More than 1.8 million children in England are now identified as having special educational needs. That is more than one in five, and it has risen every year since 2016. Among the large majority of them, the children on SEN support, rather than those holding an education, health and
The culture of reading is always changing. Currently, there are lots of articles about the death of reading and the 'dawn of a post literate society' to worry the average parent and the busy teacher. But what about the fate of deeper reading in classrooms across the country?
The start of a new school year has a familiar magic to it. New classes, new exercise books, and shiny new resolutions. It is the natural moment to try small, deliberate improvements to teaching that can stick for the year ahead. Vocabulary instruction can offer a meaningful and manageable starting
"Each Culture has its own new possibilities of self-expression which arise, ripen, decay and never return… each limited in duration and self-contained, just as each species of plant has its peculiar blossom or fruit, its special type of growth and decline." Oswald Spengler, The Decline of
In a world where AI is cannibalising writing and technology can trump reading books, promoting literacy may be more important than ever. Literacy leadership in schools and colleges in this context proves a perennial improvement priority, but as every literacy leader knows, we have to been trying to tackle this
Making positive changes to yourself is hard but to try and do it at a school, college, or even across a group of schools locally, and sustain that change, is doubly difficult. We know from lots of research evidence, and lived experience, that best laid plans can make a jump
I have finally discovered how to successfully read a complete classic novel in 30 minutes. An Oxford University English professor showed me the workflow. Here is exactly what he does. He does not open Moby Dick and start reading from page one. That, he explains, is the most inefficient way
Literacy assessment is dominated by data on reading ages, but are they helping teachers to make a difference for students who need support? Let me be clear, high-quality standardised reading assessments can be both useful and important. But too often, schools are awash with reading data, along with spreadsheets
Reading in class should be one of the richest experiences a teacher can offer. In practice, it can also prove one of the most uncertain and difficult. Whether it is reading a story in year 2 or unpicking historical sources in a year 8 history lesson, teachers can frequently find
