The Government's National Literacy Strategy expects every primary school in England to introduce a literacy hour, as defined by the strategy, from the autumn term of 1998. Some schools have already introduced literacy hours and others are experimenting with them, but most are waiting to learn what the strategy requires. A research study carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research in the spring term of 1998 surveyed what is happening now. All 128 local education authorities (LEAs) in England were asked what was happening in their schools and 94 returned their questionnaires.  

The most widespread literacy hour is, of course, the one introduced by the National Literacy Project (NLP). This is now being implemented by around 520 schools, in the 16 LEAs that form part of the project. But at least a further 398 schools in 33 additional LEAs are already implementing the NLP literacy hour. Added to this are 13 other LEAs where some of the schools are experimenting with elements of the hour.  

This is not the only type of literacy hour, however. We also found 112 schools in 10 LEAs that were using the Literacy Initiative From Teachers (LIFT) and nine schools in two LEAs that were using Literacy For All*. In a further 15 LEAs, a local scheme had been developed, and these accounted in total for 194 schools.  

Not all literacy hours are the same. They share some features, but there are distinct points of difference. They are all characterised by a high degree of structure, in which the teacher is engaged in direct instruction for all, or almost all, of the hour. Generally, literacy hours start with some shared reading for the whole class. Children and teacher read together from an enlarged book, or a text presented on an overhead projector. As well as reading aloud, there is a discussion of selected features of the text: humour, characterisation, the author's choice of language, or the punctuation of the text or the spelling of words within it. The NLP literacy hour always has structured whole-class word or sentence work following the shared reading, but not all literacy hours have this feature.  

Following the whole-class work, in most schemes the children divide into groups for a variety of activities. The organisation of this group work is an important aspect of the management of a literacy hour. In the NLP and LIFT models, the distinguishing feature of this group work is guided reading: the group shares a text, and the teacher provides carefully planned support, modelling the skills and strategies the children need for independent reading, understanding and response.  

It is here that a difference in emphasis emerges. Other schemes do not feature guided reading. Instead, the group activities may offer the children a variety of ways of responding to the shared text. One of the questionnaire respondents termed this a 'literature hour'. In literature hours, group work can move further away from skills and strategies for literacy, and include art, technology, drama, related non-fiction reading, and writing of various kinds. The shared text is the anchor point for these hours, and work related to it can go on for a week or more. In these activities, there is an emphasis on speaking, listening and writing as well as reading.  

Following the group work, all schemes seem to have a short final whole-class discussion. This gives teacher and children the opportunity to review the work, underline key points, praise achievement and look ahead.  

This survey gives just a snapshot of what was happening at one point in time, during a period of rapid change. Soon, all primary schools in England will need to gear up for the National Literacy Strategy, which has clear guidance on how to run the literacy hour. Within this, there are some opportunities for teachers to adapt aspects to suit themselves and their children. In doing so, teachers will need to consider how children's appreciation of literature fits in, within or outside the literacy hour, remembering always that high levels of literacy imply more than a basic mastery of the skills of reading and writing.  

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