Introduction

This toolkit has been developed to assist educators and educational settings in Northern Ireland (NI) to support those pupils who may be at risk of developing literacy difficulties. It is for all who work directly with pupils or manage their support; this includes teachers and lecturers, Learning Support Coordinators (LSC), classroom/learning support assistants and school leaders. Adopting the strategies and approaches within the toolkit will assist settings in preventing literacy difficulties from developing or, where they arise, support the setting in addressing and effectively managing those difficulties. This toolkit is a resource for supporting the earliest stages of formal education through to the end of post primary education. It also provides guidance and signposting for accessing support in higher and further educational settings.

The toolkit encompasses essential skills teaching and developing motivational and by-pass strategies. It draws on the most established, up-to-date and evidence-based research for supporting best practice in educational settings, and it updates, broadens, deepens and replaces the ‘Developing a Dyslexia Friendly Learning Environment’ published in 2007, by the Department for Education, Northern Ireland. The toolkit has been developed by the Education Authority’s Literacy Service in partnership with the Department of Education, Northern Ireland.

The toolkit uses the term ‘literacy difficulties’ as an umbrella term. Internationally and throughout the literature, terminology and definitions in this educational field are contested and inconsistent. Literacy difficulties refer to those pupils who have difficulty with reading, writing and spelling; and experience dyslexic-type indicators, have a formal diagnosis of dyslexia or any difficulty in literacy, which results in difficulties accessing the related curriculum and examinations.

A core priority for the Education Authority (EA) is to ensure that all our pupils can lead happy, fulfilled lives, and enjoy an inclusive education within a supportive, nurturing environment. A key part of this is ensuring schools can access the information they need at the right time, in the right place. In line with the SEND Act (NI) 2016, this resource forms part of the resources and information available to schools within the EA Plan of Arrangements for Special Education Provision. This plan sets out the range of EA resources and support services available to help schools, parents / carers, and other key partners access appropriate support to meet the child’s Special Educational need.

All teachers, irrespective of the age of the pupils they teach, the key stage they work within or the nature of their subject specialism, need to plan their programmes to include motivational and by-pass strategies in parallel with the development of the skills and knowledge being taught. Concentrating solely on skills teaching can lead to the assumption that it is only teachers with specialist expertise, who can teach pupils with dyslexia and literacy difficulties. A strategies-based approach instead of a skill-based approach is something that all staff can deliver. Literacy support can come from across the body of staff and is not dependent on any degree of specialist knowledge.  All staff who are suitably experienced and have accessed appropriate training have the professional competencies to support pupils with literacy difficulties. 

This toolkit is intended to support inclusive, careful and creative planning to enable literacy instruction to be adapted to meet the needs of every pupil in the classroom. The starting premise is that any pupil who may experience literacy difficulties can still participate successfully in the classroom with appropriate differentiation and inclusive practice. 

The EA Literacy Service provides a broad and continually evolving range of training for NI schools. This is freely available to all NI school staff through their C2K usernames and passwords. The current programme can be accessed at Children and Young People's Services Professional Learning Programme.

Any school, parent or carer can contact the Literacy Service if they have a general enquiry or if they wish to discuss a child’s literacy needs. 

Telephone: 028 9031 7777 (Option 3)
Email: literacyservice@eani.org.uk

Operating hours: Monday to Friday 9.00am – 12.30pm and 1.15pm – 5.00pm

When emailing, please provide a contact telephone number, the child’s full name and date of birth, the name of their school and details of the query. A member of the team will be in touch in relation to queries as soon as possible.

Further resources and information are also available within the Literacy section.

The overarching aim of the Northern Ireland Curriculum is to empower pupils to achieve their potential and to make informed and responsible decisions throughout their lives.

In outlining the objectives of the curriculum, CCEA states that it should provide learning opportunities for each young person to develop as:

1. An individual to achieve personal fulfilment and individual well-being through living a successful life
2. A contributor to society to be concerned for the well-being of others as well as themselves, in their own society and beyond it; and
3. A contributor to the economy and the environment to appreciate how employment will impact on the economic choices they make and how they, in turn, impact individually and collectively on the environment

CCEA highlights that the Northern Ireland curriculum focuses on the learning process and learners' needs, as well as their knowledge, understanding and skills. The curriculum offers flexibility and specifies a minimum entitlement for all pupils. Schools have considerable scope to tailor this entitlement and to provide learning opportunities adapted to their own context and their pupils' needs. Language and Literacy is an Area of Learning in the curriculum. It focuses on developing children’s language and literacy skills. These enable children to interact effectively in the world around them, express themselves creatively and communicate confidently.

