Research

Published in May 2018, this report conducted by the National Literacy Trust explores how often young people write in their free time and what type of formats they write, how good a writer they think they are and what they think about writing. Findings from the report showed a decline in the number of young people who enjoy writing, with levels of writing at their lowest since 2010.

Click below to read the full report published by the National Literacy Trust.

Published in June 2017 to mark the first National Writing Day, this report conducted by the National Literacy Trust found that children who enjoy writing, and who write creatively outside of school, do significantly better in the classroom.

Click below to read the full report by the National Literacy Trust.

Published in July 2017, this report conducted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing (APPGAHW) explores the value of the creative arts in health, social care and wellbeing settings.

Scientists will increasingly need ways of explaining themselves to a questioning public while storytelling, creative thinking and communication skills are increasingly important to technology companies. In short, writing matters – even for those who will never make a living primarily from it. Killing children’s enthusiasm for writing is a mistake we will live to regret.

Unfortunately, punctuation has been the instinctive response for many of the pupils who have visited Live Tales over the past few months…

We were about to zoom into the exciting, story creation part of the session when I asked it: ‘What do all great stories have?’ A hand shot enthusiastically into the air and I got ready for an answer that might launch us into a stimulating discussion about imagination. What the girl said … ‘Full stops’. My heart sank. Not adventure, not characters, not things to make you laugh and cry, not even goodies and baddies. ‘Full stops.’

Click below to read more of this article by Christina Castling, Live Theatre, Live Tales

Claudia Hammond talks to Kavita Vedhara about a new study that shows once more that simply writing about how you feel can speed up wound healing. Although this effect has been known since James Pennebaker’s landmark studies in the 1980’s, this is the first study to demonstrate that expressive writing after an injury can aid healing as much as doing it in advance of a wound. An important finding since we don’t always plan our wounds in advance.

Producer: Lorna Stewart.

The Arts Council’s review of the value of art and culture to people and society, commissioned to complement their 2013 strategy of “Great Art and Culture for Everyone”, aims to build on previous studies to refresh the current thinking on the value of the arts. Broadly a report into the integrity and relevance of past evidence samples, the review seeks to establish a concrete analysis of how art and culture support and inform the wider society.

‘Social Mobility and the Skills Gap’ is a state-of-the-nation report on the issues threatening social mobility and education in the face of changing governmental policies. The Creative Industries Federation suggests a four-point plan to combat the decline of skilled creatives in the population, including a recommendation that the government only awards an “Outstanding” appraisal to schools that offer at least one creative subject in lesson time.

The Other Countries Poetry Group is a project run by Kate Clanchy at the Oxford Spires Academy. Clanchy’s article explores the experience of founding and hosting a writing group as a sanctuary for and a celebration of second-language writing. Her project kick-started the Oxford Spires Academy’s string of successes in the Foyle Award.