These are highlights from the review and not necessarily my beliefs. It is worth considering that this stems from the Ofsted review which did receive some criticism at the time, partly due to it being deemed as Ofsted directing curriculum and pedagogy (which they shouldn’t) and partly because some felt that it came from a particular and largely similar research base.
With that having been said, there are some useful takeaways which are worth consideration in my opinion.
The way that the report is written means that there is some repetition on things, so apologies for that. However, I have used the headings in the report if you want to read the content in more detail.
Summary Conclusions
1. The teaching of reading has improved markedly, especially with word reading/decoding
- 1 in 4 don’t leave primary at the expected standard in reading
- Schools less clear how to build fluency and comprehension
2. The curriculum for writing and spoken language is less effective
- Understanding that spoken language underpins reading and writing development but not considered as well as other areas
- Complex writing tasks introduced too early
- Not enough teaching and practice on spelling andhandwriting early enough
3. Schools are sometimes confused about the purpose of English
- Role as a distinct subject and as a medium for other subjects. Focus should be on the first.
4. External assessments unhelpfully shape the curriculum
- Complex tasks that replicate NC tests are done at the expense of teaching and ensuring understanding of the underlying knowledge they need to do them.
- Overly scaffolding and supporting children to complete NC assessment work does not result in progress.
Main findings
Curriculum and Pedagogy
➢ Schools don’t always address weaknesses in phonics T&L early enough
➢ Leaders know the importance of fluency but are not always clear about how to make sure pupils are successful.
➢ Texts too often chosen because of their links to other things rather than ‘English merit’.
➢ Children don’t practice grammar enough, particularly orally in earlier stages.
➢ Not enough teaching time given to handwriting and spelling – tasks then become burdensome
Primary and Secondary
➢ Limited curriculum design around spoken language. Schools not always clear on how to teach conventions of spoken language.
➢ Vocab is frequently introduced but not embedded through repeated practice and so not used in written or spoken language
➢ Comprehension comes from accessing wide range of texts to be exposed to what they offer. However, NC tests narrow focus to test-style questions which doesn’t improve comprehension
➢ Schools allocate lots of time to English, but it is not always used productively
Assessment
➢ Formative assessment not used as well as it could to identify where learners are ready for the next step of the learning. Misconceptions often then are unrecognised and unaddressed.
➢ SATs can distort the curriculum
School Systems
➢ Beyond phonics, limited training on English
➢ CPD mainly focused on moderation and assessment which leads to narrower understanding
General findings
Reading
➢ Lessons and interventions not always well matched to what children can do and need next
➢ Additional support for reading in upper KS2 is less effective – few have intensive support to improve their word reading despite it being a priority
➢ More time could be given to children hearing texts be read aloud
➢ Primary – often choose texts linked to wider curriculum as the core text, not necessarily based on literary merit
Writing
➢ Writing ‘stamina’ or ‘resilience’ – seen as an issue with the child and not the curriculum
➢ Initial work on teaching spelling and letter formation is not always secured before moving on
➢ Not always enough focus on pen grip and posture when teaching handwriting
➢ Move to complex tasks too quickly, before children have ‘mechanics’ like spelling and handwriting to be successful in these tasks. Moderation drives for too much too soon.
➢ Push for extended writing means oral composition is undervalued – seen as part of lesson rather than a goal in and of itself – staff concerned over lack of evidence in books
Spoken Language
➢ Most primaries don’t have an explicit curriculum focused on spoken language
➢ Some opportunities for speaking but not always accessed by all.
➢ Components of spoken language are not taught so confidence of children not developed
Combining modalities of English
➢ In Primary, there is a disconnect between modalities – not enough account taken of how prior knowledge in one affects ability to learn in another.
Assessment
➢ Demands of moderation results in pupils being asked to produce overly manufactured portfolios of writing that may not reflect what they can do independently.
School Systems
➢ Rare to take a systematic approach to CPD – teachers don’t always have the knowledge necessary to teach all aspects.
Recommendations
Curriculum and Pedagogy
➢ NC requirements for spoken language need more work for pupils to be competent speakers
➢ Curriculum needs to take full account of foundational knowledge and skills required. In R, W and SL and have enough opportunity to practise these
➢ Reading curriculum needs to build fluency, knowledge of the world and linguistic knowledge
➢ Help pupils to word read with fluency – pick up phonics gaps
➢ Practise transcription skills in isolation – early stages and older children not yet fluent
➢ Make sure staff know how to develop fluency once decoding accurately
➢ KS2 staff should be trained in phonics to support word reading and spelling
➢ Choose texts first and foremost on literary merit
Assessment
➢ Ensure SATs don’t influence decisions over curriculum and pedagogy
School systems
➢ Ensure teachers understand what pupils need to learn to be successful and how to teach and assess it.
