It almost goes without saying that literacy is the key to educational progress for pupils and students of all ages. Without it, learning simply is not possible. That is why the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has welcomed the Government's efforts to promote and improve literacy through its literacy hour and the work of the National Year of Reading and its successor, the National Reading Campaign. We have welcomed the Government's determination to set challenging targets for improving literacy and have, indeed, done what we can within very limited resources, to support these initiatives.

It is well established that achievement levels vary unacceptably between racial groups and between boys and girls. It follows, therefore, that in seeking to improve achievement levels in general and literacy proficiency in particular, focused activity needs to be directed at those groups who have the greatest need. It follows too, in the CRE's view, that differentiated targets are required to provide the impetus and accountability necessary to grapple with the complexity of pupil achievement. The alternative to this is to collude in undifferentiated indicators of improvement that mask the problems being faced by particular groups.

One of the most significant barriers to the development of adequate literacy skills is the perception by learners that literacy and related activities is "not for me". For many pupils, the problems involved in breaking down these barriers are daunting. A great deal can be achieved by using reading material that really excites and speaks to those learning to read. One important aspect of that is the need to use and develop materials that reflect the world that is lived in by young people today, a world that is defined by diversity and multiculturalism. This is true for young people of all racial groups and from all backgrounds. It is unfortunate that the National Curriculum fails to address these issues, and wider issues relating to racism, leaving it instead to the discretion of the very system that has spectacularly failed many black (and white) children.

The challenge is to equip our young people to live and work together successfully in a multiracial society, which sets out to create a step change in the way we all live together and which engages with, and celebrates, the rich cultural diversity of the nation. I believe that an imaginative approach to literacy is at the heart of making this possible.

Sharing with the National Year of Reading (NYR) a concern that many young people have been turned away from reading, the CRE, with generous funding from the NYR, held an exciting programme of events under the logo of Global Words towards the end of 1999. The first of three events was held in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre by the Thames, at which writers, most of them young and from ethnic minority backgrounds, ran writing workshops for school children during the day and performed readings from their work in the evening. The work they used drew on their experiences of being black in this society and explored identity, difference, racism and resistance to it.

The result? An audience of young inner city Londoners totally engaged in literature, galvanised and enthused by writing that celebrated their own experience. Certainly the literature shared that night at the Globe probably did not contain a masterpiece. It may not have been great art - but it was a GREAT TIME, and it was on the youngsters' own terms. That is why it worked.

Those of us who advocate a multicultural anti-racist curriculum are not advocating a dilution of standards. We are offering an important route to raising standards. The advocates of the traditional literary canon are often not its best custodians. And the events showed that enthusiasm generated in the young people enabled them to see that literature, even Shakespeare, had something to offer them. That is what a multicultural curriculum can do.

 

Global Words events were also held in Leeds and Manchester with huge demand from local schools for the creative writing workshops. A Global Words anthology will be published in Autumn 2000, designed as a curriculum resource for secondary schools. It will contain contributions from young people on identity, prejudice and racism as well as interviews with leading writers from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Europe on how their reading has influenced their writing. For more details contact Desrie Thomson, CRE Campaigns Manager, on 020 7932 5357.

 

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