Literacy across Learning
St Ninian’s High School
Baseline questionnaire
results
• 40 pupils were asked to fill in a
questionnaire which asked them about
the following activities in English,
sciences, geography and history.
• ‘I am expected to explain ideas in my
own words.’
• ‘I learn how to make notes.’
• ‘I learn how to summarise.’
• I am expected to write in paragraphs and
not just sentences.’
History paragraphs
History summaries
History notes
History own words
Geog paragraphs
Geog summaries
Geog notes
Geog own words
all the time
quite often
sometimes
rarely/never
Science paragraphs
Science summaries
Science notes
Science own words
English paragraphs
English summaries
English notes
English own words
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Summary of findings
• Pupils were more likely to say that they
had to explain ideas in their own words
in English than in other subjects.
• Pupils were also more likely to say that
they were expected to write paragraphs
rather than sentences in English than in
other subjects.
Findings continued
• Pupils believed they were more
likely to write in paragraphs and in
their own words in History than
they were in sciences or geography.
Findings continued
• Although, the majority of pupils
saw themselves as taking part in
these activities ‘most of the time’
and ‘quite often’, there was scope
for improvement.
Confidence
• We asked pupils whether they
found these activities easy,
challenging or difficult.
• Most claimed they were easy.
I find writing answers longer
than a sentence
I find summarising
Easy
Challenging
Difficult
I find note taking
I find writing in my own words
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Learning Style
• We asked pupils whether they
agreed or disagreed that they
learned things best from a text
book or learned things best by
putting them in their own words.
Explaining things in my own
words helps me learn
Strongly agree
Agree
Disagree
Copying from text book helps
me learn
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45