For a few years, after finishing my undergraduate degree and before starting on the PGDE, I found myself in one of the most popular industries for a directionless twenty-something - working in a call centre. Talking people through technical problems with Freeview boxes, selling unreliable broadband, and even briefly punting Old Firm games for Setanta.
These 12-hour shifts conversing through a headset are not much fun but, weirdly, I was good at it. I could blether, type data-protection answers, read technical manuals and sympathise with complaints, all at the same time.
I was simply reading, writing, talking and listening. My literacy muscles had never been exercised so keenly.
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These are the four key skills associated with literacy in a school environment. They are embedded in the curriculum for English teachers, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to encourage colleagues in other departments to meet their own literacy responsibilities.
Value of reading
Reading is one of the most valuable things we can do. It builds vocabulary and comprehension skills, not to mention the benefits associated with wellbeing. But variety is important as well. I urge good fiction readers to move into memoir and non-fiction as well.
I have heard that one local authority’s policy for all cover classes involves subject-specific reading, with standardised questions. This is a strong solution for all parties: cover teachers have minimal instructions to carry out, and pupils spend the time developing meaningful and relevant literacy skills, while also focusing on subject content.
The historical reliance on writing as sanctions in school means that pupils can interpret the word “essay” with suspicion. But re-frame this as something else: a story, a report, a reflection. I think this is one of the most powerful ways to embrace literacy across the curriculum. Write a reflection on how a piece of music makes you feel. Write a report on a football match. Write an email to your MSP or MP, write a five-star review on Amazon, write a letter to Nasa.
Focus on publishing
Another key part of the writing process that often gets neglected in school is publishing. Not in the traditional sense, but just finding an audience for a pupil’s writing, whether it’s read out in class, shared online or delivered by the postie. When a pupil’s writing is going somewhere, it becomes much more important.
The rise of podcasts has made more listening material available to pupils than ever before. Just last week I discovered that my S3 class listen to a plethora of different podcasters, and at different times - on the bus, doing homework, at the gym. These are amazing resources that have a valid place in classrooms. I also like using TED talks to, yes, discuss the ideas, but also to analyse the rhetoric. The dramatic pauses, the tonal nuances, the jokes and the pain. This is a good homework activity, with pupils using the internet for entertainment and information.
When it comes to the final fundamental of literacy - talking - we rely an awful lot on individual pupils’ personalities. Solo presentations, group discussions, and hot seating are valuable. Sometimes it’s overlooked how we provide feedback and assess these tasks, especially relating to the pupil’s delivery: the use of eye contact, their choice of words, their ability to engage with the audience.
In call centres up and down the country, these combined skills are being used to fix tellies, sell phone contracts and log complaints. Chances are, pupils growing up in the 21st century will fulfil similar customer-facing roles at some point in their careers. These are skills for work - and skills for a good life.
Alan Gillespie is principal teacher of English at Fernhill School in Glasgow
