NAAIDT: Bringing Literacy to Life

	Introduction
	Why link DT with Literacy?
	How can effective links be established?
	What are the implications for planning?
	What are the implications of the revised National Curriculum?

Primary Design and Technology: Bringing Literacy to Life

Introduction

Design and technology can make a very significant contribution to the raising of standards in literacy. It provides a real, relevant and motivating context for numerous aspects of reading and writing taught in primary schools. Design and technology activities also develop a range of essential speaking and listening skills that underpin pupils' achievement and success in literacy.

The purpose of this Guideline is to help schools establish effective links between literacy and design and technology. Although the Guideline has a particular focus on the Literacy Hour, the underlying principles for linking design and technology with literacy are applicable to all primary schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

It is important to acknowledge that many primary schools already undertake activities where literacy provides an effective context for design and technology. Examples include using a story as the starting point for a designing and making assignment and the use of pupils' products such as pop-up mechanisms to illustrate their writing.

In contrast, this guidance gives examples of how design and technology can provide a context for teaching various aspects of the National Literacy Strategy. It offers practical suggestions for long, medium and short-term planning and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different grouping arrangements, building on NAAIDT Guideline - Maintaining Breadth and Balance until September 2000.

Since the inception of the National Literacy Strategy in September 1998, primary schools have given increased emphasis to the teaching of reading and writing. In addition to teaching an hour of literacy each day, most schools timetable further English sessions for extended reading and writing to enable pupils to apply their literacy skills.

In many schools, the time now allocated to literacy and numeracy has reduced the time available to teach the non-core subjects. Typically, design and technology, history, geography, music, art and PE are taught during afternoon sessions and there is a greater prevalence of setting by ability for English and mathematics. Teachers also report spending a greater proportion of their planning time developing activities to achieve the objectives specified in the Literacy Strategy.

In recent months primary schools have worked hard to implement the methodology prescribed in the Literacy Hour. However, there is evidence that teachers are now using greater professional autonomy and flexibility when teaching literacy. They are seeking imaginative strategies to support their teaching and opportunities to make productive links with other areas of the curriculum.

Why link DT with Literacy?

Pupils and teachers can gain a range of benefits by linking design and technology with literacy.

Raising standards in literacy

Using design and technology as a context can give extra purpose and direction to work undertaken in the Literacy Hour. Pupils are enthusiastic when they see the value of reading or writing as part of the designing and making process. Teachers who have trialled this way of working note that using design and technology as a context adds a practical flavour to the Literacy Hour that is more tangible to many pupils than an exclusively text-based approach.

In particular, Key Stage 2 teachers report that some boys progress more rapidly and raise their attainment in literacy when design and technology provides the vehicle for their reading and writing. Early indications also suggest that the practical context provided by design and technology increases accessibility to the Literacy Hour for some pupils with special educational needs.

Raising the profile of design and technology

At a time when National initiatives at Key Stages 1 and 2 are putting all non-core subjects under pressure, the establishment of links with literacy helps to raise the profile of primary design and technology.

With effective links, design and technology is able to demonstrate the significant contribution it can make to raising standards in literacy. In this way the importance of the subject is not only defined by its contribution to the primary curriculum, but also in relation to literacy - a priority for all primary schools and LEAs.

In addition, links with literacy can help to supplement a reduced time allocation in design and technology. Clearly, the sharp focus for the Literacy Hour is the teaching of reading and writing. However, this does not preclude relevant reading and writing tasks that feature in Designing and Making Assignments, Investigative and Evaluative Activities, or Focused Practical Tasks from being accomplished during this time. This frees up time in design and technology lessons to focus on the essentially creative and practical nature of the subject.

Increasing manageability

Links between literacy and design and technology can reduce the time that teachers spend devising contexts for work undertaken in the Literacy Hour. Existing curriculum planning in primary design and technology provides ready-made contexts for achieving a wide range of objectives specified in the National Literacy Strategy. By highlighting these opportunities, teachers can reduce the planning time for literacy whilst enhancing the quality of their teaching.

How can effective links be established?

