle the area of greatest need for the school.

Literacy considerations Literacy pertains to all students. Explanation Literacy is relevant to all students. In PISA, the performance of students in Ireland declined uniformly across all ability levels and so cannot be attributed to one particular group such as very high or very low achievers doing poorly. The temptation here is to focus solely on SEN students/ student with literacy difficulties but schools need to realise that there is an obligation to enhance all students’ literacies...even in DEIS/ JCSP schools consideration needs to be given to middle of the road/ more-able students....

Literacy is not just the business of the English teacher. Explanation: Literacy is relevant to all teachers irrespective of the subject. The Literacy and Numeracy strategy highlights this in particular. “Ensure that all teachers, irrespective of their subject specialism, complete units in the development of literacy and numeracy across the curriculum” This does not mean that all teachers are now teachers of English- the message here should be that for subject teachers, the subject maintains its status as the primary focus of the work. However all teachers should address the literacy demands their own subject places on students and should support students in the developing of their literacy skills when the opportunities arise in lessons.

How will we do all of this? Use the literacy link model: Establish a literacy core team in the school Deepen our understanding of what it means to be literate. Work together to pilot strategies in school. The Link Teacher will receive support in how to build a team and their understanding of literacy and how to support literacy in their classroom. The link teacher can be from any subject department. Around the issue of CPD, this may or may not be the link teacher delivering CPD to the whole staff, CPD will be going on within the team. This could be members of the core team feeding back into their subject departments what work is going on within the core team. Also any member of the team can chose to deliver to whole staff, the onus is not on the link teacher to do this. Schools can work this out themselves but the important message is that the link teacher will receive a day’s substitution to attend the training so that some internal CPD occurs afterwards as a result.

What is a literacy core team? "Team… who share a concern, or a passion about a topic…who deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis." (Wenger et al, 2002 )” The literacy core team is based on a community of practice model/ professional learning communities. The idea is that teachers come together, gather the data and decide on the path that will suit their school context. The focus of the CoP will be teaching and learning- and the core team will begin to pilot and discuss methodologies (i.e. The explicit vocabulary instruction, comprehension strategies) which will be later fed back to the whole school community through subject departments/ whole staff meetings. It provides teachers who are interested with the opportunity to reflect on and honestly discuss their practice.

Why will we use this model? When groups, rather than individuals, are seen as the main units for implementing curriculum, instruction, and assessment, they facilitate development of shared purposes for students learning and collective responsibility to achieve it. (Newman & Wehlage, 1995, p.37)

Possible members of the team... Teachers with a genuine interest in literacy Principal or Deputy Principal An English teacher Guidance Counsellor A Resource/ Learning Support teacher Practical Subject Teacher Science/ Maths Teacher Modern Foreign Languages/ Gaeilge teacher Stress here that the team will be in regular communication with the whole staff and will update them regularly on decisions made by the team

Other potential team members Year Heads Home School Liaison Teacher DEIS Co-ordinator School Completion Co-ordinator Members of whole school community (Parents, Students etc as appropriate)

What will the team do? Deepen their knowledge of and understanding of literacy Assist with the school self evaluation process- -what data re literacy will be gathered? - how will that data be utilised - pilot teaching approaches to enhance student engagement with literacy - deliver CPD to their colleagues

Anyone interested? Please give your name to: By:

In the meantime..... What are you doing already to enhance your students in the following areas? Speaking and Listening Reading Writing Critical literacy Digital literacy

Key questions to keep in mind? Do your methodologies support ACTIVE LEARNING? (putting the responsibility of learning back onto the learners) Do you create opportunities for your students to work COLLABORATIVELY? Are all my students receiving appropriate levels of CHALLENGE? Am I MOTIVATING my students to work INDEPENDENTLY? These are the guiding principles from SSE teaching and learning framework that deals with student engagement. This is a really important slide as all of the work that we will be doing in literacy hinges on these principles (as well as the literacy attainment and teaching approaches descriptors of Differentiation, resources, assessment). Once teachers have an understanding of these principles and a deeper understanding of literacy, the can contextualise the strategies that they use in their classrooms.

Thank You