Literacy news
Education Secretary Michael Gove discusses boys’ literacy on the Today programme
17 Dec 2010
On the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove discussed Government figures obtained by the programme, which show thousands of boys start secondary school only able to reach the reading standard of seven-year-olds or below.
During the interview, Michael Gove said:
"We believe that we need to make a series of changes, to focus to ensure that children are learning to read.”
“These include additional resources for poorer children, systematic synthetic phonics training for teachers and a reading "MOT" for 6-year-olds.”
He also said that he would be willing to replace headteachers if their schools were failing on literacy.
He continued:
"We want to ensure that those schools where children are not being taught to read are tackled.”
"If you do not get a child reading by the time that they leave primary school, the curriculum is a closed book to them.”
You can listen to the full interview with Michael Gove on the Today programme here.
A map outlining boys' reading ability across the country is also available here.
Read more at the Guardian.
Read the National Literacy Trust response
