With over a quarter of children leaving primary school unable to read and write well for their age*, the National Literacy Trust is inviting teachers and librarians, school improvement teams and education leaders, and other professionals in the field to join them at this important event to recognise literacy as a great lever against disadvantage.

The event will feature expert-led workshops for delegates to attend and talks from high-profile figures in the field, such as Professor Jessie Ricketts, Manjeet Mann, Hannah Berry and Tommy Dixon, focusing on a range of subjects including:

• Reading in Adolescence: What do we know and what can we do? (Prof. Jessie Ricketts)
• Same Story, Different Mediums: Exploring the different masks a story can wear (Manjeet Mann)
• The Power of Comics (Hannah Berry)
• Re-imagining Literacy – How podcasts are reinventing storytelling (Tommy Dixon)

Drawing on diverse perspectives and an exciting range of academic and literacy voices, Changing Perspectives on Literacy will support education professionals to push a disciplinary literacy agenda across secondary school learning, and show that literacy is at the heart of improving academic outcomes, well-being and the life chances of young people.

Nisha Tank, School Improvement Programme Manager at the National Literacy Trust, said: “We know that low literacy levels will hold a child back at school, lock them out of the job market, affect their mental wellbeing, and even their life expectancy.

“This conference aims to provide an exciting professional development opportunity for secondary leaders and teachers of literacy. We hope it will give educators the support needed to mobilise the effective teaching of literacy so it becomes a key lever to improving educational and lifetime outcomes for all students, especially those who from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.”

In addition to this, the National Literacy Trust is hosting Reading Beyond the Page, a week-long secondary virtual event in June (Monday 19 – Friday 23). Open to all worldwide, this week will see a practitioner-facing CPD session with keynote speaker Sarah Green, a renowned figure in the school improvement space. She will explore how to best approach the development of reading fluency and comprehension in the secondary classroom.  There will also be five student-facing events with authors, journalists, spoken word artists and more exploring how reading and access to engaging texts can offer meaningful and memorable experiences, providing opportunities for new thinking and fresh perspectives that resonate well beyond the page. Those who sign up for Changing Perspectives on Literacy and Reading Beyond the Page at the same time can enjoy a discounted combined ticket.

*Key stage 2 attainment, Academic year 2021/22 – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK (explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk)

The ticket cost to attend the Changing Perspectives on Literacy secondary conference is £125 per person. This cost will include lunch and refreshments throughout the day as well as access to resources shared throughout the event.

The ticket cost to attend the Reading Beyond the Page virtual event is £40. (A single ticket purchase will allow for multiple logins from the same school or organisation).

Buy a combined ticket for a place at the secondary conference and virtual reading week for a discounted rate of £150 for both events.

The research, which aims to examine the lack of female representation and voice in English Literature, found that An Inspector Calls and A Christmas Carol were the two most taught texts, which were studied at 80% and 72% respectively at GCSE level (Year 10 & 11). Both of which are in the top texts taught at KS3 meaning that many pupils are taught the same texts twice between Years 7 and 11. Data was collected from three out of four awarding bodies; Pearson Edexcel, the second largest awarding body, who stated they could not provide us with an analysis of their statistics by the gender of the author.

Within these texts the female characters are either victims or servants, which leaves little to offer in terms of representation of women. While these can lead to important discussions it would be more valuable to students to also have discussions around positive representations of women. Only ever having the opportunity to discuss women as victims of misogyny perpetuates a narrative of women as victims of a patriarchal society, reinforcing the notion of sexual inequality as an expected norm.

Of the female authored books on the approved text list, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice were the most common inclusions, however both are the longest novels on the lists, 624 and 448 pages respectively. This makes it harder for teachers to justify their selection over the shorter male authored texts. The result is that female authored texts are not equally matched in terms of teachability and accessibility to the male authored choices, immediately putting them at a disadvantage.

While authorship is of importance there is also a large discrepancy between the number of female protagonists compared to that of male, and after all, it is the characters and not the authors that pupils will spend most time discussing in lessons. On the set lists 7 in 10 texts for both 19th Century novel and for Modern Prose and Drama have a male protagonist, showing a bias towards the teaching of texts with a male protagonist.

By only providing the option for pupils to engage with male perspectives on the world in the literature they read, not only do boys never learn to empathise with and appreciate the viewpoints and experiences of women, but they also get the clear message that women’s voices and perspectives are less important and less valid.

