North Lanarkshire project: Active Literacy Pilot
Project objectives
The Active Literacy Pilot has been developed as part of a larger North Lanarkshire Council Literacy project which aims to ensure high expectations and high levels of literacy for all.
North Lanarkshire Council has constructed its Primary 1 and 2 Active Literacy Programme with the aim of raising attainment while supporting integrated literacy. This has been achieved by building on the active and independent learning of the child’s nursery experience whilst retaining the essential learning of the Primary 1 classroom.
Key findings
During the two-year pilot period, involvement of a range of ‘control schools’, who, like the schools involved in the pilot, were representative of all North Lanarkshire socio-economic communities, has facilitated evaluation and assessment of the impact of the project on raising attainment in literacy in the early stages of primary.
The Active Literacy Programme for Primary 1 has been structured in order to build on the children’s active, independent nursery experience whilst retaining the essential learning of the Primary 1 classroom. Teachers planning and working collaboratively in making connections and preparing interdisciplinary activities involving talking and listening and reading and writing has ensured that children’s literacy experience is active, enjoyable, independent, challenging and purposeful.
The project has raised attainment in reading and has begun to redress the effects of poverty on attainment in literacy.
Future developments
The materials developed during the period of the pilot provide clear structure and guidance for teachers with exemplars of planning formats as well as pupil and teacher resources to support delivery of the programme.
There will be a CPD programme that will include senior managers in schools, early years staff and classroom assistants.
Further developments will include:
- taking the project into Primaries 2 and 3
- building on the project’s success in addressing disadvantage and its negative effect on learning
- further developing integrated play through storylines and cross-curricular activities while supporting pupil choice
- integrated literacy work from Primary 4 to Primary 7
- continuing to evaluate the project through multi-agency working
- future research to evaluate the impact of teacher behaviour, pupil behaviour and classroom organisation on learning and attainment.
Contact details
Trish Wilson, Quality Improvement Officer
Tel: 01698 841270
pwilson@ea.n-lanark.sch.uk
Available support files
The following PowerPoint presentation provides an overview of the Active Literacy Pilot project:
