Literacy news
Ofsted report highlights the significance of reading for pleasure
19 Jun 2009
Inspectors found that "at best" in secondary schools, only year 7s were encouraged to read for their own enjoyment.
The reports shows that once pupils fall behind, teachers give up on pupils, citing that white working-class boys are most likely to suffer. In some lessons writing tasks had "no purpose other than to keep pupils quiet", inspectors found.
"If children are not encouraged to read for pure pleasure, if they are dragged away from reading books they enjoy - including picture books - and pushed into reading educationally worthy books, then we are in danger of creating a generation of non-readers,” said Anthony Browne, the new children's laureate.
Ofsted visited 122 primary and 120 secondary schools across England between April 2005 and March 2008. The report praises recent developments, including better use of roleplay and drama, and reading in primaries. The English curriculum was good or outstanding in just over three quarters of the primary schools visited and just under two thirds of the secondary schools.
Read the article at The Guardian (The Guardian, 19 June 2009).
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