While work in recent years has been done to increase diversity, often this is implemented with a two birds one stone approach with new additions added to the approved text list by female authors of colour. While this is a great first step, it often involves swapping out less studied texts for new novels meaning few schools will be inclined to change the status quo. The message is clear; the supremacy of white male writing cannot be challenged. The core canon of white male authors is not being changed, and by combining gender and race, it disproportionately affects the representation of white female authors and male authors of colour, who have been all but erased from the modern prose and drama paper.

Rachel Fenn, Founding Member of ESIS & English teacher comments: “While these stats are shocking, they are hardly surprising. The traditional canon of English Literature has always valued the white male voice over others since its creation in the early twentieth century. However, for the next generation to grow up challenging a patriarchal view of the world, both boys and girls need to be exposed to strong and empowering representations of women, not the voiceless victims and servants we see repeatedly in the perennially popular texts taught in English lessons. We are what we read – is it any wonder how Andrew Tate has managed to infiltrate the schooling system and violence against women remains such an endemic problem in our society when our academic curriculum spins this narrative in every lesson?

While improving PSHE offered in schools is a step in the right direction to improve equality and address sexism, it fails to tackle the underlying systems which perpetuate the ideology that women are less than and their voices are not worth being heard. This is why ESIS is striving so hard to push examining bodies to ensure an equal balance of male and female authored texts and protagonists, and provide schools with meaningful practical support to help them change the texts they teach. We’ve had enough of virtue signalling and platitudes; we want action, and we want it now.’

You can read the research in full and explore ways to get involved on the End Sexism In Schools website: https://endsexisminschools.org.uk/

The scholarships, launched by adult education provider City Lit in 2020, provide three annual awards worth up to £1,000 each, to fund one year’s study within the Creative Writing Department at City Lit. The awards seek to support and encourage the creative and professional development of writing by ‘unheard voices’, with the final award winners selected by acclaimed writer, City Lit fellow and Patron of the School of Culture and Communications, Malorie Blackman OBE.

Malorie Blackman (left) has a long connection with City Lit as a former student attending diverse courses since the late 1980s. She has been recognised with numerous honours for her work and in 2008 received an OBE for her services to children’s literature. Malorie was the Children’s Laureate between 2013 and 2015 and her autobiography was published on Stormzy’s Merky Books imprint this year.

City Lit’s Malorie Blackman Scholarships for Unheard Voices welcome applications from anybody who has a strong interest in writing and who demonstrates talent and potential in their writing skills. Students who identify as belonging to under-represented groups, which include (but is not exclusive to) those with disabilities, people from minority backgrounds and communities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, refugees and BAME writers, are encouraged to enter.

City Lit CEO and Principal Mark Malcomson CBE said:  “Creative Writing has an amazing heritage and pedigree at City Lit with so many famous writers having enhanced their craft with us over the last 100 years. Malorie Blackman is one of our most famous alumni and a huge inspiration to all of us. Her relationship with City Lit shows how important creative writing courses can be in a writer’s career. We can’t wait to see what the next generation of writers has in store for us”.

Applications involve the submission of a piece of original writing no longer than 500 words in length (for prose writing) or up to 40 lines (for poetry), and a completed application form including a statement of up to 300 words identifying how you feel you meet the selection criteria. The extended deadline for submissions is Sunday 12th February 2023.

Find out more and download the application form at www.citylit.ac.uk/malorie-blackman-scholarships

Each participating school will receive 100 books, covering a range of titles across fiction, non-fiction, poetry and mythology; from much-loved classics to new voices. Authors included in the selection are Matthew A. Cherry, Malala Yousafzai, Ibtihaj Muhammad and S.K. Ali and more. Each school will also receive a class set of The Good Turn by Sharna Jackson.

Research by Lit in Colour, carried out by Penguin Books and the Runnymede Trust in 2021, revealed a stark picture of under-representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic authors in the teaching of English Literature in this country. This is relative both to these authors’ place in contemporary British literary excellence and school population demographics. According to the research, 82% of young people do not ever recall studying a book by a Black, Asian or minority ethnic author, while 70% agree that diversity is part of British society and should be represented in the school curriculum.

The research also found that a key barrier for primary school teachers was a lack of ready-made resources available from teaching sites that are focused on diverse texts. This is a significant challenge for educators who rely on these for the basis of their planning.

In response to this, Twinkl are producing a comprehensive set of learning resources that aim to make it as easy as possible for educators to create a full lesson around these titles and immerse learners through a selection of activity sheets to be used alongside the books and as follow-on activities.

Twinkl’s comprehensive series of educational resources will cover 20 titles that will support bringing new literature to classrooms. The learning materials will consist of various worksheets and activity packs. These include 60-second reading activities, to biography fact files and writing packs. These resources will be available to freely access online and can be used in connection with Penguin’s Lit in Colour book list.

