Centre for Language and Literacies

Centre for Language and LiteraciesProjectsThe Craft of Writing

The Craft of Writing

On this new project, you will enjoy two residential writing courses at Arvon’s Lumb Bank Centre, working with professional writers, and will attend three professional development days to consider how to translate this new learning about writing into classroom practice. The residential courses build your own confidence and enjoyment of writing, and our hope is that this will lead to changes in how you teach writing, and improve children’s motivation to writing and their attainment in writing.

About the Project

This is a unique opportunity for you as a teacher to think about yourself as a writer and about how you teach writing. This project is funded by EEF and the RSA.The effectiveness of the project will be evaluated by a team from University College London and BIT.

Arvon is an arts organisation which has been offering people time and space to write for nearly 50 years. They run writing residentials, in beautiful locations, where you get ‘expert tuition from leading authors and the support of other like-minded writers, you can feed your imagination and let your stories flourish’. 

This project focuses on teachers as writers and the craft of writing. Arvon, the Open University, and the University of Exeter have recently completed a study, Teachers as Writers, investigating the impact of the writing residentials on teachers and children. There have been some powerful effects on teachers’ confidence and children’s engagement and motivation to write, and this new project develops this further.

What It Involves

Who will be involved?

This project focuses upon year 5 teachers and children, and the aim of the project is to strengthen the enjoyment of writing so that children are motivated to write and improve their outcomes in writing.  We’re hoping to work with 96 schools during 2018-19.

Random allocation

If your school chooses to join the project (and we hope you will!), you could be in either the intervention group or a comparison group.  This is because this project is a randomised control trial which emphasises the importance of random selection.  If you are in the intervention group, you participate in the residentials and professional development; if you are in the comparison schools you continue teaching as you usually would.  Sometimes people are disappointed if they find themselves in the comparison group.  Please don’t worry: first of all you will receive funding which allows you to attend one of the Arvon ‘Teacher as Writer’ residential after the project is complete, and we will also share with you all our findings.

The Intervention

If you are in the intervention group you will participate in two 3 day residentials at Arvon’s beautiful Centre at Lumb Bank in Yorkshire.  At this residential, you will create a community of writers with other teachers and the professional writers leading the course.  They will run writing workshops with you, and give you one-to-one tutorials; and you will also have plenty of time and space just to write and reflect.   Accompanying the residentials will be three professional development days, where we will explore together how to use what you have learned about the craft of writing in your own classrooms.  In particular, we will look at how to motivate children to want to write and help them develop their ideas; and we will look at how to be critical when revise and edit our writing.

What commitment would this project require?

If you are an ‘intervention’ school, you would need to commit to allowing the Year 5 project teacher to:

  • provide student profile and attainment data and UPNs;
  • attend the two Arvon residentials in June 2018 and Jan 2019;
  • attend three professional development days between June 2018 and May 2019;
  • allow the research team access to collect data (for example through observations and interviews);
  • allow the evaluation team to visit your school to administer a writing assessment at the end of the project;
  • complete a survey for each child in the project class at the beginning and end of the study.

If you are a ‘comparison’ school, you would need to commit to allowing the project teacher to:

  • provide student profile and attainment data and UPNs;
  • allow the evaluation team to visit your school to administer a writing assessment at the end of the project;
  • complete a survey for each child in the project class at the beginning and end of the study.

Finances

  • Schools in the intervention group will be asked to pay £500 to participate as a partial contribution to the costs of the residentials and 3 CPD days, but will also receive a minimum of £500 towards the supply cover costs;
  • Schools in the comparison group will receive a £500 payment, which can be used towards the cost of attending an Arvon residential after the project is complete.
  • Schools in the intervention group will be able to claim up to £50 travel costs per residential.

If you would like to know more, or if you have any questions, please contact:  Debra Myhill (d.a.myhill@ex.ac.uk) or Teresa Cremin (Teresa.Cremin@ou.ac.uk)

Resources for Intervention Schools

Consent to Take Part

This project is exploring how the opportunity for teachers to work with professional writers might change their understanding of being a writer, how they teach writing, and improve outcomes in writing for the children they teach.  Its impact will be evaluated by comparing it with the “teaching as usual” approach using a randomised controlled trial (RCT).  During this project, you will be contacted by both the Project Team (University of Exeter, Open University and Arvon), who are responsible for developing and supporting the new teaching approach, and by the Evaluation Team (University College London [UCL] and Behavioural Insights Team [BIT]), who are carrying out an independent evaluation of its effectiveness.

This memorandum of understanding (MoU) explains what your school’s participation in the study will entail. 

In order to formalise your consent to participate, please choose the relevant button above

Randomised Controlled Trial (June 2018 - July 2019)

The trial will involve your school being randomly assigned either to participate in the Craft of Writing intervention (the intervention group) or to continue with your normal teaching approach (the comparison group). Teachers in the intervention group will attend two 3 day residentials and 3 CPD days across the year, and to teach writing drawing on the learning from the residentials and CPD input. Teachers in the Comparison group will teach writing as they normally do.  Schools in the intervention group will be asked to pay £500 to participate as a partial contribution to the costs of the residentials and CPD days, and will receive a minimum of £500 towards supply costs. Schools in the comparison group will receive a £500 payment, which can be used towards the cost of attending an Arvon Teachers as Writers residential after the project has ended, if desired.

