DO LITERACY MATS HELP MEET THE AIMS OF A SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM?

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION Page 5

LITERATURE REVIEW Page 7

REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTATION OF CHOSEN DEVELOPMENT Page 11

PORTFOLIO Page 13

Portfolio Item 1 – General English Usage Mat Page 15

Portfolio Item 2 – Geography Literacy Mat Page 16

Portfolio Item 3 – Health & Social Care Literacy Mat Page 17

Portfolio Item 4 – Literacy Mat Expanded to a Wall Display. Page 18

Portfolio Item 5 – Literacy Mats on Desks Page 19

Portfolio Item 6 – Example of Pupils Work Page 20

Sheet 1 – Example of work in English Page 20

Sheet 2 – Literacy mat (analysis 1) Page 21

Sheet 3 – Literacy mat (analysis 2) Page 22

Sheet 4 – Example of work in French (1) Page 23

Sheet 5 – Example of work in French (2) Page 24

Sheet 6 – Success Criteria sheet Page 25

CONCLUSION Page 26

REFERENCES Page 27

APPENDICIES Page 28

Appendix 1 – Interview with the Initiator of Literacy Mats Page 28

Appendix 2 – What is Shared WritingPage 29

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INTRODUCTION

This study looks to examine the use and effectiveness of ‘Literacy Mats’ in a

secondary school, and how they meet the requirements of the present curriculum.

Literacy mats have been selected as the topic for this essay, as their use is spread

through the school, and thus likely to have an effect on the school and across all

year groups. The simplicity of their design and purpose may be the facet which

underpins their success.

Literacy mats are laminated A4 sheets, which have been designed across a number

of subjects with the purpose of improving a pupil’s literacy by taking a multiple

approach through each of these subjects.

These include:

Geography

Resistant Materials – Containing language for Analysing Products

Religious Education

Health & Social Care

English of which there are 3 variations:

a. General English usage, including; punctuation, use of capitals,

sentence types, connectives etc

b. Word classes, sentence structure.

c. Year 11 key phrase bank – Providing suggestions on analysing an

authors writing

(Some example of the literacy mats are in the portfolio section, items 1-3).

The background to the development of literacy mats came from a desire within the

school to provide a consistent message about writing and literacy, and in particular;

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subject specific vocabulary, connectives, re-usable sentence starters (transferable

from subject to subject) and range of punctuation. This has all been underpinned by

ensuring pupils use them regularly and were taught how to use them.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Historical background of curriculum began with the Grecians, who primarily used

curriculum to educate boys into the art of war, and girls into the skills of running a

household; this is not to be confused with a modern household. It meant quite

literally running the entire house in an ancient Grecian home, such as supplies,

buying slaves, and other more ‘managerial’ style skills. At this point education in this

form was the reserve of the wealthy. When the Romans invaded Britain in 55 B.C.

they brought schools with them, though they were, as in Grecian times only for the

rich. They were a little broader, teaching reading, writing and public speaking, aimed

at preparing boys for careers in government and the military (York Archaeological

Trust 2007); this shows a recognition of the importance of literacy skills in early

history.

When the Romans left Britain, so did schools and education. Leach (1915), records

the earliest school in England opening in Canterbury in the year 598 by St

Augustine. It took the form of a grammar school, and its curriculum was crude in

form, based on teaching Latin to priests and a song school to teach choirboys. This

developed into the teaching of Latin and literature to all pupils, with the aim of

preparing them for a life in the church. Later this ‘curriculum’ was expanded to further

literacy related subjects, such as scriptures, grammar, law, rhetoric and other

subjects (Fisher 1936).

The end of the 12th century a handful of schools had become free or partially free

grammar schools (Leach 1915). This lead to changes in the curriculum, as younger

pupils began to attend; the need for literacy grew with rhetoric emphasised as much

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as grammar. The increasing availability of the writings of Aristotle lead older students

towards the use of logic (Leach 1915). This shift lead to a liberisation of education

and the development of specialisation, in the study of theology, law and medicine

(Gillard 2011). This further stressing the importance of literacy and subject specific

literacy.

