We are where we are for better or worse so why now the rush to formal guidance. I think it’s a lot to do with the increased ownership of phones, which for many years, in the recent past, was a rite of passage just for those moving up to secondary education. This has now trickled down to junior and infant age children leading to well documented impacts on behaviour and wellbeing for so many of our young students. According to the DfE 97% of 12 year olds now own a mobile phone with Ofcom reporting in March 2023 that mobile phone usage and ownership rose to 20% of 4-8 year olds, rising to 50% for 9 year olds and 60-80% for 10-11 year olds.
In early reaction to its publication various education commentators stated that most schools already do this, so the guidance is unnecessary, but I think a more accurate portrayal is most schools have something in place but of course there was no DfE guidance to base that position on so policy was produced in a vacuum. In publishing, not only guidance, but also case studies and a toolkit it provides a firm footing upon which schools can tweak, update or put in place a policy, firmly rooted in their Behaviour Policy, that will allow the implementation of a ‘mobile free’ school.
The DfE are advocating an approach that falls into one of four approaches schools have taken on the issue of mobile phones in schools, namely: 1. No mobile phones on the school premises 2. Mobile phones handed into staff on arrival at school. 3. Mobile phones kept in a secure location, which the pupil does not access throughout the school day. 4. Mobile phones are never used, seen or heard whilst at school.
I guess in descending order that reads extreme, impractical, how on earth and wishful thinking but looking at the DfE case studies, schools are making one or more combinations of these work.
If today’s devices were the size of the original mobile phone, slung over the shoulder with a large power pack and running off mains power, then without a doubt all the arguments for and against would simply founder on the impracticality of allowing hundreds of such devices into schools. It’s worth pondering that a secondary school with 1000 students means that there will be upwards of 900+ mobile phones on site with a combined value running into the hundreds of £1000s! Despite the quantum leaps in sophistication, reach, smart applications it appears that it’s the size reduction that has enabled unfettered access into our schools. If we consider the ‘misuse’ of mobiles enabling a tsunami of control, coercion, bullying, grooming, radicalisation, county lines, easy access to pornography and misogynistic content to name but a few, how is it we have allowed them on site? Schools are absolutely united in banning cigarettes, vapes, weapons and alcohol for obvious reasons and yet mobile phones are often cited as enabling behaviour(s) that can lead to suspension, exclusion or worse. In more extreme cases the ‘weapon of choice’ for bullying behaviour is the mobile phone contributing to a wave of mental health and wellbeing problems being experienced by our students.
Peer pressure is another area of concern, it’s hard to comprehend the pressure on both parents and students to not only have the latest ‘must have’ device but also a suitable contract to support it. In these straightened times, given the eyewatering costs of both these, how must this impact on family finances in trying to do the right thing realising that schools are the catwalk that shames those that can’t or don’t want to equip their children with mobile phones? Whilst we can’t control what our students access beyond the school gates, we can try to do everything in school to limit access to harmful content to reduce phone related incidents.
There are very clear circumstances where the possession of a mobile phone may be absolutely essential whether to support with medical need, particular learning applications and technologies and where students have caring responsibilities. With these the use is unarguable, clear and controllable in the classroom and wider school given that only a small number of students will require them.
Students need to be able to contact home and friends on their way to and from school, this is the most commonly advanced argument for allowing them into school. I think for the vast majority of students they, as previous ‘phone less’ generations did, make their way to and from school with little or no need of a phone for emergencies – those that don’t either head straight to school or home afterwards are enabled by mobile phones to pursue whatever behaviour they choose – perhaps we need to consider far more urgently the part that mobile phones play in the contextual safeguarding challenges that result?
So, what to do? A total ban, handed in & locked away, switched off and not to be seen or maybe with a ‘school lock’ installed Block Mobile Phones At School with ParentShield. Or simply trust our students to ‘do the right thing’. If you develop a policy around banning mobile phones, as suggested by the DfE, and you underpin this by banning them in your Behaviour policy, then bags can be searched, phones can be confiscated, and sanctions applied.
Consider that in schools we ask our staff to model great behaviours and be role models but one thing that it’s almost impossible to do is model how students should be with their mobile phone. Furthermore, the wider world of home, community and online offers such a poor or distorted example of how mobile phones can/ should play a positive role in a person’s life but rather sucks them into dependence and sometimes addiction to the virtual world they hold in their hands. The idea schools, that in so many ways prepare students for the world of work, find it is so difficult to do so in terms of mobile phones where the tolerance of personal phones in the workplace ranges from outright bans through to no rules at all. As ever so much of how mobile phones impacts students in our schools is reliant on their own self-control and discipline and how the use of phones is modelled in the home.
So where does all this leave us? Well as governors we need to carefully consider this non-statutory guidance issued by the DfE. If mobile phones are an issue in your school, then parents and Ofsted will want to know what you have done in response to manage their impact. Simply banning them without a policy and/ or adding them to the list of banned items in your behaviour policy (whilst carefully describing the exceptions) will not pass the litmus test. The DfE toolkit provides useful facts and figures to present to parents together with suggestions on how to communicate them and how to introduce and enforce a policy limiting the presence of mobiles in your school. As governors are you aware of what low and high level disruption mobiles are causing during the school day, levels of confiscation and more critically where behaviours are impacted and/or lead to suspensions and exclusions were enabled by mobiles?
