Welsh Government gives additional funding to literacy programme

A research team led by Bangor University has secured additional funding from the Welsh Government to further develop a programme to help children with reading difficulties.

The Research on the Instruction of Literacy with Language (RILL) programme, which helps children in Welsh and English, was initially launched to address the educational challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Designed for small groups of 7–9 year-olds, RILL is a 20-week intervention, targeting those who require additional literacy support.

The in-class teaching method has already demonstrated significant success in boosting reading abilities, with improvements seen in children from both Welsh- and non-Welsh-speaking homes.

Significant improvements

Research has confirmed that children who underwent the programme showed significant improvements in their literacy compared with children who were in a control group, receiving the programme at a later date.

Manon Jones, Professor of Psychology, who leads the RILL programme, said, “We are greatly encouraged by the robust evidence that demonstrates RILL’s enduring impact on children’s literacy skills in both Welsh and English. The programme’s success in reaching children from diverse language backgrounds underscores its potential to address literacy disparities, ensuring every child has the opportunity to improve, regardless of their starting point”.

To date, the research team has conducted several randomised controlled trials (RCTs)  on RILL, involving 183 schools across Wales, with nearly 700 children participating.

Training

Additionally, 366 educational practitioners have been trained in the science of reading and the effective use of the RILL programme. Trials were conducted both during the pandemic (remote RILL) and post-pandemic, with the programme successfully trialled in both Welsh and English settings.

In this next phase, the RILL team will collaborate with OxEd & Assessment, a leading provider of education tools, to make the programme accessible on a national scale through a custom-built digital platform.

This collaboration will allow the programme to reach more children across Wales, and additional evaluations will determine its broader application to support struggling readers in both Welsh and English.

Professor Charles Hulme, FBA, Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Education, University of Oxford, and Founder and CEO of OxEd and Assessment said “I am delighted to be collaborating with Professor Manon Jones and her team at the University of Bangor to further evaluate the effectiveness of the RILL programme. This programme has potential to make a real difference to children’s reading and language skills in Wales, and other parts of the world.”

Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle added: “I am delighted to see the significant boost to reading and literacy skills that this programme has had. Every learner deserves the best education possible, and I am pleased that with the additional Welsh Government funding this work will benefit more children and young people.”