Guild Gallery December 2016

Continuing Development Courses

Do you support learners who have English as an additional language (EAL) and dyslexia?  Our Dyslexia in Multilingual Setttings (DACPD94) 6 week online unit will explore the challenges, consider the learner’s cultural context together with the impact this has on learning and progress. 

The course covers the key components for supporting multilingual learners with a view to identifying appropriate support strategies.

We have start dates throughout the year in January, March, May, July, September and November.

This unit sits within the Award in Learning Support for Adults with Dyslexia (DAAWD60 and DAWD57) so why not sign up for the award and make a saving of £30!  Details here: 

Volunteers for Dyslexia Research

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­­­­­­­­­Children's laureates demand UK government investigate school library closures

Children’s laureate Chris Riddell, backed by all eight former children’s laureates including Quentin Blake and Julia Donaldson, has made a powerful and passionate call for the Department of Education to end the “disadvantageous school library lottery” that has seen hundreds of school libraries lose a dedicated librarian over the last decade.

Riddell said that when he took on the role as laureate, he viewed it as “surely madness” that all schools were not required to have a library. “But as I visit schools across the UK I find that library provision is wildly inconsistent. While there are great examples of well-funded and staffed libraries, it is obvious many schools are unable to provide what their pupils need: books they can read for pleasure, and ideally a librarian to help them grow as readers.”

See more of this story here: 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Project Literacy Free Resources

Project Literacy, a global literacy campaign founded by Pearson publisher, has a range of free literacy tools available on their website here: 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Most significant literacy and skills crisis

Libraries were at the centre of a debate in the House of Lords recently as peers from all parties spoke in praise of access to library services.  The debate was led by Big Issue founder Lord John Bird, who questioned the long-term effect austerity was having on the country.  He said, ‘The problem with austerity is that it’s too expensive.  Before we allow another library to close, we must ask: is this a saving?’. Lord Bird told the debate: ‘I am here to talk about poverty. The poverty of the streets, the poverty of our libraries and the poverty of our bookshops.  We have lost more than 500 libraries since 2010.  If you are going to cut libraries you must be prepared to build more prisons, to build more homeless hostels. Libraries are essential, yet what is happening is that they are being cut.’

He also stressed the need for schools to provide pupils with access to a decent library.  The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) Chief Executive Nick Poole welcomed the peers’ intervention, saying: ‘We stand on the precipice of the most significant literacy and skills crisis in the post-war era.  The UK ranks at the bottom of teenage literacy league-tables amongst 23 developed nations.  In order to compete in the global economy our success hinges on a workforce with advanced skills.  Yet we are failing to develop basic literacy skills amongst young people.’

Over a third of UK firms report concerns with school leavers’ literacy or use of English according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Pearson Education and Skills survey.  Click here for more on this story: 

New research finds boys read less thoroughly than girls

Keith Topping, professor of educational and social research at the University of Dundee, is behind two academic research papers which have concluded that boys between 5 and 18 years old take less time to process words, skip parts and may choose books that are too easy for them.
Topping said: “What you need is teachers, classroom assistants, librarians spending time with a child to talk about choices in reading; possible suggestions for more challenging books in the context of what they are interested in.
“We are not saying read hundreds of classics and that everything will be all right. They need to read challenging books in a subject in which they are interested.”
Read more on this story here: 

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­­­­­­­­­Healthy eating linked to reading ability

A study has found a link between healthy diet and reading ability in a group of six to eight year olds.  The findings are part of two wider studies – the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children Study at the University of Eastern Finland and the First Steps Study at the University of Jyvaskyla.

Researchers looked at the diets of 161 children, recording them through food diaries and then analysed this against academic test results.  They found that children with a diet high in vegetables, berries, fruit, grains, fish but low in saturated fats, sugary foods and red meat, did better than their peers with poorer diets.

Researchers found the children with better diets showed a greater improvement in their reading skills over the course of the study. Researcher Eero Haapala, said: ‘Another significant observation is that the associations of diet quality with reading skills were also independent of many confounding factors, such as socio-economic status, physical activity, body adiposity and physical fitness.’

For more on the studies click here: or here: 

Useful technology

Northern Ireland teachers concerned by children’s speech and language delays

Primary school teachers are concerned about the number of children starting school who struggle with speech.  More than 90% of teachers surveyed by Save the Children said children who start primary one with delayed speech and language skills can fall behind.
In its own research, Save the Children found that in some of Northern Ireland's most disadvantaged communities, "40% of children entering primary school demonstrate speech, language and communication difficulties - and those who struggle in toddlerhood may never catch up".  For more on this story click here: 

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