Zaahida Nabagereka, Penguin Random House’s Head of Social Impact, said, “Partnering with Twinkl on this first ever UK wide Lit in Colour Primary School donation is a really significant step in addressing the barriers the Lit in Colour report identified in 2021. We are committed to supporting teachers to take diverse books into their classrooms with confidence, and key to that is resources. This collaboration strengthens the argument that we can achieve more when we tackle systemic issues together.”

David Angrave, Twinkl’s Chief Operating Officer, said, “As a global education publisher, we are delighted to work with Penguin on such a meaningful campaign. Our Lit in Colour resources aim to engage learners in a wide variety of diverse titles in the classroom. Through a range of voices in books, children can discover different cultures and identifiable characters.

We are looking forward to continuing to collaborate with Penguin with this campaign and help build an inclusive outlook which celebrates differences and what brings us together.”

Sharna Jackson, author of The Good Turn, “When I was younger, there was a pronounced lack of access to many books that reflected my experience – as part of the curriculum, or in my school library. It’s why I wholeheartedly support the transformative work that Lit in Colour does to expand and enrich the curriculum. I am so incredibly proud that The Good Turn can be a small part of this change, as this donation from Lit in Colour and Twinkl will make an enormous difference to thousands of young readers who deserve to see themselves and their experience reflected in the books stocked on their school library shelves.”

To find out more about how your school can get involved with the Lit in Colour book giveaway, please visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/lit-in-colour/twinkl-partnership. Primary teachers can apply by completing this short form by Friday 30th September.

The acquisition of DoodleLearning supports Discovery Education’s mission to prepare learners for tomorrow by creating innovative classrooms connected to today’s world. DoodleLearning complements Discovery Education’s other award-winning digital services, which include Discovery Education’s K-12 platform, Mystery Science, STEM Connect, the Math, Science, and Social Studies Techbooks, Espresso, Coding and Health and Relationships.

“Discovery Education is dedicated to creating a best-in-class edtech ecosystem that supports our mission to prepare today’s students for future success,” said Discovery Education Chief Executive Officer Scott Kinney. “This acquisition is an important milestone in that effort, and we look forward to both partnering with the talented DoodleLearning team and scaling the reach of their innovative, adaptive maths and English products.”

Prior to founding DoodleLearning, Chief Executive Officer Nicola Chilman and Chief Operating Officer Tom Minor taught maths. In 2011, after experiencing first hand technology’s ability to accelerate student learning, Chilman and Minor created an app combining high-quality digital content and educational supports that encouraged children to learn in an engaging and personal way.

Today, DoodleLearning offers four products supporting instruction in maths and English for ages 4-14 that have been used by over one million children in the U.K. and around the world. As part of the Discovery Education family of services, DoodleLearning will continue to apply its educational ability to building and deploying affordable learning solutions for students worldwide.

“The entire DoodleLearning team is excited to join Discovery Education’s efforts to build and scale a powerful edtech ecosystem of digital resources serving teachers and learners worldwide,” said Nicola Chilman, DoodleLearning Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder. “Our team will naturally fit into Discovery Education’s mission-driven culture, and we look forward to working with our new colleagues on our joint mission to prepare today’s students for future success.”

“DoodleLearning is excited to join the Discovery Education team,” said Tom Minor, Chief Operating Officer, and Co-Founder of DoodleLearning. “The company has laid out exciting plans to increase the number of instructional minutes it supports each day, and DoodleLearning is poised to play a significant role in this effort.”

DoodleLearning is Discovery Education’s latest acquisition. In October 2020, Discovery Education acquired Mystery Science and in July 2020, Discovery Education purchased Spiral. In August of 2019, Discovery Education announced the acquisition of Inspyro.

For more information about Discovery Education’s award-winning digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.co.uk, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.

Launched in 2017 and available to every primary school in England and Wales, Premier League Primary Stars uses the appeal of the Premier League and professional football clubs to support pupils in the classroom, the playground and on the sports field.

Premier League Primary Stars’ range of more than 640 curriculum-linked activities support teachers to build their pupils’ confidence in key areas from Maths and English to PSHE and Physical Education and can be used off-the-shelf or tailored to suit teachers’ needs. More than 58,000 teachers have downloaded and used the free curriculum-linked resources since the programme began.

To mark the five-year anniversary, the Premier League is launching the Active Summer Challenge. This brand new initiative will challenge pupils to find five ways to keep active during the summer holidays, a time when fitness levels can drop. The new resources are now available for teachers to download for free on the Premier League Primary Stars website.

