Teacher intervention for Reception children predicted to experience literacy difficulties

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teachers in the UK are under considerable pressure to provide effective support for children expected to experience difficulties with learning. The DFEE's special needs Code of Practice emphasizes the need for early identification and intervention; and new, national guidelines for baseline assessment of children at entry to school have been developed in part to encourage teachers to plan learning activities more closely tailored to the measured abilities and skills of individuals and groups of children. Against this background of policy‐making to prevent failure, this study focused on teachers' predictions of early literacy development and subsequent intervention in a sample of four primary schools drawn from two local education authorities in south‐western England. It was found that teachers were able to predict baseline and outcome literacy levels with some accuracy. The study examined support arrangements made during the Reception year for 30 children, including 13 for whom literacy difficulties were predicted and 17 for whom literacy success was predicted. On the measures used (entries in home/school reading diaries), low expectation children received significantly less support. It also emerged that teachers were not always in agreement about the appropriateness of early intervention, with a general lack of planned, systematic assistance for the cohort with literacy difficulties. There were wide individual teacher differences in the levels of support offered and in the value accorded to early intervention. Implications for schools are outlined from this relatively small‐scale study in moving towards more consistent and appropriate practice, while it is proposed that more attention should be paid to teachers' intuitive judgements about children's potential for literacy development.