Maybe it shouldn’t be so much a question of banning mobile phones in schools but rather why did we ever allow them into schools in the first place? Locking the stable door after the proverbial horse has bolted may best describe where we are. To do nothing is not an option, to do something is critical and whether and how to implement an outright ban or similar option should be an agenda item until agreement is reached. Should serious thought be given to running support sessions for parents and carers? When it comes to mobile phones all our students are vulnerable for a variety of reasons, let’s be sure that whatever we put in place ensures as best possible that our schools are a safe and protected environment.
A recent National Association of Headteachers study referenced in the TES found that 94% of school leaders surveyed reported an increase in parental complaints over the past three years and 83% had seen a rise in vexatious complaints. Effective complaint management can be very time consuming, particularly in an environment where time constraints are increasing.
Complaints can feel intrusive and at times, personal, and they can add significantly to the stress levels of school leaders and governors. Given the increases in volume and complexity of complaints in recent years, HFL Education has introduced a new complaints service. Led by Paul Davies, an experienced complaints professional, the service has been designed to fit around the needs of schools and settings, whether leading an independent investigation, conducting a review of a complaint being handled by the school, or creating a complaint plan for the school to assist them in managing the situation themselves.
With other complaints related resources also available upon request, the service has been designed to give schools flexibility and peace of mind when faced with complaints and deciding when and how to utilise specialist bespoke support services.
For an informal discussion or to find out more about what is on offer, you can contact paul.davies@hfleducation.org.
Hopefully you have read Part 1 and Part 2 of this blog, and you now feel ready to turn your attention to a possible structure for the whole class guided reading lesson itself. Here we will consider how we might balance the explicit teaching of comprehension strategies and development of rich discussion, leading to meaningful interactions with the text being studied. The guidance shared is just one example of what a whole class guided reading (WCGR) lesson could look like and can be shared and discussed with colleagues as a starting point for your own design, which should be evaluated regularly.
The importance of connection, metacognition and creating a mental model
Firstly, let’s consider how we want each child to feel in their reading lessons. We can all agree that reading lessons must feel worthwhile, motivational and engaging – and not just focusing on the teaching of reading itself; each child must feel like they are a reader. We should allow children to respond as readers, first and foremost, to connect what they have read with their own lives, to question and to wonder. If we don’t behave as authentic readers do, then we can potentially lose the opportunity to nurture children becoming lifelong readers, along with all of the benefits that will bring. As the reading framework states: ‘Reading lessons need to create readers, not just pupils who can read’ (p. 108). Here we can rely upon the brilliant work of Aidan Chambers (1991, reprinted in 2011, p. 165), who highlighted four key questions we can pose upon encountering any text:
Was there anything you liked about this?
Was there anything you disliked?
Was there anything that puzzled you?
Were there any patterns – any connections – that you noticed?
The last question, in particular, will set the class up perfectly for a more in-depth discussion (see below) later on in the lesson or during the course of study.
Secondly, let’s dispel the notion that we can teach generic comprehension skills, for example by dividing up these skills and teaching them separately. Essentially, reading lessons must be devised using the text in front of us, not a pre-determined generic skill. Shanahan (2018) states that ‘each text presents information in its own way, and reading comprehension is heavily bound up in the readers’ knowledge of the topic covered by the text.’ Inference, for example, is an outcome of reading. We can teach how to build inference via comprehension strategies, such as ensuring that we ask appropriate questions to check our understanding of the text. Shanahan (2018) states that: ‘Comprehension strategies are not about coming up with answers to particular kinds of questions, but they describe actions that may help a reader to figure out and remember the information from a text.’ Through modelling, explaining, scaffolding and then encouraging independent application of comprehension strategies, the children will be shown how to use this metacognition (thinking about their thinking) to check and, where necessary, repair their understanding of the text. Such strategies include:
Activating and using background knowledge
Generating and asking questions
Making predictions
Visualising
Monitoring comprehension
Summarising
As experienced readers, we draw upon these strategies all the time when reading, often subconsciously. A caveat here though – whilst it is important to model such strategies explicitly and encourage children to apply them, it is crucial that the children start to internalise these processes so that time is dedicated to rich discussion based on the content of the text (more on that later).
Let’s return to inference, which is the goal for comprehension to flourish. We build inference on a ‘local’ level (linking words and sentences) and a ‘global’ level (connecting across the whole text and beyond). We could liken this to an inverted triangle, where we might go from a macro level at the wide end of the triangle (how we feel about the text, what it reminds us of, what connections we make to other parts of the text, themes and plot, etc), moving down to the point - a micro level of zooming in to specific words and considering what they mean and why the author might have chosen them. In this way, as teachers, we can model this zooming in and out, because that is what good readers do. This inference making leads us to create a mental model (a representation, in our minds, of what is being described) of a specific text. The questions we ask within reading lessons therefore need to be text specific, not based on generic skills. They also need to be posed to promote thinking about the text, not for ‘assessing’ comprehension. The mental model we create is unique to each reader and their reading of the text. Our role in WCGR lessons is therefore to ensure that the children’s own mental models are as robust as possible - without looking for a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ interpretation, but instead promoting curiosity and reflection.
Questioning that promotes elaboration and flexible thinking will support pupils to integrate new ideas and knowledge into their existing schema. It is a principal part of good reading teaching, alongside a teacher's explanations. To be as effective as possible, questions need to be text specific. Banks or lists of generic questions, perhaps found online, are unlikely to lead to deep thinking or rich discussion.
