CLPE released its second Reflecting Realities report on 19 September 2019. The Reflecting Realities: Survey of Ethnic Representation within UK Children’s Literature 2018 shows that there has been an increased presence of BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) characters in children’s books published in 2018, compared to the previous year. This is the second year the survey has been conducted in the UK, with the aim of identifying and highlighting representation within picture books, fiction and non-fiction for ages 3 – 11.
As part of the Visual Journeys international research project, children newly arrived in Scotland and in the very early stages of learning English, explored David Wiesner’s book Flotsam and Shaun Tan’s The Arrival. The article offers suggestions for helping bilingual children to read complex (and wordless) picturebooks and shows how such shared reading experiences can help children tell their own stories.Thanks to The English Association for allowing UKLA to reproduce the article.
In a school where over 47 different languages are spoken and there is a higher than average proportion of children who have additional educational needs, the staff developed cross-curricular projects as a basis for developing whole school literacy policy. This highly illustrated article describes the inspirational work of years 2 and 5.Thanks to The English Association for allowing UKLA to reproduce the article.
A project with years 5 and 6 pupils designed to gain an understanding of slavery, drew on the quality picture book Dave the Potter Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier. Dave was born into slavery in South Carolina at the turn of the nineteenth century, became a skilled potter, was sold to several different owners, survived the civil war and eventually obtained his freedom.Thanks to The English Association for allowing UKLA to reproduce the article.
In an extended cross-curricular project, Years 3 and 4 create a poem scroll based on a traditional Bengali form of poetic narrative. Through drama, discussion and close examination of the original poem, the children came to understand the horrors of the tsunami and wrote and illustrated their own narrative poem, which they made into a scroll.
In this article, Rebecca Kennedy describes how a year 2 teacher has planned and taught a sequence of literacy lessons for young writers, with cross curricular links to geography and art.
In a project designed for inclusion, illustrators Mark Long and Mark Oliver worked with a Year 5 class on an extended project where each child produced their own illustrated book. Children with additional educational needs and children in the early stages of learning English were able to access the work and proudly create their own picturebooks. Thanks to The English Association for allowing UKLA to reproduce the article.
This article describes how two teachers in pupil referral units used writing journals, storytelling and quality picturebooks to encourage reluctant learners to write with enthusiasm and find success in creating their own stories. The teachers were delighted about gains in self-esteem as well as in reading and writing achievement and the article recommends particular texts which helped tackle sensitive issues.Thanks to The English Association for allowing UKLA to reproduce the article.
A project in Nottinghamshire has for some time supported home-school links for families caring for looked after children. Each child is given a multimodal kit with carefully selected resources and suggested activities to take home in the autumn term and to keep regardless of change in school or home setting. Carers are given support to help them encourage the children to create their own multimodal books and presentations.Thanks to The English Association for allowing UKLA to reproduce the article.
Children from two primary schools in the London borough of Hackney took part in a community arts funded project which investigated the history of the local high street, discovering a great deal about the cultural richness of the area. The active, investigative nature of the project challenged the participants but was particularly successful with children who had previously been seen as reluctant or disaffected learners.Thanks to The English Association for allowing UKLA to reproduce the article.
This article reviews books which include issues of disability as part of ‘usual’ characterisation and plot but where the child characters are not defined by their disability or learning difficulty. It offers a good starting point for selecting inclusive reading material with lists of books and useful websites.Thanks to The English Association for allowing UKLA to reproduce the article.
This article describes a project which began with an art gallery created in a nursery where over 90% of the children were bilingual speakers. Parents were invited to discuss the paintings with the children, create their own stories based on the pictures and record them in home languages. Finally the children and their parents visited the National Gallery where they shared their interpretations.Thanks to The English Association for allowing UKLA to reproduce the article.
With lots of practical examples, this article describes how children in nursery settings, many from Minority Ethnic Groups, some who experienced difficulties with learning, worked alongside their parents and other family members to create their own multimodal storybooks. The stories were translated into twelve different languages for sharing at home. Thanks to the English Association for allowing UKLA to reproduce the article.
UKLA / Wiley-Blackwell Research in Literacy Education Award: Award Winner – Literacy 2012. This paper considers how policy-led processes of education reform have reshaped the space in which to think about gender and literacy.
In the second part of this series, the literacy journeys of two pupils with challenging behaviour are considered with a particular emphasis on the importance of the pupil’s voice and the use of ICT in providing ways into learning. The article concludes with reflections from both the pupils and the author.Thanks to the English Association for allowing UKLA to reproduce the article.
UKLA / Wiley-Blackwell Research in Literacy Education Award: Award Winner – Literacy 2013. This article argues for literacy as a specific form of communication, but concludes that broader models of literacies should be utilised to guide and support practitioners in developing interactive practice and in making reasoned and principled approaches and decisions about literacy practices, routes and progression for children with SLD.
