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Secondary CPD courses

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Our offer

Having good literacy skills is key to academic success. We provide professional development for senior leaders, literacy leads, subject teachers, and librarians to develop a whole-school approach to literacy teaching in secondary schools.

Our training is aligned with evaluation and research from the Education Endowment Foundation and emphasises the practical application of research in the classroom.

We recognise the importance of supporting all practitioners to teach their students how to read, write and communicate effectively in their subject - what is known as disciplinary literacy. We provide a wide range of training to develop confidence, knowledge and understanding of how to teach disciplinary literacy.

We also offer CPD on reading for pleasure, which draws on our own research that when young people enjoy reading, they read more often, helping to build vital reading skills and bringing wider benefits for wellbeing, confidence and learning.

Why attend?

  • Build confidence and knowledge in how to teach literacy in your subject
  • Gain practical strategies to apply in your teaching
  • Interact live with a specialist trainer
  • Keep up to date with the latest literacy research
  • Receive high-quality resources

For more information on literacy leadership

Read our blogs on literacy leadership for more insight into our CPD and training.

Explore our literacy CPD training pathways

Each pathway below suggests a sequence of courses to build skills and understanding in a specific literacy area. Each individual course can be purchased either as a scheduled ticketed event or as a group booking on a date of your choice.

  • Introduction to disciplinary literacy
  • Disciplinary reading and reading for pleasure
  • Disciplinary literacy in subjects: mathematics, science, English, geography, history, and physical education
  • Disciplinary oracy in the secondary curriculum
  • Disciplinary writing in the secondary curriculum
  • Supporting English teachers

Enquiries

For all ticketed events contact:

Jess Hirst, Project Officer, jess.hirst@literacytrust.org.uk

For all group or whole-school training enquiries contact:

Nisha Tank, Head of School Improvement, nisha.tank@literacytrust.org.uk

For any other secondary training enquiries please contact:

Kate Warde, kate.warde@literacytrust.org.uk or call 07742 768406

Secondary national conference 7 July 2025

Join us to hear first hand from our prestigious keynote speakers Alice Deignan and Kit De Waal who will share their expertise and insight when they spearhead this year's Secondary national conference.

View the full programme
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Explore our literacy training pathways for 2025

Pathway one

Introducing disciplinary literacy banner

Pathway two

Disciplinary reading and reading for pleasure

Pathway three

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These courses are ideal for practitioners, who are either new to, or developing an understanding of disciplinary literacy and how it can be taught in their subject. They are also suitable for literacy leads or line managers, who are supporting a subject area.

Sessions are live and interactive and grounded in literacy research and theory. They are designed to equip teachers with the knowledge, understanding and skills to teach the reading, writing and communication skills required for their subject and offer practical teaching strategies.

Pathway four

Disciplinary oracy in the secondary curriculum

Pathway five

Disciplinary writing in the secondary curriculum

Pathway six

Supporting English teachers