Exclusive content featuring Premier League players, club coaches and experts has been created to support teachers to inspire pupils deliver impactful PE lessons. Nine out of 10 teachers believe that they have seen an increase in pupils’ enjoyment of sport and physical activity linked to the programme.

In addition to PE, English and Maths resources, Premier League Primary Stars also supports teachers to deliver classroom-based discussions and activities on important societal topics such as anti-discrimination, mental health and gender stereotypes linked to No Room for Racism, Wellbeing Stars, and Rainbow Laces. After using the PSHE resources, 72% said that their pupils understand more about how to challenge prejudice and discrimination and 79% of teachers said their pupils have a better understanding of how to look after their own wellbeing.

Natalie Sutton, School Manager at Sandfield Close Primary School, said: “The Premier League Primary Stars programme has opened up so many opportunities and doors to us that we wouldn’t have been able to open on our own. We’ve had such a positive experience since joining back in 2018. It is important to measure progress but for me, it is also important to see our pupils expand their thinking and learn about key subjects in a fun and engaging way. It has all been so positive for us as teachers, but more importantly beneficial to the learning of our pupils.”

www.PLPrimaryStars.com

Every year millions of students and teachers around the world benefit from English language learning and assessment products from Cambridge. This includes Cambridge English Qualifications, courses, support and digital resources to help people to learn English and prove their skills to the world. Cambridge’s new look and feel for its English range also includes a promise ‘where your world grows’, which is a commitment to its customers around the world.

Francesca Woodward, Global Managing Director English, says the new brand will give the organisation a strong, single identity going forward. She will be supported by Paul Colbert, Deputy Global Managing Director, English & Commercial Director.

Francesca Woodward said: ‘‘Last year we combined our publishing and assessment operations and now our team works even more closely together to deliver the very best solutions for English language learners and teachers worldwide. In the past learners and teachers have taken exams, used textbooks and digital resources from different parts of our Cambridge family, and our new single brand for English brings all of this together under one roof. It helps us to show the world that we create unique learning and assessment experiences that could only come from Cambridge.”

In the coming months Cambridge’s new brand for English will come to life in exam centres, schools and on learning and assessment products around the world. This will be a gradual process, and Cambridge will be working with its partners and distributors to take the transition to its new look step-by-step.

Woodward added: “As part of our commitment to the environment we’re not asking our partners and distributors around the world to throw away existing branded materials. We want them to take a step-by-step approach to the transition to our new Cambridge brand for English.”

Every weekend, families up and down the country travel to watch their favourite football team. It’s a ritual that unites generations, providing a lifetime of memorable matches, amazing goals as well as fantastic displays of great teamwork and sportsmanship. But have you thought about how the power of football can be woven into not only PE lessons, but can also inspire pupils to engage with Maths, PSHE and English classes too?

Today marks the start of Schools’ Football Week. Premier League Primary Stars – a totally free programme created by the Premier League to use the power of football to inspire pupils to learn, be active and develop important life skills – features a wealth of resources that can be used across the curriculum. Already used by more than three-quarters of schools across England & Wales, the interactive lesson plans include worksheets, videos and goodies for your classroom such as wall charts and posters, which all serve to bring key curriculum subjects to life in a way that captures pupils’ attention.

All of the free resources are centred around the four key Premier League Values: be ambitious, be inspiring, be connected and be fair.

The Premier League Primary Stars website is not just for schools. Parents and carers who are homeschooling their children can also download an array of resources by visiting the home learning section, filled with resource packs specifically curated for a home environment. It’s also a great way for families to sustain the attention of children who are self-isolating at home, away from their friends and you, their favourite teacher.

So, have you thought about using football as a tool to inspire? Let’s delve deeper into the Premier League Primary Stars website.

#MathsIsFun

Have you thought about embedding your Maths lesson with a bit of football magic? Pupils can access the Premier League Primary Stars Season Stats Dashboard, a first-of-its-kind Maths resource which uses real-life Premier League data to help get the classroom bursting with energy. It features Premier League players and is updated every week with the latest statistics from the weekend’s fixtures covering everything from goals scored to tackles made on the pitch. It enables pupils to increase their understanding of statistics, practise the use of mathematical symbols as well as mental and written calculations.

Activities can be played against an online timer where individuals or teams compete to win and score goals. And if that’s not enough, maths legend and friend of the programme, Bobby Seagull, shares his tips and tricks of how football plus maths equals a whole lot of fun.

Back to you in the studio…

For those budding reporters in your English class. With the Premier League Primary Stars programme, pupils are able to master their literacy and writing skills while finding out just what it takes to make a great journalist. The Roving Reporter resources feature insight from experts at Sky Sports News as well as the Daily and Sunday Telegraph. Pupils can use the accompanying activity sheet to plan and draft a report that brings every twist and turn of a match to life.

