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Overview of English policy on literacy and education
Primary National Strategy (National Literacy Strategy)
In 1993 there was no national policy on nursery education. Availability of public funding depended on whether local authority thought it important. Deprived areas more likely to provide early years education - London and northern authorities invested significantly. Others did little and left parents to rely on voluntary and private provision. In England the Bookstart baby book-giving programme initiated in 1992 as pilot project in Birmingham, developing partnership between library service and health authority. Other authorities began to adopt model.
In 1996 the Government introduced nursery vouchers scheme for four-year-olds which parents could spend at a venue of their choice. The SCAA (now Qualifications and Curriculum Authority) produced Nursery Education Desirable Outcomes for Children's Learning, describing goals for children's learning on entering compulsory education.
In 1997 nursery vouchers were replaced with nursery grants made directly to early years settings on the basis of the number of children in their care. With local money, Bookstart schemes ran in 27 local authorities, including one each in Wales and Scotland. In 1999 Sainsbury's two-year Millennium sponsorship enabled Bookstart provision throughout the UK.
In 1998 UK-wide Sure Start launched as the cornerstone of Government's drive to tackle child poverty and social exclusion. In England local authority Early Years Development Partnerships were introduced, as well as statutory baseline assessment when children entered primary school. The following year the Foundation Stage was announced and the Early Years Development Partnerships' remit was extended to include childcare - now known as EYCDP.
All three-year-olds are entitled to six terms of free nursery education from the term following their third birthday. This was introduced for the neediest three year olds in 1999, but since April 2004 has become universal. Funding for the provision of the free places is allocated to local authorities, who decide how it is spent to suit local needs. In many instances this provision is attached to existing primary schools. The local authority has a legal duty to provide for all three and four year olds whose parents want it, but that right does not extend to parents necessarily being able to choose which facility they might specially want. Any time spent at the nursery beyond the five 2.5 hour sessions for 33 weeks a year may be charged for.
In 2002 the early years framework, Birth to Three Matters, was launched at end of year.
Good quality childcare is central to the current Government's drive
to eradicate childhood poverty, through the Every Child Matters framework, and initiatives such as the Sure Start and children's centres programmes.
Encouraging early language and reading skills is a priority and, from 2004/5, the Sure Start Unit at the then Department for Education and Skills is funding Bookstart in England. The funding is providing the Bookstart pack, including high quality baby books and information on reading with babies, to all new parents.
Libraries are important partners in fostering a long-term interest in language and reading, highlighted in the 10-year strategy document Framework for the Future. Public libraries offer regular Rhyme and Bounce sessions, and parents with very young children are encouraged to come along to sing nursery rhymes and songs, take part in storytelling sessions and join the library. A number of Sure Start local programmes provide their own early years libraries.
Sure Start is the cornerstone of the Government's drive to tackle child poverty and social exclusion. Sure Start is run through local programmes in the most deprived regions of the country: it aims to achieve better outcomes for children, parents and communities by increasing the availability of childcare for all children; improving children's health, education and emotional development; and supporting parents in their role and in developing employment aspirations.
In 2005, the Government announced plans to merge the Birth To Three Matters
framework and the Foundation Stage of education, to form a single Early Years Foundation
Stage. This covers the care, learning and development of children in all early years settings from
birth to the August after their fifth birthday and becomes statutory in
September 2008.
In England the final year of the Foundation Stage is known as the Reception Year - children in Reception are aged four and five. The Education Bill 2001 stated that the Foundation Stage for three to five-year-olds should end at the end of the school year in which a child passes his or her fifth birthday.
In August 1999, the government announced Ofsted was to take
over the inspection of all childcare facilities in England.
Local authority social service departments would no longer
be required to monitor standards of care and safety in private
and voluntary nurseries.
