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19Apr2010
Vote for Literacy this election

Posted by Jonathan Douglas

Last week the nation tuned in to the first prime ministerial debate with the three main candidates debating their policies live on television. Watching the discussion I became increasingly confused: at moments there seemed to be complete harmony of approach (“I agree with Nick” was the refrain of the evening) then suddenly there was sharp divergence and it was very hard to spot where the rupture occurred. I had just read the manifestos which were published last week and I had exactly the same experience. The language is similar, there are statements which seem to recur in each manifesto (“no school can be better than the quality of its teachers”), yet there are real differences in the implementation of policy which need to be examined.

For the past twelve months the National Literacy Trust has been lobbying the parties with messages about the importance of literacy and where investment in literacy can have the biggest effect. Last Autumn we published our own Literacy Manifesto. We recognise that, at this moment, engaging with and influencing public policy which determines the way literacy is taught and supported is a priority. The parties’ commitments to literacy in the manifestos is a point of divergence.

The Labour Party won power in 1997 with a mantra of “education, education, education” and it is to be expected that education will be a central theme in their social policy. In one sense they have the toughest job in writing a manifesto as any new ideas will inevitably be greeted with “if it’s such a good idea, why haven’t you done it in the last 13 years?”. Conversely restatements of existing policies will seem tired. The manifesto takes the only possible way out and takes on the trajectory of government policy over the past decade and attempts to refresh it and state it in new terms.

So the ongoing commitment to literacy is enshrined within a “3Rs Guarantee, that every child who falls behind at primary school and early in secondary school will receive special one-to-one or small-group catch-up provision”. This incorporates an ongoing commitment to Every Child a Reader. However the commitment to adult basic skills is hard to pin down. Early years policy focuses on Children’s Centres and there is a welcome commitment to strengthening parental engagement – a vital strategy in addressing the quality of the home learning environment.

The Conservative manifesto contains a welcome commitment to “take Sure Start back to its original purpose of early intervention”. Although generally the commitment to the family focuses on social stability rather than improved outcomes.

Tory education policy is caught in a dichotomy of freedom and control. The delegation of power to schools and even parents is a strong theme. However they wish to tighten control over the pedagogy of literacy to improve standards:

“Every child who is capable of reading should be doing so after two years in primary school. To make this happen we will promote the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics and ensure that teachers are properly trained to teach using this method…we will establish a simple reading test at the age of six.”

In comparison the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto genuinely does commit to promoting the professional freedom of teachers. Their education proposals are largely structural and they step back from content. The one exception being their commitment to slimming down the National Curriculum. Having said that, there are some very specific measures, one of which has not attracted media attention but might have a positive effect on the literacy gender gap: the Lib Dems are committed to increasing the recruitment of men to work in early years settings.

From a literacy perspective there are some serious omissions in all the manifestos which we will continue to lobby for: family literacy and adult literacy issues do not feature significantly; speech and language provision and support lacks the profile it deserves; the relationship between the family and school is not a priority and the fundamental importance of the early years is not fully acknowledged. Whatever the political complexion of the next government, the National Literacy Trust will maintain a strong lobbying and advocacy role on behalf of those with low literacy levels who face real inequalities. Visit Vote for Literacy to pledge your support for this work.