News
Poet in residence to inspire children at Labour Party Conference
26 Sep 2012
Following recent research that revealed that children are reading less today than in 2005, the National Literacy Trust is set to challenge young boys’ perceptions of poetry and literacy at this year’s party conferences.
Award-winning spoken word poet Dean Atta will be leading a workshop with four boys aged 14-16 from Newall Green High School. Together, they will construct a poem about fairness and challenge the boys’ perceptions of writing poetry.
Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust said:
The reading of poems has decreased by 11 percentage points (31% vs. 20%) since 2005 and nearly 1 young person in 5 (17%) are embarrassed to be seen reading by friends.* This is something that must be addressed.
It is frequently claimed that low literacy is related to unemployment, a lack of aspirations, poor physical and mental health. We hope to encourage key policy makers that further steps must be taken to inspire a nation of readers.
Alongside the poetry workshop the National Literacy Trust will be exploring ‘How we get the next generation reading’ at the Labour conference. A panel debate will focus on the newly announced programme of study for the national curriculum. It will also touch upon the relationship between functional illiteracy and long-term youth unemployment.
The speakers include Shadow Schools Minister Kevin Brennan MP, spoken-word poet Dean Atta and deputy headteacher Emily Tudor.
The poetry workshop will be in the morning at 10.30-11.30 on Wednesday 3 October and the panel discussion in the evening at 17.30-18.30.
If you are attending conference and would like to attend our fringe events at please RSVP to Michael Gallagher at policyintern@literacytrust.org.uk
