Parents should fight for more cash to be spent on classroom books in a campaign on the lines of Jamie Oliver's high-profile drive to improve school meals, the children's laureate, Michael Morpurgo, has said.
Morpurgo - the closest the UK has to a "books champion" - warns that they have become marginalised after a funding shortage and as schools have concentrated spending on computers and technology. A recent survey revealed that 34% of primary schools and 20% of secondary schools in the state sector now spend less than £10 a head on books every year.

"Of course, we have to ensure that everyone reaches the basic standards of reading and writing, but how are you going to achieve that without first giving children a sense of fascination and wonderment for books? That means putting books and storytelling at the heart of school life."

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many schools are prioritising spending on ICT (information and communication technology) over books, not only because it impresses parents but also because it can trigger a favourable rating from the Government's education watchdog, Ofsted.

The funding crisis three years ago led to many schools being forced to spend less on books to preserve jobs. Although the Government's proposed three-year school funding settlement, starting next year, will give headteachers the power to spend government cash as they wish, they also have to find money for more classroom assistants as part of a national workload agreement.

(Guardian, 12 April 2005)

More must be spent on books if school standards are to improve, ministers were told this week. A study from the Open and Staffordshire universities shows that the number of pupils having to do without books they need for homework or having to share them in class has risen since 1997.

Yet there is a link between increased spending on books and improved standards. The report revealed that spending on books accounts for just 0.4% of the total school budget while technology accounts for 1.4%. At current levels of expenditure, schools can only afford to buy one book per student each year.

A second study of 9000 pupils carried out by Keele University reveals that up to half of all key stage 3 pupils share books in class, and two-thirds do not have the books that they need for their homework.

The figures have worsened steadily since Labour came to power, the report concluded. The Education Publishers Council own survey found that spending per head on books in 2002-3 was down by 6% on the previous year in English primaries, but up 4% in secondaries. In Welsh primaries, the figure dropped 3% but it rose by 23% in secondaries.

(TES, 21 November 2003)

Research by Norwich Union shows parents are now spending an average of £31 a year on school books for each child, while figures from the Education Publishers Council (EPC) show the average primary school spend is just £18, with secondary schools spending £23 per pupil.

Graham Taylor, director of EPC, claims spending on books in primary schools has declined 30% since last year, with a fall of 8% in secondary schools.

A Keele University study released in 2003 reported that only 56% of pupils are provided with text or source books in lessons that they do not have to share; just 35% say they have access to books on extended loan which they can take home.

(Guardian, 22 July 2003)

A further decline in spending on books in schools was revealed in November 2002 by a new survey. Spending on books per pupil in English primary schools fell by 5.5% in the year to the end of March 2002, according to Schoolbook Spending in the UK 2001/2 survey for the Publishers Association's Educational Publishers Council. Primary spending is 19% below the peak reached in 1998-9 when ear-marked funding for literacy studies was made available. 

Nearly a third of UK primaries spent less than £10 per head on books in 2001. Spending remained flat in primary schools in Scotland, but increased slightly in Wales and Northern Ireland. 

Almost half of all UK secondary schools spend less than £20 per head on books. Spending rose by 14% in schools in Scotland, stayed static in England and Northern Ireland, and fell in Wales. 

The survey revealed wide discrepancies in funding across regions and subjects. Independent schools spent around twice as much on books as LEA-maintained schools, while funding remained higher in Scotland and Northern Ireland than in England or Wales. 

The findings also emphasised the importance of books in education despite the growing use of new technology. About 90% of schools argued that adequate book stocks were highly effective in raising standards, compared to half who thought adequate information and communications technology was valuable. 

(The Bookseller, 22 November 2002)

Schools can no longer blame government for their low levels of book spending, according to the Publishers Association and Book Trust. The bodies have shifted the focus of their campaigns to schools, which they say must revolutionise book buying policies. Graham Taylor, director of the PA's Educational Publishers Council, said spending on books in schools remained "stubbornly level". He said a lack of government funding could not be blamed for the shortfall. "There is more discretionary funding in schools than there has been for some time, and schools need to wake up to the benefits of books if the gap is to be closed."

