review of the scottish government literacy hub …the raising attainment and achievement agenda...

Review of the Scottish Government Literacy Hub Approach

March 2014

John Christie Bruce Robertson

John Stodter

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Table of Contents

Review of the Scottish Government Literacy Hub Approach ................................................ 5

Executive summary ................................................................................................................ 5

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 6

Aims and Objectives of the Review .................................................................................... 6

Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 6

Background and Context ........................................................................................................ 7

The Literacy Hubs ................................................................................................................... 8

Edinburgh Hub .................................................................................................................... 9

Fife Hub ............................................................................................................................ 12

Highland Hub .................................................................................................................... 14

North Lanarkshire Hub ..................................................................................................... 15

West Dunbartonshire Hub ............................................................................................... 17

Measuring Impact: Case Study 1 (North Lanarkshire) ......................................................... 18

Measuring Impact: Case Study 2 (West Dunbartonshire) .................................................... 19

Review Findings and Recommendations ............................................................................. 21

Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 26

Appendix 1: Paper to Literacy Commission ......................................................................... 27

Appendix 2: Note of meeting between key Local Authority Directors of Education re “Hub Model for Literacy Improvement” ....................................................................................... 29

Appendix 3: Outcome of audit of the five hub authorities .................................................. 31

Appendix 4: Grant Objectives 2012 ..................................................................................... 33

Appendix 5: Literacy Hubs – Specific Objectives and Intended Outcomes for Each Hub Summary, 2013/14 ............................................................................................................... 39

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Review of the Scottish Government Literacy Hub Approach

Executive summary

The decision of the Scottish Government to sponsor this approach was forward-looking and successful.

The funding invested was well used in terms of the added value it created to all those authorities involved.

The lead authorities had already committed a high level of investment to their literacy strategies and the hub funding, allowed them to create additional capacity to share and collaborate with others.

In turn the benefits to the partners varied according to their own commitment to their own literacy strategies.

A variety of approaches to partnership working in hubs was found.

There were a range of benefits for hosts and partners including increased capacity for development within a context of reducing resources, engagement with professional learning and sharing of expertise. The hub model provided a dynamic for change such that it can be used for other improvement activities across authorities.

For the model to work successfully coordination is required.

The interventions were focused predominantly on improving early literacy and included improving teaching and learning, professional development, research, evaluation and consultancy.

In all cases the interventions were firmly rooted in current research and their impact was being evaluated.

Plans for implementation and dissemination were clear in lead authorities but were still at an early stage in others.

Generally authorities saw literacy as a central part of a wider strategy for raising attainment and improving outcomes. They also made links between this approach and other developments such as Numeracy, Languages and Teaching Scotland’s Future.

The main outcomes of the hub approach are improved focus on literacy; enhanced practice; more robust evaluation; and increased inter authority working including the sharing of good practice.

Hosts and partners all identified the merits of working together. It is therefore more likely that they will collaborate in developments in the future.

Councils ideally would have liked more time to plan for the creation of the hubs and a longer period of funding in order to see the full impact of the development.

It is recommended that national agencies and local education authorities work together with a sense of urgency to examine options for collaborative working on key national priorities which can benefit from such approaches.

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Introduction

Aims and Objectives of the Review

The Scottish Government Improving Performance to Raise Attainment Team (IPRA) invited the Association of Directors of Education (ADES), to conduct a review of the operation of the Literacy Hubs between January and March 2014. The overall aim of the Review was "to understand the impact of the Literacy Hub approach has had across host and partner local authorities" (IPRA paper November 2013). More specifically the agreed objectives of the Review were to outline:

• an understanding of how the Literacy Hub approach has worked in host local authority and associated partner authorities

• the benefits of the literacy hub approach and the potential transferability of the approach to other improvement activities

• the partnership working of the hubs on an inter authority basis • the challenges of staffing, finances and resources of the literacy hubs • the range of interventions taken forward across the hubs and how and how interventions

have been identified and disseminated • an understanding of links that are being made to other national and local initiatives

relating to raising attainment strategies • the main outcomes of the literacy hub approach • an understanding of what local authorities, both host and partner, are now doing

differently as a result of the literacy hub approach • the sustainability of the literacy hub approach without the guarantee of central funding

from Scottish Government.

Methodology

The work was carried out by three researchers, all former Directors of Education, between January and March 2014. Some tasks involved a full team approach, others involved individual researcher activities. None of the work was sub contracted. The methodology involved:

• an initial briefing meeting with Scottish Government officials • background reading of the range of documentation relating to the Literacy Hubs provided

by the lead official and the various authority contacts • one day meetings by all three researchers with Local Authority lead officials and authority

partners in Edinburgh, Fife and North Lanarkshire. Two researchers met with West Dunbartonshire and partners, and two researchers met with Highland Council. A clear understanding of each Local Authority project and a range of supportive evidence was gleaned during these visits

• telephone interviews with some hub partners and follow up telephone interviews with some hub authorities

• analysis of the evidence and data presented by the hub and partner authorities • an interim feedback meeting with Scottish Government, Education Scotland and SQA

officials on 17 February 2014

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Background and Context

Improving standards of literacy has been a major focus of Scottish Government policy development since 2010.

The Scottish Government published a Literacy Action Plan in October 2010 which followed on from a Scottish Literacy Commission Report of 2009. (www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/10/27084039/9)

This plan had an "overarching vision …to raise standards of literacy for all levels from the early years to adulthood" with "a particular focus on those with the lowest levels of literacy." One of the manifesto commitments of the Scottish Government was to eradicate illiteracy because, despite a majority of the Scottish population having good literacy skills, the Scottish Survey of Adult Literacies (2009) indicated that a sizeable minority (27%) of the adult population would benefit from improving their skills. 3.6% of the adult population were reported to have very limited literacy skills. Deprivation is a direct factor in low levels of literacy hence the need for a particular focus on raising literacy levels generally, but in particular in areas of disadvantage. The Standing Literacy Commission oversees the 2010 national action plan and is aware of, and interested in, the work of the Literacy Hubs.

Improving literacy levels and associated literacy developments are also key dimensions of national policy initiatives led by Scottish Government and national agencies such as Education Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Agency. Literacy development is at the heart of Early Years education and childcare, the Early Years Collaborative, Curriculum for Excellence, and research confirms the link between employability skills and literacy levels. Literacy unlocks learning. The raising attainment and achievement agenda recognises the correlation between literacy levels, educational outcomes, and a young person’s life prospects with those living in areas of disadvantage most at risk of under-performing. Local authorities and their community planning partners have the key role in delivering local improvements in literacy levels

The Literacy Action plan identified just how significant the role of Local Authorities was in addressing the goal of raising standards of literacy across Scotland. Local Authorities have local literacy strategies in place which often reflect some common themes such as early years initiatives, including the collaborative since its inception, the literacy strands that run through CfE, raising attainment policies, and the continuing and adult education opportunities facilitated through Community Learning and Development partners. There are also known areas of innovative and good practice across Scotland, identified normally through inspection, networking and reputational evidence, of which Scottish Government and its national agency partners are aware. On this basis, the genesis of the Literacy Hubs was founded. A paper was presented to the Standing Literacy Commission on 15 November 2011 proposing the hub model. This is included as Appendix 1 of this report.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/2010/10/27084039/9

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The Literacy Hubs

Five Local Authorities were identified by the Scottish Government Learning Directorate and its national agency partners, Education Scotland and SQA, as having good practice in literacy developments: City of Edinburgh, Fife, Highland, North Lanarkshire, and West Dunbartonshire Councils. The Curriculum Division of the Learning Directorate sponsored and led the hub programme from its inception on 11 November 2011.

