A Vision for Scotland: the report and final recommendations of the Literacy Commission December 2009

Just finished reading  A Vision for Scotland  report and identified a few items that tied in with the projects thinking and with the current project Real and Relevant – Information and Critical Literacy Skills for the 21st Century plus the work of our partners:

• 'it is necessary to start literacy programmes from a very early age' (p13)


• 'good CPD is an essential element of any successful programme, as it develops teachers’ skills, puts the teacher in charge and so helps build the necessary commitment at school level'. (p13)


• moving beyond basic literacy - "the need to move children beyond a basic level of literacy in order that they can fully engage with modern society and the workplace" (p14-15)

As indicated earlier, the Commission agreed from the outset that literacy is a continuum that extends beyond basic literacy skills. Different levels of literacy are needed; for example, for undertaking a modern apprenticeship, for most jobs (SCQF level 5) and for Further and Higher Education. In this age of information overload via the Internet, it is important that all youngsters are equipped with analytical skills so that they can understand not just the information that is provided but also its validity. Did the author of the information have a vested interest in persuading the reader of a particular version of the truth? Literacy is also not the sole responsibility of local authorities and schools. Literacy should go beyond the remit of formal education and become embedded across society in order to ensure continuous development. Partnership working, involving the public, private and voluntary sectors, is key if poor literacy across society is to be challenged. (p14 - 15).

• 'If young people are to develop these higher-order intellectual skills, it is crucial that they are explicitly taught'.

Young people should be made aware at the outset what skills they are going to acquire and why they are important. At the conclusion of any unit of work, they should be reminded of what they have learned and be made aware of its application. This element of metacognition is a crucial part of sound learning at any level. It is no less significant when dealing with learning at an advanced level. (p16)

Govan High School (project partner) is actively doing this with their co-ordinated system of skills, called “Future Skills” see posting about Ian McCracken, Learning Resources Manager, Govan High School presentation at the 2009 Project Open Meeting .  

It is important that the skill is seen as being of widespread application. The ability to use knowledge, understanding and skills in areas other than the one in which they were acquired is essential. In some highly specialised areas of learning, skills may be needed for very specific purposes and have few applications in other contexts. The higher-order skills, like analysis and critical thinking, which are associated with advanced literacy, are not like this; they have everyday significance in much the same way as basic decoding. They are the transferable skills of the 21^st century. (p16)

Within the recommendations are the following which we would certainly endorse and support:

• A national strategy should set priorities for assisting children to move beyond basic literacy by improving standards of comprehension and higher-order literacy skills. This strategy should be informed by research and by good practice.


• Progress of local schemes should be carefully monitored and good practice shared in a systematic process of continuous improvement and professional development.


• Raising levels of higher-order literacy-related skills should be a priority objective within the Curriculum for Excellence development programme. (p18)

A Vision for Scotland

Thanks to Carol Stewart for highlighting an article in TESS -  Zero tolerance on illiteracy  which is about about a new report  - A Vision for Scotland

The new report lays out recommendations on how to become 'world's first fully-literate nation'

Scotland can become the world's first fully-literate nation by declaring zero tolerance on illiteracy according to a "visionary" plan published today.

I've still to read the report but if anyone else has read it let me know what you think.

The Scottish Information Literacy Project wins contract from Learning and Teaching Scotland

The Scottish Information Literacy Project has been awarded funding by Learning and Teaching Scotland to work with Learning and Teaching Scotland in an area which is a key area for both Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Scottish Information Literacy Project. One of the Project’s ‘products’ is the first draft  of the National Information Literacy Framework Scotland which is a Framework linking specific information literacy skill levels to appropriate Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework levels from primary school to workplace and lifelong learning levels.  We are currently extending and redrafting it to make it a genuine lifelong learning policy document in line with the Scottish Government’s ‘cradle to grave’ educational strategy.  We will be working with Learning and Teaching Scotland’s Literacy Team on a project entitled:

 ‘Real and Relevant – Information and Critical Literacy Skills for the 21^st Century Learner’ (Early and First Level)

The Project’s aims are:

To create a quality CPD Information Literacy resource pack whose target audience will be Early Years (primary 1-2).  This will contain:-

• Background Information re Information Literacy


• Learning and teaching approaches


• Supporting resources –e.g. Posters, PowerPoints.

