I’ve dug deep into students’ knowledge and reading comprehension over the summer. There is a lot of great research taking … More

There is growing recognition of the importance of disciplinary literacy – reading the kinds of texts written in science, human … More

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of knowledge for reading comprehension. Today I wanted to share with you a hugely … More

Increasingly, reading specialists are realising that to be strong readers, pupils need strong background knowledge. When teachers teach subject knowledge, … More

Some people don’t know much science, but it doesn’t seem to hold them back. Is there a limit to how … More

I suspect we all tried to get pupils to read a science explanation when we were training. I did. It … More

When the Ofsted Science report came out in 2021, there was a lot of talk about substantive and disciplinary knowledge: … More

Primary and secondary teachers, skip seductive pictures of explosions, pandas and smallpox – they reduce comprehension and learning (see here). … More