The hub model was identified as a possible improvement model for each of the five authorities to share their expertise with a group of partner Councils who, in turn, would benefit from the opportunities to further develop their own approaches to literacy strategies. It was an innovative step by the Curriculum Unit to break with some of the more common approaches used to support Local Authority work across Scotland's 32 Councils, and to attempt to gain collaborative approaches at a time when Councils were beginning to reduce staffing levels at quality improvement and development officer level. The decision to conduct a review of the approach is well timed both from the point of view of literacy development and associated good practice, but also as a possible mechanism on which to build consortia approaches to school and system improvement.

The 11 November 2011 meeting of the five authorities and national officials identified a number of common themes which could be built on as part of the hub approach. Anote of the meeting is contained in Appendix 2 of this report. In addition, an audit was carried out of the key features of the approach to Literacy development across 5 Authorities, featured in Appendix 3 of this report. Some of the key aspects were:

• Inclusive, sustained whole school approaches, with a particular focus on early years • Early identification and targeted interventions for children where literacy needs were

apparent • Training and CPD opportunities for teaching and support staff • Partnership working adding value to an authority approach • The use of "Real Books" to engage children, especially boys • The role of the Educational Psychology service in authorities • Leadership at all levels

Our research confirms that these factors have been apparent in the hub developments.

The Key National Milestones in the development of the hubs following this early meeting were:

• Invitations to all five authorities to submit proposals on how some Scottish Government funding could be used to expand their work with named partner authorities.

• Grants allocated over two years to 5 hubs in year 1, and 4 hubs in year 2. (Highland withdrew after year one, see below). Appendices 4&5 outline the objectives of the grants. The total spend on the initiative with the grants and the costs of two conferences was £376,000.

• A national conference in April 2012 attended by 30 Local Authorities and a range of national partners and agencies.

• A further national event in May 2013 where the hubs shared their practice and findings. • A decision by Learning Directorate in November 2013 to review the approach.

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Edinburgh Hub

The Edinburgh Hub is described by its members as an “aspirational, inclusive and pro-active partnership.”

The Children and Families department of City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) has a fully integrated literacy strategy with strands led by different parts of the service. There is a particular emphasis on improving outcomes for the lowest attaining 20% and Looked After children.

In establishing the Hub CEC has taken care to establish an ethos of partnership and collaboration amongst the participants. CEC has played a vital role in coordinating the Hub activity and hosting meetings but every partner has shared in the development of work across the various councils.

East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian and Scottish Borders have been members of the Hub from the beginning and Dumfries and Galloway joined in the second year. Each council is developing its own approach to literacy while benefiting from the work of hub partners.

The grant funding from Scottish Government for the Hub, although allocated to CEC, has been shared among hub members. This has ensured that every hub member has been able to participate fully in the meetings of the Hub and to support local projects. This has reinforced the sense of partnership which was evident in our meetings with the various hub members.

Where available, each partner has shared their literacy strategy with the other members of the hub. Examples of sharing have included:

• East Lothian, Edinburgh and Dumfries and Galloway are sharing approaches to developing a Reading Culture.

• Edinburgh and West Lothian are sharing approaches to assessment and moderation. • Edinburgh is sharing approaches to vocabulary instruction with Midlothian and Scottish

Borders • Midlothian students attended the Edinburgh Advanced Higher Creative Writing

Conference in 2013. • Additionally there are several examples of local authorities working together to develop

and share resources: • A directory of good practice which was created for the Building Bridges conference is now

being updated. • Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway are collaborating to

produce a reading comprehension toolkit for P5 – P7. • Midlothian has shared primary talking and listening materials • Edinburgh has shared various teaching resources with all of the partners

There have been several examples of shared professional development activities. The most extensive has been the holding of the Building Bridges conference in August 2013. There are many other examples where CEC has delivered CPD for staff in other places or has invited hub members to attend events and activities in Edinburgh.

These collaborative activities have contributed to increased professional capacity in each of the partner authorities. The Hub members were keen to point out that all development officers and partner authority representatives are now working across authorities and are

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gaining a wider understanding of literacy development. Additionally all members of the steering and operational groups have engaged with the latest research findings in literacy.

Many staff have been involved in delivering CPD at conferences and in schools. Others have undertaken enhanced professional development through their involvement with the Hub.

All of the partners we met were keen to emphasise the benefits of participation in the Hub. Smaller local authorities unsurprisingly had gained from the larger capacity of their bigger neighbour but it is important to note that every member of the Hub, including CEC, spoke of the benefits of the partnership working made possible by coming together in the Hub

A key feature of the success of the Hub has been the coordination and leadership offered by CEC. This was made possible by the funding from Scottish Government which paid for a seconded post.

The involvement of educational psychologists in the work of the Hub was commented on favourably by others and it was noted that their expertise had brought a degree of rigour to the work including the gathering of evidence to demonstrate the impact of different interventions and the greater attention paid to current research.

An interesting and unique element of this Hub is the involvement of a speech therapist who is a member of the sub-group on reading and comprehension. This has allowed her to develop further her ideas and take forward some pilot work in primary schools. At the moment this is restricted to CEC but it may be possible to share this with the other members in due course.

All of the Hub members commented on the clarity of purpose which the Hub had brought to their work. The literacy developments are linked closely to research and are being developed and delivered through multi-disciplinary partnerships. Hub members are actively looking for opportunities to collaborate and learn from each other.

It was apparent that there is enthusiasm to maintain and build upon the links which have been established in the two years since the Hub was formed but in the absence of funding other means of coordination and sharing practice will have to be devised.

The two current priorities of the Hub are “Creating a Reading Culture” and “Reading Comprehension.” Both of these are linked closely to an overarching priority to raise attainment.

It is too early to gauge the lasting impact of the various interventions which are being developed by the Hub partners but plans are in place for impact to be measured on the Scottish Borders’ approach to reading comprehension as part of a practitioner’s collaborative action enquiry. Likewise the impact of West Lothian’s approach to reading comprehension will be measured as part of a practitioner’s MSc in leadership.

In an Edinburgh school we were able to observe primary school children engaging with a new approach to enhanced vocabulary teaching which had been developed in one school and was now being introduced into another. Positive results had been achieved in the originating school and impact will continue to be measured as this approach is adopted by more schools.

The features of the Edinburgh Hub can be summarised as follows:

• Partnership at the heart of the process

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• Coordinated by Edinburgh which hub funding has helped • Budget shared among partners to aid hub working • Edinburgh Council Literacy Strategy at heart of the development work in the city • Each partner has developed their own approach and shared learning

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Fife Hub

The context for the Fife Hub is the Workshop for Literacy approach which has been in development in Fife since 2008 and which is part of the Fife literacy strategy.

This Hub provides an opportunity for members to learn from the Fife experience. It is characterised by Fife’s willingness to share materials and expertise freely. When the hubs were being established the director of education in Fife wrote to 12 local authorities inviting them to join the Fife Hub. Three councils took up this offer, namely, Angus, Dundee and Stirling. Each of these councils has benefited from its association with Fife but to date there has been no link established between any of the hub members other than directly with Fife.

Each of the hub members spoke positively about the opportunities which the hub provided for sharing practice. It was also observed that the hub had provided a focus for development and a momentum for change in each the participating authorities.

Colleagues in Fife commented that, at the outset, it would have been beneficial for the hub leaders to have met and agreed ground rules before issuing invitations to others.

The workshop for literacy is fundamentally a professional development process about effective learning and teaching. The process is based on current research and has been developed in close partnership with the educational psychology service. It is a child centred approach intended to engage and excite children about literature. Observation and literacy skills are developed in order that practitioners might become more confident in identifying and planning next steps in learning.

