Salford Literacy Matters Network

On June 30th 2025 The Northern School of Writing welcomed 152 literacy educators and practitioners from across the city. At a day of talks exploring the latest research into literacy pedagogy, attendees expressed an interest in maintaining a local, cross-institutional network focused on improving literacy pedagogy, as well as a desire for a second symposium.

In a competitive bid, The Northern School of Writing used evidence from the symposium to win funding from The University of Salford to establish The Salford Literacy Matters Network. The funds are provided by the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) distributed to the University through Research funding streams.

The Salford Literacy Matters Network aims to support and strengthen Literacy Education by working with place-based and participatory methods. In its first phase through 2026, we will be focusing on bringing together Literacy educators in the city with applied research practitioners at the University of Salford to explore key pedagogical questions in Literacy Education. This will initially take the shape of online talks, workshops, and discovery sessions for network members. Our aim is to interest researchers from across disciplines at the University in research and work related to literacy education, to learn from the city’s teachers, and build relationships that lead to new teaching and research.

This community engagement around knowledge exchange aims to provide the foundation for applied research literacy interventions in Salford. Our strategy is to open up routes to national research funding that can be used for literacy research that supports teaching in our city.

Our new community of practice includes school teachers, educators, librarians, publishers, community organisers, academics and artists in Salford.

Salford City Council’s ‘Literacy for Life’ ambition to improve rates of literacy in our city, the establishment of The Northern School of Writing and the arrival of the National Literacy Trust hub in Salford made this the perfect time to develop a Literacy Network. This symposium was especially useful for school teachers, librarians, community organisers and artists looking for motivation and new ideas to support their existing mission in literacy and literary work across all ages, as well as those concerned about the condition of literature teaching in schools. 

With a welcoming address from The Vice Chancellor and former Scot’s Makar Jackie Kay, Salford academics working in the fields of Literature, Language, Performance, Health, Psychology, Sociology, Politics, Business, Technology, Media, and digital practices were invited to attend, make new connections, and learn more about the possible synergies between their practice, research, and the power of literacy and literary work.