In 2004, the Government's Ten Year Childcare Strategy, Choice for parents, the best start for children, was launched. This aims to provide affordable, flexible, high-quality childcare for children up to 14 years old. It includes the provision of 12 1/2 hours a week of free early education for three and four-year-olds, for 38 weeks a year; from April 2007 this was extended to 15 hours a week, with 20 hours as the long-term goal.
It also said that from 2008, every local authority in England had to set two new curriculum-based
targets for five-year-olds as part of the Government's 10-year strategy. Ministers say five-year-olds
with a 'good' level of development should be able to understand
the need for rules, read a range of familiar and common words
and try to write for different purposes. The targets are based on the foundation-stage curriculum. Choice for Parents, the Best Start for Children: making it happen is available from www.everychildmatters.gov.uk.
It also planned a Sure Start children's centre within reach of every family - 3,500 across England - which will coordinate pre-school provision. Parents will also be given more time off work following the birth of their children. £125 million was made available in each of 2006-7 and 2007-8 to improve services and train childcare and early years workers.
A single national assessment for children starting formal schooling - the Foundation Stage Profile - was introduced in England in September 2002 to replace the 90 or more baseline assessment schemes previously in existence. The single assessment was to be conducted at the end of the Reception year. Baseline assessment ceased to be a statutory requirement on 31 August
2002.
Education in England is run by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (formerly the Department for Education and Skills). Literacy in primary schools is taught using the Primary National Strategy, which was originally implemented in 1998 as the National Literacy Strategy; this and the related numeracy strategy
became part of the Primary National Strategy (Excellence and Enjoyment) in 2003. There is also a literacy strand to the Secondary National Strategy.
A renewed Primary Framework for teaching literacy and mathematics was launched in October 2006. Teachers still had to teach English and maths every day, but the step by step literacy hour was dropped. Paul Wagstaff, director of the Primary National Strategy, said: "We are encouraging schools to look at the organisation of the literacy hour and to plan literacy over a longer period so it is not as formulaic, although a discrete literacy lesson will remain." The new framework also emphasises reading independently and story time in class.
The English system is based on key stages (See the different approaches to educational structure within the UK). Children start school in the year of their fifth birthday (the Reception year starts at age four) and sit national tests at the end of each key stage - ages seven, 11, 14 and 16 (GCSE). League tables of school achievement are publically published annually (see league tables - different approaches in England, Scotland and Wales).
In 2003, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority handed over responsibility for the setting and marking of national curriculum tests to a quango, in a £100 million programme to modernise the exam system. The National Assessment Agency took over the administration of tests at key stages 1,2 and 3, and works with examining boards to modernise the way 24 million scripts for GCSE and A level are marked each year.
In 2005, the Government said that the investment in secondary education and the introduction of the Secondary National Strategy had given 80,000 more children the opportunity to reach at least the expected levels for their age in the core basics of English and maths since 1997. They said the firm foundations that key stage 3 provided have been ever more important in light of the 14-19 reforms.
The Pre-Budget Report in 2006 pledged to pour more resources into the Reading Recovery programme and to pay for small-group tuition in schools that have the most children failing to reach the level expected for their age. Secondary schools that qualify will get a share of £30m for extra numeracy and literacy lessons.
In July 2007, the Telegraph reported that Ed Balls, the secretary of state for children, schools and families, announced a review of children’s policy for the next 10 years. As part of the strategy to define a 10-year plan for children, parents, teachers, universities and pupils will be consulted. Gordon Brown is involved through a National Council for Educational Excellence, which he will co-chair with Ed Balls. The Council includes business leaders (from Permira, CBI, Tesco, Rolls-Royce and Merrill Lynch), universities and teachers’ representatives to advise on policies.
The first interim report of the Primary Review was published in October 2007.
Plans include an inquiry into how children learn maths, an additional £150 million to go towards ‘personalisation’, which gives pupils work that matches their individual ability and progress. Academies continue to be built but will be brought back into local authorities and must follow the national curriculum in the basic subjects. A key to the plan is that all secondary schools in England should have a business and university partner.
