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28Sep2011
Something to write home about: How can literacy transform social mobility? National Literacy Trust at the Labour Party Conference

Posted by Becca Wright

From our fringe event at the Liberal Democrat conference, we took away the message that a GCSE in English was not equivalent to being fully, functionally literate. With this in mind, we travelled to Liverpool for the Labour Party Conference, where the Shadow Secretary of State for Education Andy Burnham launched what has been dubbed the ‘ModBacc.’ As opposed to Michael Gove’s English Baccalaureate, Burnham’s proposition would have a focus on enhancing employability skills, such as communications and resourcefulness, as well as promoting academic excellence in English and Mathematics. Which baccalaureate would our panel have preferred?

One of Burnham’s key criticisms of Gove is that the English baccalaureate “promotes Latin and Ancient Greek, over Engineering and Business Studies”. This call for more creative subjects was picked up by our panel; Pat Glass MP highlighted the link between mathematical skill and musical ability. A good curriculum is a creative curriculum, and one that enhances a child’s life prospects. She gave the example of Finland, which statistically has 100% numeracy, and is top of international league tables. The UK has been condemned for slipping down PISA league tables, which measure the scholastic performance of 15 year olds. Finland however, has huge numbers of youth unemployment; clearly high performance in league tables is not equipping our children to utilise academic skills in the real world.

The discussion regarding methods of teaching was picked up by Christine Blower, National Union of Teachers, who believes we should be teaching to inspire a love of reading, as opposed to teaching just to get by. Literacy strategy should not be all about phonics; while they have their place, they are not the be all and end all. Much more must be done to inspire reluctant readers; from ensuring that those in prison have library access, and somewhere comfortable to read, to emphasising to children the width of literature that is available for them. Those with the responsibility of teaching must be able to communicate their enthusiasm for reading to those in their charge.

We heard next from Emma Jones, a former primary school teacher, and freelance education journalist. To Emma, social mobility is defined as one’s ability to move between socio-economic groups, through high achievement. For those seeking self improvement however, what resources are available to them? Emma is pregnant, and while she appreciates the appearance of the local health visitor, what other provisions are made for parents-to-be? There needs to be acceptance of the fact that the responsibility for a child’s literacy levels lies beyond the four walls of a child’s home, and if parents are to empower their children through literacy, then they need to be given the appropriate support to empower themselves.

Peter Kellner, YouGov suggested that there needed to be a multi-agency approach to what is essentially the same problem. The problem of literacy is compounded at each level of education a child reaches; if a child is born into a home with no books, by the time a child reaches primary school, the chances of them growing to love reading have drastically decreased. Primary schools need to be viewed as community institutions, with teaching provisions for parents as well as children.

In 1996 at the Labour Party Conference, Tony Blair called for ‘education, education, education.’ Fifteen years on, Andy Burnham used Conference to call for ‘aspiration, aspiration, aspiration.’ This message is one which was echoed at the National Literacy Trust’s fringe event; education must be adaptable and creative enough to be accessible to those hardest to reach. What our panel highlighted is the need for an injection of flexibility into the curriculum, to allow children to shine in their own capacities, not those of a fixed and rigid curriculum.