Best practice in the reading and writing of pupils aged 7 to 14 ... - Estyn

Teaching and assessmentBest practice in the reading and writing of pupils aged 7 to 14 yearsApril 200821 The quality of teaching in Welsh and English has improved steadily over recentyears. Many lessons include skilful teaching of reading and writing and staffencourage positive attitudes to language and literacy through their own enthusiasmfor Welsh and English. Important shortcomings in teaching include a failure to takeaccount of the inter-relationship of oral work, reading and writing and a lack of closeattention to improving the quality and accuracy of pupils’ writing.22 The quality of assessment of reading and writing has improved year on year withmany schools making use of a range of performance data to track pupils’ progress.However, only a few schools set separate targets for reading and writing even whenpupils are working at different levels in these aspects. Very few schools useassessment information to plan improvements in writing to the same extent as theyuse assessment information to improve reading.23 The quality of marking in primary and secondary schools is improving overall.However, there is still too much poor marking that refers only to the degree of effortor identifies weaknesses without explaining how pupils can improve their work.Meeting the needs of pupils24 Many schools are increasingly aware of groups of pupils who are not making theexpected progress because they track pupils’ progress more systematically andanalyse data more fully than they used to. Many schools provide good support forpupils with special educational needs and English as an additional language to helpthem with their literacy skills. Arrangements to help these pupils improve theirliteracy skills are generally better in primary schools than secondary schools.25 Only a few schools have been successful in narrowing the gap between boys’ andgirls’ achievement. These schools have taken careful account of boys’ needs andinterests and ensured that learning and teaching are as good as they can be in linewith the best practice identified in this report.26 The majority of support programmes in primary and secondary schools help pupils toimprove their reading and spelling. Some of the most successful interventionprogrammes are those funded and supported by Basic Skills Cymru, the WelshAssembly Government or the local authority. Despite this support, less-able pupils,particularly boys, often make slow progress in their learning because of their poorliteracy skills, particularly in writing. There are fewer support programmes to helppupils improve their writing skills, particularly at key stage 3. Many less able pupils inprimary and secondary schools would benefit from more help with writing, particularlyas they get older and writing tasks become more complex.27 While more and more schools are recognising the need to improve provision formore-able and talented pupils, only a small minority of schools provide these pupilswith reading and writing tasks that stretch and challenge them. A few schools makevery good additional arrangements for more-able and talented pupils in order toprovide more stimulation and motivation for them to achieve excellence.6