Progression of knowledge and skills in literacy and English
Most practitioners and teachers plan a progressive curriculum in literacy and English and early communication and language, using the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) framework appropriately, for children and young people in settings and schools in Scotland. They track and monitor the progress of most children and young people regularly.
Overall, most children and young people make good progress in their learning in literacy and English. Children’s knowledge in literacy and English is improving due to structured and progressive teaching approaches. However, teachers and practitioners need to make better use of progression pathways when tracking and monitoring.
Staff need to improve their planning of listening and talking to ensure that children and young people make progress in their learning. While planned listening and talking activities are often highly relevant and meaningful for children, staff need to ensure that these experiences build clearly on prior skills. They need to support children and young people in understanding the purpose of listening and talking activities and how to tell when they are successful. Children need to be supported to increase their knowledge of the tools for listening and talking.
What is working well
Most teachers in primary schools and English teachers in secondary schools use progression frameworks well when planning children’s learning in literacy and English. These are linked to CfE experiences and outcomes and national Benchmarks. In secondary schools, senior phase courses are planned in line with Qualifications Scotland (QS) requirements. QS was previously known as the Scottish Qualifications Authority.
Most teachers in the special sector use CfE experiences and outcomes or milestones to support learners with complex additional support needs. In early learning and childcare settings, most practitioners use CfE progression frameworks or developmental milestones to plan children’s learning. Practitioners in almost all settings plan individual learning targets for all children. In the best examples, these targets are developed in consultation with parents and children. This helps children and parents to be clear about the next steps in learning.
In the secondary sector, all English teachers know that the development of young people’s literacy skills is central to their role. Almost all teachers outwith English departments understand that literacy is the responsibility of all. In some secondary schools, some teachers identify opportunities for young people to develop their literacy skills within their curricular areas. However, this is not yet consistent across departments or schools. Teachers in almost all English departments collaborate with colleagues in the school to support literacy across the curriculum. In the strongest examples, this is leading to shared approaches to the development and teaching of literacy across some departments.
Secondary English teachers have a good understanding of the essential knowledge that young people need in order to communicate well, in school and for life beyond school. They plan courses that allow young people to develop a broad understanding of the world and their place in society. Through these courses, young people are increasing their knowledge of literacy techniques and writing conventions.
In the special sector, and for children and young people who require additional support across sectors, staff use a ‘team around the child’ approach to plan individualised education programmes. This approach includes meeting regularly with multi-agency partners, parents, and children and young people to plan individual targets for literacy and English and communication and language. However, these targets are not of a consistently high standard. Too often, they are not specific enough.
Across sectors, there is a need to ensure that individual targets are well-matched to children and young people’s individual needs and are measurable. All staff must ensure that they review plans regularly using the ‘team around the child’ approach. They must ensure that new targets build on children and young people’s prior learning in literacy and English and early communication and language.
In all sectors, senior leaders meet regularly with teachers to track and monitor children’s progress in communication and language, literacy and English. This is helping most staff to have a clearer understanding of children’s progress. In primary schools and a few early learning and childcare settings, staff make increasingly effective use of data to identify gaps in children’s knowledge and skills and provide targeted support.
In secondary schools, teachers in most English departments have their own attainment tracker for all stages and regularly review young people’s progress. In the best examples, teachers use the information in these trackers well to measure young people’s progress, plan support and track the effectiveness of such interventions. However, there is considerable variability in the effectiveness of the use of trackers. Senior leaders and leaders of English departments need to consider the usefulness of tracking systems and how these support teachers in planning for young people’s progress in learning.
Challenges to address
There is a national expectation that all staff in all settings and schools use progression frameworks linked to CfE experiences and outcomes or developmental milestones to plan children and young people’s learning in communication, language, literacy, and English. Although children and young people do progress in their learning, there are still gaps in how consistently knowledge is developed across all aspects of literacy and English.
Staff should ensure that all children and young people are able to make progress through the curriculum. For children and young people who require additional support, and children in early learning and childcare, staff must ensure that targets set in individualised education plans are specific, measurable and achievable within a given timescale.
In secondary schools, most teachers outwith English departments need to strengthen their use of data about children’s progress and attainment in literacy and English to support their curriculum planning. This should help to ensure that all young people experience clear progression across all curricular areas.