Literacy rediscovered
This is an exciting time for those of us involved in education, not least because it heralds the arrival of the draft experiences and outcomes much anticipated by a profession that has been tantalised by the philosophies underpinning Curriculum for Excellence.
In an unprecedented spirit of consultation, practitioners across Scotland are actively engaged in trialling materials that at once reflect current good practice and aim to refresh pedagogy to meet the needs of learners inhabiting a rapidly evolving world.
However, will this brave new curriculum for all still seem fresh and be appropriate in, say, 10 years' time? Practitioners are the most important resource in terms of providing a rich range of relevant learning experiences, yet the curricular guidance they receive will still play an important role in shaping these experiences.
As a member of the Literacy and English writing team, I can relay from firsthand experience that the relevance of the guidance we produced was never far from our thoughts. Aiming to 'future-proof' any curricular guidance is a daunting and possibly impossible task - crystal ball, anyone?
Rather, we aimed to embrace developments in technology that our young people, as digital natives, use to enhance their lives and their learning both in and outwith school. We aimed to create guidance that would support practitioners in tailoring learning experiences to allow young people to fulfil their potential and achieve positive destinations on leaving school.
Experiences that would be enjoyable, challenging and provide plenty of scope for personalisation and choice.
A new way
Whilst the outcomes and experiences themselves are of course a vital part of what we were aiming to achieve, for us as a team they are somewhat bereft if read in isolation.
If this is already conjuring up images of poor wee lonely experiences and outcomes cast adrift, then all to the good! Fret not - they can be firmly anchored by the cover paper, which outlines some important concepts, including the definitions of literacy and texts.
That the development of literacy skills is a shared responsibility across all curricular areas is also reinforced. These key messages are the pulse behind the framework and set the scene for learning in a number of ways.
We are one of the few nations to include listening and talking skills in a definition of literacy. This may seem like a no-brainer to those of you, who, like us, are convinced that listening and talking skills are the bedrock of the development of literacy and language.
The inclusion of listening and talking as part of literacy means that these skills can be developed across all curricular areas, embracing the opportunity to use audio, visual and digital resources to engage with others' learning. After all, we have said that a definition of literacy must take account of the speed at which information can be shared and the ways it can be shared.
Multimodal texts
The definition of a text as being ‘the medium through which ideas, experiences, opinions and information can be communicated’ further lends itself to literacy being developed across the curriculum. Texts in traditional print form will still be used to good effect, but learners can also be engaged by texts in digital form and texts that are multimodal.
The term multimodal is less scary than an initial roll around the tongue would suggest - it simply means texts that use any combination of words, graphics, sound, moving image and gesture. The definition suggests that learners will also develop strategies to read non-continuous texts, including web pages and those broken up by elements such as graphs and charts.
These strategies will be reinforced across curricular areas and give learners more practice in reading texts that they will encounter in their everyday lives. We know that these everyday texts also contain powerful messages and use language to persuade and influence.
The Literacy and English experiences and outcomes aim to build on the work currently undertaken in 21st century classrooms to equip learners with essential critical literacy skills vital to becoming a discerning reader.
Is it relevant?
One of the principles behind the design of Curriculum for Excellence that for me has stood out has been relevance. The definition of texts simply reinforces what we already know - that by harnessing interest in popular culture and in relevant text forms that are in widespread use, we are on the road to addressing disengagement and the attitude that literacy skills are only something taught and used in specific blocks of the curriculum.
Any of us who have taught notemaking will know that it is a skill that can be used across the curriculum, but that some learners find the process difficult.
Appealing to different learning styles and using visual texts such as films as a vehicle may motivate pupils and simplify learning.
When explaining processes or exploring issues in any number of curricular areas, learners may decide to present their work as part of a blog, as a podcast or as an audio broadcast. Not wishing to enter into any heated debates about handwriting, it is clear that for written communications to be relevant and indeed communicate with a wide audience, they need to make use of features beyond neatly linked script.
Let them lead the way
I am a self-confessed digital immigrant (desperately trying to achieve native status).
In the light of this confession, I am only too aware that keeping apace of new technology, not to mention having problems with resources, can seem like another hurdle that we educators need to overcome.
One way around this might be to let our learners take the lead in using their knowledge of technology to find information or create texts - with us of course still providing a vital facilitating and quality assurance role.
Try using technology in a way you’ve never used it before - and that doesn’t mean old wine in new bottles, eg pupils using a computer keyboard to type out their stories. Trying out new approaches would place me more firmly in my comfort zone than being told that I was educating pupils based on my past experiences and needs, rather than preparing pupils for their future.
In terms of the curriculum, do I believe that the Literacy and English framework empowers teachers to design and deliver flexible, relevant, challenging and enjoyable learning experiences? The answer is a resounding yes.
Do I think that this curricular guidance should be reviewed when appropriate and indeed be seen as the floor, rather than the ceiling? Absolutely.
As Marc Prensky says, 'Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.' We will have failed our learners if in years to come this quote is still so shockingly accurate.
- Posted on 23 September 2008 under literacy (education), cfe, supporting teaching.
- Tagged as listening, talking, multimodal texts, note-making.
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