The approach was originally developed within a cluster of schools and over time it has been extended and a learning leaders network has developed. The hub funding has been used to enhance this team which, in turn, has allowed them to support other local authorities.

Hub members have visited Fife for presentations and school visits and they have received all of the materials Fife has developed to support the approach. This has included the development of a tracker instrument which was reported to have been well received by schools.

In the second year funding has been used to resource evaluation of the impact of the Workshop for Literacy approach. This has included a study of a sample of 29 schools, standardised assessment, teacher questionnaires, headteacher feedback and also feedback from the literacy team. Fife is now looking at how to make this approach sustainable across all Fife schools and has recently established a new pedagogy team with responsibility for supporting the development of literacy, numeracy and nurture in all Fife schools.

Angus Council reported that this sharing of practice had been very useful in its own work. It had encouraged them to re-examine their own practice and to improve it. They also reported that they are now working more closely with their own educational psychology service as a result of the Fife experience.

Dundee Council reported that the Hub had given momentum to their work and had also introduced rigour into their own thinking about evaluation.

Each of the hub members agreed that the hub model had been helpful and was worthy of further development. There was interest in and support for a further conference to share the outcomes of the hub’s work.

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The features of the Fife Hub can be summarised as follows:

• No hub partnership activity but Fife offers a consultancy service for several Authorities • No evidence of sharing among other Hub members but materials freely offered by Fife • Fife approach is an integral part of Literacy and Raising Attainment Strategies with

pedagogy at its heart • Impressive statistical data informing practice and Tracker instrument • Funding has supported evaluation of impact

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Highland Hub

Highland Council responded enthusiastically to the opportunity to become involved in the Literacy Hub development because of their track record of interest and activity in literacy initiatives but also because there was in place, at the time, an extant vehicle for inter-authority collaboration, The Northern Area Forum (NAF). This was a loose consortium of 8 Local Authorities coordinated by an Education Scotland officer who, at the time, had responsibility for the Highlands and Islands. In short, it looked as if a strong base for hub activity was in place.

Highland perceived its objectives as twofold:

• to continue to develop its own literacy provision and make that available to other authorities

• to act as facilitator and organiser via the Forum to share the literacy activities.

In relation to the first objective, progress was made in year one using the grant allocated. The Highland Literacy Project was reviewed and updated, and a partnership with the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) was initiated (see below).

In relation to the latter objective weak progress was made. This was mainly related to capacity issues in Highland Council due to the reduction in development officer and quality improvement officer staffing. The NAF, Education Scotland coordinator moved post and the associated Authorities also saw staffing reductions.

Despite these challenges Highland Council does have a legacy project from the hub activity. The NUJ project mentioned above is focused on higher order literacy skills for secondary age pupils who can develop a range of literacy skills in an applied and relevant setting for their age and also local circumstances. This is being rolled out to all 30 secondary establishments, is a good example of an innovative partnership, and is worth evaluating in due course relating to senior phase CfE applications.

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North Lanarkshire Hub

Since 2005, North Lanarkshire has developed a systematic approach to improving literacy starting off with a primary literacy project then extending this to nurseries and primary schools, and also secondary schools.

Their approach is firmly rooted in the best teaching practice – local and international – supported by extensive research, and developed and tailored by a dedicated team who run professional development experiences at different levels; offer consultation and advice; create materials and resources; monitor and evaluate the approach and its impact. The authority has made a significant investment in improving literacy ensuring that all teachers have the skills required to contribute to a comprehensive council-wide policy to raise attainment and improve outcomes for its young people.

Recognised as a leading council with valued expertise in literacy, and as part of the Literacy Hub initiative nationally, they offered support to all authorities in Scotland in 2012. The Scottish Government funding for Literacy Hubs allowed North Lanarkshire to allocate dedicated time to linking with partners, taking a more planned approach to the large number of contacts and requests for visits from other areas. Generally, they offered consultation visits, training, focus group facilitation and structured discussions and development work to headteachers, school managers, Quality Improvement Officers, Psychologists, and Early Years Practitioners. As a result, North Lanarkshire has:

• given advice to development officers from six councils • advised a number of schools from three other authorities (incl. from other hubs) • and given advice and training to educational psychologists from five councils

First consultations and training events were free to councils under the hub funding.

In total, advice, consultancy or training has been provided to around 150 colleagues from 8 local authorities.

These activities have been consistently very positively evaluated by participants (on a 66% response rate) both in terms of relevance and impact on individual practice. The expertise and support from North Lanarkshire was also highly valued by participants.

Expertise of national significance in literacy now resides in a few individuals in North Lanarkshire having worked on this project over many years.

A well organised Video Enhanced Reflective Practice project is now being implemented in six nurseries with good evidence to demonstrate really positive and early impact on teaching and learning.

The approach of North Lanarkshire has had a strong thread of evaluation and tracking throughout, and a case study is included in the report [REF: “Measuring Impact: CASE STUDY 1”]. Whereas its approach has been strategic and comprehensive, approaches from other areas, e.g. from school staff, were not always part of a wider authority policy or strategy.

The features of the North Lanarkshire led Hub can be summarised as follows:

• Although there is no hub ‘partnership’ as such, North Lanarkshire offers free consultancy service to several Councils; free initial training; and the opportunity to purchase materials

• Significant council investment of resources and staff • Strong central team enhanced by hub resource

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• Strategy linked to raising attainment and improving outcomes with pedagogy at its heart • Impressive and comprehensive statistical data.

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West Dunbartonshire Hub

Since 2012 West Dunbartonshire has advocated a whole school approach to literacy with particular emphasis on the learning and teaching of higher order reading skills with the added dimension of meta cognition in learners using reciprocal reading as the basis of their ‘Reading Routes’ strategy. Initially based on best practice in one school, then refined and enhanced with international research, Reading Routes materials were developed and a training package for teachers was shared with partner authorities – Inverclyde and Renfrewshire councils. A focus on early intervention and on transition from the latter stages of primary into secondary was also adopted. Although West Dunbartonshire was acknowledged as being a leading council in addressing literacy in schools, they worked collaboratively with partner authorities to – share practice (e.g. reciprocal school visits and classroom observation); delivering training across schools in all three areas; facilitating professional dialogue and reflective practice; and engaging secondary teachers in developing better progression, coherence and continuity from primary education.

A teaching guide is being finalised for use across the Hub based on the experience and successful practice of pilot schools in the three authorities.

The involvement of psychological services in the research and development of the approach, and in the evaluation of the impact, extended across partners incorporating a multi-professional and collaborative learning approach which offers a good basis for sustaining the development: this was characterised by sharing of financial, material and human resources, as well as data and evidence in the Hub and with teachers.

The role and capacity of psychological services appear to have been enhanced through the hub approach.

The leadership role of headteachers in developing a whole school approach, with clear links to research and professional development, was distinctive reflecting Teaching Scotland’s Future and showing the strategic significance of the literacy strategy in relation to wider developments in West Dunbartonshire in particular but to some extent in partner authorities (e.g. School Improvement Partnerships; Raising Attainment; Numeracy; Languages).

Evaluation and the use of data and evidence was strong and a case study has been included in the report [REF: “Measuring Impact: CASE STUDY 2”]

The use of video for reflecting on practice and for developing training resources as well as the development of online resources are emerging as key collaborative targets for the future.

The features of the West Dunbartonshire led Hub can be summarised as follows:

• West Dunbartonshire Hub has supported a genuine partnership approach across three Councils of similar profile

• Resources and learning are shared across the Hub leading to an organic, embedded approach

• Pedagogy of teaching reading lies at the heart of the approach linked to raising attainment

• Data and evidence is informing practice • Leadership from the participating Headteachers in all three authorities is a critical factor

in its success.

