Literacy is fundamental to human development as it enables people to live full and meaningful lives and contribute to their communities and society. Literacy is also essential for learning, as much of our learning is mediated through texts and writing is a key medium for communication.  Furthermore, nearly all job postings indicate a need for writing skills in job descriptions, for example “excellent written communication skills” under preferred requirements (Messum et al., 2016).  However, around 70 million Europeans lack adequate reading and writing skills (European Skills Agenda, 2020).  A recent report from the World Literacy Foundation (2022) shows that literacy difficulties cost the global economy 1.1 trillion euros in 2015.

Creative writing can both rehearse young people’s existing writing and literacy skills and inspire them to develop those skills. There is a consistent positive association between writing skills and academic performance (e.g., Bangert-Drowns, Hurley, & Wilkinson, 2004). Moreover, “professional and academic success in all disciplines depends, at least in part, upon writing skills” (Cho & Schunn, 2007, p.409). However, by age 11 years, around 20% of pupils do not perform at expected levels for their age group in writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation (Department for Education, 2018). More alarmingly, only 50% of young people report enjoying writing (Clark & Teravainen, 2016).

Therefore, a key question for educators is to understand how we can enhance the development of writing and literacy skills and simultaneously encourage young people to feel more positive and enthusiastic about writing. This paper reports on a trial of an innovative approach, White Water Writers (WWW),thataims to do both things by giving groups of young people the experience of collaboratively writing and publishing a full-length novel. The key contribution of the intervention is that it can achieve this in a week’s concentrated effort.  WWW is based on Ryan and Deci’s (2000) Self-Determination Theory (SDT) which posits that humans have an inherent tendency towards growth. Three needs; autonomy, competence and relatedness, must be satisfied to facilitate growth and foster wellbeing, motivation, and positive psychological functioning.   This talk will explore the impact that the intervention has on writing and the psychological and broader benefits of the intervention: specifically, the impact that it had on self-efficacy, self-concept and feelings about other group members.  It also measures the impact that the project has on academic performance.

Furthermore, WWW has also developed into a novel research method. By giving our participants autonomy over the content of their novels we have been able to use their books to learn more about what they think about different topics.  Some of our recent novels have explored what it is to be human, how the pandemic has impacted life, societal inequality and how people cope with the end of the world. As the plots are fully developed by our authors, they allow us to explore their views on these important topics. Therefore, we have developed a novel method to research our authors views on important topics. We have used this research method to explore our authors views on inequality.  Therefore, in this talk we will also discuss the themes of these novels.

Participants Participants were N=272 young people from 26 schools. Participants were aged 8 to 17 and 140 were male. Participants completed questionnaires before the intervention and immediately after the intervention. We also analysed a sub-set of the novels produced by the writers, particularly focussing on 5 which explored inequality. Measures Participants completed a questionnaire examining their self-efficacy in different domains, their self-esteem (Piers Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale, Second Edition (Piers-Harris 2, 2002) and locus of control (Nowicki & Strickland, 1971). They were also asked about their feelings about working and socialising with group members. We also collected data on predicted performance of a sub-group of pupils at the beginning and end of the school year. This was provided by teachers. Novels were analysed using thematic analysis. White Water Writers Process Participants plan their novel on Monday. They develop the plot and characters and plan the chapters of their novel. Each participant takes control of a character. On Tuesday and Wednesday, participants write their novel using specialised software. They begin by producing bullet points which give extra detail on what happens in each chapter. They then flesh out these bullet points to produce the text. On Thursday, the participants proofread their novel, checking for spelling and punctuation errors and issues with the plot. On Friday they complete a final check of the novel and create the blurb, author biographies etc. We have professional illustrators produce the cover of the novel based on a description from the participants. The book is placed for sale online. Authors receive reviews of their work and people can purchase copies of their novel, with any profits being split between the authors to keep or donate to charity. We also host a book signing event where we present authors with professionally printed copies of their work. At this, they do a reading from the novel and friends and family can have their books signed by the authors.

A paired samples t test was used to explore changes in each of the variables from pre- to post-test. Results indicated that changes pre- to post-test were significant and positive for self-efficacy of writing, communication, working under pressure, teamwork, locus of control and feelings about working with group members, with small to medium effect sizes. Differences were not significant for self-esteem or feelings about socialising with group members. A paired samples t test was also used to explore changes in predicted performance at the beginning and end of the end of the year. Results suggested that participants performed better than predicted, with a large effect size. In terms of the novels, various forms of inequality were explored, mainly financial inequality and racial difference, which in the novels was explored through differences in eye colour. In novels where financial inequality was explored, the rich were portrayed as being unfeeling for the suffering of others and disconnected from the world. The poorer people were often portrayed as being more happy and fulfilled in personal relationships compared to the wealthy. These novels typically involved some sort of rebellion against the rich organised by the young people. However, interestingly, after the rebellion the writers did not seem to be clear on what would change and how society would then function. In terms of racial inequality, characters in the novels often showed overtly racist attitudes. However, often the young characters of the novels see beyond race and again try to change the status quo, again without always being clear how this would change society.

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