EMC_Free: The Revised CLPE Reading and Writing Scales (Download)

The Reading and Writing Scales describe the journeys that children or age 3 to 16 make in order to become literate. CLPE (Centre for Literacy in Primary Education) has distilled the complex and individual patterns of progress into accessible and informative scales.

The purpose of the scales is to help teachers to understand what progression looks like in reading and writing. This publication is designed to illustrate how schools can provide an environment that supports children’s development as readers and writers and to suggest some next steps that teachers can plan in order to take children into the next phase of their development. The pedagogy underpinning the Scales and the Next Steps is grounded in a coherent theory of children’s language and literacy development, exemplified by the research element of this document, a review of current relevant research.

Originally developed over 30 years ago, the Scales were first published as part of the CLPE Primary Language Record (PLR). The PLR was widely used in primary schools in the late 80s and 90s; influencing language and literacy records in all parts of the UK. CLPE has now joined forces with English and Media Centre (EMC), United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA), National Association for Advisors in English (NAAE) and the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) to create progression scales which will support and develop teacher subject knowledge in literacy development. 

Important information on accessing your download publication

As soon as you have placed your order, your download publication will be available to download in your account. This publication comprises two PDFs.

• Before you sign out or leave the website, click 'My Account' (top right).
• Click the link which says: 'Our Downloads' ('My Downloads' if you are signed into an individual rather than school account.)
• There are multiple files to download.
• The publication will download to wherever downloads normally go on your computer (often your desktop or a Downloads folder).
• Once downloaded, you can view them onscreen or print them out. (The scales are designed to be printed in A3 colour.)

If you want to download the publication at a later point, sign in to your account, then follow the instructions above.