The Victorian era saw considerable economic change, and with it a growing need for

a more educated workforce (Williams 1961), with the change came the need for a

higher level of literacy, but this additionally freed up parents from the need to care

constantly for their children, allowing them to work.

The 1944 Education Act effectively gave head teachers and Governors the power to

change curriculum on a school level, with no comment on its content, expect for

religious education. By the time the Plowden Report was produced in 1967, a

curriculum driven by teacher innovation was positively promoted, and stressed a

curriculum that displayed flexibility, but despite this, literacy remained very much at

its heart.

The National Curriculum was introduced by Conservative Government in 1988, as a

significant part of the Education Reform Act. This act gave more power back to the

Secretary of State, and with it control of the curriculum nationally (Gillard 2011), and

with it literacy.

During the 1990’s there was evidence of falling standards in literacy and numeracy

(DFE 1992). This lead to the provision of clearer guidance on teaching English as a

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subject and the use of English when used in all other subjects, effectively stressing

the need to target literacy across all subjects (DFE 1994), literacy mats could have

proved to be a useful addition at this point. By 1997 annual performance targets for

pupils were introduced to address the falling standards of literacy (DFE 1997). The

change in government (in 1994), and changes introduced thereafter had in fact made

this worse (Chitty 1998).

At the end of the 1990’s the Labour government introduced the National Literacy

Strategy, in an effort to address the falling standard of literacy in schools (Gillard

2011). Prior to this there had been no attempt on a national level, to consistently

steer controlled improvements forward in literacy. In 1999, 15% of school leavers

had limited literacy abilities (Claxton 1999).

Though addressing primary education, The National Literacy Strategy, Developing

Early Writing (DfEE 2001), provided teachers with guidance on how to teach writing,

there is greater emphasis on literacy and ‘shared writing’ (see appendix 2), which

could be translated into use in secondary schools, within which literacy mats would

be a useful tool. Standards are now, as a result of the National Literacy Strategy, set

up and are met via attainment targets for the core subjects and foundation subjects

(Webb and Vulliamy, 2006).

With the growing complexity of teaching literacy since the introduction of the National

Curriculum, the National Literacy Trust (2012), have produced a guide for teachers in

secondary schools to navigate this growing complexity, which details government

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requirements of the DfE and OFSTED. The suggestions presented are backed up by

research, and provide details of how this can be applied in the classroom.

The National Curriculum in England document (DfE 2014), once again stresses the

importance of literacy, providing levels, which should be achieved by schools, it does

not direct schools in how this should be achieved, moving away from the National

Literacy Strategy document of 2001. Instead this ‘appears’ to be passed to schools

to address, so the development of in house tools would be well suited.

From September 2015 the National Curriculum will be thinned, except in maths,

English and science. A greater emphasis will be placed on spelling in English (BBC

2014), and thus on literacy.

Literacy will continue to evolve, be changed and changed back by the failings and

successes within education, but the underlying influence will be the requirements of

our society and the government that oversee it.

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REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTATION OF CHOSEN DEVELOPMENT

Next to learning to speak, literacy is the next priority of any child’s education (Claxton

1999), and sits at the core of curriculum, from its beginnings to modern day. A

command of language underpins all other subjects, as such a member of Senior

Leadership Team working at the secondary school, proposed the idea of Literacy

Mats. Used across a variety of subjects (as detailed in the introduction), the basic

premise was either to have the mat on each desk in the classrooms (see portfolio

item 5), or to have them available for pupils to use as and when they need them.

Falling standards in literacy resulted in action by the government in amending the

national curriculum (Gillard 2011). This concern has been reflected in the school with

literacy mats being created as part of an effort to remedy this.

