The National Teacher Research Panel was set up about 15 years ago by CUREE supported by a group of national education agencies most of which no longer exist. It had three main goals:
- To ensure that all research in education takes account of the teacher perspective
- To ensure a higher profile for research and evidence informed practice in government, academic and practitioner communities
- To increase the number of teachers engaged in and with the full spectrum of research activity.
Over the several years of its existence, the Panel, supported by its expert advisers in CUREE, has helped and encouraged dozens of teachers and school leaders to do high quality but practical research. The Panel also helped them report their findings succinctly, in plain English and focused on relevance to other practitioners. This is one such example of that work.
Concerns about pupils' achievements in literacy in England are not new. This is particularly the case with writing, especially where boys are concerned (Bearne & Warrington, 2003; Kingdon & Cassen, 2007). Raising boys' literacy standards, especially their writing skills, has been a key part of English educational policy for some time.The authors of the research selected for this TLA research summary remind us that writing well is more than just an educational issue; it is a necessity if young people are to participate fully in social and economic life. In addition, we can't assume that good readers are also good writers. Writing requires learners to combine and demonstrate the skills they need for formulating and organising their own thoughts, and producing a written record of them using the rules of spelling and grammar. Nearly all aspects of life at some point require writing in one context or another. Writing is also a means of supporting and consolidating learning.This TLA feature summarises a study of writing strategies that were found to be effective for pupils in upper primary and secondary school years (KS2 and 3). It is based on the study: Graham, S. and D. Perin. Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools - A report to the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education, 2007. Whilst the study took place in the US, the concerns and suggested strategies have a resonance for teachers in English schools. We selected the study because the study authors identify and describe a wide range of approaches that were effective in helping pupils respond to the variety of demands learning to write places on them. These activities helped pupils become familiar with, and use, planning, drafting, reviewing and revising text for a range of purposes, including writing a report or arguing a case.The study findings are complemented by those of a recent systematic review into children's non-fiction writing in England. This review explored the impact of grammar teaching and sentence combining, one of the strategies in the US review.We have added detail to Graham and Perin's rigorous but generalised findings in order to supplement the information in the study. (We have placed this additional information in boxes to distinguish it from the study findings). The case studies illustrate the range and adaptability of the strategies, including: teachers' use of action research to identify their pupils' needs and what strategy to adopt and how teachers have used specific strategies and pupils' use of writing to support and extend their learning.
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