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Key research themes, consultancy activities and other projects of the International Literacy Centre.
Key research themes
Our key research themes include:
- Adult literacy – we have a strong interest in adult literacy research, policy and practice, and supervise doctorates in this area.
- Deepening professional knowledge and professional enquiry through the study of literacy in diverse settings.
- Early literacy development and its challenges.
- Enhancing literacy pedagogy through a focus on what works for whom, under what condition.
- Interdisciplinary perspectives on literacy – what can we learn from each other.
- Literacy as a lifelong and life-wide social practice – the contribution of ethnography, sociolinguistics and psychology to empirical enquiry.
- Literacy policy and its impact on literacy practices in education.
- Tools for studying literacy interventions: process evaluation, theories of change and rapid evidence assessment.
- Transposing literacy pedagogies into other languages and education systems.
Our consultancy projects develop through strong relationships with publishers, practitioners, third-sector organisations and policymakers. We work to:
- bring research into dialogue with practice
- deepen professional knowledge by fostering professional enquiry
- encourage critical thinking and reflective practice that is evidence-informed.
Current projects
The ESRC Education Research Programme 2021-26
A project comprising of a cohort of nine projects has been funded to explore two themes:
- teaching and learning with a focus on teachers, their recruitment, retention and professional development
- uses of technology that enrich teaching and learning.
More info: The ESRC Education Research Programme 2021-26.
Reading the Way (2023-ongoing)
We are delighted to be working with Prison Reading Groups, Novus and Claire Collins Consultancy on the Reading the Way project, developing reading groups for emergent readers in prisons.
More info on the Reading the Way website.
‘Write from the Beginning’
The purpose of this community engagement project was to pilot a collaborative approach between UCL staff and an East London school community (families and teachers) to support young children’s writing.
Past projects
Learning through disruption: rebuilding primary education using local knowledge.
A project exploring how primary school parents, pupils and staff have coped with, and adapted to, a period of prolonged disruption in education, and the lessons we can learn as schools resume.
Output
Main report
Policy Briefings
- Learning through disruption 1: why school plans for recovery from COVID must be locally led
- Learning through disruption 2: schools serving high-poverty communities need funding that fully reflects the work that they do
- Learning through disruption 3: schools engaging with families and communities during COVID
- Learning through disruption 4: building a more resilient education system post-COVID
- Learning through disruption 5: research evidence to support primary school inspection post-COVID
Articles
Watch
Post-16 Phonics
Commissioned by The Education and Training Foundation (ETF), we investigated uses of phonics as part of adult literacy teaching in further and adult education. This included experiences of using phonic approaches with diverse adult learner groups and barriers and enablers to effective practice. The project report also provides guidance and recommendations for future work in this area. The study led to work (in collaboration with Claire Collins Consultancy) developing a toolkit for phonics teaching in the post-16 sector, providing a principles-based approach to using phonic approaches in the teaching of reading and writing with post-16 learners.
Output
Reading Aloud in Britain Today (RABiT)
This two-year study of contemporary adult reading-aloud practices explored diverse forms of oral reading in different communities, languages, cultural contexts and phases of adult life. The study was funded by the AHRC and carried out in urban and rural locations across Scotland, Wales and England.
Output
Publications
- Oral Literacies: when adults read aloud
- Duncan, S., Freeman, M. (2019). Adults reading aloud: a survey of contemporary practices in Britain. British Journal of Educational Studies
- Duncan S. (2019). Reading Aloud in Britain Today: an overview and implications. Research and Practice in Adult Literacies, 2018 Conference Edition. Volume 97/Spring 2019.
- Duncan, S. (2018). Reading Aloud in Britain Today (RABiT): an introduction. Word Matters: The Journal of the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama, 68 (1), 19.
- Duncan, S. (2018). Lend me your ears: Mass Observing contemporary adult reading aloud practices. Changing English, 1-16.
Blogs
- Oral Literacies: when adults read aloud. Launch of the book by Sam Duncan on 8th January
- What does it mean to read aloud--and why is it so important? On The Reading Agency blog
Rapid Evidence Review on Translational Research
Dr Sinead Harmey, Dr Bernardita Munoz-Chereau and Professor Gemma Moss conducted a rapid evidence review for the Froebel Trust on Translational Research. This investigation explored the processes involved in successful research ‘translation’ and the key features or characteristics of academic work that has been translated and used in education settings. A framework is provided to support researchers to make their research more accessible and support the development of successful partnerships.
Output
Publication
Reimagining Literacy Practica
Dr Sinead Harmey received UCL Global Engagement Funds to engage in a project with Dr Bobbie Kabuto (Queens College, City University of New York) on the “Reimagining literacy practica: Preparing educations to teach literacy in a global context’ project”.
Output
Publication
- Teaching Literacies in Diverse Contexts – UCL Press
Manor Park Talks
Conducting a systematic review for the implementation of the Every Child a Talker (ECAT) programme, this is part of a school-based intervention with Sheringham Nursery School and funded by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).
Output
Current teaching practice in using a system of phonics with post-16 learners
This project is creating resources for the Education Training Foundation (ETF) to support the use of phonics in the Functional Skills English curriculum for post-16 learners.
A duty of care and a duty to teach: educational priorities in response to the COVID-19 crisis
This project explores the challenges the COVID-19 crisis sets primary school teachers. These challenges will be considered in light of the diverse roles primary schools find themselves playing in their local communities.
Output
Briefing papers
- Briefing Note 1: Primary Assessment and COVID
- Briefing Note 2: Learning after lockdown
- Briefing Note 3: Resetting educational priorities in challenging times
- Briefing Note 4: Research evidence to support primary school inspection post-COVID
Publications
- Harmey, S. and Moss, G. (2021) Learning disruption or learning loss: using evidence from unplanned closures to inform returning to school after COVID-19. Educational Review
Reports
- Primary teachers' experience of the COVID-19 lockdown – Eight key messages for policymakers going forward (PDF, 0.6MB)
- Written submission to the Education Select Committee Inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on education and children’s services (PDF, 0.9MB)
- Harmey, S. and Moss, G. (2020) Learning Loss versus Learning Disruption: Written evidence submitted by the International Literacy Centre, UCL, Institute of Education, to the Education Select Committee Inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 (PDF, 0.1MB)
Blogs and articles
- Education in the Time of COVID-19 –Rebuild, Reconnect, Reimagine?
- 5 reasons to be cautious about estimates of lockdown learning loss
- A surprising convergence shows teachers’ desire to rebuild better
- Primary schooling and the duty of care
- Choosing welfare over worksheets and care over ‘catch-up’: teachers’ priorities during lockdown
- Government and teachers’ realities are increasingly worlds apart
- Crisis policy enactment: primary school leaders’ responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in England
The role of Teaching Assistants during the COVID crisis
The research team conducted a large-scale, national survey of teaching assistants (TAs) working in schools in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland during February 2021, at a time when schools were focused on supporting children’s learning in school and at home during the Winter 2021 lockdown.
Output