Once a student starts receiving support for literacy difficulties, I often hear parents or teachers saying, “oh he’s become so much more confident. I can really see progress”, which is exactly what we want to hear.

This progress and confidence can then be seen to transfer to school subjects; parents and teachers often observe that the child improves in various areas of schoolwork.

When it comes to progress in literacy, what does “Confidence is everything!” really mean?

Are we saying that in order to progress, confidence is necessary? Or, are we saying that from progression comes confidence? It’s a bit like the ‘chicken and the egg’ scenario - what comes first, confidence or progress? Or do they go hand in hand?

In a way, the answer to all these questions is - yes! But what really comes first is the right support. A good metaphor to explain this is, perhaps, a layer cake: Each layer of cake representing the progress; the butter cream, gluing the layers together, representing the confidence; the cake ingredients representing the support.

The ‘ingredients’ (support) need to be right for the cake to work. How do we get the right ‘ingredients’ for that first solid layer of cake? Good intervention should be multi-sensory, structured, step by step and based on repetition to ensure that the student is learning in the most effective way possible. This, alongside working comfortably at a level that is right for the individual, means the student should feel confident enough to “have a go” in the first place, but, importantly, experience success right from the outset. Topping this off with positive marking and praise from the tutor means they are going to have a very positive learning experience. All these factors are critical for confidence to blossom and progress to occur…or, equally, progress to occur and confidence to blossom.

With a good first layer of cake (progress), butter cream (confidence) can be added. This sets the platform for another layer of cake. From here, more cream can be added. In other words, with the right support and methodology of teaching, progress and confidence will emerge and grow.

So, the “confidence is everything” statement does ring very true to some extent, as it is crucial for the learning process that unlocks progress. However, to be more accurate we could possibly say, “Confidence, progress and the right kind of support are everything” …but that doesn’t sound as catchy.

It’s safe to say, though, that just as butter cream makes it much easier to build up a good layer cake, confidence helps an individual progress and reach their full potential.

Piece of cake!



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Hannah MacLellan worked as a Dyslexia & Literacy Specialist at Dyslexia Action for many years and now works with the Units of Sound development team. She has considerable experience working with and providing advice, training and support to schools, colleges, community centers and parents.

Units of Sound has a home version, Literacy that fits, which is designed to get parents/guardians supporting their child at home without all the training that is involved with most intervention tools used in schools.