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Measuring Impact: Case Study 1 (North Lanarkshire)

North Lanarkshire developed a focus on literacy prior to 2005 introducing ‘Active Literacy’ for Primary 1 pupils in that year and adopting the approach as council wide policy two years later in 2007.

The impact on a growing cohort of pupils (rising to the involvement of 54 schools by 2008) was measured using a standardized comprehension score. Schools not yet involved were used as a control group for comparison. Results

In Active Literacy Schools a significant improvement in reading comprehension was evident in Primary 4:

52% were scoring above average (compared to 28% in schools not yet involved); 41% were scoring at an average level (53% in schools not yet involved); 7% were at the lowest levels of attainment in reading (19% in the comparator schools).

Graphically this represents a positive shift in the population of the sample.

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Gains were sustained in Primary 5 and in Primary 6 on measures of comprehension, reading accuracy and reading fluency: all results are statistically significant.

Furthermore, systematic analysis of teaching and learning (using video recording) demonstrated that teachers implementing active literacy spent less time dealing with behavioural issues and more time engaging with pupils in extending their learning: in other words, both learning and teaching were better. [Data provided by North Lanarkshire Council Psychological Services, February 2014]

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Measuring Impact: Case Study 2 (West Dunbartonshire)

West Dunbartonshire set out (with hub partners Inverclyde and West Dunbartonshire) to improve pupil comprehension and reading confidence through the teaching of specific strategies; improved staff knowledge and understanding of teaching reading; and open professional dialogue to encourage the sharing of good practice and collegiate working. A key outcome was also to provide increased coherence of teaching across the transition into secondary, in the main by adopting the ‘Reading Routes’ approach.

Data was collected between January and June 2013 using: a bespoke impact measure using reading comprehension; a standardised measure of reading comprehension (YARC); a Reading Self Concept Scale to gauge pupil confidence with reading; and focus groups with teaching staff centering on their knowledge, understanding and confidence about teaching reading and collegiate working across authorities.

Over400 pupils from P3 to P7 were assessed for higher order skills of understanding, analysis and evaluation.

1) There were increases in comprehension scores from P3 to P7 with the greatest difference in P3. The effect size, (the difference between means on a common scale), was found to be substantial at 0.92 for the pilot schools using the Brooks (2013) descriptors:

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2) Higher order skills (alongside overall comprehension) also improved following implementation of Reciprocal Teaching:

This bespoke measure demonstrated greater gains in comprehension beyond what would be expected through typical maturation of the children involved; whilst overall, the results reflect substantial improvement in pupil comprehension within the time frame for training staff and implementing the approach.

3) The York Assessment of Reading Comprehension (YARC) was also used with a smaller sample of pupils to account for pupil age and maturation over the intervention period. There was a gain in comprehension of 11 months of the reading age of the pupils and the ratio gain was found to be 2.7 months over a four month intervention period. (Ratio gain is the improvement in months for each month Reciprocal Teaching was implemented). Reading accuracy and rate also improved beyond that of the intervention period.

4) Teacher Focus Groups from pilot schools across all three authorities were involved in reciprocal teaching through training and peer visits. Teachers reported improved knowledge, understanding and confidence through collegiate working. Head Teachers agreed that teacher confidence (in implementing the reciprocal reading approach) and in teaching reading generally had grown.

[Data and evidence provided by West Dunbartonshire Council, February 2014]

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Review Findings and Recommendations

1 THE DECISION OF THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT TO SPONSOR THIS APPROACH WAS FORWARD LOOKING AND SUCCESSFUL.

While the decision to sponsor a hub model of improvement was for literacy developments, there are lessons from this particular initiative that are transferable both for the benefit of further work to improve levels of literacy but also as a means to facilitate consortia approaches to school and system improvement.

As an immediate action, we recommend that the Scottish Government should use the outcomes of this review to ascertain progress in the numeracy hubs now underway and identify if any lessons are immediately transferable to add to the potential of their work.

2 THE FUNDING INVESTED WAS WELL USED IN TERMS OF THE ADDED VALUE IT CREATED

TO ALL THOSE AUTHORITIES INVOLVED.

The funding invested by Scottish Government totalling £376,000 was a relatively small sum of money in comparison to other national and local initiatives in education but has had significant benefits across the five hubs but also the 22 Local Authorities who have been involved in some way or another with the five lead Authorities. It has also helped gain an insight into literacy developments but also the wider issue of promoting school and system improvement.

The willingness in Edinburgh and West Dunbartonshire to share their resources was impressive and led to a culture of real developing partnerships. In Fife and North Lanarkshire, where literacy practice was most embedded, the grants allowed them to further develop their approaches and share their expertise. Notwithstanding the lack of progress described earlier in the Highland Hub, the small amount of Grant funding has resulted in the very innovative project for the senior phase in Highland schools.

We feel therefore this has been an excellent use of public funds but recommend that, if the model is used in the future, and perhaps if possible in the numeracy hub initiative, some further clarity of the expectations on the use of the Grant should be introduced by further defining the roles and responsibilities of the various partners in the initiative being sponsored.

3 THE INPUT FROM THE EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES HAS BEEN A

SIGNIFICANT FACTOR IN THE LITERACY HUBS’ SUCCESS AND SHOULD BE FURTHER DEVELOPED.

Educational Psychologists (EPs) have a great deal of expertise to offer in the development of literacy skills, the professional development of teachers and educators, in research activities, and in the use of data to influence interventions for individual and groups of learners. During the review, some very impressive work by the EP services was seen in West Dunbartonshire, Fife and in North Lanarkshire. It is important for literacy developments that we make good use of this service locally and nationally. There is a very varied picture across Scotland of the size and capacity of the EP services and smaller Local Authorities in particular can struggle to create the range of specialist expertise required for activities such as this. We were impressed with how two smaller services in West

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Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire were collaborating and sharing resources for the hub project. The advantage of scale was seen in Fife and North Lanarkshire with highly developed pockets of knowledge and understanding being on display in both services.

As a consequence we recommend that, where appropriate, Psychological Services are used more often in evaluative, research and consultancy roles nationally and locally, and that Local Authorities examine approaches that facilitate collaborative working thereby allowing access to specialisms not always available in smaller services, and therefore to professional development opportunities for psychologists.

4 THE REVIEW HAS IDENTIFIED SOME VERY IMPRESSIVE PRACTICE WHICH REQUIRES TO

BE SHARED AND FURTHER ENHANCED.

During the course of the Review, some outstanding practice and enthusiasm in the field of developing strategies to improve the reading skills of learners was seen. There is clearly a need and a willingness for these to be shared which national and local agencies should foster. All the hub authorities mentioned the advantage that some longer, perhaps three year funding would have given. The leadership given to the four active hubs was a significant factor in their success. The two national Conferences received positive evaluations but there is a danger that some emerging practice is not shared widely enough. The increased opportunities afforded within the 600 hours of Early Education and Childcare from August 2014 plus some of the emerging Early Years Collaborative projects lend themselves to a focus on literacy strategies. The hubs could be a rich resource for such initiatives.

In the short term, however, we recommend that all the hubs are brought together for a sharing of learning day so that the combined expertise and experiences of the Local Authorities and their immediate partners is shared and their advice sought on how best to maintain their momentum. We feel that Education Scotland has a particular role to play here as does the Literacy Commission.