In relation to language and literacy acquisition within the NI curriculum, teachers should enable children to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

• Talking and Listening
• Reading
• Writing

These modes of communication extend across all Areas of Learning. Pupils should have opportunities to develop their language and literacy skills through all learning experiences. These skills are essential for thinking, learning and interacting in personal, social and work contexts throughout life. Literacy is key to learning and enjoyment as well as personal growth.

This resource is intended to maximise opportunities for inclusion in the teaching of literacy and the learning experience of pupils. The European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education states that in inclusive education ‘all learners of any age are provided with meaningful, high quality educational opportunities in their local community, alongside their friends and peers.’

An inclusive education environment is one that is:

• High quality
• Age-appropriate
• Delivered in a supportive environment
• Targeted at each pupil’s individual learning needs and can be met through
  • acceptance
  • high expectations
  • differentiation
  • explicit personalised learning

The starting points for educating pupils with a difficulty with literacy are the same as for educating any other pupil:

• An acceptance of diversity and of children’s rights as set out in the UN Convention on Children’s Rights
• The importance of the environment in which and with which pupils and staff interact in shaping their development over time
• The perspective that all pupils can learn, and that good teaching enables this

An inclusive literacy learning environment:

• Accepts diversity
• Provides high quality teaching for all
• Enables all to reach their maximum potential
• Enables all to be the best that they can be 

Children’s literacy development correlates directly with regular class activities and the teaching approach adopted, sometimes known as direct factors:

• The skills the pupil acquires in linking the spoken word to the written word which relies on the development of phonological, orthographic and morphological knowledge and learning letter to sound rules
• The skills the pupil acquires in vocabulary breadth and depth, knowledge of morphemes, grammar, syntax and pragmatics

Children’s literacy development also correlates with indirect within child factors:

• Difficulties with speech and language, hearing, rapid automatised naming, executive function, metacognition and memory
• Difficulties with motivation, attitude towards reading and perception of self

And indirect within environment factors:

• The amount of reading
• Family background - areas of strength and weakness
• Parental attitudes
• Socio-economic group
• Language environment and bilingualism

The implication for all educational settings is ensuring the pupil’s environment is conducive to optimal learning and development. In an inclusive classroom environment, all pupils learning needs are recognised and met through acceptance, high expectations, differentiation, explicit teaching and personalised learning.

The perspective that all pupils (and teachers) can learn and that good teaching is the primary process that enables learning is a ‘mind frame’ supported by educational research involving millions of pupils worldwide, including those with special educational needs.

Adapted from Milton, Marion Ed (2017) International Perspectives on Inclusive Education, Volume 11, Inclusive Principles and Practices in Literacy Education, School of Education Notre Dame University (Australia)

The Department of Education in Northern Ireland has released figures relating to the prevalence of dyslexic-type indictors / literacy difficulties in a sample of Primary 3 pupils in Northern Ireland (published July 2020) from two separate NI studies. 

It was found that over one quarter of pupils presented with indicators of dyslexia, including those with the very mildest difficulties. This is in line with what is the experience of primary schools, for example, there is a group of children in each class who require carefully targeted support in relation to their literacy development and wider curricular access. The prevalence rates in Northern Ireland based on these studies are comparable with prevalence rates in other English-speaking districts. 

‘These two Northern Ireland studies found that in Year 3 between 25.4% (2009) and 27.4 (2013) presented with indicators of dyslexia ranging from a few signs to profiles of dyslexic-type difficulties. The Dyslexia-SpLD Trust (2009) research also found that 26% of children in Year 3 in England (equivalent year 4, NI) were at risk of dyslexia (page 6). Furthermore, an incidence of dyslexia in NI schools of approximately 9% is consistent with other national and international findings.’

McMurray, S (DE, 2020)