Learning and Teaching Scotland is constructing a resource called ‘Real and Relevant - Information Literacy Skills for the 21^st Century Learner’ which is aimed at the upper primary/early secondary stages. This resource reflects the purposes and principles of Curriculum for Excellence as well as linking with specific outcomes from the Literacy and English framework. The Project, aimed at early and first level, will help us to extend the early years component of the Framework. Both projects should complement existing work already carried out by Learning and Teaching Scotland in this area, e.g. the structure and terminology that has been adapted to be in keeping with primary practice and the CfE literacy and English framework.

National Literacy Conference Towards Excellence

We have both had our heads down for a while with backroom matters hence the lack of postings but we were out and about last week.

On Tuesday 10^th March we attended the National Literacy Conference, held at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow. We had been invited by the Literacy Team of the Curriculum for Excellence and the event was organised by Learning and Teaching Scotland. Most of the attendees were teachers but there were a few librarians. The day was mostly taken up with parallel workshops but there were two presentations which kick started the day. The first by HMIE: Mary Ritchie and Janie McManus on some wonderful examples of good practice that they as inspectors had come across that engaged with learners and highlighted that it was all about developing and planning opportunities for learners to use their literacy skills at an appropriate level to meet their needs and that learning must go out beyond the classroom. There were so many good practices that they didn’t have much time to talk about Journey to Excellence (http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/journeytoexcellence/index.asp) and the Professional Development Pack (http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/journeytoexcellence/learningtrails/index.asp ) they are working on which they are keen to engage and talk about. Something we need to investigate further.   Next was an introductory keynote by Professor David Booth of the University of Toronto who has spent a lifetime researching and promoting reading and had some good ideas on how to encourage it.

The morning workshops included an impressive presentation by Pamela McLean, the Access Co-ordinator at the Mitchell Library who works mainly with primary schools to promote educational visits to Glasgow libraries to encourage the use of the Libraries’ resources. This includes some basic information literacy training. Perhaps her service could work with school libraries to develop a more co-ordinated approach to information literacy training in schools.  A second morning seminar was about Glow which is naturally of interest to librarians. The presentation revolved around a case study of work by an English teacher. While this was very informative the discussion flagged up a worrying ignorance of copyright issues by teachers and clearly they lack guidance and advice. With the coming of Glow this is a bigger issue than before. In higher education most universities have copyright advisers who are usually librarians. Perhaps schools should have copyright advisers too and who better to do it than the school librarian. At lunch time we had a chat with the GLOW team about this issue and discovered there is a section on GLOW about copyright but unfortunately it appears that those teachers who are using GLOW have still to discover this resource.

The first afternoon session included a presentation by Louise Ballantyne, a primary teacher currently on secondment to Learning and Teaching Scotland’s Literacy Team. John attended this presentation and Louise spoke about her ‘Real and Relevant’ information literacy training material which is aimed at Primary 6-7 and early secondary. Among the sources she has used is our Framework.  The session was extremely well attended and she was kind enough to refer to our work and hand out some of our leaflets.  Her materials should be available on the Learning and Teaching Scotland website in the autumn. Meanwhile Christine attended another excellent presentation by Anne Louise Nicholson, St James’s Primary, Paisley on using Glow to Promote Literacy (Primary) in which it was amazing to see how Primary 1/2 pupils were engaging with Glow, having fun and learning. Children who didn’t participate much in class seemed to find their voice using Glow. This wasn’t just using technology for the sake of it but showed that with innovative learning and teaching very young children can work at their own level using all the technological advances available to them.  Anne’s conclusions was that it had lead to  – fun and meaningful learning, more ambitious learning, richer language experience overall, able to tap into real life events and involve children, easier collaboration, use of experts to educate (a local painter (artist), wider audience for work to be showcased, easier to evidence using Glow.