5 THE DEVELOPMENTS WITNESSED IN THE HUBS FOCUSED ON PEDAGOGY AS THE KEY TO

IMPROVEMENTS IN LITERACY

One of the common features of the hubs was the focus on good learning and teaching approaches as a means of improving literacy outcomes for young people. This was particularly focused in early years and early education practitioners but the more highly developed approaches targeted learners through the whole Primary school experience. Plans in the case of Fife, North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire also included interventions in secondary schools. In particular the fundamental issue of how we teach reading skills is a major focus in all four hubs still active. If the Scottish Government aspirations and manifesto commitments on literacy levels are to be realised, there are significant lessons from the hub projects that should be the focus of associated work on teacher education.

While it is important to create interesting and creative opportunities for CPD and on-going teacher education initiatives, a greater focus on the priority of the pedagogy of literacy is recommended.

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6 A WORRYING MIX OF KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE PEDAGOGY OF READING BY STUDENTS ON PLACEMENT AND NEWLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS WAS REPORTED.

When asked, those interviewed reported that too many student teachers and those just qualified did not have a confident working knowledge of the pedagogy of reading. This has been suggested in the past on an anecdotal basis and does seem to have some foundation. It is clearly a very concerning suggestion and one that requires further discussion with Universities involved in Initial Teacher Education.

It is recommended therefore that discussions take place between Scottish Government, Local Authorities and the Scottish Teacher Education Committee (STEC) to identify current practice and measures that can address this concern.

7 THERE WERE VERY IMPRESSIVE APPROACHES TO THE USE OF APPROPRIATE TEXTS AND

NOVELS IN FOUR HUBS

All four active hubs had developed the use of texts and novels as part of their approach to teaching reading and consolidating reading skills. The decades-long approach of reading schemes was being withdrawn in some cases, and in others, supplemented with books that are more relevant to young people’s circumstances. While care is required to select and use appropriate texts, this approach has much to be supported and has known benefits for reluctant readers, especially boys. North Lanarkshire had a very thorough approach to reviewing appropriate texts and also good links with publishers.

We recommend that there is merit in developing a national approach to the identification of such resources so that all schools can access this advice. Education Scotland seems to be the most appropriate agency to host this.

8 THERE WAS VERY IMPRESSIVE USE OF ASSESSMENT DATA TO INFLUENCE PRACTICE

AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FOUR ACTIVE HUBS

As indicated above, individual and group assessment data was informing practice in the four active hubs. Some examples of this data are appended and demonstrate the benefits of such diagnostic assessment approaches. Across Scotland there are varied approaches in Local Authorities to the use of assessment data and acknowledged concerns on the potential use of such information to compare schools and teachers. However, used professionally these can be very helpful both at an individual learner level and for a cohort.

It is recommended that discussions take place between ADES, Local Authorities, National Agencies and Scottish Government on this matter. This could be particularly beneficial if the links between attainment and disadvantage are to be fully addressed.

9 THERE WERE TANGIBLE LINKS BETWEEN THE LITERACY HUB INITIATIVE AND RAISING

ATTAINMENT STRATEGIES

All those interviewed saw the direct connection between the improvement of literacy levels and the national and local strategies aimed at raising attainment and tackling the link between attainment levels in young people and social disadvantage. The data referred to above which has some very impressive results should demonstrate the

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significance of prioritising literacy as a major dimension of any raising attainment approach. Evidence from the Ontario Literacy and Numeracy initiative is an example of a system wide approach with a focus on literacy levels which can have relatively quick improvements.

Bearing in mind that literacy does unlock learning, we recommend that the Literacy Hub evidence is used as part of the emerging practice used locally and nationally and that Scottish Government gives serious consideration to prioritising this as a national improvement activity.

10 LINKS TO ASSOCIATED NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

It was reassuring to ascertain that, while the hubs were introduced primarily in relation to literacy improvements, connections were apparent in a variety of respects with associated national developments. As indicated above, there was a direct connection to the raising attainment initiative but also complementary lines with such national activities as The Early Years initiatives, Teaching Scotland's Future and Curriculum for Excellence. City of Edinburgh Council is starting to use the model for the Languages 1+2 project and all those interviewed commented on the potential transferability of the model.

We recommend therefore that the hub approach is investigated as one method of sharing expertise and experience across national and local stakeholders.

11 THE HUB MODEL AS AN IMPROVEMENT TOOL FOR SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL

AGENCIES AND LOCAL DELIVERY PARTNERS.

Although introduced and supported with a view to literacy initiatives, there is no doubt that the hub model is one worth pursuing as recommended above. A variety of approaches to partnership were adopted in the Literacy Hubs. These styles tended to emerge rather than be consciously planned in advance by lead authorities and/or partners. Based on the range of approaches we saw, it is possible to draw up some partnership models which might be useful if developments are taken forward using a partnership structure. The abstract models do not represent actual authorities and are not set up as good or bad practice but hopefully provide some models for analytical thinking.

MODEL 1: Leading Learning

A large council has invested significantly in a development and is recognised as a national leader in the field. It has been able to evaluate and research the impact of the development and continues to improve its practice whilst ensuring that every teacher and every pupil is affected positively by its strategic approach. Partners are able to join in and share the expertise, resources, training and consultancy at a level appropriate to their needs. The responsibility for taking what is gained from the partnership back into the partner authority and developing it rests with the partner depending on its commitment to the development and its capacity. MODEL 2: Collaborative Development

A council leads a partnership with neighbouring councils who are very similar in size, demography and social make-up. The leading council has national recognition for

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being a leader in the field and works with partners in developing shared objectives and a broad approach that can be tailored to the circumstances of the particular council. A co-learning style is developed with staff working across boundaries to deliver training, visit good practice, help in the evaluation and lead the research base for the partnership. A pooled budget is managed by the lead authority. MODEL 3: Coaching for Improvement

A large council with development capacity at middle management level offers its educational expertise and its research and evaluation capacity to partners on a structured ‘consortium’ basis on the proviso that there is a strategic and resource commitment from all partners. Key staff act as consultants and coaches across the partnership and a common iterative approach to evaluation is set up so that progress and impact can be evaluated openly, shared and compared, with the lead authority acting as independent mentor and coordinating activities.

The public sector financial climate requires all involved in education to look towards reducing overlap, being more efficient, encouraging pooled resources and collaboration at local and national levels. Despite the relative limitations of this review, we do feel that there is evidence to support some further expansion of the model.

If this is to happen, we recommend that some key dimensions require to be built into the framework. These are:

• the importance of clarity of purpose, remit, role and responsibility of the hub and partner bodies

• clarity of expectations and accountabilities for all involved • advice on sharing and use of resources • consideration of how membership of hubs is determined • the need for a coordinating role across a hub which can either be a local

responsibility or facilitated by a national agency such as Education Scotland • securing a balance between nationally led approaches and local partnership activity

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Conclusions

The Scottish Government can be satisfied that the decision to create space for innovative approaches to literacy developments and sharing of good practice across Local Authorities has been largely successful. Some excellent, sector-leading practice was identified which has been shared across a range of Local Authorities. It seems critical that this is not lost nationally and that options are explored for this to continue. It would also be assuring if the developing practice in improving literacy in the hubs is representative of improvements in every part of Scotland.

At a time of rapidly shrinking capacity in Local Authorities, the ability of this project to enable and facilitate sharing of approaches and expertise has been very impressive but the fragility of such arrangements has also been witnessed in the case of one hub.

As a consequence, we recommend that national agencies and local education authorities work together with a sense of urgency to examine options for collaborative working on key national priorities which can benefit from such approaches. John Christie Bruce Robertson John Stodter March 2014

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Appendix 1: Paper to Literacy Commission

Proposed development of a hub model for literacy improvement in Scotland. Introduction

1 The Scottish Government has published a Literacy Action Plan with a vision, plan and priorities from pre-birth to lifelong learners (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/10/27084039/9)

2 We have also established the Standing Literacy Commission (SLC) with the key national champions, our partners and agencies, working together to deliver improvement.

