The place of literacy and mathematics lessons

In general, children continue to need daily lessons for literacy and mathematics where they are taught the knowledge, skills and understanding set out in the National Curriculum. The guidance in the renewed Framework still places an emphasis on carefully planned, purposeful, well-directed teaching and learning. When the Frameworks were first published the context demanded that attention was given to the structure and organisation of the lesson. Now the challenge is about improving and refining what is in place.

As identified in the earlier section 'Six key areas that schools and settings are encouraged to consider', the literacy hour and the three-part mathematics lesson have been successful in structuring the pace of learning and planning for progression through Key Stages 1 and 2. However, overuse of this structure has, for some teachers, been seen to constrain learning. The literacy hour and daily mathematics lesson provide a structure for teaching in Key Stages 1 and 2 which we can adapt and revise, keeping what has worked while reorganising the features that may limit the learning. The original guidance provided an 'off-the-peg' structure for many teachers. This has now become more personalised or bespoke, and good teaching and learning retains a structure that is sufficiently flexible to meet the learning needs of all children in the context of the subject being taught.

The daily literacy and mathematics lesson may sometimes be planned as individual lessons. The renewed Framework promotes planning across a sequence of lessons that offer children continuity with a blend of approaches that sustain the challenge and maintain an interest in learning. The teaching and learning cycle that sees review, teach, practise, apply and evaluate as the process underpinning the structure of planning lies at the heart of the renewed Framework.

The cycle has assessment for learning within it and is sufficiently flexible to be implemented in a lesson or across a teaching sequence. The elements within the cycle may require different teaching approaches if they are to meet their intended purpose. All this has to be carefully planned over a teaching sequence to determine how the ebb and flow of learning is promoted and maintained. A three part lesson may fit the cycle well when the purpose supports it. At other times greater flexibility may be required. However, for children, the lesson is still their unit of learning and a lesson needs a clear start and end so that they know what they are learning and recognise the progress that they have made.

Literacy and mathematics across the curriculum

Making links between curriculum subjects and areas of learning deepens children's understanding by providing opportunities to reinforce and enhance learning. It does this in a number of ways, for example by:

• Systematically planning opportunities for practising skills - skills such as skimming and scanning or analysing data, which are taught in the context of literacy or mathematics sessions, can be further developed through purposeful use in other areas.
• Providing real experiences, context and meaning for the development of core skills in literacy and mathematics.
• Assisting memory through providing opportunities for children to practise and use information in different contexts.
• Providing opportunities for application of knowledge in new contexts to involve children in higher-order thinking skills, such as reasoning and problem solving.
• Providing opportunities for learners to recognise and develop key aspects of learning, for example in looking for patterns and relationships, problem solving and reasoning.
• Building concepts through providing children with opportunities to meet the same or related information in different ways, adding to the richness of their experience.

Including all children

For children working significantly below the level of their class or group, learning objectives related to the aspect on which the whole class is working should be chosen as much as possible. However, they should be right for each child at each stage of their learning and development. If, with appropriate access, strategies and support, a child cannot work towards the same learning objective as the rest of the class, teachers may want to track back to an earlier objective. The structure and the new electronic format of the renewed Framework for literacy and mathematics support multi-level curriculum planning, and allow teachers to easily track back and forward through a progression strand to locate earlier and later learning objectives. It also makes direct links to a wealth of other useful materials which will help to plan teaching and children's learning.

Planning for individual children or groups of children based on informed observation and assessment for learning will be informed by knowledge of their priorities. For the majority of the time it will be appropriate for children to work on objectives that are similar and related to those for the whole class. However, at other times you will also have to consider whether the children have other priority needs that are central to their learning, for example a need to concentrate on some key skills.

Children who are working well above the overall level of their class or group will benefit from planning that may:

• add breadth (for example enrichment through a broader range of content, tasks and resources).
• increase depth (for example extension through complexity).
• accelerate the pace of learning by tracking forward to future objectives within or across key stages.

Children learning EAL must be supported to access curriculum content while also developing cognitive and academic language within whole-class, group and independent contexts. With the exception of children learning EAL who also have learning difficulties, it is critical to maintain a level of cognitive challenge consistent with that of the rest of the class. Children who are or have become conversationally fluent will continue to require explicit attention to the development of the academic language associated with the subject and of specific aspects within the subject. Planning should identify the language demands of the objectives and associated activities. Making sure that EAL learners know and can use the language demanded by the curriculum content of the unit or lesson then becomes an additional objective. To identify the language demands, teachers and practitioners will need to consider the language children will need to understand in order to access an activity. This will need to take account of the language children will need to be able to produce, either oral or written, to demonstrate success in achieving the learning intentions.