The final afternoon session Christine attended was Literacy across the Curriculum – two English teachers who have been working in partnership with a Science (Physics) teacher and a History teacher in different schools in East Dunbartonshire to improve pupils understanding in different subjects through the development of literacy skills. Common areas of concern where; written accuracy (basic spelling, punctuation) and poor quality of extended written responses; in both cases the extended written responses were addressed through note taking and skimming and scanning techniques which lead me to ask the question of whether the school librarians had been involved in this work. Silence! The answer was no and I asked why not since these skills and competencies were the school librarians professional skills and competences. Fortunately there were other presentations which did involve school librarians. As a profession (library and information) we need to do more advocacy work with the teaching profession.

During the coffee and lunch breaks we were entertained by a wonderful school band from Turnbull High in Bishopbriggs. The performance on the drums was particularly spirited. Every conference should have a school band.

Scottish Learning Festival

Included in the the sesions I attended was the keynote speech by Fiona Hyslop MSP Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning in which she outlined the central role of learning in supporting the Scottish Government’s strategic objectives. Of particular interest was that of a mention of Information Literacy skills and Dundee Librarians creating a community of Information Literacy skills in her speach in reference to examples of joined up working and GLOW.

She spoke quite a bit about GLOW (a national digital network for Scottish Schools) and referred to it as a truely innovative service on a national basis, recognised by George Lucas who was calling on US Congress to do the same. (Laurie O'Donnell, director of learning and technology at Learning and Teaching Scotland, was named as one of the George Lucas Educational Foundation's "global six". Each year, the film-maker's foundation honours six educationalists who it believes are "reshaping education". O'Donnell was honoured for his use of information technology.)

With reference to the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) she said it was skills for learning, skills for life, beyond curricular into life and that there was still much to do: assessments; skills development; professional development for teachers.

In the afternoon I attended a thought provoking session by Ruth Sutton entitled "It ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it…that’s what gets results" she talked about 'not the what but the how of teaching' and that there was 'not enough focus on the how' and that there was an 'enourmous gap between vision and reality'. She also talked about initiatives and spining or weaving plates and that from a personal perspective 'nothing that we identify as best practice is entirely new'.

With reference to research and practitioners - she talked about 'how do we get the water to the end of the furrow' which I though was a good analogy for getting research out into practice something which the library and information profession research community has looked at. On Assessments - Assesment for Learning (AfL) was more like Assessment for Teachers however teachers that support Assessment for Learning would not go back. Also there needed to be a move from 'plan for coverage to planning for learning'.

She talked a little about Limbic Learning (a new term for me) which is all about using the part of the brain which deals with emotion, experiences and habits - helps the telling into habits from knowing into doing. According to Sutton Limbic Learning is the key to challenge traditional approach to teachers' professional development. Returning to the how not the what she said that Curriculum for Excellence needs to be defined as the how not the what.

The afternoon's keynote Reforming the High School Curriculum: Tools for Raising Quality of Learning and Improving Equity, Richard Teese, Professor of Post Compulsory Education Training and Director of the Centre for Post Compulsory Education and Lifelong Learning, University of Melbourne. He sees CfE as far sighted and ambitious and that it will tax Scottish schools on two major fronts: how to raise the quality of learning of many students and how to ensure that all young people build well on a succesful experience of school. He says progress on both these fronts will require strong incentives. His keynote included identifying some of the key challenges for Scotland in the context of CfE.

My final session of the day was Real and Relevant - Information Literacy Skills for the 21st century Learner Louise Ballantyne, Development Officer, Literacy, Learning and Teaching Scotland. According to her biography 'Louise has a broad experience of teaching at different stages throughout the primary school. Most recently at LTS she has played a key role in the writing of Literacy and English outcomes for CfE, and has engaged with authorities across Scotland as to how to take the framework forward.' I was particulalry interested in hearing what Louise had to say about information literacy as the Seminar Description refered to 'the Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes direct practitioners to help learners find and use information effectively, to use information ethically and with a critical eye.' Whilst what Louise was saying with reference to information literacy was not new to school librarians and those professionals involved in information literacy it was interesting and good to hear a teacher talk about information literacy. Once finished her material will I understand be available on the CfE website. I also understand that one of the school librarian GLOW mentors approached her about the material being included in GLOW. I hope to meet up with her at a later date and discuss as the seminar describes 'one of the more challenging areas of Curriculum for Excellence.' This is the part I like about attending events sharing information with other people.