Current Context Key Points-Draft Plan Good Practice Better Literacy and Numeracy for Children and Young People Primary Perspective... Current Context Key Points-Draft Plan Good Practice

Literacy and Numeracy for Children and Young People (Draft 2010) Introduction-National Targets Improving teachers’ and ECCE practitioners’ professional practice. Leadership Language, Literacy and Numeracy in Early Childhood and Primary Targeting resources on learners at risk of failure-(DEIS/EAL) Fostering continuous improvement (Assessment) Parents and Communities

Introduction: Centrality of Planning Set realistic targets Identify the steps needed to reach the targets Put in place the necessary support measures to assist in reaching the targets Monitor carefully how the targets are being achieved Alter the targets in light of experience Maintain a relentless focus on achieving the targets Pg 11/12

L&N DP pg 12 “We need to adopt this approach not only at national level but at the level of each school and classroom. Experience in implementing the DEIS strategy over the past three years has demonstrated clearly that whole-school commitment is essential to achieving change and improvement and that every teacher is a key agent of change.”

L& N Draft Plan: Targets increase the percentage of primary children performing at Level 3 and Level 4 (the highest levels) in the National Assessment of Mathematics and English Reading by at least 5 per cent at both second class and sixth class by 2020 reduce the percentage of children performing at or below Level 1 (minimum) in the National Assessment of Mathematics and English Reading by at least 5 per cent at both second class and sixth class by 2020 Pg 12

L&N DP: Targets improve the oral-language competence of children in early childhood care and education (ECCE) settings, using baseline data from assessments to inform the planning of learning goals ensure that each school sets and monitors progress in achieving demanding but realistic targets for the improvement of literacy and numeracy skills of its students

L&N DP: Targets · Foster a better culture of reading among children and young people · Promote better attitudes to mathematics among children and young people.

Recruiting for ITE ITE Support for NQTs Ongoing CPD Section 2: Improving Teachers and ECCE practitioners professional practice Recruiting for ITE ITE Support for NQTs Ongoing CPD

curriculum based teaching feedback to children differentiation Section 2: Improving Teachers and ECCE practitioners professional practice Topics for teacher CPD: Explicit teaching of the structure and function of written and oral language, basic building blocks of reading, curriculum based teaching feedback to children differentiation effective use of assessment

Section 3: Leadership Support principals in implementing robust school self-evaluation, focusing in particular on improvements in literacy and numeracy Provide leadership development programmes for aspiring principals Pg 23

Section 4: Language, literacy and Numeracy in Early Childhood and Primary All teachers to prioritise the development of language, literacy and numeracy Seamless development of literacy and numeracy skills from early childhood to the end of compulsory education Research has show that students experience significant and unwarranted changes in teaching approaches between primary and lower secondary education Pg 25-27

Section 4: Language, literacy and Numeracy in Early Childhood and Primary Restructure the infant curriculum so that it builds seamlessly on the approaches to teaching and learning advocated in the Aistear framework Ensure that children’s development of language and early literacy and numeracy skills are adequately assessed and monitored in early years education Review the contents of the L1 curriculum at primary level to clarify the learning outcomes to be expected of children Increase the recommended amount of time to be devoted to the teaching of literacy and numeracy Pg 28-30

Section 5: DEIS and EAL Enabling schools to target improvements in the literacy achievements of these students has been one of the key aims in the Department’s DEIS initiative. Early evidence from evaluations of DEIS are showing that some DEIS schools have made great strides in supporting the development of literacy. However, others have been less successful.

Section 5: DEIS/EAL Continue to support enhanced literacy, numeracy and language development in DEIS schools Develop and implement an oral language development programme in pre-schools that are linked to DEIS primary schools Improve the targeting of EAL resources Improve guidance to schools on best practice in teaching students for whom English (or Irish) is a second language Enable schools to analyse achievement data for EAL students as part of their overall analysis of student achievement Ensure that the literacy and numeracy needs of EAL students are addressed in initial teacher education and teachers’ continuing professional development

Section 6: Assessment Variety of assessment methods Using data to set school wide/class goals (complex challenge) Reporting to parents Learning outcomes/national standards Aggregate data Transferring data

Section 6: Use of Assessment “More than half of sixth-class pupils rated as good at reading by their parents could display only the most basic reading skills.”

