Children’s Experiences of reading, writing and learning in a West London School

Project methods, aims and purpose

This small-scale, ethnographically principled project explored ways in which researchers, teachers and children could sense-make together about reading writing and learning in school. Over three years Lucy visited a London primary school, beginning when the children were in Reception (age 4 -5) and ending when the children were in Year 2 (age 6 - 7). During the children’s Reception year COVID restrictions meant that Lucy was unable to visit the school and so the children and teachers ran the project in school, collecting data and talking with her online.

There were two strands to the project:

• A teaching strand focused on supporting the children in collecting data and exploring their ideas about reading, writing and learning.
• A research strand focused on the children’s experiences of being taught to read and write in the primary school.

The children took photographs, made audio recordings and participated in activities exploring the data collected. At the end of the project they produced posters expressing their perspectives on literacy in school. You can view some of those posters in the presentation below.

Researcher analysis of the wealth of data generated is in its early stages. On this page you’ll find examples of the children’s contribution to the project and read about some of the approaches taken.

Children’s Year 2 posters

At the end of the project the children made research posters about their experiences of reading writing and learning in school. They were invited to think about what people outside the school might want to know about their experiences. This presentation is a small selection of those posters.

Exploring the research posters

This presentation illustrates how the children’s research posters are being explored as part of the research work to understand the children’s perspectives on reading, writing and learning in school.

What will the data be used for?

The project is now in the early stages of data analysis. The wealth of data collected by the researcher and the children will be used to understand how this group of children interpreted their experience of reading, writing and learning in the first years of primary school. It is hoped the insights generated will support teachers’ reflective classroom practice and offer ways of thinking about early literacy curricula in formal school settings. The data will also be used to share the research approach and consider how adults and children can sense-make together about their experiences of schooling.

Project Publications

Analysis of this wealth of data is ongoing. However, there has been an early publication from the project:

Henning, Lucy (2023). Remixing literacy: Young children producing literacy practices for research participation. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 38, article no. 100682.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2022.100682

We are very grateful for all the hard work of the children and teachers who worked on this project. Thank you.