Benchmarks in Book Trust's latest Recommended Spending on Books in Schools report advise that spending on books for classes and libraries should total at least £53 per primary school pupils and £87 per secondary school pupil. But the latest Schoolbook Spending in the UK report commissioned by the EPC found that spending was barely half these recommended levels. The survey of 1,200 schools found that nearly a third of UK primary schools spent less than £10 per pupil in the 2000-2001 school year. About 40% of UK secondary schools spent less than £20 per pupil. 

Book Trust's survey urged schools to budget properly for books. It concluded: "Many teachers do not have a realistic understanding of how much needs to be spent on books, perhaps because persistent underspending and a natural desire to do the best for students have encouraged them to improvise, make do or simply do without."

Book Trust recommended that schools need to develop a "needs-based model" to provide pupils with access to textbooks for each subject for their sole use. The EPC has commissioned a study of budgeting models in schools.

(The Bookseller, 29 March 2002)

Primaries are spending less on books and secondaries more, according to the annual Publishers' Association survey.

In Wales, primary spending is 19% down. Schools in Northern Ireland and England spent less but in Scotland they spent 10% more. In England secondary schools spent 2.6% more, but in Scotland, 16% less.

Table to show comparative levels of spending on books
 

	Primary	Secondary
Northern Ireland	£27.54	£48.13
England	£18.71	£23.03
Scotland	£27.54	£24.06
Wales	£17.96	£19.54

(TES, 23 November 2001)

During 2001, the Publishers Association ran a 'Books raise standards' campaign, pulling together research to suggest the positive impact that investment by schools in text books can have on standards. The campaign took the form of regular advertisements in the Times Educational Supplement, using supporting quotes from research, HMI reports and teaching staff, backed up by a website to provide further information and statistics. 

(TES, 2001)

Headteachers will not use any future school budget increases to buy more books, according to an annual survey of trends in education. The survey of 347 primary school heads, conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), asked how they would spend a hypothetical 5% budget increase. The proportion of heads nominating library books as a priority area for spending dropped from 35% in 1998 to only 10% in 1999. Those choosing textbooks and teaching materials fell from 30% to 26%. The report concluded that the drop in importance of book spending was "probably a result of various national schemes that have existed to bring books into schools". It will heighten educational publishers' fears over the state of the market. The priorities that showed the greatest increase in the proportion of heads voting for them were teaching staff and classroom assistants, up to 68% and 74% respectively.

(The Bookseller, 16 June 2000)

Britain was found to be at the bottom of an international league table, spending less on secondary school books than any other developed country. Britain allocates £23.02 a year per child, lagging behind Australia, Sweden, the United States, Finland, Italy and the Netherlands. Norway spends an average of £172 per child. The report was commissioned by the School Book Alliance which is calling on the Government to endorse the spending guidelines laid down by the Book Trust. It recommends that between £64 and £96 should be spent on national curriculum textbooks per pupil per year. 

A survey by Keele University reveals concerns throughout the country over inadequate state provision of books in secondary school classrooms. The survey questioned 2,800 pupils, about 500 parents and 150 heads. Only a quarter of 13 and 14-year-olds had access to textbooks to help in doing English, history and geography homework.

(Independent, 31 May 1999)

Britain spends less per pupil on textbooks than other developed countries, according to a study released in June 1999 commissioned by the School Book Alliance - a coalition group of teachers, parents and educationalists. International comparison figures on annual spend on textbooks per pupil in secondary schools are: 

• Norway £172  
• Netherlands £62 - 123  
• Finland £43  
• USA £40  
• Sweden £38  
• Australia £27  
• UK £23.02

(June 1999)

The findings of a 1997 survey of spending on books by primary and secondary schools commissioned by the Educational Publishers Council reveals widespread funding differences with local authority schools falling behind independent and grant maintained schools and primary schools falling behind the secondary sector. 

Moreover, English and Welsh schools spend less on books than their Northern Ireland and Scottish counterparts. 

• One in five primary schools spent less than £5 per pupil. Only one in ten spent more than £30 per head.  
• One in six secondary schools spent less than £10 per head. Only one in ten spent more than £50.  



Average spending per pupil in England and Wales:
Primary school average; LEA schools £12.81, Indpendent and GM schools £19.86 
Secondary school average: LEA schools: £20.57, Independent and GM schools £32.83 

Average spending per pupil in Scotland:
Primary: £17.21 
Secondary: £22.61 

Average spending per pupil in Northern Ireland:
Primary: £25.72 
Secondary: £45.35 

Family Reading Matters magazine