A Shared Approach to Delivering Literacy Goals

When you are responsible for literacy across an entire local authority, choosing the provision is only one part of the decision. The longer-term challenge is ensuring it works across different settings, supports wider strategic priorities and continues to deliver after the initial rollout.

That requires a shared approach. Your literacy partner needs to understand what the authority is working towards, fit within the structures you already have and be ready to adapt its support as needs develop.

Start With Your Priorities

Every local authority has its own literacy priorities, shaped by its communities, existing provision and wider education strategy. These should determine how success is defined from the beginning.

In Scotland, Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels at P1, P4 and P7 provides an important measure of literacy attainment. Authorities also set aims for raising overall attainment and reducing the poverty-related attainment gap.

However, national measures are only part of the picture. You may also be looking at whether schools feel confident using the provision, how it supports particular groups of learners and whether it is contributing to wider priorities around inclusion, family learning or community engagement.

A literacy partner should take the time to understand these aims before implementation begins. This creates a shared view of what the work is intended to achieve and allows support to be shaped around the outcomes that matter to your authority.

Fit With the Way Your Authority Already Works

Introducing authority-wide provision should not mean creating an entirely separate set of processes around it. Your schools already have improvement-planning cycles, established professional networks and existing relationships with central teams. A partner should understand how these work and look for appropriate ways to support them.

That might mean contributing to an existing network meeting, aligning training with other priorities or agreeing regular points for the central team and supplier to review how implementation is progressing.

East Ayrshire Council highlighted the importance of this approach when describing its partnership with ILT Education UK:

“It doesn't feel like a bolt-on, like an extra thing that you have to do in your day.”
Linda McAulay-Griffiths, East Ayrshire Council

The right approach will look different in every authority. What matters is that the partnership complements the work already taking place rather than adding an unnecessary layer around it.

Turn Insight Into Support

Across an authority, implementation will not look exactly the same in every setting. Schools have different starting points, staffing pressures and levels of confidence with new resources.

Regular communication can help you understand those differences. Feedback from schools may show that some teams would benefit from further training, while others need help connecting the provision with their existing literacy approach.

This is where the response of the partner matters. Information and feedback should lead to useful support, not simply highlight where experiences differ. A constructive conversation can identify what is getting in the way and what would make the provision easier to embed.

When central teams and schools can raise questions openly, the partnership is better placed to respond early and adapt as needs change.

Create Shared Ownership

Literacy priorities often connect with work taking place across education, inclusion, family learning, community services and adult learning. Bringing the right people into the conversation can strengthen the reach and sustainability of the work.

Shared ownership does not mean everyone has the same role. Schools need the flexibility to make the provision work for their learners, while central teams retain oversight of the wider strategy. The literacy partner’s role is to support both and maintain a clear connection to the authority’s original goals.

East Ayrshire Council described the sense of shared ownership developed through its work with ILT Education UK:

“We've all felt that sense of ownership over those goals.”

Linda McAulay-Griffiths, East Ayrshire Council

That shared commitment helps the work become part of a wider literacy strategy rather than remaining a standalone product rollout.

How ILT Education UK Can Help

ILT Education UK works with local authorities to understand their literacy priorities and develop an approach that fits their settings, structures and communities.

Support can include coordinated onboarding, training beyond the initial launch, regular communication with central teams and opportunities for staff across settings to share their experiences. As the partnership develops, we can work with you to identify emerging needs and consider how our resources can support your wider goals.

Our product range supports learners across different ages and areas of need. Polylino provides early years books in more than 68 languages; Giglets supports literacy across primary and secondary settings; Nessy offers structured, research-based programmes supporting reading, spelling and related learning needs, including dyslexia; and Aski Raski helps older learners develop foundational literacy skills.

Hear directly from East Ayrshire Council about how shared goals, ongoing support and a close working relationship with ILT Education UK helped them deliver their literacy strategy across the authority in this interview here.