Pearson Schools Blog

By Les Hopper 

The ease, accessibility and potential of digital learning is inspiring an ever-growing community of educators. 

According to Pearson’s research, more than a quarter of teachers (26%) believe that the shift to online learning during the pandemic led to increased creativity in lesson delivery or content. We asked three Pearson National Teaching Award Winners to share what this looked like for them, and how edtech has impacted their long-term visions for teaching.

Danny Cuttell, Head of English at Pearson, explores why it is time add three new Rs to the English curriculum: realness, relevance and relatability.

A picture book is classed as one in which a narrative is combined with a visual element. This can take the form of wordless storybooks to graphic novels. Traditionally, there has been an assumption that these books are primarily geared towards younger readers, but increasingly, teachers and parents are seeing the benefit to academic attainment, mental wellbeing and inspiring reluctant readers to engage and take joy from reading for all aged children. And indeed, for adults. 

There are two high-frequency themes that arise in the engagement of parents/guardians in the development of reading at home: reaching those that you really, really want to reach; and moving others away from thinking that listening to their child read more challenging words is the goal. This latter has a related issue: once the child can read independently, there can be a perception that no more parent-level engagement is required – and we’ll come back to that.

Who do we see in the imagined worlds of literature – do we see ourselves, and do we see others? 

Stop. Just stop whatever you are doing and go and have a look at the book corner in Year 5. What does it look like? What does it tell you about the reading culture in your school? What do the children think of it? Do they want to grab a book? Do they want to immerse themselves in a new world, a new dimension or a story about someone just like them? 

The chicken or the egg. What comes first, reading or writing? In this blog Ben Connor discusses how reading supports successful writing.

Has representation gone far enough? The short answer to that question is no, there’s a way to go yet. Progress has been made, and the issue of representation is firmly on the agenda, but the generally accepted concepts of reality, which are represented in children’s books, need to continue being pushed. The value lies not only in reflecting everyone’s reality, but in the opportunities for natural, explorative, curious dialogue that those representations provide – useful for those children who may need a voice, but also for widening children’s perspectives and understanding more generally. 

English provides young people with the key skills, expertise, knowledge, and understanding that they urgently need to successfully navigate the 21^st century and their own futures. And yet, there is no doubt that English as a subject is suffering in schools, colleges, and universities. In this blogpost Dr Rebecca Fisher shares how we can help to reignite a love of English and why this is so important.