How could we prepare for a whole class guided reading lesson?
To prepare for the lesson, you will want to think about where you want to read aloud, which sections of the text you want the children to re-read and which sections you might want them to read on or read further. Potentially challenging, interesting or technical vocabulary will need to be identified and decisions made on how you want to discuss those with the children. You might want to consider at which points you will want to stop and think aloud, using metacognitive talk to check and self-repair your own understanding of the text, and where you might want to stop and pose questions to the children. You will also want to consider where you might want to pause to explicitly model other comprehension strategies (such as visualising or summarising), ensuring that the balance is still firmly in favour of rich discussion to develop and deepen understanding of the text, whilst also not overly interrupting or spoiling the flow of the reading itself. This may all sound a little daunting, but over time and with practise, it will happen quite naturally. The questions you ask will also, over time, not need planning so carefully as they will be spontaneous and guided by the children’s responses.
What about written responses in whole class guided reading lessons?
Ultimately, any writing that takes place in the reading lesson should serve as a tool for critical thinking. Writing does not have to be an end-product of the lesson and it can be useful to incorporate low-stakes writing where children jot down their ideas onto whiteboards or in journals to help clarify their thinking. Large chunks of reading followed by a single block of writing can allow misunderstandings to spiral, so responses could be collected at different points of the lesson – in between stages of interpreting a text. Children should also be allowed the opportunity to go back and refine any written responses, based on their discussions and developing interpretation of the text.
What could the structure of a whole class guided reading lesson look like?
For the remainder of this blog, we can consider how repeated reading, layered discussion and comprehension strategies can be interwoven within a WCGR lesson to support the development of a robust mental model of the text. Please do refer back to Part 1 of this blog to consider how all children can access whole class guided reading lessons. Here is an example for the structure of a WCGR lesson in KS2, that you can use, adapt and refer to as you wish:
A lot of the thinking here borrows from the excellent ‘Reading Reconsidered’ (2016) by Doug Lemov et al, which posits layered reading as a tool for establishing and analysing meaning. Whilst it is not possible to delve into the huge complexities of the types of questioning, variations of comprehension strategies and nuances of lesson structure (including, for example, occasions to introduce role play and drama to develop empathy with characters), we can consider an example lesson using the attached guidance.
How might we introduce the text in a whole class guided reading lesson?
Activate prior knowledge
Introduce the text/ remind the children what has been read so far/ discuss what they can recall and summarise their reading so far
Decide what context or background knowledge might be necessary to access the text material; establish what background knowledge the children may already know and what you might need to teach or introduce via supplementary texts
Pre-teach vocabulary
Identify and explain new vocabulary that might need a closer look, using decoding strategies, morphology and/or etymology to explore meaning and providing visual support if necessary (NB: it is also useful to deliberately leave some vocabulary to be explored when encountered within the text, or recognise any words that are not relevant or useful for establishing meaning of the text, but may be unfamiliar or challenging, for which you might want to give a quick definition at the point of reading and then move on)
Consider text structure and organisation
Discuss questions such as: What would we usually expect to see in this type of text? What is there about its design/ structure that can support us? What would we typically expect to encounter in this genre? Who is the intended readership?
How could we explore the text using repeated reading and discussion?
You might then continue the lesson by reading aloud from the text, ensuring that all children can see and access the reading material. You might want to ask that the children track the text with their finger or with a ruler, or at times you might want them to focus on their listening comprehension without simultaneously attending to the words in print. Avoid asking individual children to read chunks of the text aloud in front of the class (to listen to individual children read, do so during 1:1 reading – there is a great blog from Christopher Such on this here). All too often, this form of reading aloud ‘tends to create a league of readers, where some are asked to read and others are not’ (Reading Framework, p.112). Instead, you might like to ask them to ‘jump-in’ on a word when you pause to ensure that everyone is on track, and there may be a particularly meaty – but short – section where you may want the children to echo read in short bursts, copying your expert prosody to ensure the meaning is clear. All the while, you will be pausing at moments to think aloud and question your own understanding of the text: making connections, summarising, visualising, connecting to background knowledge and identifying key events, so that the children start to internalise your voice.
Discussion to connect and respond, re-reading to clarify/ establish meaning:
If we look at the attached example guidance, you can see that the first invitation for children’s responses leans on Chambers’ prompts to ask them to connect to their own lives and experiences, other texts and beyond. After this, you might want to direct the children (either in mixed attainment pairs or individually) to go back and purposefully re-read a specific section of the text to clarify/ establish meaning, and to monitor their comprehension. This could involve visualising, summarising or identifying the meaning or references of words or phrases. Pronouns are often the stumbling blocks – asking children to find the pronouns (e.g. it, he, they, she, we) and decide who or what they are referring to can be a useful exercise. Equally, modelling and then asking the children to summarise a paragraph or shorter section of the text is a proven effective tool that children can use to check and self-repair their comprehension. As Tim Shanahan states in one of his blogs, ‘summarising captures both language skills and content knowledge: a powerful combination’ and at a paragraph-level involves needing to: ‘delete what isn’t necessary, collect into groups or ideas that fit together, and then find or compose a sentence that describes the important ideas that are left’. At this point, we might be zooming into the text to make local inferences but could also be connecting a particular section with the wider themes of the text, and therefore developing global inference.