If you’re looking for something to keep pupils’ literacy skills sharp, there are plenty of activities to keep them busy. Why not see how many football related words they can spell with a bespoke, fun and football-based spelling challenge that has accompanying videos of players and pupils taking part.

Train like your heroes

PE has come a long way since the days of endless attempts on the climbing walls and cross-country runs in the pouring rain. The Premier League Primary Stars programme is packed full of activities and teaching methods that will have pupils looking forward to their PE lessons.

Using a series of PE training films designed by teachers for teachers, you can create a lesson that meets the needs of individual pupils. The PE Planning Toolkit sits perfectly alongside the video. The values-based way of learning allows you to learn more about how to create an inclusive environment that works for everyone, and how to incorporate the three learning domains, differentiation, modelling and demonstrations, questioning and discussion, and assessment for learning into your PE lessons.

Thousands of girls and boys dream of training like their footballing heroes and Premier League Primary Stars enables dreams to come true with its Train like a Footballer resource, enabling pupils to practise different movements and improve their technique, just like the pros.

Play the Right Way gets pupils to think about how they can demonstrate positive behaviour traits when playing football.

Diversity makes our society stronger

Giving pupils insight on the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion is vital. Tackling issues surrounding anti-discrimination in the classroom has also become a priority for teachers who look to create a positive and inclusive environment for pupils to learn. The Premier League is committed to creating an inclusive atmosphere for all – from fans and players, to young people and those in the community.

Why not facilitate classroom discussion with a set of films featuring young people talking to Crystal Palace FC and Liverpool FC football players about the impact and consequences of racism. They are great for demonstrating to pupils how to be an ally and support their friends. The most recent No Room For Racism – Youth Voices is where you will find this empowering resource.

At the end of last year, Premier League Primary Stars launched a new resource titled ‘Rainbow Laces – This is everyone’s game’. It features an educational film, and supporting resources, that celebrates LGBTQ+ football fans and showcases the power of football to bring people together.

Author Terry Pratchett once said: “The thing about football – the important thing about football – is that it is not just about football.” This Schools’ Football Week, head over to the Premier League Primary Stars website where you can find an abundance of brilliant resources using the power of football that will ignite your pupils imagination.

Professional football club staff work with teachers to deliver fun, educational sessions across a range of subjects within local partner schools. For more information about Premier League Primary Stars, and to sign up for free, please visit www.plprimarystars.com

The newly accredited Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language 2.0 qualification, which will be available for teaching at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year, provides students with a strong foundation for further academic or vocational pathways through real-world, applicable content.

Based on feedback from teachers, the new, one-year specification supports students following a less traditionally literary pathway through their English studies or educators looking for a fresh, new English Language course to motivate those required to re-sit.

With an innovative approach to the 19th century text requirement that sees 19th-century, non-fiction newspaper articles and instructional pieces of writing used rather than 19th century fiction, the qualification uses texts with relatable, modern themes and focuses on real-world applicable writing tasks such as letters of application.

Speaking about the new qualification, Katy Lewis, Head of English and Drama (pictured), said: “Every year 750,000 people take their English GCSE. In consulting with the English teaching community last year, we recognised that a one-size fits all approach to English Language doesn’t equally suit the needs, interests and progression of all learners.

“We wanted to develop a qualification that was equal but different to the English Language GCSEs that are currently available to learners across the UK, whilst motivating and engaging students to equip themselves with life-long skills.”

Requiring no co-teaching of literature, the functional qualification is designed to reinvigorate English language learning and pave the way for exam success whilst exposing learners to a broad range of diverse and inclusive texts.

As part of the organisation’s work with the Lit in Colour programme, Penguin Random House UK will also be providing schools and settings taking the new specification with access to a bespoke anthology of texts by contemporary writers and writers of colour.

The specification has been described as a “positive move” by teachers involved in its development, which allows students to truly engage and showcase their knowledge, providing them with “a better chance of success because the qualification meets their needs.”

Ruth Rhoden-Farmer, GCSE and FS English Lecturer at Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group, said: “The new GCSE format and resources will give each student the opportunity to explore visually engaging texts, engage with the English Language heritage, and apply the techniques they have discovered in their own writing.”

Pearson will be providing schools and settings with specification and sample assessment materials, mapping documents, schemes of work and one-year planners, a comprehensive programme of online training and network events and one-to-one support from an English specialist to support them in delivering the qualification with confidence.

To find out more about the new Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language 2.0 qualification, please visit quals.pearson.com/Lift