In September 2007, the DCSF announced a programme of intensive support for writing in primary schools – Every Child A Writer. They also announced the roll out of intensive support and one-to-one tuition in reading and maths: Every Child A Reader and Every Child Counts. The Government said they would invest £144 million from 2007- 10 into rolling out nationally the Every Child A Reader (ECAR) and Every Child Counts (ECC) programmes.
By 2011, 30,000 seven-year-olds who need help with maths and 30,000 six-year-olds who have difficulty reading will get intensive one-to-one tuition through ECAR and ECC each year. They also announced that a new exams watchdog to monitor the annual debate on ‘dumbing down’. The QCA will spilt in two, with one body overseeing curriculum and exams and the other acting as a regulator. Mr Balls hopes this will help address the inherent conflict of interest in one body setting the curriculum and tests, and also reporting that standards have been maintained.
In November 2007, the TES reported that English schools were being condemned for almost the same standards that had recently been praised in West Dunbartonshire (WD). At the start of November 2007 Gordon Brown said that if schools in England followed the example of WD than every pupil in the country would reach the ‘expected level’ in literacy. While the TES praises WD’s literacy initiative it pointed out that ‘expected levels’ in England and Scotland are different. To read this article in full visit, www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2460038
In 2006, the primary review began (www.primaryreview.org.uk). The review is a wide-ranging and independent enquiry into the condition and future of primary education in England. It is supported by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and based at the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge.
In 2008, the Government announced it would conducting a separate review of primary education national curriculum is to be the subject of a comprehensive inquiry.
The Government's inquiry will consider whether there should be a national curriculum at all, how it might be improved and how well it fits in with other policies and strategies.
In Feburary 2008, the Government announced a new £25 million Find Your Talent scheme, part of their ambition to give young people in England the chance to experience high quality arts and culture.
This fund will ensure that every child gets five hours of culture a week. Participating in cultural activities can have a huge impact on a child's development, in terms of developing their skills and appreciation, and helping them to learn. Read the NLT response to the cultural offer
Rose review
In November 2004, the House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee announced an inquiry into teaching children to read. The object of the inquiry was to examine departmental policy and guidance on the teaching of reading to children in schools, focusing on foundation-level education through to key stage 3. It also considered whether any changes were necessary to improve current guidance and policy.
The review's final report concluded that the Early Years Foundation Stage and the new primary framework for teaching literacy should provide, as a priority, clear guidance on developing children's speaking and listening skills. High-quality, systematic phonic work should be taught discretely; the knowledge, skills and understanding that constitute phonic work should be the prime approach in learning to read, write and spell. Phonic work should be set within a broad and rich language curriculum that takes full account of developing the four interdependent strands of language: speaking, listening, reading and writing, as well as enlarging children's stock of words.
Read a summary of the key findings from the final report of the Rose review. For the National Literacy Trust's response to the Rose review interim report, submitted in February 2006, see NLT opinion and policy statements.
Extended schools
Proposals for extended schools in England, which offer multiple services for children of all ages and their families, were unveiled in the Government's Education Bill in November 2001. They allowed the governing body of the school to offer a 'core' of extended services:
- childcare 8am-6pm, all year round (not necessarily on the school site)
- parenting and family support
- a range of activities (study support), including sport and music clubs
- swift and easy referral to specialist services such as speech therapy and health drop-ins
- community use of facilities including adult and family learning and ICT
By 2010, all schools are required to provide access to this core offer, even if they do not offer all of the services themselves. The target is that half of all primary schools and a third of all secondary schools should do so by 2008.
Local authorities are expected to provide subsidised places at after-school and summertime clubs for the children of unemployed parents as part of the Government's 10-year childcare strategy.
Specialist schools and academies
In July 2004, the Government published The Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners. The biggest section of the strategy concentrated on reform of secondary schools, and included plans for traditional comprehensive schools to be replaced in favour of specialist schools (these have existed since 1994). These schools receive additional
Government funding and must also raise funds themselves, through private sector sponsors. Schools choose one or two specialisms, which are used to raise standards across the whole school, and must also meet the national curriculum requirements and deliver a broad and balanced education to all pupils. They are required to have a community plan, involving for example parents, business and other local schools. Schools with a humanities specialism have links with libraries and museums.
