The National Literacy Strategy Sight Recognition Programme Implemented by Teaching Assistants: A precision teaching approach

Abstract In this study, teaching assistants (TAs) were trained to spend 4 min each day on a precision teaching programme with selected pupils, whose progress in word recognition was a cause for concern. Words were taken from "The National Literacy Strategy Framework for Schools". The sessions were set up to be "fun" times. All the pupils made progress and the majority were also reported to have improved in self‐esteem and confidence. Junior boys particularly benefited from this stringently targeted regime with immediate feedback of results. Some had been displaying behaviour difficulties, and TAs also reported improved social performance and attendance rates. Acknowledgements The author is most grateful to the head teachers of participating schools and to the TAs who took part in the project for their hard work and their generous co‐operation. The author would also like to thank Dr Caroline Drugan for her assistance with data processing.