As discussed in Part 1 of this blog, repeated reading is a very effective strategy to help support fluency, which can enable comprehension to flourish. And so, when children are asked to re-read a passage individually or together (having read along initially whilst you, the teacher, read that section aloud), they are able to revisit the text independently and are given another opportunity to read with specific purpose and developing understanding.
Discussion to deepen meaning:
At this point, you might decide to continue reading aloud or ask the children to read in pairs or independently. Silent reading could be happening whilst you work with some children who might need to carry on reading with you. Here we might zoom out again to make connections to other parts of the text that have already been read, to develop global inference. You might want to consider which overarching questions you want to return to, to develop the children’s growing comprehension of the text and deepen meaning (as seen in this document, discussed in Part 2):
Children can add their ideas to a mind-map during each lesson, for example, seeing how their understanding of the text develops and unfolds with further and deeper reading. The patterns that Chambers (2011) asked us to notice come into play here; Michael Rosen (2016) calls them ‘secret strings’; Lemov et al (2016) refer to this as a ‘leapfrog read’. In essence, we can ask the children to trace a theme or pattern through the text, such as noticing how a metaphor keeps appearing, what the writer seems to be doing with their syntax, or whether they are reminded of other texts they know.
The aim is to create a balance of connecting and responding to the text, zooming in and out at different points to clarify, establish and deepen meaning – created through a blend of collaborative discussion, purposeful problem-solving and a love of reading within the classroom.
*****
Hopefully this has given you lots of food for thought, although of course the complexities of teaching reading cannot be captured within a short series of blogs. If you want to develop your own subject knowledge, please see the reading suggestions below and do get in touch if you would like some specific support for your school.
References:
Aidan Chambers (2011): Tell Me: Children, Reading and Talk with the Reading Environment, Thimble Press.
Wayne Tennent, David Reedy, Angela Hobsbaum & Nikki Gamble (2016): Guiding Readers – A handbook for teaching reading comprehension to 7 – 11 year olds, UCL Institute of Education Press.
We are thrilled to announce a fantastic achievement by our Primary English team! Kathy Roe and Penny Slater have made us incredibly proud with their publication in the Iris Journal of Educational Research, co-authored by the eminent Professor Timothy Rasinski and respected scholar Abbey Galeza. Their article, "The Reading Fluency Project: Raising Reading Achievement in the UK," showcases our project's impact. A heartfelt acknowledgement to Dr Rasinski for his crucial role and expertise in shaping this significant work. This milestone reflects our dedication to supporting readers across the UK through reading fluency instruction.
“To have an article published alongside this internationally regarded leader in this field is an immense achievement.” Penny Slater, Co-author and Education Development and Partnership Lead at HFL Education
Our own Kathy Roe, Deputy Lead Adviser, Primary English worked with HFL Education colleague Penny Slater, Education Development and Partnership Lead alongside Prof Tim Rasinski and his colleague Abbey Galeza to produce the article which focuses on the importance of reading fluency and the recognition it has gained as a key component of the early reading curriculum, especially for pupils who struggle in reading.
We are keen to share the findings of our work widely in the hope that we can benefit as many pupils as possible; we do this through our partnership work with local authorities, English Hubs, school improvement organisations, trusts and schools.
Successfully adopted by UK-wide institutions since 2017, our evidence-informed reading intervention is designed to support struggling readers to make swift progress towards reaching age-related expectations. The transformational teaching strategies used in the project are based on a combination of well-evidenced methods.
This was the most successful and enjoyable training I have been on my whole career. Our outcomes were stunning and all tutors, presenters were amazingly helpful and clear. Communication was easy and quick. Training sessions were 100% useful and incredibly helpful. I particularly benefited from the 1:1 coaching sessions.
Alice Smith, K2 at St. Andrew's Junior School, Hatfield Peverel, Essex
Contact us today to find out more about the HFL Reading Fluency Project
My heart quite literally filled with happiness and something approaching awe. A petite mixed-race lady walked out onto the stage during a BBC performance and she started playing the double-bass with vigour and gusto. I knew who she was. I wasn’t at all surprised by her presence on stage, but it didn’t stop the joy I felt from pricking the corners of my eyes with tears. This lady was Chi-chi Nwanoku and I was mesmerised. I swelled with thankfulness that she had permeated the classical music scene and had made it her life’s ambition to show people that classical music belongs to us all.
Chi-chi was born to an Irish mother and Nigerian father in 1950s London. The family faced challenges in securing housing, and Margaret, Chi-chi's mother, was disowned by her own family due to the interracial relationship. Despite these difficulties, Chi-chi, the eldest of five, rose to prominence as a classical music champion and double bassist. The founding of the Chineke! Orchestra in 2015 may appear as a classic rags-to-riches tale, but it conceals more complexity, the first being that music wasn't Chi-chi's first career choice.
Initially, Chi-chi’s path to success appeared to lie in athleticism. Aged eight, a coach spotted her athletic talent and she set aside her musical interests to focus on running. Even though she was the smallest person on the track, she had ‘the fastest leg speed’ and this appeared to be where her future lay. She also started to attend a selective school – Kendrick - in Reading. By 15, Chi-chi showed real athletic ability and represented her school in hockey, netball and as a sprinter. Chi-chi was preparing for the 1976 Olympics when she agreed to play in a ladies football match. Unfortunately, it was during this match that she suffered an injury which ended her sprinting career.
