Research School Network: NEW GUIDANCE ON KEY STAGE 1 LITERACY Including eight recommendations to support children’s emerging language and literacy skills.

Learning to read, write and communicate effectively is an essential stage in every child’s development. Literacy underpins all other aspects of learning; it forms the basis of other subject areas and allows students access to opportunities in later life. However, each year, too many pupils leave primary school without having mastered these key skills.

The Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF) latest guidance report — Improving Literacy in Key Stage 1— reviews the best available research to offer schools and teachers eight recommendations to support children’s emerging language and literacy skills.

One recommendation focuses on embedding frequent speaking and listening opportunities throughout the school day. High-quality interactions between student and teacher allow young pupils to broaden their vocabulary and practise verbally articulating their ideas. Another highlights the importance of a balanced approach to reading, teaching both word recognition and language comprehension explicitly and in equal measure so that pupils develop fluency.

The report – which is free to download here – also includes further guidance on how to develop and reinforce literacy skills in the classroom, as well as providing illustrative case studies.

This guidance report sits alongside the EEF’s other guidance reports – focused on maths, metacognition, effective implementation and making best use of teaching assistants – providing the basis for an overall advance towards evidence-informed school improvement.