Time to act: evaluating the impact of Royal Shakespeare Company Pedagogy on literacy and academic self-concept in primary schools

INTERVENTION: Year 5 classes have been recruited from schools in England with a percentage eligibility for free schools meals (FSM) of 20.8 or above. Pretest: Every child in all participating Year 5 classrooms will be assessed using the following measures: ‐ LanguageScreen app (https://oxedandassessment.com/language_screen). This test assesses three core language skills: expressive vocabulary, sentence repetition, and listening comprehension. The testing will be conducted by school staff using tablets. The app provides the scoring of responses. ‐ ReadingScreen app (https://oxedandassessment.com/readingscreen/). This test assesses two core reading skills: word and nonword decoding. The testing will be conducted by school staff using tablets. The app provides the scoring of responses. ‐ Myself As a Learner (MALS) scale. This scale assesses students' general perceptions of their learning capabilities relating to school related activities. The testing will be conducted by school staff using paper questionnaires and scored by the research team. Randomisation: This is a cluster randomised controlled trial. Schools differ in levels of deprivation (%FSM) and in number of participating classes. %FSM will be recoded into a binary variable (Hi or Lo FSM) and school size recoded into a binary variable (one class or more than one class). Stratified randomisation using these two variables will be undertaken in Stata 17.0 using the randtreat module. Classes will be randomised to either the intervention or waiting list control group. School staff will not be blind to allocation. Intervention: The RSC‐P intervention programme will be delivered in classrooms by specially trained teacher CONDITION: Improvement of literacy and academic self‐concept in children within areas of structural disadvantage ; Not Applicable PRIMARY OUTCOME: A latent variable of academic self‐concept measured using the Myself As a Learner (MALS) scale at the pretest (baseline) in January 2023 and at the posttest (on completion of the 20‐hour intervention in July 2023) SECONDARY OUTCOME: ; 1. A latent language variable measured using the three LanguageScreen subtests (Expressive Vocabulary, Listening Comprehension and Sentence Repetition), at the pretest (baseline) in January 2023 and at the posttest (on completion of the 20‐hour intervention in July 2023); 2. A latent language variable measured using two ReadingScreen subtests (Word and Nonword Decoding), at the pretest (baseline) in January 2023 and at the posttest (on completion of the 20‐hour intervention in July 2023); 3. A latent variable of writing development, involving measures of lexis, syntax, semantics and narrative, undertaken at posttest only (on completion of the 20‐hour intervention in July 2023); INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Children must be in a Year 5 class (or a mixed class containing Year 5 pupils) 2. Children must attend mainstream schools with a percentage eligibility for free schools meals (FSM) of 20.8 or above at the point of recruitment