Securing integrated literacy planning

In order to secure integrated literacy planning, practitioners and teachers need to:

• familiarise themselves with the specific year group planning pages on the electronic Framework, particularly the guidance on the organisation of learning into blocks and units, incorporating speaking, listening, reading and writing into extended units of learning
• familiarise themselves with the guidance and planning overviews and exemplifications offered on the electronic Framework and decide how to use these within a whole-school approach
• review their current literacy planning to make sure that speaking, listening, reading and writing are integrated in their planning, both within discrete literacy teaching and across the curriculum
• identify any areas or gaps in current planning which require attention and ensure that there are effective arrangements in place for monitoring the implementation of their plans
• make sure the literacy curriculum promotes both discrete teaching within subjects and extends literacy learning across subjects.

Planning for inclusion

The National Curriculum (2000) Statutory Inclusion Statement sets out three key principles essential to planning and teaching:

• setting suitable learning challenges
• responding to pupils' diverse learning needs
• overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups of pupils.

These principles highlight the importance of settings and schools planning literacy teaching in order to meet the needs of all children. Planning should also ensure that the needs of children within specific groups, such as those with special educational needs, gifted and talented children and EAL (English as an additional language) learners, are addressed in full. Planning for inclusion should be an integral part of a wider, coherent approach to effective literacy planning.

The electronic format of the Framework for literacy and mathematics provides an interactive facility which enables teachers and practitioners to plan for differentiated support to match children's learning needs. Guidance on planning for inclusion is in the library and planning sections of the electronic Framework which, in their turn link directly to a range of support materials as well as to resources available on the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority www.qca.org.uk.

The interactivity offered by the electronic Framework enables the exemplar teaching units to be amended to support differentiation for groups and individuals. This means a unit can be selected and the learning objectives and content edited to produce a personalised unit for any age and ability range of learners.