Knowledge and understanding of the literacy and English curriculum
Practitioners and teachers demonstrate good knowledge of the literacy and English curriculum. They use this knowledge to effectively plan engaging activities that support children and young people in developing their literacy skills.
What is working well
The majority of all staff across all sectors engage in high-quality professional learning, which is contributing positively to literacy outcomes. Training delivered by external partners, such as speech and language therapists and national programmes, enhances staff confidence and improves teaching approaches in literacy, English and communication. This is leading to more targeted support for children and young people and a stronger understanding of effective literacy pedagogy.
In some schools, staff have undertaken high-quality professional learning focused on improving learning and teaching. Although this training has not been specific to literacy and English, staff report improvements in pedagogy across all curricular areas. This has led to more high-quality learning experiences in literacy and English for children and young people and is helping to support a high-quality curriculum offer.
Staff across several schools and settings engage in a wide range of professional learning activities to deepen their understanding of the literacy and English curriculum. Across early years settings and primary schools, practitioners and teachers undertake training in specific writing or reading programmes. In doing so, they successfully enhance their knowledge of structured writing or reading approaches and how these support delivery of the literacy and English curriculum.
Practitioners and teachers are developing their knowledge of the languages, dialects and literature of Scotland. As a result, the study of Scots language is a feature in the curriculum of most settings. This is very often linked to cultural studies and events such as Burns Night. Children and young people are encouraged to explore written and spoken Scots texts. This is supporting them to engage with the language and create their own texts.
The participation of teachers and practitioners in literacy-based moderation activities, both within schools and with colleagues in other settings, has increased. This is having a positive impact on practitioner and teacher confidence in assessing children and young people’s progress and attainment. Across a few settings, staff engage in cross-sector moderation between nursery and primary, and primary and secondary. This supports a shared understanding of progression across Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) levels.
Challenges to address
Some secondary teachers, other than English teachers, do not have a secure understanding of how they can support young people to develop literacy skills in their curricular area. Local authorities and senior leaders need to plan how to best support all staff in secondary schools to develop their knowledge of the literacy curriculum. Embedding this knowledge will help to improve outcomes for young people in all aspects of the curriculum.
While planned moderation activities are becoming more frequent, these events are often a verification of assessment judgements. Senior leaders across all sectors need to ensure that the full moderation cycle becomes an integral part of curriculum planning for effective learning and teaching.
Transition arrangements between primary and secondary schools often include activities that are identified as moderation events. Typically, these events involve secondary teachers working with primary colleagues to develop a shared understanding of attainment levels. To ensure improvement, senior leaders should extend these activities to include secondary teachers from all curricular areas. This will support teachers to understand what children and young people’s prior attainment levels mean. They will then be able to apply this knowledge to meet the needs of all learners. There is also scope for practitioners to moderate outwith their own setting, including working with P1 teachers. This will support the development of a shared understanding of progression across early level.