3 We have agreed the key priority of improving assessment and diagnostic assessment information from early years into early stages of primary.

4 We recognise the key elements of success and of sustaining a successful literacy strategy within a local authority from early years through to leaving secondary school.

Moving forward, we are proposing to the SLC that Learning Directorate will focus on 3 and 4 above. Proposal 3

All local authorities in Scotland have Educational Psychology Services (EPS) and there are some 400 members of the Scottish Division of Educational Psychology (SDEP). Learning Directorate has met with representatives of the SDEP to discuss how they can support the implementation of the Literacy Action Plan and support the Scottish Government in achieving key aims and objectives.

In particular they have been asked to outline:

• how they can assist in eradicating illiteracy across the system • how they can ascertain gaps within the early identification of literacy issues • how this can be improved at a national level; and • how they might provide practical guidelines for all EPS

Learning Directorate would also propose to facilitate close connections with the development of proposal 3 and the early years / P1 transition work being developed by the Scottish Division of Educational Psychologists and their colleagues in the Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP). Proposal 4

Local authorities should have developed a literacy plan. There are examples of good practice within every authority. However, to make the transformational change required to eradicate illiteracy, we need to look at what the evidence suggests are the crucial components of success and identify how these can be shared.

We believe the components of success are:

• A sustained approach and focus on literacy from early years through to senior phase • Continual assessment, understanding of standards and focus on raising the bar

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/10/27084039/9

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• Personalisation – looking at and responding to the needs of individual children (eg one to one coaching) and groups of children (eg a group of boys in p6)

• CPD approaches which focus on sharing practice, innovation, moderating standards across schools

• Evaluation of work within schools and across the system • Leadership and commitment at every level

Five local authorities have demonstrated each of these components to a greater or lesser extent - Edinburgh City, Fife, Highland, North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire

Learning Directorate has invited these Local Authorities to a meeting on 17 November with CoSLA. The meeting will explore opportunities for working together in partnership to offer other local authorities support, based on a menu of any or all of these components. The aim would be to enable each local authority to enhance its existing literacy strategy based on its own needs but drawing on best practice where this is required.

In particular, the five Local Authorities will be invited to consider options around:

• CPD for teachers and practitioners and ongoing networking opportunities • Networking for leaders at every level on developing and sustaining an authority-wide

literacy strategy • An evaluation framework capturing the key information required at every level to

demonstrate success, raised standards and higher order skills development – which can be tailored by a local authority for its own needs and

• Assessment and evaluation of various stages and of transition arrangements as the young people progresses through education system, especially from primary to secondary

Education Scotland and the National Literacy Network will also provide support in relation to, inter alia, sharing best practice and different pedagogical approaches. Curriculum Unit Learning Directorate Scottish Government November 2011

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Appendix 2: Note of meeting between key Local Authority Directors of Education re “Hub Model for Literacy Improvement”

Thursday 17 November 2011. Present: Jackie Brock Curriculum Division, Scottish Government Bruce Robertson Janie McManus HM Inspector, Education Scotland Kathy Cameron COSLA Christine Pollock Executive Director of Learning & Leisure, North Lanarkshire Council Brian Kirkaldy Head of Education, Fife Shona Crawford Principal Educational Psychologist, West Dunbartonshire Karen Prophet Head of Curriculum, City of Edinburgh Council Clifford Cooke Acting Area Education Manager, Highland Council The purpose of this meeting was to discuss how each of the authorities present tackled improving literacy and raising attainment, and how their shared experiences and knowledge can provide a national hub model for all local authorities to use.

Bruce Robertson began by saying that through his discussions, he had identified common themes that ran through each of the authorities work as being:

• Early years identification and interventions • Role of the Educational Psychologists (SDEP), and • Support from all levels, including executive and senior management

Discussions around the room with each local authority giving a very brief overview of the actions they took and “lessons learnt.. Key themes were:

• Inclusive, “whole school” approaches, with a focus on the early years and in some instances working with nurseries and nursery teachers

• Training & CPD – all teaching and support staff receiving training to ensure all fully understand and deliver authority’s aims

• Partnership working – whether with neighbouring authorities or local service providers, ie NHS, successful delivery is strengthened with good partnership working

• The use of “Real Books”, especially in terms of engaging boys. (“Real Books” is a name given to a category of picture books using authentic language which are different from picture books written with graded vocabulary to help children learn how to read)

• Clear structures in order to achieve intended outcomes • Strong leadership from all levels – with some authorities having dedicated “literacy

officers”

Next steps

• Possible event/seminar to take place in early 2012. High level event for all Directors of Education, with inspirational keynote speakers and the involvement of the Standing Literacy Commission. Keynote addresses could be delivered by Sir Harry Burns and the Scottish Division of Educational Psychologist, serving to disassociate this from any one authority, rather to underpin it as a priority of the Scottish Government. Input could be

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given by each of the five authorities - workshops and networking opportunities to facilitate joined-up working

• Breaking the literacy agenda down to become the responsibility of different strands of work, ie early years/adult literacies/parental involvement. Current practices within authorities mean that QIOs and DOs have numerous responsibilities, and having literacy fall to one person is too vast and onerous a task. Needs to fall to many to ensure maximum impact

• Mini-audit of the five authorities gathered, to establish whether or not there are standardised materials/tests/assessments being used and what (if any) partnerships are already established

• Use of Educational Psychologists – is there capacity to use the services of EdPsychs to a much greater degree?

• Continuation of standardised testing – it is a mistake to overlook this once aspired attainment levels are achieved

• Full Government/Ministerial backing. Part of the success of the Ontario model was that it had full Government backing and allocated budgets

• ITE – how can it be that P1/2 teachers not know how to teach infants how to read? Possibility for GTCS/ITE establishment involvement?

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Appendix 3: Outcome of audit of the five hub authorities

Literacy

The Scottish Government’s Literacy Action Plan signals its commitment to a heightened, more targeted focus for improving literacy skills in Scotland. The over-arching vision is to raise standards of literacy for all from the early years to adulthood. To that end, the following questionnaire is aiming to gather information on local authority activity in line with the actions contained within the plan.

Can you please give details of your current policy/policies to improve literacy?

Training/Pedagogy development/CPD & staff development.

Engagement with Psychological Services/Speech & Language Therapists

Properly defined strategies and specific services/groups to drive forward (ie North Lanarkshire’s “Literacy Base” and the City of Edinburgh Council’s Literacy Strategy Group.)

(Fife – “in nurseries, embedding literacy learning opportunities across all learning spaces has been a key priority.”)

Please detail particular areas (if any) you are focussing activity on, and why? (ie Early Years, Adult literacies.)

Training/pedagogical approaches.

Early years/primary (North Lanarkshire - whole school primary 1-7, not just early primary).

West Dunbartonshire was the only respondent to mention secondary (“raising attainment in secondary by supporting higher order skill development with older pupils”)

Fife’s “Literacy Workshop” is a pedagogical approach developed in response to feedback from newly qualified teachers lacking confidence and competence in the teaching of reading.

Please give a short description of the approaches you have adopted to raise literacy standards.

Evidence-based approaches / gathering and interpretation of data.

Consistent approaches (City of Edinburgh – all schools deliver the same P1 phonics programme.

Jolly Phonics

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Please describe how you have worked with external partners to achieve your aims. (ie Educational Psychologists, Community Learning links, Parental involvement, schools cluster working.)

Educational Psychologists / Speech & Language Therapists / Health Departments.