Academies were introduced in response to long-term failure in schools. They are publicly funded independent schools, established by sponsors from business, faith or voluntary groups, who form a majority on their governing bodies. The DCSF meets the full capital and running costs of academies. The first academies were independent of the national curriculum, but in 2007 it was announced that future academies would be required
to follow the national curriculum programmes of study in English, maths and ICT.
14-19 reforms
In October 2007 the children's secretary Ed Balls said that A levels may be replaced by work-based diplomas within six years. The diploma would include languages, science and humanities in order to appeal to universities. Every 18-year-old who finds a prospective employer to take them on for an apprenticeship would be entitled to an advanced credit to meet the costs of their training, from £3,000 for some skilled jobs up to £15,000 for a high-cost sector like engineering. The money would go to employers to fund the apprenticeships.
The 14-19 Education and Skills White Paper published in March 2005 announced greater stretch for the most able young people, and greater support for those with lower levels of achievement. It introduced a new vocational Diploma, and a fresh emphasis on basic literacy and numeracy, along with a major review of key stage 3 by the QCA. Mastery of the core or 'functional' elements of literacy and numeracy would now be needed in order to get a C or better at GCSE English and maths. This core would be the same as that required by adult Skills for Life and other Key Skills qualifications.
The Moser Report in 1999 painted a bleak picture of adult basic skills levels in England, and provided the framework for the Skills for Life strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy, launched in 2001. This recognised the need to focus attention on groups at risk of social exclusion, those living in disadvantaged communities and those not attracted to more traditional learning programmes.
Learning for 14 to 19-year-olds, and employability, were also areas of particular focus.
In 2004 the Government launched its Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners, which included adult learners and proposed that funding should be focused on adults with few or no skills, with free basic skills tuition, and advocated lifelong learning for all.
Agencies such as Jobcentre Plus are increasingly becoming involved in the agenda by referring clients who lack basic skills to appropriate training, and funding schemes that promote employability. Train to Gain (previously the National Employer Training Programme) gives grants directly to employers to invest in improving the basic skills of their employees. Learndirect provides online training courses in the workplace and many other local venues.
In 2007 responsibility for further and higher education moved to the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). The department's role includes raising participation and attainment by young people and adults in post-16 education and learning, and tackling the skills gap amongst adults, particularly equipping people with basic literacy and numeracy. Responsibility for 14 to 19-year-olds remains with DCSF.
World Class Skills, published in 2007, is the Government's response to the 2006 Leitch Review of Skills, and sets out how it intends to fulfil the vision of becoming a world leader in skills by 2020. This includes introducing new legislation to strengthen the current funding entitlement for training in basic literacy and numeracy, giving adults a legal right to free training for the first time. It will also create 'skills accounts', giving people greater choice over their learning, and a new adult careers service, which will offer tailored advice to meet the needs of low-skilled and unemployed adults. A new Commission for Employment and Skills, and reformed Sector Skills Councils, will give employers the opportunity to exert real influence over the content and delivery of skills and employment programmes.
The targets that the Government has set remain extremely challenging. They include, by 2020:
- 95% of adults to have the basic skills of functional literacy and numeracy, up from 85% literacy and 79% numeracy in 2005
- More than 90% of adults to have gained at least a level 2 qualification, up from 69% in 2005; with a commitment to achieve 95% 'as soon as possible'
Department for Children, Schools and Families
Contact: Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BT. Tel: 0870 000 2288. Website: www.dcsf.gov.uk
Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
Contact: Tel: 0870 0010 336. Website: www.dius.gov.uk
National Assessment Agency
Website: www.naa.org.uk/naa_index.aspx
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
Website: www.qca.org.uk
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