What strikes me about Chi-chi’s story is that that moment could have been the end. With the injury she suffered, her hopes of being an Olympian ended so abruptly, she could have fizzled out into obscurity. She didn’t. She bounced back. Whilst awaiting her operation for her right knee she decided that she could begin to devote time to piano practice and decided to enter the annual school music competition for the first time. Better still, she won the competition playing Chopin. Learning to deal with challenges, preferably with some support, but also through the development of resilience and resourcefulness, are skills that need to be taught and rehearsed. It’s evident that Chi-chi had this in her relationship with her parents. Their encouragement and love is summed up in an article from April 2017 where she recalled the words of her father: “There is nothing you cannot do in this world Chi-chi, but what you do have to do is study your books and excel.” From my perspective, Chi-chi took ownership of these words and advice, finding the strength to believe in herself and work hard.
Central to Chi-chi’s story is her indomitable spirit, supportive and encouraging adults guiding her, opportunities through school and a commitment to instigating change. The instrument for which she is now world renowned, she only took up after her accident aged 15. The availability of instruments in her school should not be minimised, nor should the kindness and support she received from her music teacher John Dussek who conveyed his belief that she could have a career in music. Music and the arts are often overlooked in education, deemed nice to haves but less than the 3Rs. I am not a musician, but I thank my secondary school music teacher - Mrs Buckley - as well as the primary school I attended for providing instruments and a curriculum that included music and art, which we might not have come across otherwise. I still recall taking music exams as a young person, the pieces of music I learnt but also being a part of the school choir and the London Schools’ Symphonic Band. These experiences fostered a lifelong appreciation for which I am grateful. As a teacher in south London, I’d often play classical music for my pupils during writing tasks. Unsurprisingly, they initially moaned, but they got used to it, some enjoyed it or found it soothing, some admitted that they had started to do the same whilst studying, and occasionally some even asked me questions about the pieces and the composers.
Schools and teachers play such an important role in shaping our lives and our futures. It’s the reason why it’s crucial that childhood is filled with a rich variety of people and experiences. Without exposure to new things, we cannot make an informed choice, determine what we like or dislike, learn or acquire new skills and interests.
Chi-chi’s decision to start the orchestra has meant that people across the world hear from racially minoritised composers whose works received less recognition, as well as musicians who might otherwise be overlooked. She has also rather cleverly started to dismantle barriers between classical music and musicians and more popular music. In her debut concert, she chose to include black British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade for the Orchestra and In Memoriam: Stephen Lawrence by Philip Herbert . These deliberate and conscious decisions increase the audience’s awareness and it makes it more likely, more possible, that racially minoritised young people will believe that they can engage in this art form.
I’ve been fortunate to hear the Chineke! Orchestra and singers as well as cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. I don’t think that I knew that a racially representative orchestra was missing from my life or that seeing people with a wide range of complexions, hair styles and appearances would touch me. But it did. And for that, I am grateful.
Chi-chi is a Professor of Double Bass Historical Studies at the Royal Academy of Music and has broadcast and guest presented on a number of BBC shows. She’s won a number of business awards too, but for me, what she has achieved through representation in the Chineke! Orchestra and Foundation is genuinely inspiring and literally left me radiating an inexplicable electricity and joy.
If you would like support on race equity and how to embed anti-racism in your school/setting/trust, find out more here. For training on using supportive anti-racist language, you can sign up to our online course.
This blog forms part of the series for Black History Month 2023’s theme: Celebrating Our Sisters.
With World Book Day just around the corner on Thursday 7th March, we encourage you to think about how you can use this event to promote inclusion within your school whilst also engaging, enthusing and exciting children about reading.
Literature is probably the most powerful medium through which children have a chance to inhabit the lives of those who are like them….
The Reading Framework July 2023
In “The Full Story”- a recent report for the NEU that explores how books can be used to promote disability inclusion - Mark Jennett explains that:
Arguably, the group least well served by children’s literature are disabled people. Depictions of disability are still relatively rare. Where they do occur, they are often part of bullying narratives or feature people ‘overcoming’ their impairments to achieve great things, neither of which necessarily aid inclusion.”
The Full Story, NEU
For a long time, characters in children’s books with disabilities were either non-existent, or followed the medical model where disability was portrayed as a barrier that needed to be ‘suffered’ or ‘overcome.’ Sometimes, disability was used as a plot device to elicit a particular response from the reader: I remember feeling confused even as a child reading The Secret Garden, when the combination of his new friend, Mary Lennox, and some fresh air enabled Colin to rise from his wheelchair and recover from his long-term disability.
Stories began to include characters with disabilities, but often their disability was a ‘necessary’ part of the plot – think “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.” But it can be confusing for children to read about disability as a ‘superpower’: that doesn’t always feel particularly real either.
In many great stories you recognise the characters because they remind you of yourself, your siblings or someone in your class. Inspiring books can help us to explore the big questions of how we belong, what our value is and how we can contribute to our world.
In the best titles, disabled characters are shown to enjoy many of the same things and to have much in common with the rest of us. They are neither victims nor heroes – just ordinary people getting on with the business of living.
The Full Story, NEU
More recently, there are some good examples where this story telling balance takes place– where disability is visible but incidental. My 11-year-old son believes that the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan achieves this.