The most effective links occur where design and technology serves as a natural vehicle for teaching aspects of the Literacy Strategy. With such links it is possible to demonstrate the distinctive contribution that design and technology makes to the teaching of literacy.

Non-fiction writing

The organisational structure and language features of recounted texts, instructions, non-chronological reports, explanation and discussion can be particularly well taught through design and technology. For example, the features of recount can be taught when pupils retell the sequence in which they made their product. The format of the recounted text could comprise:

setting the scene - what was made, what materials were used, who made it and how long it took;
sequencing events - retelling how the product was made in a step-by-step account;
closing statement - briefly describing the main features and strengths and weaknesses in the product or what was learnt as a result of the activity.

Recounts are written in the past tense, focus on the activities of individuals or groups and use connectives such as first, then, next and finally to link events.

Instructional writing can be taught when pupils are producing step-by-step plans for how to make their product or instructions for another person on how to use the product. The format of the instructional text could comprise:

goal to be achieved - to make a specified product
what is needed - list of materials and components to make the product;
sequence of steps to achieve the goal - step-by-step plan for making the product (this may be illustrated).

Instructional texts are usually written in the imperative with a verb at the beginning of each sentence (put, get, attach, cut) and should be understandable to any audience. Pupils can test out the effectiveness of their writing by evaluating whether someone without any prior knowledge could achieve the specified goal.

The features of non-chronological reports can be taught when pupils are analysing, classifying and describing existing products. The format of a non-chronological report could comprise:

general classifying statement - identifying the collection of existing products being investigated;
purpose - what the products are used for;
description - describing the materials, components and parts of the products, and their similarities and differences;
qualities - identifying particular design features of the products.

Non-chronological reports are written in the present tense and usually focus on describing and classifying a group of objects

The features of explanation texts can be drawn out when pupils are explaining how their own or existing products work or are used. Explanation is written in the present tense. The format of the explanation text could comprise:

definition or question to introduce the topic - how does product X work or how is it used?
materials and components - what the product is made from;
series of logical steps - explaining how the product works in terms of cause and effect (because, so) or explaining the sequence in which it used (then, next).

The organisational structure and language features of discussion texts can be taught when pupils are evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their own or existing products. Discussion texts are written in the present tense. The format of the discussion could comprise:

introductory statement - identifying the product being evaluated, its purpose, the intended user and the design specification it is intended to fulfil;
strengths and weaknesses of the product - describing features of the product that work well and aspects that are less effective in relation to the design specification;
conclusion - a balanced judgement on the effectiveness of the product (however, therefore, nevertheless) with recommendations for how it could be further improved.

Discussion texts occur in the National Literacy Strategy Framework from Year 4 onwards.

Writing frames that provide the structure for each of these texts help to organise pupils' writing and can be introduced when teachers are modelling writing as part of a whole-class session. Modelled writing can also be used to generate the technical vocabulary or word banks that pupils subsequently use as a resource to support their own writing. Where appropriate, these word banks can then be formalised into dictionaries and glossaries.

Non-fiction reading

During shared reading, pupils should be introduced to examples of the types of texts they are going to construct for themselves and taught about the important features to include in their writing. The scarcity of appropriate information books on design and technology means that teachers may wish to compile their own exemplar texts or use writing completed by other pupils for this purpose. However, there is no reason why older pupils should not initially learn about the characteristic features and structure of texts from information books on other subjects.

Design and technology can also provide the context for teaching specific reading skills through information texts. These include:

following instructions - when pupils are reading a recipe or an instruction sheet prior to undertaking a focused practical task;
using contents and index pages - when pupils are seeking information about existing products;
scanning - when pupils select specific information from a text that will help them generate further ideas or improve their designs;
skimming - when pupils are gaining a sense of whether or not the information provided by a text will help them with their designing and making.

Captions and labels

From an early age pupils can be encouraged to read labels in the classroom which identify the tools, equipment and materials that will be used in design and technology sessions. This technical vocabulary can then be used when they write simple lists for planning purposes, label drawings, or produce captions that describe existing products in a class display.

