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450 SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES WANTED TO TAKE PART IN
FIVE NEW TRIALS
A new trial will aim to get glasses to four- and five-year olds
who need them in order to improve their maths and reading skills,
the Education Endowment Foundation
(EEF)announced today.
Pupils in 100 schools will take part in a trial
of Glasses for Classes, a programme
developed by a team at the University of
Leeds and the Bradford
Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The NHS recommends that all children receive an eyesight
test in their first year of school. Roughly 10–15% of
children fail their eyesight test, and of these around a
third are not taken to the opticians to obtain
glasses. However, schools are not told these results. As a
result, it is thought many children with visual impairment may
experience misdiagnosed problems at school with reading and
counting.
In the EEF trial, which will be independently evaluated by a team
from the University of Nottingham, results of children’s eye
tests will be shared with schools, as well as parents. Staff will
be trained to support pupils and their families to get glasses
and encourage pupils to wear them. Funding will be provided for a
second pair of glasses for pupils to keep at school and each
participating school will appoint a member of staff to manage the
relationship between school, families, opticians and health
services.
Earlier research by Dr Alison Bruce, Director of Vision
Research at the Born in Bradford programme, found
that failing to treat undiagnosed eye conditions - like
short-sightedness, or astigmatism - can hold back the development
of literacy skills. For example, it is more difficult to learn to
read if you can’t see well enough to discriminate the difference
in how letters appear, or see what the teacher is pointing to.
While these issues can affect all children, those from
disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to go without a
diagnosis.
The EEF has announced four other new trials today too:
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English Mastery, a knowledge-rich
curriculum for 11-13 year olds developed by Ark UK. 110 schools
will take part in the programme that trains and provides
resources to English teachers to deliver a curriculum focused
on classic texts, grammatical concepts and reading for
pleasure.
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The 5Rs, an intervention which aims to
support students re-sitting their Maths GCSEs through a unique
Revision Year approach built upon structured lessons and a
fully resourced curriculum. 80 post-16 settings will take part
in the trial of the programme, developed by the Association of
Colleges and co-funded with JP Morgan Chase Foundation.
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REACH Primary, a programme for struggling
readers delivered by trained Teaching Assistants to
individually targeted pupils over a period of 20 weeks.
Developed by academics at Leeds University, the trial will run
with Year 3 pupils (seven- and eight-year olds) in 80 primary
schools.
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Peer Assisted Learning Strategies
(PALS-UK), a 20-week structured paired
reading intervention where Year 5 pupils (nine and 10 year
olds) work together in pairs and take turns to act as coach and
reader to complete four activities. Developed by Coventry
University and Vanderbilt University, 80 schools will take part
in the intervention to improve reading fluency and reading
comprehension.
Schools across will be able to register their interest to
take part in the projects from today. All four trials will be
independently evaluated.
Sir Chief Executive of the
EEF, said:
“Making sure all young children with possible eyesight problems
are identified and supported with glasses or other treatments is
a clear win-win, helping improve health as well as educational
opportunities.
“Our new trial will find out how best schools can provide
practical support to parents so that no child faces this
unnecessary barrier to learning.”
Professor Mark Mon-Williams, lead academic from the
University of Leeds, said:
“Poor eyesight in young children can be enormously difficult for
parents or teachers to detect, and even where it’s obvious, there
is currently no mechanism to ensure vision screening results are
ever acted upon.
“We believe this project shows great promise and could help the
large number of children with visual problems across the country
to have a more positive educational experience, and ensure they
have the good start in life that every child deserves.”
Dr Alison Bruce, Director of Vision
Research at the Born in Bradford programme, added:
“Even where obvious, there is currently no mechanism to ensure
vision screening results are actioned. This can leave the
condition untreated throughout a child’s early school years, with
known potential to impact on their future educational
attainment.
“This new research, which will trial the sharing of information
between health and education services, provides the opportunity
to influence national policy in the future.”