A group of neurodivergent young people - interviewed as part of Edinburgh University’s “Neurodiversity & Narrative Fiction Project” - described how “representation should be complex, realistic, and positive.”They believed that if they had been able toread books featuring neurodivergent characters when they were younger, this could have helped them gain a better understanding of themselves and feel less isolated:
"I would have known that this was a normal thing to have. And that there were lots of other people like me, it would have helped a lot." Neurodiversity & Narrative Fiction Project
But this is only half of the picture. The Reading Framework continues:
Children also need to learn about the lives of those whose experiences and perspectives differ from their own. Choosing stories and non-fiction that explore such differences begins to break down a sense of otherness that often leads to division and prejudice.
The Reading Framework, July 2023
Books aren’t just about stories, and non-fiction books can provide an essential bridge to extend our knowledge. Some children tell us they feel isolated by their disability, especially if it that disability is less visible in their community or society as a whole.
I discovered that one of the best ways to help children to empathise with each other is through children’s books….it opens up a dialogue about disability without putting a particular child on the spot and making the conversation specifically about them.
Victoria Williamson, author
The Abilities in Me series of books, written by Hertfordshire author Gemma Keir, are well pitched as an introduction to a range of additional needs and disabilities. Books can give teachers a gentle way to explore and discuss difference on a daily basis.
How illustrators choose to include children with disabilities can also help subtly introduce children to a wider range of visible disabilities than they might have encountered so far in their own experiences.
The DfE’s Reading Framework describes this dual function of books as being both ‘mirrors’ and ‘windows,’ a term first introduced by Dr Rudine Sims Bishop in 1990.
All pupils should encounter characters, situations and viewpoints that mirror their own lives, so they understand that they matter. Books, however, should also give them a window into the lives of others.
The Reading Framework, July 2023.
In 2021, HFL Education’s annual SEND conference coincided with World Book Day, and to celebrate we included some of our favourite inclusive reads. We quickly realised how much schools value inclusive book recommendations; now we always include new titles in our SEND briefings. Recent choices for Key Stage 1 that we have highlighted include:
You’re so Amazing! by James and Lucy Catchpole
Dexter! The Amazing School Dog! by Lucy Plunkett and Sian Bowman
This is Me! By George Webster
We display this quote every time we introduce the book section:
Inclusion is particularly important. No child should ever feel excluded by books. No child should feel that they don’t belong in books, because they never see themselves reflected in their pages, and so reach the conclusion that books are for other people, not for them.
S F Said, writing for the Book Trust 2023
This World Book Day, we encourage you to reflect with your team about how your book choices can demonstrate to all children, including those with additional needs or disabilities, that you see them, that you value them and that you want them to know that they belong.
Please email: hflsend@hertfordshire.gov.uk if you have discovered a book that we can share with our wider SENCO community at future SEND briefings.
If you’d like more inspiration for your library, the BookTrust has recommendations, including books about Autism, ADHD and Dyslexia.
The Full Story, published by the NEU, includes a list of inclusive book recommendations.
Having considered how to ensure that all children are recipients of a rich reading diet, with whole class guided reading being just one element (see Part 1), let’s turn our attention to how we might* develop and structure whole class guided reading (WCGR) lessons in key stage 2 (KS2). This blog aims to support you through this process, whether you are new to implementing whole class guided reading (WCGR) with your class/ school or have been doing this for some time already.
*We say ‘might’ very deliberately here – all guidance must be combined, questioned and underpinned by your own experience and knowledge of the children you teach. This is one part of a sequence of three blogs, focusing on whole class guided reading. Part 2 focuses on selection of texts; Part 3 goes into the detail of a potential WCGR lesson structure.
Which texts should we be using for whole class guided reading?
Once pupils can decode accurately and speedily, reading a lot is the principal way they develop as readers. Putting in the ‘reading miles’ allows pupils to practise their reading, building experience with increasingly complex texts, encountering new knowledge, gaining new language, including vocabulary, and developing their fluency.
This is something we are often asked. Of course, it sounds obvious to say that we must ensure that children have access to excellent literature. As the reading framework states: ‘They should read, listen to and talk about contemporary and classic writing by a broad and diverse range of authors, where the depth of ideas and language allows for rich discussion and study’ (The reading framework, p. 87). We know the vital importance of books being ‘mirrors, windows and sliding doors’ (Dr Rudine Sims Bishop) where children encounter characters, situations, and viewpoints ‘that mirror their own lives, so they understand that they matter’ but should also ‘give them a window into the lives of others’ (The reading framework, p. 87).
We know that reading high-quality and diverse literature, including some of the ‘classics’, is crucial. But how do we know which ones are suitable for different year groups, and for our own class? It might be tempting at this point to refer to Lexile scores to help us. However, such readability formulas do not give us the full picture and can even be misleading. Mature themes, ambiguity, and requirements for background knowledge are not accounted for. In the English language, a whopping 80% of words have more than one meaning – they are polysemous (Quigley, 2020, p. 74). How we identify that meaning depends on the context within which it has been used. For example, to describe someone who has ‘sharp ears’ carries different meaning compared to describing a pencil as sharp. A seemingly everyday word therefore can become more abstract and require deeper inference making, depending on its usage within the text. As Wayne Tennent et al state: ‘Counting the length of words and sentences is not sufficient to make a judgment about the challenge a text will present.’ (2016, p.7). They offer a different way to evaluate texts to be selected for guided reading study in KS2 – calling this method ‘mapping text potential’.
Mapping the potential of a text
Finding the right text is important, but this takes time and knowledge of the text itself. There are, ultimately, no short cuts to having read the book beforehand, to decide whether it is suitable for your whole class guided reading lessons. Tennent et al (2016) suggest these key criteria when selecting a text for study, based on its potential and challenges:
Subject – what is the text about?
