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Every child in England to be enrolled in a local library, Nicky Morgan says
The Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, says it is a “national mission” to improve levels of literacy levels of young children and says every junior school student in the country will be enrolled in a local library.
Every junior school student in the country will be enrolled in a local library,Nicky Morgan will pledge today as she vows to make English pupils "the most literate children in Europe".
The Education Secretary said it is a “national mission” to improve levels of literacy levels of young children.
Officials will work with schools in a bid to get every eight-year-old in the country enrolled at their local library, Mrs Morgan said.
The Government drive to improve literacy comes after the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2013 found that England was 22nd for literacy and 21st for numeracy out of 24 countries, behind countries including Estonia, Poland and Slovakia.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph alongside comedian David Walliams, who is supporting the project, Mrs Morgan warmed that “for some children, reading is, quite literally, a closed book”.
“Improving children’s literacy should be a national mission,” they said. “Whether that means teachers running book clubs, schools enrolling pupils in libraries, publishers donating books, or simply parents reading with their children.”
Officials in the education department hope that the drive could stop closures of libraries across the country.
Local authorities often close libraries and justify their decision by saying that there are not enough members to warrant continued funding.
However, with hundreds of children being signed up, it will be increasingly difficult for councils to close libraries.
Mrs Morgan and Mr Walliams added: “One in five children still leaves primary school unable to read well enough to succeed at secondary school – a figure that rises to one in three of our poorest children. And, if we don’t address illiteracy, it’s the disadvantaged who miss out most of all.
“This is a question of social justice. People with strong reading skills are overwhelmingly more likely to succeed at school, achieve good qualifications, and find a rewarding and enjoyable career. They are even more likely to enjoy good health. By contrast, those who don’t master reading in school suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives, where they may struggle to get good jobs or achieve their full potential.
“No matter where they live or what their background, every single child in this country deserves the opportunity to read, to read widely, and to read well.”
A survey in June revealed that British school leavers are the worst in Europe for the “essential skills” needed to complete entry-level jobs in business.
Four in ten of firms polled in the UK felt that candidates for junior jobs lacked "functional skills, basic literacy and numeracy", compared to 18 per cent of European firms.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Donald Smith on -
Shirley Burnham has written the following comment:
Nicky, please - urgently - have a chat with your counterpart at DCMS because. "local" libraries are becoming as rare as hens' teeth. Are you willing for your Department to produce some funding to save the Service?
Fine words butter no parsnips -- If you intend "to improve the literacy levels of young children" via public library usage, you must acknowledge that decent public libraries have to exist and flourish for those you wish to benefit. Your Department's and your own credibility are at stake here, let alone your Government's.
Are you aware that recent contact with Bracebridge Infant & Nursery School in Lincolnshire - which has 120 children enrolled - has advised that they "deeply regret that since Bracebridge Library had its hours reduced, the school can no longer take pupils to Story Times nor to borrow books as it regularly did in the past"?
How would you suggest that children in Deprived Areas in Lincolnshire access a local public library? There are 10 libraries in Deprived Areas earmarked for closure or relegation to DIY status there, of which Bracebridge is one, and a further 24 branches in the county face the same fate. That's a heck of a lot of libraries and vast numbers of children affected, don't you think? Where literacy is concerned, handing libraries over to volunteers isn't adequate. Professional staff are required.
The Secretary of State (Culture) has not yet replied to an April 2015 request for his Department's intervention to protect the statutory service in Lincolnshire. Is that, in your opinion, regrettable? Elsewhere significant numbers of branch libraries in Herefordshire, Shropshire, Leicestershire, Southampton, Devonshire, Coventry, Bristol - to name just a few - are also threatened with the guillotine.
Are you serious about this matter, or not? I hope you are.
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