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Literacy: Children

Question for Department for Education

UIN 2523, tabled on 20 November 2023

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve rates of literacy in children aged eight to 13.

Answered on

28 November 2023

The government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards, ensuring that all children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can read fluently and with understanding.

The department funds a broad range of supportive measures designed to improve literacy rates amongst all pupils.

Since 2010, the government has strengthened the effective teaching of phonics by placing it at the heart of the curriculum and introducing a statutory phonics screening check in 2012 for pupils at the end of year 1 to help schools measure progress. The government wants to improve literacy levels to give all children a solid base upon which to build as they progress through school by ensuring high quality, systematic synthetic phonics teaching.

In 2018, the department launched the English Hubs Programme to improve the teaching of reading with a focus on phonics, early language and reading for pleasure. Since its launch, the Programme has provided appropriate and targeted support to several thousands of primary schools across England. The department has so far invested over £67 million in this school-to-school improvement programme and has committed a further £40 million up to the end of the 2024/25 financial year, with £25.6 million of this committed for 2023/24.

In July 2021, the department published the ‘Reading Framework: teaching the foundations of literacy’ non-statutory guidance which was aimed at improving the teaching of the foundations of reading in primary schools by defining pedagogy and best practice. The department published an expanded Reading Framework in July 2023, which builds on the original Framework and covers the teaching of reading in key stages 2 and 3, including guidance on how to help pupils who need more support to learn to read proficiently.

Also in July, the department announced its intention to launch an evidence review of best practice in the teaching of writing. This will be a valuable resource for schools and will inform further research and guidance. The scope of this review will likely include what the department wants children to be able to achieve at the end of primary school so that they are set up well to succeed in secondary school.

Furthermore, the department is committed to offering teachers access to high quality continuous professional development. The Leading Literacy National Professional Qualification (NPQLL), launched in October 2022, supports school literacy leaders to have a secure understanding of the importance of literacy and recognise the influence it has on pupils’ future academic achievement, wellbeing and success in life. It will support leaders to develop expertise in the teaching of reading and writing and enable them to share their expertise effectively to improve literacy outcomes for every child.