Maintaining quality in design and technology

It is important to guard against making links that address objectives in the Literacy Strategy but fail to support the development of pupils' design and technology capability. For example, instead of writing a recount, it may be more appropriate for younger pupils to talk about the sequence in which they made their product. Similarly, older pupils may learn more about an existing product by drawing it in cross-section than by describing its features in a non-chronological report. Clearly, in these instances the work should be undertaken in a design and technology lesson and not in the Literacy Hour.

What are the implications for planning?

Long-term planning

Establishing links at the long-term planning stage does not entail re-distributing aspects of design and technology to match objectives listed in the National Literacy Strategy.

Instead it is necessary to take a look at the literacy objectives specified for each term and consider whether or not the unit of work specified for design and technology provides a suitable context. Since the reading and writing skills outlined in this guidance are generic they can be linked to units of work on food, textiles, mechanisms and mechanical control, electrical control or structures. For instance, instructional texts in modified forms could feature in any unit in Key Stages 1 and 2.

Some links can be more productive than others. For example, non-chronological report writing may be particularly well suited to classifying and describing existing food products whereas the analysis of an existing mechanical product may be better achieved through explanatory writing.

Medium and short-term planning

Careful termly and weekly planning is required to ensure that the time designated for design and technology dovetails with relevant aspects of literacy. For example, pupils may have worked up their designs in a design and technology lesson during an afternoon session. During the Literacy Hour in the following day they learn about the features of instructional texts and develop their skills by writing a step-by-step plan for how to make their product.

Where schools timetable a flexible half-hour session during the course of the morning this helps to create a more seamless link between design and technology and literacy. In these circumstances pupils could, for example, spend time evaluating existing products immediately prior to a Literacy Hour focusing on non-chronological report writing. The advantage of this arrangement is that the pupils have the knowledge and understanding gained from design and technology fresh in their minds. The technical vocabulary and descriptive writing required will therefore be more readily available for use in the Literacy Hour.

Finally, it is important to maximise the relevance of the links between design and technology and literacy and make these explicit to pupils. For instance, it is more effective for pupils to read and discuss the language features of a recipe during a Literacy Hour when the context of their designing and making has previously been established and if they know that the recipe will be followed in a subsequent focused practical task.

What are the effects of different grouping arrangements?

Building on previous experience

In circumstances where pupils are taught in the same group for design and technology and literacy, teachers can use their knowledge of what was covered in design and technology lessons to set up the context for work in the Literacy Hour. They are also well placed to use their assessments of pupils' attainment and progress in design and technology to inform the pitch of their questioning during the Literacy Hour.

Setting for literacy

Careful consideration is required where pupils are set by ability for English because the teacher taking pupils for the Literacy hour may not necessarily be the same one who teaches them design and technology

In these circumstances it is particularly important for teachers who teach the same year group(s) to plan collaboratively so that links between the two subjects can be established. However, collaborative planning can not in itself provide the in-depth knowledge about pupil capabilities in design and technology that is so useful when links with literacy are being established.

What are the implications of the revised National Curriculum?

There will be a reinstatement, in revised form, of the full Programmes of Study in design and technology in September 2000. However, the sharp focus on literacy will continue to be an important feature of primary education and early indications suggest that guidance about the development of literacy skills through other subjects will be included with each National Curriculum Order.

Useful publications

The National Literacy Strategy: Framework for Teaching, DfEE;
National Literacy Strategy Training Materials - Module 6, DfEE;
Design and Technology Scheme of Work for Key Stages 1 and 2, DfEE/QCA;
NAAIDT Guideline: Primary Design and Technology - Achieving Quality;
NAAIDT Guideline: Primary Design and Technology - Maintaining Breadth and Balance until September 2000.

All NAAIDT publications are available from DATA, at the address below.

Please send any comments on this Guideline to: Guideline@naaidt.org.uk
For a list of other NAAIDT publications see the Publications section or send s.a.e. to:
DATA, 16 Wellesbourne Road, Wellesbourne, Warwickshire CV35 9JB.
For more information on the work of the Association contact: Hon.Sec@naaidt.org.uk

This Guideline was presented in draft form by Gareth Pimley at the annual conference of the Design and Technology Association.