Blog
In recognition of her work in the field of literacy, Dr Eithne Kennedy, a member of the RAI Executive Committee, received the prestigious "Irish Tatler Woman of the Year Public Life” Award, at a ceremony held in Dublin on 12th November, 2011. Click here for more.
A new literacy programme, implemented in Ballymun, has resulted in a significant increase in achievement test scores for children in First class in six schools. Click here.
The Department of Education and Skills has issued Circular 0056/2011, Initial Steps in the Implementation of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy.
The Circular calls on school management and teaches to co-operate in the implementation of key areas of the Strategy involving improved professional development for teachers and increased time for teaching literacy and numeracy.
A new report, Teaching Reading in Europe: Context, Policies and Practices has been published by Eurydice, the Education Agency of the European Commission. Information about the report, and the report itself, can be accessed here. An interesting focus of the report is on programmes to improve the teaching of reading in EU-member countries.
Today (July 8, 2011), in Dublin, Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn launched Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life: The National Strategy for Children and Young People 2011-2020. The Strategy outlines a range of measures in teacher education, teacher professional development, curriculum and assessment that will be taken in the years ahead to raise standards. A summary of the plan was also issued. RAI was represented at the launch by two members of the Executive Committee, Karen Willoughby (President-Elect) and Martin Gleeson (Past-President). In February 2011, RAI submitted a detailed response to an earlier draft of the Strategy.
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) has issued calls for tender for research papers on oral langauge development and literacy developmentn in children aged 3-8 years. The papers will contribute to curriculum development of a new langauge curriculum for primary schools, begining with infants. See the following links:
Oral Language in Early Childhood and Primary Education (3-8 years).
Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn, T.D., launched the Write to Read initiative at St. Patrick’s College, Dublin yesterday. The initiative, which was designed by RAI Committee member Dr. Eithne Kennedy, is designed to raise literacy levels in schools in disadvantaged areas. For more click here.
A new strategy for improving literacy and numeracy in Northern Ireland was launched by the Education Minister, Caitriona Ruane on 22 March 2011. Click here for details.
Visit the University of Sussex website to find out why repetition of bedtime stories helps with young children’s vocabulary development. Click here
Donald Leu, a researcher from the University of Connecticut, conducted a study among the Facebook generation of students - deemed ‘digital natives’ due to their online savviness - to try to prove they will believe anything they read on the internet. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1352929/Endangered-tree-octopus-proves-students-believe-read-Internet.html#ixzz1D1SanaYl
The Handbook on Reading Research Vol. 4 (2011), edited by Michael Kamil, David Pearson, Elizabeth Moje and Peter Afflerbach, has just been published by Routledge. There are 30 articles on a range of topics such as Designing and Conducting Literacy Intervention Research, Adult Literacy, Primary Grade Reading, the Development of Comprehension, Professional Development and Teacher Education for Reading Instruction, Classroom Assessment of Reading, and Popular Culture and Literacy Practices. Any volunteers to review it?
The results of the OECD PISA 2009 Study were published on December 7, 2010. Reading was the major assessment domain in 2009, allowing for detailed comparisons with PISA 2000 with respect to performance and attitude. Fifteen-year olds in Ireland in 2009 achieved an average score on reading that was not significantly different from the OECD average. However, this represented a significant decline in performance since 2000, with the gap in favour of females also widening. In 2009, 42% of 15-year olds in Ireland (up from 33% in 2000) reported that they did not engage in any leisure reading, and males were more strongy represented in this group (48%) than females (36%). International reports on PISA 2009 can be downloaded from www.pisa.oecd.org. A summary report for Ireland is available at www.erc.ie/pisa
The DES Draft National Plan to Improve Literacy and Numeracy in Schools can be downloaded at http://www.education.ie/servlet/blobservlet/pr_literacy_numeracy_national_plan_2010.pdf RAI’s response to the Draft Plan can be accessed here.
The report on the 2009 National Assessment of English Reading was published by the ERC last week, and is available at http://www.erc.ie/documents/na2009_report.pdf
Printer-friendly version
Reading Association of Ireland
Cumann Léitheoireachta na hÉireann
Educational Research Centre,
Saint Patrick’s College,
Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
Email: info (at) reading.ie
Tel: (01) 8065210
