Literacy

The Teaching Council supports teachers engaging in and with research through the John Coolahan Research Support Framework. When research projects are complete, the Council publishes short summaries on its website here.

Below are some of the summaries which relate to the theme of literacy.

• Developing a Collaborative Interdisciplinary Learning Community to Build the Capacity of Teachers on Evidence-informed Handwriting Teaching (Read final report) Research by Michelle Bergin, with Annette Hardiman
• Primary Teachers’ Perspectives on the Primary Language Curriculum and its Effect on Teaching and Learning in the Irish Education System (Read final report) Research by Eoin Mac Domhnaill
• Irish Research Network in Childhood Bilingualism and Multilingualism (Read final report) Research by Dr Francesca La Morgio, with Lorraine Connaughton Crean, Simon Rouse and Duana Quigley
• Developing Learner Autonomy in Primary School Students to Improve English Literacy Levels in an Increasingly Diverse Irish Society. (Read final report) Research by Collette Dunne
• Learner Autonomy and Language Learning (Read final report) Research by Ruth Whelan

To access the ebooks below, registered teachers must be logged in to the Teaching Council’s online library here.

A step-by-step guide to accessing the online library can be found here. 

*The Teaching Council provides registered teachers with free access to an online library in order to enhance their access to educational research, thereby supporting their professional learning. The Teaching Council does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or integrity of journals, articles, ebooks, citations and related webpages or material accessed via these resources. The inclusion of these resources does not imply Teaching Council endorsement of any products, services, views or information described or offered in any such articles, ebooks, citations and related webpages etc.

	Engaging with Linguistic Diversity: A Study of Educational Inclusion in an Irish Primary School (David Little, Déirdre Kirwan; 2019) Engaging with Linguistic Diversity describes an innovative and highly successful approach to inclusive plurilingual education at primary level. The approach was developed by Scoil Bhríde (Cailíní), Blanchardstown, as a way of converting extreme linguistic diversity – more than 50 home languages in a school of 320 pupils – into educational capital. The central feature of the approach is the inclusion of home languages in classroom communication. After describing the national context, the book traces the development of Scoil Bhríde's approach and explores in detail its impact on classroom discourse, pupils' plurilingual literacy development, and their capacity for autonomous learning. The authors illustrate their arguments with a wealth of practical evidence drawn from a variety of sources. Pupils' and teachers' voices are especially prominent. The concluding chapter considers issues of sustainability and replication and the implications of the approach for teacher education. The book refers to a wide range of relevant research findings and theories, including translanguaging, plurilingual and intercultural education, language awareness and language learner autonomy. It will be of interest to teachers, school leaders, researchers and policymakers in the field of linguistically inclusive education.
	Literacy and Schooling: Towards Renewal in Primary Education Policy (Kathy Hall; 2018) In this book UCC’s Professor Kathy Hall analyses recent educational reform in England relating to primary education and literacy. By taking account of themes such as globalisation, teacher education, children's learning and especially literacy, she develops a critique of government reactions and explores alternative responses to the crucial issues of our time. The book concludes with policy recommendations based on evidence drawn from a range of perspectives.
	Leadership and Literacy: Principals, Partnerships and Pathways to Improvement (Neil Dempster, Tony Townsend, Greer Johnson, Anne Bayetto, Susan Lovett, Elizabeth Stevens; 2017) This book focuses on what school leaders need to know and understand about leadership for learning, and literacy teaching in particular. It brings together theory, research and practice on leadership for literacy. The book reports on the findings from six studies that followed school principals’ involvement in a professional learning programme on leadership and the teaching of reading, and their implementation of that programme in their schools. It describes how they applied a range of strategies to create leadership partnerships with their teachers. The early chapters consider how principals and teachers can develop deeper understandings of their schools' contexts; how professional discussions can be conducted using a process called ‘disciplined dialogue'; and how principals might encourage approaches to shared leadership with their teachers. The overall findings presented in this book emphasise five positive positions on leadership for learning to read: the importance of an agreed moral purpose; sharing leadership for improvement; understanding what learning to read involves; implementing and evaluating reading interventions; and recognising the need for support for leaders' learning on-the-job.
	The Literacy Leader's Toolkit: Raising Standards Across the Curriculum 11-19 (Graham Tyrer, Patrick Taylor; 2013) In this book, the winners of the the Times Educational Supplement (Tes) National Award for Outstanding Literacy Initiative share the secrets behind school improvement through raising literacy levels across the curriculum. Graham Tyrer and Patrick Taylor draw on the successful literacy initiative that raised their school from good to outstanding, as well as their work in three UK schools with a range of Ofsted ratings. The 54 practical strategies are grouped into beginning, embedding, sustaining and evaluating stages and include ideas such as choosing the literacy focus of your school, involving students as literacy leaders and creating a 'Litbox'. Each entry details the literacy outcomes of the strategy, provides step by step guidance for implementing and sustaining it and includes feedback and tips for staff and students who have used it. The Literacy Leader's Toolkit will be of interest to literacy coordinators and leaders who want to implement a whole-school programme, as well as for those teachers who are determined to improve the literacy provision in their classroom.
	Commonsense Methods for Children with Special Educational Needs (Peter Westwood; 2015) This updated seventh edition of Commonsense Methods for Children with Special Educational Needs offers practical advice on evidence-based teaching methods and intervention strategies for helping children with a wide range of disabilities or difficulties. The advice the author provides is embedded within a clear theoretical context and draws on the latest international research and literature from the field. Four chapters focus on literacy, with particular emphasis on reading, spelling and writing.
	Educating Media Literacy: The Need for Critical Media Literacy in Teacher Education (Allison T. Butler; 2020) Educating Media Literacy argues that critical media literacy must be part of teacher education programmes in order to strengthen students' and teachers' media literacy knowledge and to make public schools stronger in the face of neoliberalism.

