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Literacy for Life: Evaluating the National Literacy Trust’s bespoke programme for schools

Morris, R.; See, B.; Gorard, S.; Siddiqui, N.

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Authors

R. Morris



Abstract

This paper presents an evaluation of ‘Literacy for Life’ (LfL) – a whole-school literacy programme, implemented in five secondary schools in England. The aims of LfL were to improve literacy attainment and to promote positive attitudes to reading and writing. However, when compared to other schools, there is little or no evidence that being in a LfL school, had any differential benefit for pupils’ attainment. In LfL schools, the gap for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEN grew in the early years of the intervention. There is also no evidence from repeated surveys that pupils’ attitudes to and enjoyment of reading showed any improvement. As such, LfL did not achieve its intended objectives. This matters because, despite limited evidence in its favour, schools continue to use it and programmes similar to it. We argue that programmes such as LfL, which are implemented on a whole-school level, need to be based upon evidence-informed approaches.

Citation

Morris, R., See, B., Gorard, S., & Siddiqui, N. (2023). Literacy for Life: Evaluating the National Literacy Trust’s bespoke programme for schools. Educational Studies, 49(2), 369-387. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2020.1867077

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 17, 2020
Online Publication Date Jan 11, 2021
Publication Date 2023
Deposit Date Dec 18, 2020
Publicly Available Date Jul 11, 2022
Journal Educational studies.
Print ISSN 0305-5698
Electronic ISSN 1465-3400
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 49
Issue 2
Pages 369-387
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2020.1867077

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