County-wide Paired Reading Programme

Hampshire Children’s Services

Virtual Head Teachers conference 21 March 2014

(LAC Lead)

Workshop for the NationalVirtual School

Julia AlfanoEducational PsychologistHampshire Children’s Services

Theoretical background

In 2006, 6000 young people left the care of the state in the UK. Of these, 4,500 left with no educational qualifications (Sergeant, 2006)

In 2003, the social exclusion unit reported children in care were ten times more likely to be excluded from school than other children

In 2007/08, 66% of Children Looked After (CLA) obtained at least one GCSE/GNVQ on leaving school. This compares with 99% of all children in the general pupil population (DCSF, 2009)

Only 14% of CLA leave care with five or more GCSE’s; their contemporaries leave with 65% (DCSF, 2009)

16% of care leavers are unemployed by September of leaving school compared to 4% of all school leavers (DCSF, 2009)

Theoretical background

Two crucial factors are needed in order for a child to do well in education:

Placement stability An environment which encourages studying (Stein, 1997)

Children require an environment in which education is supported and encouraged in order to achieve academically (Jaussen et al, 2003)

Problems we encounter with children in care– Placement instability – home and school 2006 – 40% of foster carers in England and Scotland did not have

formal educational qualifications (Sergeant, 2006) Many do not attend parents’ evenings Limited contact between child’s social workers, carers and

teachers

Theoretical background The early experiences of CLA are often marred

by neglect or abuse (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2001)

These children continue to lack stability in their home and school placements (Fletcher-Campbell & Archer, 2003)

This is not to suggest that poor academic outcomes are inevitable for CLA rather that special attention might be needed to ensure they are properly supported during their school careers (Jackson, 1998)

Factors contributing to the education of Looked After Children

Placement stability: Supportive home environment that

encourages studying Better communication between

school, carers and social workers (Martin & Jackson, 2002)

Placement stability

Placement stability of children in care is often poor, both in terms of care and educational placements. For example, Fletcher-Campbell and Archer (2003) found that a quarter of the young people in care in their study had six or more care placements, where a third had had three or more education placements while at secondary school.

Attitude to education

Limited contact between key adults involved in supporting the education of CLA

Social workers, carers and teachers often do not communicate regularly

Education seen as a low priority for some foster carers. For example, in a study by Barnardo’s (2006) 39% of children in care responded that no-one attended their school’s parent’s evenings compared to 4% of those parents of children not in care

Attitude to education

47% of children in care responded that they had never been praised for doing well at school compared to 3% of children not in care

Sinclair (1998) suggests such findings are exacerbated by Placement instability Turnover of carers Time pressure on social workers

Therefore children have no key adult to which they have a strong attachment to and who will take an interest in and support educational progress

The low priority ascribed to education of foster carers may consequently result in low expectations in the part of children (Firth & Horrocks, 1996)

Paired Reading – why we chose it

In order for children in care to improve literacy they need to:

Placement stability Supportive home environment

encourages studying Better communication between school,

carers and social workers

Promoting Carer Involvement

The programme aimed to: Provide carer interest and involvement for children in

their care as this is a fundamental part of supporting looked after children’s academic progress. The programme was aimed at all children in care, regardless of reading age for the following reasons:

Children in care may be behind in literacy as a result of lack of adult involvement (Jackson, 1994)

Reading ability is linked to future educational success (Jackson, 1987) suggesting that the establishment of good levels of literacy may facilitate success in other areas.

Positive relationships are linked to educational success for all children regardless of ability.

The programme aimed to: Promote understanding of carers and social

workers of the wider benefits of literacy Improve communication between schools and

carers

Promoting social worker involvement

Key Points – why we chose Paired Reading

Paired Reading was chosen as it aimed to: Encourage a supportive home environment

that encourages studying Develop better communication between

schools, carers and social workers Promote carer interest and involvement in the

education of children in their care To encourage school staff to support carers in

providing carer interest and confidence Develop better relationships between carers

and children

Paired Reading Interventions

How does it work? Parents and carers are taught a specific way to

read with children and young people It does not involve breaking up of words, but it

focuses on reading together, and when the child feels confident enough, reading alone or out loud with the parents

Paired Reading interventions

Although many interventions have been found successful in raising literacy levels of children in care, we wanted to focus on the role of the carer so they also become engaged in the child’s education from an attachment through the process of the shared reading

This would facilitate success in all other areas, not just educationally

Paired Reading – how does it work?