Text-type, purpose and intended readership
Theme – the deeper meaning
Narrative features – from whose perspective is it written? Where is it set?
Literary features – particular stylistic devices
Language features – e.g. imagery, metaphor
Grammar, syntax and sentence structure
Vocabulary
Historical, social and cultural context – where is it set and who is represented?
Coherence
Visual features – design of material
Making links to background knowledge and experiences
Taken from ‘Guiding Readers – A handbook for teaching reading comprehension to 7-11 year olds’ by Wayne Tennent, David Reedy, Angela Hobsbaum and Nikki Gamble (2016)
The type of text and text structure needs to be noted here. What we know and expect from a text’s structure and its organisation is a key component of how we construct meaning from that text. This means that selecting a broad variety of text types or genres (e.g. narrative, poetry, information texts, articles, speeches, newspaper articles, etc) should be an important factor in deciding what children will read in their reading lessons. More practice with reading unfamiliar, as well as familiar, text types, along with a wide variety of subject matter makes us better readers.
We could argue that the above criteria can be applied to a text to be studied by a whole class of children, as well as by a smaller guided group, because even within a small group of children there will be a diverse range of interests, experiences and background knowledge. No one child (or human being) is ever the same as another. No single text can ever capture the hearts and minds of all children within a whole class; the same can be said for children within a group. Here, therefore, are inevitably the limitations of using the same text with more than one child. However, we can try to mitigate against that pitfall with a thorough shared understanding of reading for pleasure and its embedded ethos within the school, as well as recognising other elements of a reading diet or additional instruction that each child should have (see part 1). All children are entitled to encountering challenging texts. Thus, we must make sure that, alongside this challenge, the texts we select for WCGR lessons are engaging, rich, multi-layered, exciting and, ultimately, are worth the effort of reading them.
Here is an example of how a teacher took the above criteria, and started to map the potential of a core text for Year 6 (the brilliant ‘Clockwork’ by Philip Pullman), in preparation for whole class guided reading whole class guided reading lessons:
The importance of considering text variety and background knowledge
In this example, the children in Year 6 would study the core text ‘Clockwork’ by Philip Pullman in their whole class guided reading lessons for a half-term, but that is not the whole story (if you’ll excuse the pun). Reading just one text for a whole half-term would not provide variety, and perhaps not all children will enjoy it. This teacher has thought about reading other text types, and how to encourage children to make intertextual connections with other works of fiction and poetry. They have also carefully considered how different elements of background knowledge need to be addressed and incorporated within WCGR lessons (as well as when they might need it). Whilst it is not necessary to know everything about a text to understand it (and of course, reading is often how we learn new things), we need to consider which elements of background knowledge are not essential and which could indeed be very useful. In a recent study, Reid Smith et al (2021) concluded that ‘explicitly teaching background knowledge should be considered foundational to increasing competency in reading’ (p.233). As teachers, we can support children to build and monitor their comprehension as new background knowledge is acquired. It is therefore crucial that links are made for the children to show how the supplementary texts that are studied provide us with the background knowledge required to deepen our understanding of the core text, and beyond.
The importance of vocabulary knowledge
Along with background knowledge, vocabulary knowledge is essential in order to comprehend, and these two areas are intrinsically connected. It is useful to consider the work of Beck, McKeown and Kucan (2013) to help us decide which words to teach or discuss. To use their definition of ‘tiered vocabulary’, tier one words are words that we might commonly use in everyday speech (such as ‘door’, ‘run’, ‘because’ or ‘quick’). Tier two words are those that are more commonly used in written communication and in literary language, but they are also not subject-specific or technical words. As a result, they are often overlooked because they are not associated with a particular discipline or subject (such as science or music, for example). Whilst reading ‘Clockwork’, the teacher has selected some of these tier two words to focus upon from the book, such as ‘relentless’, ‘scowled’ and ‘temperament’. Also, to refer back to those tricksy polysemous words – they are other words to think about… is there an ordinarily tier one word (such as ‘sharp’) masquerading as tier two? These are also very useful words to pick out and talk about, so that misunderstandings do not spiral, but also to demonstrate how unendingly fascinating and intricate the English language is.
Points for consideration
Here are some questions to consider when selecting texts for whole class guided reading study in KS2:
Are children reading a wide range of whole texts in WCGR lessons, as well as shorter pieces and/or extracts, that encompass broad and diverse literature? Are there a wide variety of text types, as well as subject matter, being discussed?
Do the criteria for selection of texts include those from the suggestions listed above?
Does your school have a list of ‘core texts’ for WCGR lessons in KS2, which is regularly reviewed and refreshed, taking into account new publications and children’s needs and/or interests?
Are there opportunities for all children to study supporting material for development of background knowledge, to support comprehension of the core texts and beyond?
Do parents know about their books their children are studying, and how they can support at home?
Other useful resources and websites:
If you would like more support with selecting texts, Assessing with Age-Related Texts (AART) is a framework to support identification of texts that offer appropriate challenge to underpin robust reading assessment. There are analyses of sample age-related texts for teachers that demonstrate end-of-year expectations. The award-winners are often a great place to start, along with other very useful websites that collate suggestions for wonderful texts according to approximate year group categories. Here are some websites that might help:
UKLA Book Awards
The Yoto Carnegies
Empathy Lab
Books for Topics
LoveReading4Kids
References:
Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown & Linda Kucan (2013): ‘Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction’, Guildford Press.