ENGLISH IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS
Curriculum findings – scope and ambition
➢ English texts mostly chosen on availability, current affairs or interests of pupils/staff
➢ Some schools have the misapprehension that focusing on foundational knowledge in writing lowers the ambition of their curriculum
➢ Curriculum for spoken language is considered in far less detail – viewed as pedagogy not area
Spoken language
➢ Curriculum should provide opportunities to develop proficiency in components of spoken language
➢ Pupils need opportunities to practice, refine and apply knowledge in a range of contexts and for different audiences if they are to be better speakers
➢ Teachers do not always teach components needed to improv e pupils’ spoken language or make sure all pupils benefit from opportunities available.
Writing
➢ Children need accuracy and automaticity in transcription and composition (including background knowledge of the topic) to be proficient writers
➢ Explicit teaching of foundational skills (handwriting/spelling/sentence/grammar/vocab) helps children to write effectively.
➢ GPS taught discreetly but not always enough time given to practice leading to misconceptions
➢ All schools plan for children to write frequently, linked to text or topic, sometimes with time to edit. This is sometimes seen as the end point – e.g., writing more stories to get better at writing stories – which doesn’t address gaps in foundational knowledge
➢ LA moderation cited as a reason for lots of independent writing
➢ Scaffolds and guides need to be removed as pupils become more fluent.
➢ Oral composition – such as retelling stories – not seen as an end goal
➢ In early stages, children are not getting enough opportunities to practice orally (before they have foundational skills to write) which affects their writing.
➢ Dictation not used beyond early stages to practice transcription whilst managing CL/WM
➢ Handwriting including in English lessons, but rarely taught explicitly.
➢ To address writing ‘stamina’ schools give more opportunities to write rather than dealing with the barriers to fluent writing.
Reading
➢ Decoding accurately and with automaticity is vital to support reading and a love of reading
➢ Comprehension strategies can help, but are likely to be time and impact limited
➢ Schools need to focus on high quality intervention for pupils who struggle to keep up initially
➢ Reading comprehension requires knowledge of vocab, context (background knowledge), text, syntax and narrative structure as well as ability to read fluently – a broad curriculum will help with this.
➢ Beyond phonics, less opportunities for children to read aloud to practice fluency.
➢ Children who are not fluent often complete similar comprehension activities that they can’t access and at the expense of developing their fluency
➢ Interventions not always well considered – e.g., recapping sounds a child doesn’t know
➢ Teachers reading aloud is a positive way of modelling prosody and fluency and this is valued by children, but feedback is that it is cut short due to timetable pressure
Literature
➢ Careful consideration should be given to book choice so that children have a joined-up experience and develop knowledge of concepts such as narrative voice.
➢ There is less intentional sequencing of texts in English – they get harder but don’t always build in terms of theme, genre, background knowledge
➢ This makes it difficult for children to make connections between texts they have studied.
What pupils know and remember, and what this means they can do
➢ Children can talk about learning, but often do this in relation to outcomes like NC tests
➢ Basic errors (punctuation and handwriting) aren’t always corrected and so these are repeated
➢ Less fluent children often given heavily scaffolded sheets or asked to copy – it helps them engage in a lesson without addressing what they need to learn in order to be successful
➢ Most children have a limited understanding of how to improve spoken language
➢ Where curriculum is not taught as intended, activities can distract from learning the most important content
➢ Small steps and opportunities to practice (including retrieval) help secure learning in LTM
➢ Misconceptions aren’t always addressed in planning, meaning they aren’t always tackled
➢ High quality models help children and teachers – they increase consistency and reduce workload, especially for newer teachers
➢ For SEND, best practice shows curriculum end points broken down further to give children more time to embed content
o Less strong practice showed copying (from board or TA) without grasping what or why
Assessment
➢ Specific feedback focusing teaching on prerequisite knowledge has most impact
➢ There are limits to what can be inferred from summative assessments
➢ Assessment of ALL children’s phonics is crucial to identifying children who need intervention
➢ For summative assessment to be effective, its purpose has to be clear to all teachers
o NC tests unhelpfully form curriculum (moderation, reading test etc).
o Use of narrow rubrics do not always identify building blocks of learning required
o Children don’t have enough time to practice key knowledge – too many tests!
▪ You can’t fatten the pig by weighing it more and more!
➢ Feedback doesn’t always change a child’s understanding and so errors are repeated
o Gets more embedded in LTM and more difficult to ‘unlearn’
Systems at subject and school level
➢ Reception should be part of curriculum planning for English
➢ There needs to be enough detail beyond NC to help teachers understand expectations
➢ Plans created and shared by trust, but adapted for needs are useful and reduced workload
➢ Commercial plans don’t always align and are not always founded in the right evidence
➢ More clarity is needed on which interventions are having the best impact
➢ Teachers unsure of how to sequence the spoken language curriculum
o Behaviour drives teaching – what is monitored and externally assessed
o Some things are unnecessarily recorded purely for evidence
➢ More clarity is needed over difference between pedagogy and curriculum and pedagogical content knowledge
o CPD is not subject specific and doesn’t identify gaps in teacher knowledge
o TAs often lead intervention/catch up without knowledge or training
o A shared understanding of expert teaching is needed to support coaching
o Without clarity over what children need to learn, CPD cannot be focused properly
Mark Chatley - always learning 