One of the main aims of the secondary school curriculum under study, is to ‘be

successful in school’, though not specifically stated this relies heavily on literacy. The

two other aims of the school curriculum also have literacy at their heart. They are; ‘to

be successful in the work place in their lives beyond school’ and to ‘become happy

lifelong learners’. Literacy mats support these aims, keeping literacy at the centre of

study at school, giving it prominence in each subject, through the use of key words in

each of these subjects. This then paves the way for pupils to increase their learning

by allowing them to access a greater pool and usage of language. When interviewed

(see appendix 1), the instigator of literacy mats made the following comment: ‘most

kids have a working vocabulary of 100 words so, they know what a novel is but they

always use book’. By giving access to a greater vocabulary, a pupil is able to open

the doors to obtaining greater grades in exams, and beyond. For example, the

general English usage mat provides specific direction of when to use capital letters,

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punctuation, sentence types, use of apostrophes, new paragraphs, connectives and

common spelling mistakes (see portfolio item 1). These simple rules support the

building of stronger use of English generally. Whilst the health and social care, and

geography literacy mats provide some direction in literacy, they additionally introduce

words specific to these topics (see portfolio items 2 & 3).

The largest drawback to the use of literacy mats is the level of teacher uptake and

has been an issue within the school, with some embracing them, and others not

using them at all. This may reflect more than just a personal choice; literacy mats

may be better suited to some subject over others, maths being one possible

example. Because of their roles as teachers, some are unable to fully access new

innovations due to time pressures, and the time needed to complete background

work needed for lessons (Jones 2004). In the interview the instigator made the point

that many teachers are not trained English teachers, and do not have the

background to access literacy in the same way, so this too could have an impact on

their usage. Of course, teacher uptake will then impact pupils usage, if a teacher is

engaged in the process they will promote them, if not they are unlikely to be

employed. Evidence supports the use of ‘Curriculum materials’ such as literacy mats,

as they potentially provide teachers with the means to improve their teaching, and

therefore increase a pupils chance to learn (Bismack et al 2015), this is further

supported by Ball & Cohen (1996). The educative components found in curriculum

materials assist in bridging the distance between the written, intended and enacted

curriculum and therefore influence a pupil’s progress (Stein et al. 2007).

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Another factor, which may restrict a pupil’s access to literacy, is their socio-economic

back ground. Hart and Risley (2003) found that children’s exposure to words varied

greatly depending on the socio-economic background of the parents, with a variance

of as much as 900 words an hour less. By age three Hart and Risley found children

from a professional background had a working vocabulary of 1100 words, conversely

those whose parents rely on welfare support had working vocabularies of 750 words.

As a child ages this divide widens, so by the time a child reaches school age those

whose families relying on welfare support are at a considerable disadvantage,

leaving them less able to access literacy within the school curriculum. Wyse (2013)

reflects a different side of this, in that there is a correlation between personal identify

and language, such literacy limitations resulting from background, thus have an

effect on a child’s in a very fundamental way. Wyse (2013 takes this notion further

and states there is a link between language and social status, a comment which

supports Hart and Risley (2003). The National Literacy Trust proposes the

involvement of parents needs to be a priority if such issues within child literacy are to

be truly addressed. The use of jargon within education and curriculum alienates

many, thus the very people who are best placed to support their child’s education

cannot fully relate to it (Douglas 2009).

Presently the school have no formal process for measuring a pupil’s progress when

using literacy mats, though during the interview the instigator provided the following

suggestions when asked how it is measured ‘...though our quality assurance

observations, so it’s part of the descriptor in our quality of teaching’, and ‘the usual

progress indicators’. When discussed with teachers who use literacy mats, some

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were able to show me evidence in support of the improvements in a pupil’s work as

detailed in portfolio item 6.

Sheets 1 show evidence in the form of a pupils work, sheets 2 and 3 show details

questions and analysis the pupils used to produce the piece of work.

Sheet 4 and 5 show the work produced by the pupils during an ‘extend your writing’

exercise, which was then marked by them and a peer, part of which directly asked

the pupil to use complex connectives using the literacy mat for that subject.