Employers / Economic partnerships – identification of priorities for employability.

Fife – discussions with Health Department iro baseline communication & literacy assessment processes in the Early Years leading to joined up approaches for sustained intervention.

North Lanarkshire – Psychological Service part of the Active Literacy Strategy Team.

Please describe how you have ensured the skills and knowledge of practitioners (ie teachers, volunteers, nursery assistants) are current and developed. What CPD opportunities have you provided?

Staff development opportunities.

Raising awareness of current context for strategies / showcase events / resources.

(Although all spoke of teacher training & CPD and adult literacies, no one respondent specifically mentioned the training & development of nursery staff.)

Please give details of how you are evaluating current practices.

In-house auditing / self-evaluation using established frameworks (ie HMI).

QIOs / HMI.

(North Lanarkshire’s Active Literacy Strategy is closely evaluated in-house.)

Any additional comments.

Fife chose to highlight the strengths of their partnership working, particularly with EdPsych services.

(Interestingly, none of the respondents specifically mentioned strong leadership, more of the existence of having an evidence-based, researched strategy in the first place.)

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Appendix 4: Grant Objectives 2012

Literacy Hubs – Objectives and Intended Outcomes for Each Hub Summary Edinburgh

Specific objectives of the grant:

1 Fund relevant staffing, CPD and resources outlined in the proposal towards sharing and enhancing professional practice, the development of leadership and an inclusive, integrated strategy in relation to work on reading already underway across the consortium, and in particular in Edinburgh, with:

▪ Children and parents nursery-P1, in particular those who are harder to reach ▪ Young people in the senior phase (S4 to S6) at risk of not progressing to a positive

destination Plus: ▪ Other partnership working with parents and the wider community to support

children’s reading (Reading for Life/paired reading/Libraries and Family Learning work) ▪ Further development of partnership approaches across LA services to improve reading

outcomes for children and young people (integrated approaches to literacy)

2 Further to Objective 1, to support the development of an inclusive literacy strategy within each authority involved through:

• Developing leadership at all levels using a pyramid model • Sharing CPD, including on-line/virtual CPD, on identified aspects of reading • A high-profile inter-authority showcase event on reading • Enhancing of partnership working with a range of educational practitioners, including

from CLD, school support services, parents and members of the wider community • Reinforcing of the key message that literacy is “the responsibility of all”

3 Support development of an evaluation framework for use by the consortium to begin to identify ways to measure the impact of the project.

Specific intended outcomes:

1. Improved strategic and operational leadership in the key areas covered by the proposal. 2. Increased support for children’s and young people’s reading from all stakeholders. 3. Improved reading skills and life chances for children and young people at risk of not

achieving positive literacy outcomes. 4. Increased focus on inclusive approaches to reading at points of transition – nursery/P1,

transition to a positive destination, post school. 5. Enhanced partnership and collegiate working within and across the authorities involved in

the project. 6. In more general terms, better sharing and partnership working among local authorities of

successful approaches towards improving literacy outcomes for young people, grounded in the common success criteria outlined in Schedule 1.

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Fife


1 Develop the evidence-based approaches adopted within Fife Council's Workshop for Literacy and Tracking Framework with other partner local authorities. Funding will support release from the Fife's dedicated Workshop for Literacy Team as follows:

• Teacher time to work with colleagues from other authorities to develop their knowledge and understanding

• Teacher time to support visits from other authorities • Leading Learners to support network opportunities for new practitioners • Educational psychologist time to further develop evaluation of the work and to

evaluate this work alongside the work being done in North Lanarkshire, focusing on the shared elements of the approaches and on how progress is sustained and measured

2 Further develop the evidence base for designing the next stage of Workshop for Literacy for older primary/lower secondary pupils and pre-5s, involving educational psychology services in this process.

3 Fund sharing of approaches at senior management levels in Fife Council and North Lanarkshire Council towards improving literacy outcomes for young people, particularly in the areas of evidence-based active literacy work and tracking progression through the CfE levels.


1 A better understanding of the core principles of the Workshop for Literacy among partner local authorities, and how these can be developed within approaches towards improving literacy outcomes for young people in their own contexts.

2 A better understanding among partner local authorities of how Fife's Tracking Framework could be used in their own contexts to track progression of key literacy skills for pupils through Curriculum for Excellence levels.

3 In more general terms, better sharing and partnership working among local authorities of successful approaches towards improving literacy outcomes for young people, based on the common success criteria outlined in Schedule 1.

4 Increased professional capacity, development of leadership skills and greater collegiality among staff working on this development, reflecting recommendations within ‘Teaching Scotland’s Future.’

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Highland


1 Support sharing approaches to improving literacy outcomes for young people across local authorities within the Northern Area Forum through meeting the costs of teacher cover, travel and meetings from September 2102 to 31 March 2013 associated with the project.

2 Fund the involvement of three secondary schools in Highland (3 members of staff per school) and staff from other secondary schools from partner local authorities. The main focus for the project will be young people in need of additional support in literacy who are entering their first year of secondary education in Session 2012-13.

3 Support ongoing evaluation work with teachers, parents and pupils involved in the project, based on HGIOS quality indicators and outcomes. The evaluation will include some analysis of the outcomes of the initial pilot project at Invergordon Academy, and how these have been developed in the current project.


1 Increased professional capacity, development of leadership skills and greater collegiality among staff at all levels in the partner authorities working on this development, reflecting recommendations within ‘Teaching Scotland’s Future.’

2 A better understanding of how mobile ICT devices can support the systematic development of learners' literacy skills, particularly their reading and writing skills and their motivation to learn in these areas.

3 In more general terms, better sharing and partnership working among local authorities of successful approaches towards improving literacy outcomes for young people, grounded in the common success criteria outlined in Schedule 1.

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North Lanarkshire


Enable North Lanarkshire Council to work collaboratively with at least four other local authorities to improve authority literacy strategies and literacy outcomes for young people, through:

1 funding CPD, delivered by North Lanarkshire Council Quality Improvement /Psychological Services personnel and others for staff in other partner authorities at all levels e.g. class teachers, principal teachers, depute head teachers and head teachers, Quality Improvement Officers, Psychological Services and Senior Managers at authority level. CPD will be tailored according to the context and audience.

2 funding CPD specifically focussed on leadership, for example

a. Training on ‘monitoring guides’ to assist Senior Managers in schools to carry out manageable and purposeful learning visits. These guides will facilitate the professional dialogue between teachers and senior managers and provide a basis upon which constructive feedback can be given and acted upon.

b. Guidance in developing effective evaluation frameworks capturing the key information required at every level to demonstrate success, raised standards and higher order skills development. These evidence based principles can be tailored by other local authorities for their own needs.

3 funding sharing of approaches towards improving literacy outcomes for young people between North Lanarkshire Council and Fife Council, particularly in the areas of evidence-based active literacy work and tracking progression through the CfE levels.


1 A better understanding among partner authorities of the key success features of North Lanarkshire's literacy strategies and approaches, and how robust longitudinal data can be used to demonstrate success.

2 Increased professional capacity, development of leadership skills and greater collegiality among staff at all levels in the authorities working on this project, reflecting recommendations within ‘Teaching Scotland’s Future.’


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West Dunbartonshire


1 Pay for backfill of staff to allow practitioners from all authorities involved in the project to work together to:

• deliver training to staff across designated schools within each of the authorities • share practice between schools by facilitating reciprocal visits between schools to

observe lessons so that staff in all authorities can learn from each other • allow professional dialogue and reflection • explore how this approach developed in the primary sector could be enhanced by

promoting progression in learning through into secondary by involving key English and other specialists from the secondary sector

• Involve secondary specialist staff in primary schools in a systematic manner across a number of curriculum areas to support better transitions and continuity of literacy learning experiences from primary to secondary

2 Involve Education Psychological Services to advise project development by assisting with monitoring and tracking of progress and ensuring all developments are guided by evidence based practice. Additionally, EPS will provide some initial analysis of improved literacy outcomes for young people who are using reciprocal reading/Reading Routes approaches.


