Fife’s Approach: Workshop for Literacy

Workshop for Literacy is Fife’s approach to supporting the development of skills that are fundamental for listening, talking, reading and writing. This research-driven approach is underpinned by key principles influenced by work originally undertaken by Jennifer Drysdale, a Fife practitioner. These principles inform our practice and promote the use of effective strategies for the teaching of literacy, which benefit learners across all stages and sectors.

Contextual Observation and Assessment

Effective assessment practices are always the starting point, helping practitioners to better understand where individuals are in their development. Key information about a learner’s strengths and areas for development is routinely gathered through observations of what learners do, feedback through what they say and assessment of performance or products.

Responsive Learning and Teaching

Workshop for Literacy is not a programme of work; it is an approach to teaching and is not prescriptive, rather it enables practitioners to flexibly act on their observations and assessment to determine the most appropriate next steps for learners to support their literacy development.

Meaningful Contexts

Contexts for learning that are meaningful and engaging support learners to make connections between their knowledge, skills, and abilities to all aspects of life, and the world more broadly.

Engaging Stimulus

Stimuli such as stories, images or objects are used to effectively stimulate interest, generate curiosity, and spark imagination. Learners are exposed to various genre and types of text, selected for their rich language, content and suitability for the literacy skills being developed.

Skills and Strategies Made Explicit

Through modelling, sharing, and guiding, practitioners clearly demonstrate and highlight the use of specific skills and strategies, helping learners to develop their understanding and independent application when reading, writing and communicating in different curricular areas.

Daily Opportunities

Through an appropriate balance of teacher-directed, teacher-initiated, and child-initiated activities, learners experience purposeful daily opportunities which contribute to the development of core literacy skills and foster a lifelong love of reading, language and literature.

The Effective Learning Teaching and Assessment in Literacy through the Workshop for Literacy Approach: Principles in Practice paper provides a more comprehensive overview of our literacy strategy in Fife and outlines the key features of highly effective practice.

This video also provides further information The Workshop for Literacy Approach.