Paired reading involves a cycle moving from reading together to reading alone, ensuring the child receives as much help as necessary

The process is designed to be interactive and motivating

The child selects their own reading material and is supported by their partner through discussion questioning and correction where necessary

Paired Reading – how does it work? It works pedagologically as the child:

Gains extra practice in reading Receives feedback on their performance Experiences modelling of correct reading by

their partner Receive positive reinforcement increasing their

self confidence Experience reading in a motivating way gaining

attention form a key adult These factors lead to reading fluency and

competency as well as relationship building

Evidence base for Paired Reading A number of studies have found paired

reading improves literacy (Topping and Lindsay, 1992. Brooks, 2007)

Menmuir (1994) studied the intervention with CLA however the data collected was subjective and just focussed on foster carer view, not reading ability so we wanted to improve on this

Participants The work in Hampshire has run for 5 years – 2008-2013. This work has been replicated in Sweden (7 municipalities) results have

shown to improve language (expressive) and general cognitive ability and motivation for learning.

Materials and evaluation/study design Ratio gain – Ratio gain is calculated in order to

assess a child’s rate of progress across time. Ratio gain is defined as the number of months progress made in literacy, divided by the number of months on an intervention. It therefore refers to the average amount of progress made for each month that the child has participated in the intervention. A ratio gain in reading age of 1.40 indicates educationally significant impact on literacy. A ratio gain of more than 2.00 indicates ‘Extra good progress’ (Brooks, 2007)

Myself as a learner scale Reading self concept scale

Carers also reported increases in their child’s confidence and interest in reading

Taking part also enabled them to share one-to-one time with their child

Child enjoys looking at books together and discussing the story and topics covered

Spending time with child seeing him enjoy books so much

Carers also reported improvements linked to the valuable one-to-one time spent with the child

“Spending quality time one-to-one and getting to know more about her reading ability”

Feedback from carers

It has given us time together enjoying what we both like and [child]

has got a lot more confident with his reading

We have thoroughly enjoyed participating in the

Paired Reading programme. I feel it has been very beneficial to [child’s] confidence and

enjoyment of books

A huge positive was being able to watch and help [child’s] enjoyment as confidence with the books grew. He now

selects books that he would have not had the confidence to attempt previously. The one-to-one time that the Paired

Reading scheme required has definitely been very rewarding.

Knowing together we have helped improve his reading and his

confidence.

Although [child] still struggles with the text, his confidence with books has soared. He is no longer afraid or embarrassed to try and therefore

finding a new enjoyment and respect of books.

The only difficulty we experienced was within the first couple of sessions that [child] was to engage

and participate willingly. However, when he realised that he had a choice and that each book was exciting and different and that there was no

negativity within the sessions he then participated very willingly.

ResultsImpact on literacy Repeated 5 years in a row:

Significant improvements in reading age A ratio gain of between 2 & 3

This meets both Brooks’ (2007) and the DfES’ (2003) criteria for effective literacy intervention

Suggest that these interventions offer a useful way of enhancing the literacy of looked after children Poor academic performance of these children is

not inevitable – can be improved with targeted support

ResultsImpact on other areas

Qualitative comments suggest that the results extended beyond literacy per se

ConfidenceOne-to-one time/relationships

Attachment and the building of good relationships are linked to success in all areas in life, not just educational achievement. This programme is not just about literacy

Improvements in reading self-concept Motivation for learning

Final points LAC come from backgrounds of abuse and neglect LAC have experienced turbulence in their home

and school placements LAC often lack consistent adults support in their

education All these above points have affected their

educational achievement A small short-term intervention like paired

reading can have such an impact on literacy and improvements in the bonds and attachment to their carers – which is linked to success in many areas of life, not just education

Final points The past trauma and lack of placement

stability can be alleviated with carer support The programme also improved the links

between carers, teachers and social workers Social workers attended joint training with

teachers and foster carers Teachers liaised with carers on a weekly

basis using the monitoring sheets This raises the profile of looked after

children in schools

This programme encourages the key adults in the child’s life to communicate

It reinforces the need to encourage foster carers and social workers to value education

This work also is so valuable as improvements in reading is associated with other positive outcomes such as overall learning, self-confidence, motivation and improved relationships with carers

Questions

Paired Reading InterventionPractical exercise

Review of Resources/Activities