1 Improved confidence and competence for learners around using 'higher order' literacy skills of:

• Making associations • Prediction from texts • Generating questions

Being able to clarify, elaborate, summarise and evaluate a range of texts more effectively.

2 Through involving secondary specialists, developing a greater coherence in methodology between primary and secondary so that pupils’ skills are capitalised on right from the beginning of their secondary education and pupils’ experience a greater consistency in teaching.


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N.B. All five authorities have a final objective as follows, which relates to a separate by closely-related project that Prof Keith Topping is currently undertaking for us:

"Support sharing of relevant learning and data from the project towards the creation of a planned new national resource to support quality, evidence-based interventions with young people at risk of underachieving in literacy."

'Schedule 1' of grant offer documentation referred to in the above contains the common success criteria of a successful literacy strategy, based on the audit we carried out in November 2011 and other intelligence. The criteria can be summarised as follows:

• a sustained approach to improving literacy from early years through to the senior phase, and beyond

• a focus on constantly striving to raising the bar in terms of what young people can achieve

• early identification, monitoring/tracking and interventions where and when any literacy difficulties become apparent, and the key role of educational psychology services in this area

• more personalisation and targeted support for individual and small groups of children in danger of under-achieving

• an approach to CPD/professional learning & development which focuses on sharing innovative practice, and achieving a shared understanding of standards

• evaluation, including effective self-evaluation practices and • leadership and commitment at every level, including through distributed models of

leadership that encourage and nurture effective leadership qualities at all levels

These general criteria underpin the work of the hubs.

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Appendix 5: Literacy Hubs – Specific Objectives and Intended Outcomes for Each Hub Summary, 2013/14

Edinburgh


1 Continue the action plan agreed by partner authorities into the next financial year, and expand to include Dumfries and Galloway.

2 Under the action plan, develop the Directory of Good Practice resource with the active participation of all authority partners and make this available to delegates at the showcase event for Literacy Leaders to be held on 31 August 2013.

3 Deliver planned workshop programme and planned visits programme to other authorities as detailed in the proposal dated 15 March 2013.

4 As focus was on the Early Years and on Adult/ Community Literacy in 2012/13, it is proposed that focus is shifted into Primary/Secondary, with a continuing central priority of establishing how the literacy needs of the lowest 20% in these sectors are being met. The idea of how we develop a reading community will also be taken forward. Transitions will also likely be another area of focus, certainly in terms of P7/S1 and into the Senior Phase. There may also be a focus on Looked After and Accommodated Children (CEC has, for example, a Reading Champion in post for LAC).

5 In line with commitments made in the SG’s National Parenting Strategy (October 2012), explore ways to engage parents/carers in their child’s literacy development and create a good home learning environment.

The outcomes against which progress in achieving objectives/expected outcomes shall be monitored are:

1 Improved levels of literacy skills and confidence of pupils. These skills should lead to development of higher order skills in literacy and across the curriculum and in turn better outcomes in attainment.

2 Greater professional dialogue and sharing of successful approaches between staff across all the partner authorities, including through use of ICT, with a particular focus on primary and secondary schools and meeting the literacy needs of the lowest 20% of achievers in these sectors.



5 Increased parental involvement in their child’s literacy development within the literacy hub community.

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Fife


1 Further develop the evidence/evaluation base for designing the next stage of Workshop for Literacy, in order to further embed the approach in schools, involving educational psychology services centrally in this process. This will involve the continuation of staff training/CPD; exemplifying effective approaches in upper primary using the Second Level tracker; and developing the approach across the secondary curriculum.

2 Support development of a new Pedagogy Team to support schools to develop their effective teaching of literacy. Develop a number of nurturing schools as part of this approach to optimise literacy learning through designing appropriate learning environments and more attuned teaching approaches



1 A greater understanding among partner authorities of the key success features of Fife's literacy strategy and approaches, and how robust data and tracking of progress can be used to demonstrate success. This greater understanding is in turn fed through to partner authorities’ own literacy strategies and approaches.

2 Greater professional dialogue and reflection among staff across the authorities involved on leadership, evidence/research, pedagogy and improved literacy outcomes for learners.




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North Lanarkshire


Enable North Lanarkshire Council to continue to work collaboratively with other local authorities to improve authority literacy strategies and literacy outcomes for young people, through:

1 funding CPD, delivered by North Lanarkshire Council Quality Improvement /Psychological Services personnel and others for staff in other partner authorities at all levels e.g. class teachers, principal teachers, depute head teachers and head teachers, Quality Improvement Officers, Psychological Services and Senior Managers at authority level. CPD will be tailored according to the context and audience.

2 funding CPD specifically focussed on leadership, for example:

a. Training on ‘monitoring guides’ to assist Senior Managers in schools to carry out manageable and purposeful learning visits. These guides will facilitate the professional dialogue between teachers and senior managers and provide a basis upon which constructive feedback can be given and acted upon.

b. Guidance in developing effective evaluation frameworks capturing the key information required at every level to demonstrate success, raised standards and higher order skills development. These evidence based principles can be tailored by other local authorities for their own needs.

3 As part of the extension of services to existing hub partner authorities, offer follow up targeted training at North Lanarkshire Council’s Literacy Base or elsewhere, to deepen partners’ knowledge and understanding.

4 Develop the project further through creating and disseminating to partners a Training for Trainers Pack, to help embed Active Literacy approaches within partners’ contexts; and through undertaking new research into how teaching behaviours and skills-based training (via Video Interaction Training and any other means deemed appropriate) impact on the teaching and delivery of effective literacy approaches and improved outcomes for learners.



1 A greater understanding among partner authorities of the key success features of North Lanarkshire's literacy strategies and approaches, and how robust longitudinal data can be used to demonstrate success. This greater understanding is in turn fed through to partner authorities’ own literacy strategies and approaches.

2 Greater professional dialogue and reflection among staff across the authorities involved on leadership, evidence/research, pedagogy and improved literacy outcomes for learners.


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West Dunbartonshire


1 Pay for backfill of staff to allow practitioners across Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire, managers and psychological services to:

• Develop a more comprehensive training pack on meta-cognitive strategies to include; o A Reciprocal Reading approach at primary level. o A Collaborative Strategic Reading approach at secondary to complement this.

• Share professional practice between primary and secondary staff through observation visits and team teaching.

• Promote professional dialogue and deepen teachers’ knowledge of higher order skills within and across the three authorities

• Continue to monitor and evaluate the development of higher order skills in pupils. EPS will provide some further analysis of the impact on literacy levels for young people who are using reciprocal reading/Reading Routes/Collaborative Strategic Reading approaches.

2 Support any further sharing of relevant learning and data from the project towards the creation of a new online resource to support quality, evidence-based interventions with young people in P1 identified as being at risk of underachieving in literacy.



1 Improved levels of meta-cognitive skills of pupils e.g.

• Predicting and activating prior knowledge • Summarising main ideas and themes in their own words • Clarifying strategies for use with challenging text

These skills should lead to development of higher order skills in literacy and across the curriculum and in turn better outcomes in attainment.

2 Greater professional dialogue between staff at primary and secondary and within subject departments across the three authorities on pupils higher order literacy skills across the curriculum.




review of the scottish government literacy hub …the raising attainment and achievement agenda...

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