Dr Jennifer Buckingham: 'To investigate literacy instruction and policy in the UK and Ireland' Churchill Trust Report

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Dr Jennifer Buckingham: 'To investigate literacy instruction and policy in the UK and Ireland' Churchill Trust Report

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Dr Jennifer Buckingham is one outstanding lady - a wonderful human being. We are lucky to have her in the world as a major pioneer in Australia for research-informed reading instruction.

Jennifer also appreciates the value of 'practice/provision' - taking a look at the findings not only of academic research, and studying the official guidance for reading instruction provided for teacher-training, but also observing what happens in actual classrooms. This approach of drawing conclusions that are research-informed along with practice-informed was the approach taken by Sir Jim Rose and his team of inspectors in 2005/6 for the independent national review of early reading instruction in England https://iferi.org/evidence/ renowned world-wide.

It is really important to understand the translation of research-findings into official policy and into actual provision.
To investigate literacy instruction and policy in the UK and Ireland

Churchill Trust Report 2022

Jennifer Buckingham has been at the forefront of the national debate on education for more than two decades, with a particular focus on improving literacy through effective evidence-based teaching practices in schools. After completing a PhD on reading instruction and intervention, Jennifer decided to devote her career to bridging the research-to-practice gap and reduce preventable illiteracy. She started the Five from Five project in 2015 at The Centre for Independent Studies to provide free literacy resources to teachers and parents and to provide a platform to promote better policy. Jennifer continues to direct the Five from Five project with the support of MultiLit, where she is Director of Strategy and Senior Research Fellow. Five from Five has delivered free professional learning to thousands of teachers and attracts tens of thousands of visitors to its website and social media channels each month. Jennifer provides advice on policy and curriculum to federal and state governments and education agencies, and works closely with a number of systems and schools to develop high impact literacy teaching and assessment. She regularly speaks at international and national conferences and has published through peer-reviewed journals, education periodicals, book chapters, reports and mainstream media. Jennifer is a board member of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) and The Centre for Independent Studies, an affiliate member of the La Trobe University Science of Language and Reading (SOLAR) Lab, and an expert member of the Educational Excellence Standing Committee of the National Catholic Education Commission. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW and a member of several professional organisations. Jennifer looks forward to the day when all students graduate from school as proficient readers, enabling them to have a high quality of life and to fully participate in society.
See here to access the full report: https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/fello ... -nsw-2022/

Jennifer's Churchill Trust report is extremely detailed including historic developments in Ireland and the UK (Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England), current official guidance in each county, and some actual practice in schools across the United Kingdom. Jennifer has undertaken this daunting project, extremely well-described and summarised, to further enable her to influence and support official guidance and provision across Australia.
Policies and practices in other countries are influential in federal and state policy decisions. In the United Kingdom and Ireland there is great variability in literacy rates and policy. England's reforms in the past decade have been effective there and influential in Australia. However, less is known about policy and practice in the other countries. Of particular interest are Ireland and Northern Ireland, which have among the highest literacy scores of primary school students in English-speaking countries for several decades but there is a lack of published research to explain it. The project investigated and and drew conclusions about the interplay between policy and historical and cultural contexts, and described potential lessons for Australia.

Jennifer Buckingham
I highly recommend the reading of this substantial, interesting and important report.
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