Thought Leadership Roundtables

On Tuesday 18th March, educators from across the Midlands gathered at The Grand Hotel Birmingham to discuss a crucial question: Your literacy strategy: is it working? The event brought together those overseeing and implementing strategy to showcase their findings, share ideas and discuss the data they need to prove effectiveness. Here are our key takeaways:

Key challenges

Building teacher confidence: A recurring theme was the varying level of literacy confidence among teachers. Developing the skills of current staff was therefore identified as critical to improving literacy outcomes. So, why might this be the case? Initial teacher training can be inconsistent, with some educators entering the profession ill-prepared to support literacy development. Critically, a newly qualified teacher might lack confidence in their own reading skills, affecting their ability to model good literacy practices.

For example, instead of reading aloud to their KS1 class in the morning, a teacher lacking confidence might rely on video content, which will not have the same level of impact for learners. Yes, videos can be useful, but they should supplement teaching - not replace it. Participants therefore called for greater emphasis on literacy in teacher training programmes, to ensure consistent and effective teaching and learning - as well as ongoing and robust CPD.

Driving whole-school, cross-curricular buy-in: Achieving buy-in to new literacy strategies can also be a barrier to transforming learner outcomes. Outside the English department, some teachers lack enthusiasm when encouraging student engagement with reading and literacy programmes. So, how can we convince colleagues from across the curriculum to buy in to a whole-school literacy strategy?

Students' attention span: A diminishing attention span was also identified as a core issue amongst students - with teachers struggling to differentiate between those who feign attentiveness, versus those who are truly engaged. Often, this can be the Achilles heel that negatively impacts learner outcomes - as opposed to the breadth of their vocabulary, or their phonics level. So, amongst this student population, how can we encourage reading for pleasure, and increase reading speed to enhance fluency? How can we help teachers recognise what true engagement looks like, in order to identify gaps and support those who are not fully processing or understanding the material?

Approaching data with nuance: Educators noted that while data is a useful tool, an obsession with metrics can obscure deeper issues. For example, some students appear to perform well in reading tests, but lack a genuine interest in reading, highlighting the importance of nuance in our definition and assessment of holistic literacy progress. How can educators address this in their day-to-day, to ensure gaps are identified and teaching can be tailored accordingly?

Additional challenges for EAL learners: Educators expressed concerns about the additional barriers faced by EAL (English as an Additional Language) students. Strong decoding skills often mask difficulties with comprehension, leading to disengagement over time as learners copy text word-for-word but fail to develop understanding. So, how should we tackle this, to ensure EAL learners do not switch off and lose interest in reading as a result?

10 key takeaways

1. Celebrate cross-curricular literacy wins: Literacy is foundational to all learning, and cross-curricular support can significantly enhance outcomes. As such, securing buy-in from non-English departments is essential, helping students think and speak like subject experts with explicit and consistent use of key terminology. Schools should highlight and lean into each department’s successes, to demonstrate the value of a robust literacy strategy.

2. Strengthen oracy to enhance comprehension: Encourage speaking and discussion in every lesson. Providing students with time to think, talk, and write when introducing new tasks helps build oracy skills, benefiting comprehension across all subjects.

3. Embed Tier 3 vocabulary purposefully and gradually: Start with simple uses of Tier 3 (subject-specific) language and progressively build complexity throughout lessons. This layered approach ensures students become comfortable using advanced vocabulary in context, building confidence and engagement. In addition, encouraging students to revisit difficult sections of disciplinary texts will drive resilience and understanding.

4. Provide robust, ongoing CPD: Ongoing professional development should focus on boosting teacher confidence in reading and literacy instruction, ensuring they can model good practices.

5. Offer targeted EAL support, taking learners beyond decoding: Strategies must go beyond decoding skills to build comprehension and engagement. For example, providing short excerpts of text ahead of lessons and asking students to highlight challenging words allows teachers to anticipate comprehension issues. In addition, encouraging reading and writing in home languages - to supplement teaching in English - can support better outcomes. One educator suggested encouraging EAL students to write creative stories in their home languages, not only celebrating linguistic diversity, but fostering greater engagement and confidence in literacy tasks.

6. Create social, supportive reading experiences: Having adults listen to students reading can help prevent learners from rushing, ensuring each student's reading speed and fluency are properly assessed and supported. In addition, engage students with creative activities, such as scavenger hunts or library mysteries, to make reading feel like a communal and enjoyable experience.

7. Approach data with nuance: While rich data is invaluable, it should always be considered in context. For example, a high reading age might not necessarily align with a genuine interest in reading. In addition to these core metrics, track progress by observing when students choose to read voluntarily, such as before class starts. Encouraging the reading of more challenging materials should be balanced with maintaining the joy of reading.

8. There’s no quick win in literacy: Measuring the impact of literacy strategies over 1- and 3-year periods was a key area of discussion. Participants explored how to track progress in reading for pleasure and how to ensure students are reading high-quality, challenging material without undermining the joy of reading. Bedrock’s Director of Education, Olivia Sumpter, highlighted the importance of specificity in modern literacy strategies. Schools need to break down the components of reading, from vocabulary to comprehension, and tailor interventions to meet the specific needs of their students. Literacy strategies are not one-size-fits-all, so stepping back and recognising the unique contexts of different cohorts is essential. Schools should be encouraged to be creative, trialling new approaches and fine-tuning strategies until they find the perfect fit for their context.

9. Leverage accessible tools: Digital tools such as Rewordify and Hemingway can simplify complex texts, making them more accessible to all students. Schools can use these tools not only in the classroom but also for newsletters and parent communications. Similarly, for students in need of extra support, voice recording tools can supplement traditional teaching to help students articulate ideas without the pressure of handwriting.

10. Literacy is learning: Ultimately, the goal is to integrate literacy so deeply that it becomes synonymous with learning. As Bedrock’s Director of Education, Olivia Sumpter, succinctly put it, "If we cracked literacy, it wouldn't be called literacy; it would just be called learning." Literacy is the foundation of all learning, and improving access to quality learning materials should be the ultimate goal.

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