To access the ebooks below, registered teachers must be logged in to the Teaching Council’s online library here.

A step-by-step guide to accessing the online library can be found here.

*The Teaching Council provides registered teachers with free access to an online library in order to enhance their access to educational research, thereby supporting their professional learning. The Teaching Council does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or integrity of journals, articles, ebooks, citations and related webpages or material accessed via these resources. The inclusion of these resources does not imply Teaching Council endorsement of any products, services, views or information described or offered in any such articles, ebooks, citations and related webpages etc

Literacy Coaching for Disciplinary Literacy Instruction: An Exploration of a Partnership at the Secondary Level. English Leadership Quarterly, 44(3), 9–13. Smith, K. 2022.

Centering on building student success in the face of diverse literacy challenges, coaching for disciplinary literacy emphasises the role of teacher as content expert and the role of the literacy coach as the reading and learning specialist supporting the teacher’s work. The author offers interesting and practical insights on the teacher / coach dynamic, with useful advice provided for those with an interest in this particular area of professional learning and growth. This article, while focused on literacy and coaching at post-primary level in the United States, may have relevance in all school contexts and jurisdictions, including Ireland.

Children and Young People’s Video Game Playing and Literacy in 2021. A National Literacy Trust Research Report. In National Literacy Trust. National Literacy Trust. Picton, I., Clark, C., & National Literacy Trust (United Kingdom), 2021.

This report outlines findings from the National Literacy Trust's Annual Literacy Survey in early 2021. That survey explored children and young people's literacy-related interactions in relation to video game playing. The survey reached 42,502 children and young people aged 8 to 18 between January and mid-March 2021, during the third national lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report builds on earlier research exploring young people's literacy-related interactions within and around video games. The Trust's first survey in this area in 2019 found that video games could provide a route into reading and support creativity and communication. A subsequent survey, covering late spring 2020 (the first national lockdown), found that communication through video game playing supported young people's wellbeing during the first national lockdown. The current survey found that in-game communication (reading text or messages from friends or family while playing video games) is the second most popular form of on-screen reading for this age group, after personal/direct messages (e.g. via text, WhatsApp or Instagram).

Literacy and Numeracy in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in International Studies. Irish Journal of Education, Shiel, G., & Gilleece, L., 2015.

Recent international assessments of educational achievement at primary, post primary, and adult levels allow for comparisons of performance in reading literacy and numeracy/mathematics between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. While students in grade 4 (Year 6) in Northern Ireland significantly outperformed students in the Republic in reading literacy and mathematics in the PIRLS and TIMSS studies in 2011, 15-year olds in the Republic outperformed students in Northern Ireland on reading and mathematical literacy in PISA 2006 and 2012. Performance on PISA reading literacy and mathematics declined significantly from performance in earlier cycles in Northern Ireland in 2006 and in the Republic of Ireland in 2009. However, while performance in the Republic improved in 2012, it has remained at about the same level since 2006 in Northern Ireland. Adults in both Northern Ireland and the Republic performed significantly below the international averages on literacy and numeracy in the 2012 PIAAC study. Results of the studies are discussed in the context of policy initiatives in 2011 to improve literacy and numeracy in both jurisdictions, including the implementation of literacy and numeracy strategies and the establishment of targets for improved performance at system and school levels.

Literacy Policy in Ireland. European Journal of Education, Kennedy, E., 2013.

Over the past 15 years or so, individual governments worldwide have recognised underachievement in literacy as a universal social justice issue preventing many individuals from reaching their promise. Consequently, they have put an unprecedented focus on educational policy in an effort to ensure the acquisition of literacy skills for all children. In Ireland, literacy moved to centre stage with the publication of the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011-2020 (DES, 2011a) and the Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education (Teaching Council, 2011). How policies are conceived, constructed, interpreted and translated into action on the ground are key determinants of their success to effect change and achieve intended outcomes. This article examines the process of policy development in Ireland. It begins with a brief outline of primary education and then traces the influences that gave rise to the new policies. Next, the key dimensions of the policies and their expected outcomes are outlined. The article concludes with some reflections on the possibilities, challenges and implications for schools and schooling.