Christopher Such (2021): The Art and Science of Teaching Primary Reading, Corwin.
Wayne Tennent, David Reedy, Angela Hobsbaum & Nikki Gamble (2016): Guiding Readers – A handbook for teaching reading comprehension to 7 – 11 year olds, UCL Institute of Education Press.
We are very excited to share that we have teamed up with Sky Studios Elstree for a special event to help teachers from all over Hertfordshire understand what it takes for their students to get into careers in the media.
Together, we have organised a special Industry Insight Event day at Sky Studios Elstree on Tuesday 11th June2024 where teachers will get behind to scenes access to gain a greater understanding of the skills young people need to develop.
We have also secured a day at the Hertfordshire Development Centre for teachers to meet local employers from the STEM (Science, IT Design and Technology, Computing, Digital Media and Maths) sector (Friday 19th April 2024). The businesses will be giving updates on the breadth of opportunities available in the sector.
“At HFL Education, children are at the heart of everything we do. These events are part of the comprehensive support services, training and resources we offer to schools and learning settings. We want to enhance every child’s education. Our Insight Industry Events give teachers that extra knowledge to bridge the gap between industry and education.”
“Research by The Sutton Trust shows nearly nine in ten teachers (88%) feel their training doesn’t currently prepare them to deliver careers support to students. We want to give teachers the knowledge and also, local contacts to pass on to their students who are interested in aiming for these careers. Our strong partnerships with schools and employers ensure that we have the right mix of educational and industry expertise to make our careers events extremely effective.
The session at Sky Studios Elstree will give teachers the chance to talk to local employers in the creative industries and find out more about the application and selection process for jobs in the sector.
The STEM event at the Hertfordshire Development Centre will include a presentation from Kevin Gilmartin, Post-16 specialist, Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), who will give teachers information on the changing post-16 landscape, and the importance of supporting careers in the curriculum. The Hertfordshire LEP, Careers and Enterprise company and Unifrog will share insights in local labour market information and the future career opportunities for young people in the county.
HFL Education’s Industry Insight Events are part of the Teacher Encounters project, commissioned by the Hertfordshire Careers Hub.
Both events are FREE and can be booked on the links below:
We are passionate about maths and ensuring that children not only get the right answers, but that they understand what they have done and why.
We also believe in giving teachers the tools to support them in the classroom rather than a passive plug-in-and play approach which other schemes might lead to. This passion was the driving force for the development of our ESSENTIALmaths resource.
We are incredibly proud of the results we have seen from schools using the resources and the difference it has made to the children you work with, but we won’t stop there. Our advisers regularly see ESSENTIALmaths in action, have noted ways to make it even better, have listened to your feedback and are excited to be launching an ESSENTIALmaths v2.0 subscription, ready for September 2024.
Watch the recording of our ‘show and tell’ webinar held on the 4th March 2024, where we tell you all about the latest developments in the single and mixed-age ESSENTIALmaths planning and pupil rehearsal suite.
Here are some of the improvements we share:
Re-mapped long-term plans
Curriculum progression identified on every sequence
Re-designed Rehearsal and Reasoning sheets
Fully aligned homework suite
Online teacher interface – everything in one place
So, you have been asked to lead a subject across the school, or you may have been leading a subject in primary for a few years now or in a small school you may be responsible for more than one subject. Do you really know how to monitor and strengthen your subject in Early Years? Especially as sometimes the subject has a different name. Keeping on top of monitoring, checking that your colleagues are confident teaching your subject, monitoring attainment and keeping up to date on current thinking - I think I can help.
During my teaching career, colleagues from other year groups visit EYFS and are slightly discombobulated by the layout of the classroom, the lack of desks and chairs and how learning is taking placed and being assessed. Often the passing comment as they leave EYFS is ‘I don’t know how you do it!’ Well, it is the best place in the world to teach, although I might be bias, but what I really want is for colleagues leading a subject to come into the provision and find their subject in action, to feel confident talking about how the early years teaching underpins later learning in Year 1 and beyond.
Foundation Stage really does ‘what is says on the tin’, it lays the foundation for learning, the behaviours, and beliefs that children can be successful regardless of their starting points.
The Early Years Foundation Stage seeks to provide:
Quality and consistency in all early years settings, so that every child makes good progress, and no child gets left behind.
A secure foundation through planning for the learning and development of each individual child and assessing and reviewing what they have learned regularly.
Partnership working between practitioners and with parents and/or carers.
Equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice, ensuring that every child is included and supported.
There are seven areas of learning each interwoven, so learning makes sense. The four overarching principles of EYFS are:
Every child is a unique child
Children learn through positive relationships
Children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults
Learning and development - children develop and learn at different rates
Alongside these principles, the Characteristics of Effective Learning (CoEL):
Playing and exploring - children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’
Active learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
Creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things
The three CoEL can be applied to all subjects at all ages. A great way to think about learning and how adults apply these characteristics is by reminiscing about the last time you bought a new mobile phone. Let’s be honest, none of us read the extensive manual in the box. If you are anything like me, you held the box, slid open the lid, listened to the unique sound as the box slid open, then pressed buttons, and followed instructions on the screen until all contacts have moved across and we have access to our favourite apps. You played, explored, thought critically and were creative.