The use of peer assessment in this manner, creates a very specific response from

the supporting peer, lessens the possibility of expression, being limited by the need

for the peer to write comments (and thus relying on their literacy skills), in addition it

avoids directing the peer to comment on improvements rather than to use personal

judgement (Pollard 2014).

England is the only country in the developed world where the generation

approaching retirement is more literate than its youngest adults (Young 2014). In

addition, there is scant provision for adults once outside of the education system,

effectively stopping a generation from being lifelong learners, something the

secondary school of this study, and indeed the National Curriculum support (Webb

and Vulliamy 2006). This could be redressed by aiding pupils to develop greater

literacy skills, of which literacy mats may be able to play a part. Literacy is an

essential part of development, it has the power to enrich our lives on every level

‘professionally, economically, personally and spiritually’, additionally research has

shown a correlation between wellbeing and literacy (Hughes 2013).

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PORTFOLIOPortfolio Item 1 – General English Usage Mat

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Portfolio Item 2 – Geography Literacy Mat

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Portfolio Item 3 – Health & Social Care Literacy Mat

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Portfolio Item 4 – Example of Literacy Mat Expanded to a Wall Display.

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Portfolio Item 5 – Literacy Mats on Desks

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Portfolio Item 6 – Example of Pupils WorkSheet 1 – Example of work in English

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Sheet 2 – Literacy mat (analysis 1)

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Sheet 3 – Literacy mat (analysis 2)

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Sheet 4 – Example of work in French (1)

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Sheet 5 – Example of work in French (2)

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Sheet 6 – Success Criteria sheet

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CONCLUSION

Curricula historically have been driven by the motivations and needs of the most dominant

power within them, be it the military in ancient societies, to enable it to expand its empire;

religion to expand its power base; or modern government to release parents from childcare

and the preparation of children for the modern job market. These influences are prevalent

throughout the history of education (Bybee et al. 1991), but they all reflect a need for a

literate population.

Whilst difficult to measure absolutely, as it is problematic to remove all variables, such as

an individual’s ability, and motivation to learn. Literacy mats do appear to have a beneficial

effect on pupil’s ability with literacy. Though it should be stressed this is heavily dependent

on teachers uptake and therefore pupil usage. This is an issue the senior management

team at the school are looking into changing and encouraging teacher use across the

entire school.

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REFERENCES

Ball, D. & Cohen, D. (1996) Reform by the book: What is - Or might be - The role of curriculum materials in teacher learning and instructional reforms?. Educational Researcher. [Online] 25 (9) 6-8. Available from:  http://libguides.worc.ac.uk  [Accessed: 02 February 2015]. 

Bismack, A. Arias, A. Davis, E. & Palincsar, A. (2015) Examining StudentWork for Evidence of Teacher Uptake of Educative Curriculum Materials. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. [Online] 52 (6) 816-846. Available from:  http://libguides.worc.ac.uk [Accessed: 02 July 2015]. 

British Broadcasting Corporation. (2014) How Is The National Curriculum Changing?. [Online] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-28989714 [Accessed 12 June 2015]. 

Bybee, R. Powell, J. Ellis, J. Giese, J. & Singleton, L. (1991) Integrating the History and Nature of Science and Technology in Science and Social Studies Curriculum. Science Education. [Online] 75 143-155. Available from: http://www.project2061.org/publications/designs/dod/DSL_text/Reprints/2_Bybee.pdf?txtRef=https%3A%2F%2Fscholar%2Egoogle%2Eco%2Euk%2F&txtURIOld=%2Fpublications%2Fdesigns%2Fonline%2FDSL_text%2FReprints%2F2_Bybee%2Epdf[ Accessed: 14 June 2015]. 

