Talk for Writing: Primary Writing Project

Teaching writing effectively remains a challenge for primary schools. Fewer 11 year old pupils achieve the expected standard in writing than in reading, and even fewer achieve the higher level 5 in writing (20%, compared with 42% for reading).

Pie Corbett, an expert on writing, and John Stannard, former director of the National Literacy Strategy, want to address the lack of focus on writing composition skills. They want to develop a programme whereby teachers improve children’s writing skills by using a model of ‘imitation’ (learning texts and stories by heart, and discussing and dissecting them); ‘innovation’ (guiding children to adapt stories and write their own versions); and ‘invention’ (where children create their own text, with varying levels of support). The idea is that children need to know and understand the structure and elements of written language in order to create their own independent writing. Once children have embedded writing patterns and habits in their minds, through orally learning, repeating and discussing them, they are then well-placed to create high quality written work themselves. The approach includes both fiction and non-fiction writing skills.

The evidence base on writing strategies is much weaker than for other aspects of literacy. The programme  builds and extends a range of approaches for writing instruction which have been shown to have an effect on writing outcomes, such as scaffolding children’s writing through explicit guidance.

With EEF funding of £121,000, they will work with schools and other experts to create a structured programme that trains and coaches primary school teachers to use this writing approach to teaching writing. The aim is to develop a programme which could be cascaded to a wider group of schools. They will work with 6 schools in Portsmouth initially, with an evaluation focusing on the progress made of pupils in these compared with other similar schools. If the project is successful and useful to schools, the EEF will consider testing the approach in a more robust, larger scale trial.

The Institute of Education, University of London will independently evaluate the impact of the approach.