Next month the Plain English Campaign celebrates its 25th anniversary. Yet despite the organisation's best efforts in promoting clear language, early years tutors and employers say students and staff often struggle to express themselves clearly, and coursework and documentation suffer as a result.
Case study: at college
When childcare tutor June Green (pictured) was approached by a publisher to be an adviser on a series of books, she pointed out a gap in the market: basic literacy and numeracy skills for early years students.
They commissioned her to plug the gap. Her book Literacy for Childcare Students, published last year, has since won the Basic Skills book award and is used by her colleagues at South Birmingham College.
'I wrote it because we are having a lot of students coming into childcare lacking good literacy skills. They leave school with GCSEs but cannot spell, or have no sense of grammar.
'Ofsted and the Basic Skills Agency say that basic skills have to be approached in the context of the course to maintain the students' interest.
You have to make it relevant to them. A lot of them cannot see why they need to spell or why they need to be able to write clearly. If you can relate it to the childcare course, it means something to them.
'During our second year of running basic skills within the childcare course we had an Ofsted inspection. A group of students were interviewed by the inspectors. It was a huge shock to us when they said basic skills was their favourite part of the course because it is all about spelling and maths.
They had probably had such negative experiences at school, you would have thought they would have preferred something related to children's play.
'There is an attitude in schools when they are giving careers advice, that if somebody is not very academic they suggest childcare. There is an old belief that it is all about bathing babies and changing nappies. It is not.
The CACHE Diploma in Childcare and Education it is equivalent to four A-levels. They need the right level of skills just to read the assignments.
'In childcare today there is a great deal of paperwork. You have to be able to write properly, particularly about child development, observations and records. Sometimes, there might be a suspicion of child abuse and a nursery's records might have to be used in court. They need to be clearly written so they can be clearly understood.
'You also have to consider the implications of a childcare workforce lacking in basic skills. These people are teaching young children who are learning to read and write. What chance have they got if the people caring for them cannot read or write properly?'
Case study: at work
Until recently, the Westminster Children's Society ran staff training sessions on writing which personnel manager Vicky Whitfield says in hindsight were too advanced.
Workshops are now tailored to meet people's needs. 'Writing is not a problem for everybody, but there are a number of people who were never taught the basics of how to write a sentence. There was an era in education when these things were ignored.'
She runs one-to-one literacy sessions at the beginning or end of the working day for staff who need support. 'I hope that, eventually, we will be able to add Adult Learning Support to the skills available throughout the organisation so that, as well as having an allocated coach, all new NVQ candidates will have a named person to check their work and help pick up the gaps in their basic literacy skills.'
Further information
* The Basic Skills Agency (www. basic-skills.co.uk) publishes materials for different age groups, including the women's magazine-style Avid.
* The Plain English Campaign (www.plainenglish.co.uk) runs courses at venues across the country and in-house training tailored to suit the needs of a particular organisation. It also has a training pack for employers to deliver the training themselves.
* Literacy for Childcare Students and Numeracy for Childcare Students by June Green consist of two tutor packs and student guides to the Basic Skills curriculum in literacy and numeracy specifically for childcare students at further education (FE) level, available from David Fulton Publishers at www.fultonpublishers.co.uk.
'Using plain English reduces the potential for misunderstandings,' says John Lister of the Plain English Campaign. 'If nursery staff spend less time clarifying documents and reports, they have more time to spend with the children.'
TIPS ON WRITING CLEARLY
* Write short sentences of around 15 to 20 words. This does not mean making every sentence the same length. Be punchy. Vary your writing by mixing short sentences with longer ones.
* Choose active rather than passive verbs. 'The children did a sponsored bounce' is clearer than the clumsier, 'A sponsored bounce was done by the children'. However, sometimes when you want to sound less aggressive, it is preferable to use a passive verb, as in 'The fees have not been paid', which is softer than 'You have not paid the fees'.
* Avoid jargon.
* Avoid cliches.
* Use 'you' and 'we'. Call the reader 'you' even if the reader is only one of many people you are talking about generally. If this feels strange at first, remember that you would not use words like 'the parent' or 'the applicant' if you were talking directly to a parent or a candidate for a job. Similarly, refer to your organisation as 'we'.
* Keep it simple. Use 'if' instead of 'in the event of' or 'buy' instead of 'purchase'.
Based on the Plain English Campaign Guide.