Chitty, C. (Tuesday 13 October 1998) Selection Fever. The Guardian. [Online] Available from:  http://www.educationengland.org.uk/history/ [Accessed 05 June 2015]. Chitty, C. & Dunford, J. (1999) State schools: New Labour and the Conservative legacy. London, Woburn Press. 

Claxton, G. (1999) Wise Up – Learning to Live the Learning Life. Stafford, Network Educational Press Ltd.

Department for Education and Science. (1992) Curriculum Organisation and Classroom Practice in Primary Schools: A Discussion Paper. [Online] London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Available from: http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/threewisemen/threewisemen.html  [Accessed 09 June 2015]. 

Department for Education. (1994) The Warwick Evaluation. [Online] London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Available from: http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/warwick/warwick1994.html  [Accessed 02 June 2015]. 

Department for Education. (1997) The 1997 Education Act. [online] London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Available from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1997/44/pdfs/ukpga_19970044_en.pdf  [Accessed 03 June 2015]. 

Department for Education. (1998) School Standards and Framework Act. [Online] London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Available from: http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/acts/1998-school-standards-framework-act.pdf  [Accessed 02 June 2015]. 

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Department for Education. (2011) The National Strategies 1997-2011. [Online] London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175408/DFE-00032-2011.pdf  [Accessed 14 June 2015]. 

Department for Education. (2014) The National Curriculum in England Key stages 3 and 4 Framework Document. [Online] London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/381754/SECONDARY_national_curriculum.pdf  [Accessed 04 June 2015]. 

Department for Education and Employment. (2001) The National Literacy Strategy. [Online] London, Crown Publications. Available from: http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/16145/nls_dew_Y1.pdf  [Accessed 01 July 2015]. 

Douglas, J. (2009) A New Curriculum, a New Definition for Literacy?. [Online] Available from: http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/blog/1235_a_new_curriculum_a_new_definition_for_literacy [Accessed 03 July 2015]. 

Fisher, H. (2011) A History of Europe .Volume 1. Glasgow, Harper Collins. 

Gillard, D. (2011) Education in England: A Brief History. [Online] Available from:  http:www.educationengland.org.uk/history [Accessed 16 June 2015]. Hart, B. & Risley, T. (1995) Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. [Online] Available from: http://www.strategiesforchildren.org/eea/6research_summaries/05_MeaningfulDifferences.pdf  [Accessed 03 July 2015]. 

Hughes, S. (2013) Literacy learning Ideas. [Online] Available from: http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/literacy-learning-ideas [Accessed 04 July 2015]. Jones, A. (2004) A Review of the Research Literature on Barriers to the Uptake of ICT by Teachers. [Online] Coventry, British Educational Communications and Technology Agency. Available from: http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/1603/1/becta_2004_barrierstouptake_litrev.pdf [Accessed 02 July 2015]. 

Leach, A. (1915) The Schools of Medieval England . [ebook] London, Methuen & Co. Ltd. Available from: http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/leach/leach1915.html  [Accessed 19 June 2015]. 

National Literacy Trust. (2012) Literacy Guide for Secondary Schools: 2012-2013.  [Online] London, National Literacy Trust. Available from: http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0001/8315/The_Literacy_Guide_for_Primary_Schools_2013-14_extract.pdf  [Accessed 01 July 2015].

Pollard, A. (2014) Assessment: How can assessment enhance learning? In: Pollard, A. (ed.) Reflective Teaching in Schools. London, Bloomsbury. 351-376. 

Stein, M. Remillard, J. & Smith, M. (2007). How Curriculum Influences Student Learning. In: Lester, F (ed) Second Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing, pp. 319–369.

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Webb, R & Vulliamy, G. (2006) Coming Full Circle? [Online] London, Association of Teachers and Lecturers. Available from: https://www.atl.org.uk/Images/Coming%20full%20circle.pdf  [Accessed 01 July 2015]. 

Williams R (1961) London: , R. (1961) The Long Revolution. [ebook] London, Chatto and Windus. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Long_Revolution.html?id=WwSodlpkCaAC&hl=en  [Accessed 15 June 2015]. 