The ‘National Plan’: 6.5. Assessment: Actions Develop national standards of student achievement for literacy and numeracy to support teachers in generating and using assessment data on students’ learning Support teachers and schools to use the national standards to assess and report on the literacy and numeracy achievements of students to parents and boards of management Require all schools to implement standardised tests of reading and mathematics at fixed points, to report outcomes to parents and boards of management, and to use the outcomes to inform school self-evaluation and improvement

The ‘National Plan’: 6.5. Assessment: Actions Collect national data on student achievement using standardised tests, and provide data to schools to enable them to evaluate the comparative performance of their students against national trends and standards Use aggregated national data on student achievement in literacy and numeracy to support school self-evaluation, school inspection and school improvement pg 45

The ‘National Plan’: 7.1 Parents and Communities Launch a national information campaign to build up awareness of the important role that parents and communities can play in supporting literacy and numeracy learning Provide direct supports to parents to encourage them to support their children’s language, literacy and numeracy development Ensure that parental engagement in children’s learning is integrated into each school’s teaching and learning strategy and development plan Support existing initiatives to link home, school and community literacy and numeracy initiatives pg 49

Current Practices

Developing Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) p56 Individual three-year action plan. An assessment of the school’s current situation Locally developed targets under agreed indicators Agreement of targets at whole-school level ( IN these school chosen, The action plan placed an increased focus on planning at school level, Action plans will be based on current reality, as perceived by the school itself and where available the views of the inspectorate with a determination to implement change in a small number of key areas that can be influenced by the school either alone or in conjunction with community and other agencies Plans will have locally developed targets under agreed indicators – to include target setting to measure progress and outcomes. This was to ensure that the financial investment was been matched by an improvement in ed outcomes We see here an emphasis on whole school decisions – School-wide improvement efforts that focus on shared team goals help create a collective commitment to student learning. Research highlights that schools and staff improve by by working together. For effective change to occur, a new professional development initiative should belong to a whole staff. In June 2007, DES introduced the idea of planning in 3 year cycles

Template provided for schools Literacy Numeracy Attendance Parental involvement Community links Review Targets Actions Monitoring Evaluation A template was devised to help schools to dev a framework around 5 the key areas and the steps that they would follow in keeping the process alive Review instruments were also help

5 Key Areas Literacy First Steps Writing First Steps Reading First Steps Speaking and Listening Reading Recovery within the context of the PS English Curriculum Numeracy Ready-Set-Go Maths Maths Recovery within the context of the PS Maths Curriculum Attendance Home school partnership Links with local agencies That plan isolates 5 main areas of activity for which schools identify such indicators : Literacy and Numeracy – a renewed focus on the teaching of these to include the implementation of specific intervention programmes First Steps- a western Australian Literacy Programme - enables teachers to assess the development of students and to link appropriate instruction to phases of development. A comprehensive range of practical teaching and learning experiences is provided at each phase. Reading Recovery- an early intervention to reduce literacy problems- individual intensive help for those children who require it RSGo Maths- N Ireland dev Early number skills – mainly concentrated at infant level. Maths Rec- research based programme which uses a profiles based assessment to inform focussed individual instruction Attendance : The ED Welfare Act which commenced fully in 2004 established the Nat Welfare Board as the body with responsibility for school attendance- an analysis on the first NEWB showed that disadvantaged schools have significantly higher levels on non attendance. The links are clear between school attendance and ed attainment so strategies for improving attendance had to be included as part of the DEIS plan Parental involvement : A renewed emphasis on involvement of parents and families to build on the excellent work that was already going on in HSCL since 1990. Parents – the natural and primary educators of their children . No matter how badly they are considered to be doing their job as parents , it cannot be ignored that the progress a child makes hinges on the totality of exp that the child assembles from the sch. Home and community. The developing of parents as educators and in becoming more engaged with the child's learning . Schools were encouraged in the DEIS plan to review the various initiatives involving parents and measure their success using indicators Local community – all of the 4 areas above had several agencies which the schools were asked to tap i nto and work in partnership with. SCP, Family literacy, Adult ed centres, local partnerships, drugs task forces, . Networking with local voluntary /stat agencies within the community whose work in some way impinges on the eds of children. The DEIS action plan recog that schools alone cannot bring about change but working collab with other interest groups it has a better chance of ameliorating the effects assoc with ed disad

Good Practice: Literacy/Numeracy Planning Get the picture-Start with the data Targets-learning curve Identify effective practice within the school-consolidate, promote, extend Any ‘new interventions’ pilot on a small scale with advocates, review, extend Communicate ‘new interventions’ to stakeholders Get feedback from actors and stakeholders (record) Affirm

Good Practice: Literacy Texts suit reading level of child (instructional reading level) Teach reading comprehension skills Collaborative work for students e.g. Literacy circles Teach cross-curricular writing skills Station teaching for literacy (emergent reader) Guided reading

Good Practice: Numeracy Early Maths-concrete material with structured language practice opportunities Station teaching Maths games-explain and justify Constructivist approach –shared staff understanding Cross curricular Maths rich environment

Other Resources www.ppds.ie http://www.primaryreview.org.uk/ www.erc.ie