I am a big fan of looking up words I don’t recognise using Google. My internet history is littered with searches for definitions. Recent ones have included palimpsest, solipsism, and pabulum but (possibly much to the relief of those around me) I confess I have never used any of them. The difference between knowing the definition of a word and using it is significant. Yet often we will see classrooms and lesson slides displaying specific technical vocabulary without children encouraged to rehearse it. A research schools’ blog published by the EEF last week gave an example of a primary school using the EEF’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit and Improving Literacy guidance reports to improve the teaching of vocabulary across a school. The principles underlying their staff training were based on the awareness that whilst pupils may be able read words accurately, they will only fully understand their use and meaning if they are already in their vocabulary and that they have had repeated opportunities to use them in different contexts.
Many schools have rightly set out the specific terminology and language that they expect all pupils to know and remember at the end of taught units of work, however both the methods for supporting this use and recall, and the assessment of whether this has been successful in implementation, is varied. The recently updated Ofsted English subject report noted that few schools design or follow a curriculum to develop pupils’ spoken language with teachers often attributing pupils’ weaknesses in speaking to a lack of confidence rather than realising that they have not been taught what they need to know to articulate their thinking. Tackling this comes down to pupils having structured opportunities and scaffolds to speak in lessons, alongside training teachers to pause, wait and listen. Whilst this comes naturally to some, fears of creating behaviour issues, exposing a lack of subject knowledge or just a pressured timetable are all potential barriers to successful implementation. Creating a culture where pupils oracy is a classroom entitlement can only come through it being a focus in training and development as well as in planning. It was therefore encouraging to see oracy emerge so strongly in recent proposals for school-led initiatives.
A word none of us like but all know the meaning of at this time of year is ‘exam’ as we are again in the season of statutory testing with GCSEs now underway and KS2 SATS testing next week. Good luck and best wishes to all involved in the coming weeks!
Stephen Hall
Chief Executive Officer, Camden Learning