Wyse, D. (2013) Language and Literacy. In: Wyse, D. (ed.) Creating the Curriculum. Understanding Primary Education Abingdon, Routledge. 85-99. 

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Young, H. (Thursday 18 September 2014) Missed Opportunities: Why the New Literacy and Numeracy Strategy is Flawed. The Guardian. [Online] Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/18/literary-numeracy-basic-skills-government-strategy-flawed [Accessed 25 June 2015].

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APPENDICIESAppendix 1 – Interview with the Initiator of Literacy Mats

1. How did you come up with the idea of Literacy Sheets, or where did it come from?

Oh I pinched it, they’ve been around for a while, the Head had been watching ‘Educating Essex’ or something like that, they made a point of demonstrating they had them on every desk, but it is something that’s been around for a while. Probably dating back to the National Literacy Strategy from the last Labour government and it’s something they suggested for removing every barrier to learning, and to have those mats right in front of you, there were literacy mats, writing mats, reading mats that just have it working right. They are good, when they are used. That is our next step, not just to have them on desks, but to ensure people use them.

2. Why did you choose to introduce them?

It was that idea of asking teachers of all different subjects to use literacy, and actually a lot of people don’t know what that means, they’re not English teacher trained, they don’t have that background. Getting them to think ahead for everything they have to plan for every single lesson, but it would be a useful thing, that was the thinking, that not every teacher has that background.

I went on a Geoff Barton course once and he said even for English teachers, your ‘D’ grade candidate says ‘in the book it says’, and your ‘A’ grade candidate says ‘in the novel’, it is just using language that helps them say more. They believe that most kids have a working vocabulary of 100 words so, they know what a novel is but they always use book.

3. How have you found teacher uptake?

Errm, patchy, I think some people have done it because they’ve been asked, and they have it on the desk. Other people have used them because it suited them and what we need to figure out now is for the people who haven’t been using them, why not, does it not suit they’re subject, or is there something better.

4. Has the idea been expanded into a wall chart version?

This was something science wanted to do, science didn’t feel like they could fix 3 subjects into 1, they didn’t feel like they could do a catch all literacy mat, so ‘X’ had the idea of doing a working display where the words were placed, and others have similar plans for next year. I’m considering doing something like it in history, but it’s time, to keep it updated (see portfolio item 4).

5. How are you measuring their impact?

I think probably though our quality assurance observations, so it’s part of the descriptor in our quality of teaching we’re looking for, are they being used, but actually the impact they having on learning we haven’t got a measure for that, other than the usual progress indicators. So I suppose if we do a lesson observation where they do have them, but there are no literacy mats in use.

6. Which teachers use them?

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XX does, Art has been using them, XXX, I think XXXX in history is using them, and I think XXXXX is using them, and then the English team as a standard, they all have something. That’s the ones I know about.

I mentioned I might take some photos if this was okay.

Yes, that would be fine, in that case XXXXX might be good, as she had a number of folders available.

7. How do you feel literacy mats influence the school curriculum?

I’m hoping they wouldn’t change anything, as the whole push of literacy is that it is integral, nothing additional, so I would hope you wouldn’t speak to a subject leader and they say yes I’ve had to change what I teach in order to do literacy, it should be in order to teach the curriculum I’m having to teach literacy. I don’t think they would have an impact on what the curriculum is, they’re just how we actually meet this. They feed into the curriculum. How can you get a kid to write a balanced argument in history, without giving them the tools to access this.

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Appendix 2 – What is Shared Writing

Shared writing is a technique used in the classroom. The teacher writes down the collective ideas of the class by involving all pupils in the discussion exploring the direction and consideration writers make at the point of actually writing. Illustrating the process of writing in a compositional way. Focus is the given to planning, amending and re-writing, and aids children to develop more independent writing (DfEE 2001).

This document proposes a number of teaching methods for writing and literacy, but due to the nature of this essay, they have not been included.

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