Outcomes and Impact

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

I tested learners’ attitudes towards English at the end of the project. I used a combination of resources to help me to gather this data including MS Forms or Mentimeter questionnaires, or also focus one-to-one interviews to gather the learners’ views (see Appendix 5).

I also plan to measure grade improvements in these specific groups against control groups that had not taken part in the project. However, I did feel that it would be hugely optimistic to expect a sudden or marked shift and, even if there were to be positive change, it would be unrealistic to assign the Weekly Read as the main or sole cause of the improvement.

However, the response of the learners had already convinced me that there was something to this idea that was worth pursuing. For example, at no point had classes become unsettled or disruptive, or even questioned the purpose of the Weekly Read project. These were, by definition, learners who often lacked any real intrinsic motivation, so this was positive already. All groups had simply settled down and got on with reading this week’s text independently which met the initial aim of the project with the learners being exposed to a wider range of non-fiction texts than they might usually have been.

I feel that the introduction of the Weekly Read concept from the very start of the academic year would have strengthened the project as a whole and may even have meant that learners undertook their reading tasks outside of the classroom setting. Completing the Weekly Read could have been incorporated into early lessons about acceptable behaviour and conduct in class alongside punctuality and bringing the correct equipment. I was encouraged by the fact that one learner who did complete all of the Weekly Read activities from the start of the project until mid-January passed her GCSE resit with a Grade 5 in the November resit exam.

Organisational Development

COVID absences and an ongoing industrial dispute at the college meant that lessons were frequently disrupted during the autumn term. This may explain partly why the project didn’t initially gain traction. As a result, the project was not expanded to engage learners beyond the initial three groups.

In light of the impact of the industrial action in the autumn term, I feel the project deserves to be extended because the potential gains outweigh the minimal costs.

Recently, COLC has started to foster links between vocational courses and foundation English (and maths) because attendance for English and maths tends to be considerably worse. This could be an option for the Weekly Read going forward: a weekly article to be read during vocational class time and (perhaps) linked to the vocational area. Vocational tutors often have a greater influence over learners in their subject area and this would emphasise the idea that English is something that will continue to be useful and isn’t simply a barrier to stop learners achieving their vocational potential.

I plan to present the findings of the project to the rest of the English tutors in the college. While they have been curious about the research during the year, I want to complete the project before sharing the findings more formally with the rest of the English team.

What Went Well

At the end of the project, I asked all of my learners to complete surveys about their attitudes to English (the cohort that had taken part in the Weekly Read experiment were also asked additional questions). While generally the results were consistent, one question showed a marked difference between the two groups. 71% of the Weekly Read cohort reported feeling “confident” or “somewhat confident” about their own abilities in English, against 54% of the control group (see Appendix 5).

The reaction of the learners in all three groups has been encouraging. Even on those occasions when feedback comments were critical of that week’s text, the learners had been engaged in reading the text quietly and carefully (see Appendix 4). In those weeks where the Weekly Read was cancelled (for example, during GCSE mocks), some learners commented that they enjoyed that part of the lesson and missed it.

As noted earlier, the response of the learners has already convinced me that there is something to this idea that is worth pursuing. In light of the low motivation levels and disruptive behaviour characteristic of a GCSE resit class I was delighted to see how all groups settled down and got on with reading the week’s text independently and began to explore a wider range of non-fiction texts, which was the original aim of the project.

During the early stages of the project, one learner did engage fully with the Weekly Read activities and was thorough in her reading and reflecting on the articles outside of her English class. She completed the GCSE resit course and passed her November exam with a grade 5.

A small body of resources has been built up that can be used in future and shared with the rest of the English team in the college.

Looking at the learner’s feedback from individual articles, two articles proved particularly popular. One was an extract from a memoir set in Liverpool in the 1970s and the other was an account of the pros and cons of being a social media influencer.

Words like ‘relatable’ featured frequently in feedback for both articles. The conclusion I would draw from this is that learners may be more comfortable reading something that is somehow familiar to them. However, it is unclear whether this is because they lack the cultural capital to tackle an unseen text or for other reasons. Also, it is unclear whether ‘local’’ writing might prove as popular in other parts of the country.

It reminds me of a learner earlier in my career who had been excluded from school and had ended up in her mid-teens in adult community education studying literacy. Her passion was rap music and the culture that surrounds it, and I was initially able to engage her with biographical texts about famous music artists. However, after one or two sessions when it was time to broaden her reading, she was very reluctant and wanted to know why we couldn’t stick to that specific subject matter. Similarly, if the Weekly Read articles were drawn from modern popular culture (for example, video gaming or social media) or local writing, would that really achieve the purpose of exposing the learners to wider range of quality reading?

Even Better If

I feel that the project would have got off to a stronger start if it had been launched at the very start of the academic year. In this way, the learners would have been clear that it was a mandatory part of the lesson and important to their future success. They may also have been able to see the impact and usefulness of the Weekly Read articles on their English studies.

We also had to contend with the ongoing disruption caused by COVID-19 and continued industrial disputes at the college. COVID-19 affected the attendance and both learners and staff at college. It also meant that there was a lack of momentum during the wider academic year. It will be interesting to see the effect of this on GCSE grades in the summer.