The following information and evaluation data will be required by the Evaluation and Project teams:

Prior to randomisation

Schools will:

  • Provide school URN and LAESTAB number.
  • Provide contact details of the Year 5 Project Teacher (valid email address and telephone number) to the  Project Team for use by both the Project Team and the Evaluation team.
  • Provide, via the means specified by the evaluation team, pupil names, DOB and Unique Pupil Numbers (UPNs) of the Year 5 Project Class, along with details of any setting or streaming by attainment, to the Evaluation Team by the end of March 2018.
  • Follow the secure procedures requested by Evaluation team to allow parents to opt their pupils out of the evaluation part of this research.

During the evaluation

Participating teachers will:

  • Update UPNs and pupil names of Year 5 Project Class by the end of September 2018.
  • Facilitate visits by the Project Team and/or the Evaluation Team to gather data on the implementation of the intervention or on routine teaching (for example, through observations or interviews etc).
  • Facilitate an-end-of project written assessment which will be administered by the Evaluation Team.

Use of Data

All pupil data will be treated with the strictest confidence and will be stored in accordance with the Data Protection Act (1998) and with the forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation. Named data will be matched with the National Pupil Database using pupils’ UPNs by the Evaluation Team and shared (anonymously) with the Education Endowment Foundation.  All results will be anonymised so that no schools will be identifiable in the report or dissemination of any results. For the purpose of research, the pupil data will be linked with information from the National Pupil Database held by the Department for Education, other official records, and shared with Exeter University, Open University, the Department for Education, EEF, EEF’s data contractor FFT Education and in an anonymised form to the UK Data Archive and for research purposes. Confidentiality will be maintained at all times. 

Requirements for Schools

  • The school is not participating in another research project or evaluation that would interfere with development and evaluation of the above approach in Year 5 writing.
  • The Year 5 Project Teacher will be working with a Year 5 class in the academic year 2018-2019.
  • Intervention group teachers will attend the two residentials and the three CPD days.
  • The school will deliver letters to parents giving them information about the study and an opportunity to opt their child out of the data gathering process. They will inform the Evaluation Team of any responses arising.
  • The school will provide data requested to the Project Team and the Evaluation Team as detailed above.
  • The school will permit the publication of anonymised data collected and its use in presentations.
  • Teachers will, at the earliest opportunity, notify the Project Team if there are support or operational issues which could affect their participation.
  • Teachers will complete a survey for each child in their class at the beginning and end of the study.
  • If the school has to withdraw from the project for operational or other unavoidable reasons, it will notify the UCL/BIT Evaluation Team straight away and, wherever possible, still provide test data for the project. 

Responsibilities of the Project Team:

  • Provide the Arvon residentials and 3 CPD days
  • Act as the first point of contact for any questions about the project
  • Provide on-going support to the school
  • Provide information sheets for parents
  • Collect Year 5 Project Teacher contact names and email details.
  • Disseminate the research findings

Responsibilities of the Evaluation Team:

  • Conduct the random allocation
  • Work with the project team and schools to collect class and pupil level data (including name, date of birth, UPN)
  • Collect data about how the schools are implementing the intervention, or teaching as usual (control groups)
  • Request NPD data using pupil details
  • Administer the writing assessment
  • Analyse the data from the project
  • Disseminate the research findings 

The Project Team

Professor Teresa Cremin Open University Teresa’s research interests include: teachers’ identities as readers and writers, the influence of these on practice and on students’ literate identities and practices, and volitional reading and writing. She also researches creativity and creative pedagogical practices.
Professor Debra Myhill Professor in Education, University of Exeter

Debra’s research interests centre upon: composing processes in writing; the role of grammar and metalinguistic understanding in writing; the relationship between talk and writing.

Email: D.A.Myhill@exeter.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0) 1392 724767
Becky Swain Head of Learning and Participation at Arvon

Becky Swain is Head of Learning and Participation at Arvon, leading a programme of residential weeks with schools, young people and adults groups, and Arvon City, three day non-residential courses in cities across England. Becky leads Arvon’s work with teachers, including the Teachers as Writers research project in partnership with the University of Exeter and Open University. She is an experienced youth worker, English and Drama teacher, coach and arts learning facilitator. www.arvon.org

Email: becky.swain@arvon.org
Teresa Davidson Research Administration, Open University Email: Teresa.davidson@open.ac.uk
Phone: 01908 655640
Stephanie Edwards Research Administration, Open University Email: Stephanie.edwards@open.ac.uk
Phone: 01908 654795
Marijke Shakespeare Research Administration, University of Exeter Email: m.shakespeare@exeter.ac.uk
Phone: 01392 724824
Sara Venner Associate Research Fellow, University of Exeter Email: s.venner2@exeter.ac.uk
Phone: 01392 724863