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Rising to the Literacy Challenge – The Liberal Democrat Party Conference

23 Sep 2010

On 21 September 2010 the National Literacy Trust held a fringe debate at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference. We would like to thank Starbucks for their kind support and the panel members for their time and invaluable contributions.

The panel consisted of:

Lord Tope, Vice-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Libraries and Literacy

Judy Friedberg, Guardian Education journalist

Jonathan Douglas, Director, National Literacy Trust

Dr Jane Davis, Director, The Reader Organisation

Spencer Neal, New Statesman journalist (Chair)

Opening comments

Lord Tope’s opening remarks outlined literacy as a priority for the coalition government and focused on the importance of public libraries as a community resource for the development of literacy. Judy Friedberg agreed on the importance of literacy, declaring herself a “literacy evangelist” and stated her belief that raising literacy standards is the key to achieving social justice.

Jonathan Douglas developed this idea by highlighting that skills-related issues were closely correlated with employability and health outcomes, saying he considered the problem to stem from a lack of demand for literacy support by those most in need rather than a shortage of supply of literacy opportunities. Dr Jane Davis finished off the introductions by using examples from local literacy projects that demonstrated the vital importance of literacy.

Libraries

Lord Tope began the event with his talk on the future of the public library service and the potential implications of the forthcoming government spending review. He acknowledged that libraries remain an enormous community resource and have a vital role to play in boosting literacy. He did however acknowledge that local authorities had very tough spending decisions to make and said libraries should not be immune from cuts, and that in fact some deserved to be closed.

Lord Tope also pointed out the pressing need to protect other forms of library service, particularly school library services. Increasingly, schools were no longer buying services and many local authorities were shutting down their services.

In response to a question from the floor referring to the potentially “irreversible impact of library cuts” particularly on vulnerable families, Lord Tope agreed that reaching out to vulnerable families was essential. He emphasised that the Coalition’s approach to budget cuts would be carefully considered and that the Government was at present focusing on getting a clear overview of priority areas.  

Lord Tope remained optimistic about the future of the public library service and emphasised that the Government remained hugely supportive of libraries however, in the face of a taxing recession; he warned that “substantial cuts in public services” were probable and again stated that libraries were not necessarily “immune” from these cuts.

Mr Douglas suggested an examination of how families can supplement literacy teaching and how the public library service could work strongly in partnership with families in order to achieve this.

Social justice

Judy Friedberg focused on how improving literacy was instrumental to building a more egalitarian society. To illustrate this point, Ms Friedberg drew upon her experiences of teaching literacy in South Africa during the apartheid period. She depicted the “enormous struggle” that was endured by the poorest school children whom had to fight to gain an education, which was considered a pre-requisite for achieving an “important role” in society.

She spoke of the methods she had instilled to teach literacy to school children and factory workers in the most deprived areas of Johannesburg.  She saw her role as not only to teach students literacy but, in the words of Paulo Freire, to “raise consciousness”, or allow students to use their creativity to acquire knowledge.  Ms Friedberg emphasised more potential wider social benefits of improving literacy, such as reduced crime and a more representative political class.

Dr Jane Davis spoke passionately about more intangible benefits of literacy, using powerful case studies to demonstrate her point. For instance a woman in Liverpool who had lived through appalling domestic violence, had few educational qualifications and no opportunities, leading to a range of social problems. Taking part in a literacy project in Liverpool, the woman was able to interact with literature and express herself, where other interventions had struggled to make an impact on her life.

Mr Douglas agreed that people with poor levels of literacy find it hard to be in control of their lives. Mr Douglas added that under the National Literacy strategy which was introduced by the Labour government in 1997, literacy levels rose steadily for five years but soon after reached plateaux. The coalition’s plans to introduce reading test for six-year-olds is a positive step towards diagnosing reading difficulties at an early age.

Literacy in the digital age

Dr Davis focused her opening speech about the importance of encouraging people to develop a passion for reading literary classics to boost literacy. She felt that in today’s society literate people were being “churned out” but they were not necessarily “readers”.  Dr Davis added that a lack of “reading stamina” or the inability to digest information from books for a long length of time was at the heart of the problem. She stressed her belief this problem needed to be addressed in order to reap the benefits of reading.  

In response to a question from the floor about how the internet can be used to raise literacy, Ms Friedberg asserted that “the internet can be a huge force for good” though building reading stamina through use of technology can be difficult. Mr Douglas emphasised that reading as an activity was becoming increasingly social and that the internet provided an array of resources to supplement this trend. He felt that society was undergoing significant changes and with these reading habits were no exception. The loss and gain of new habits was inevitable and it was important for society to “accept this reality”.

Mr Douglas also added that literacy was a “genuine social issue” and in terms of reading for pleasure it is important to tailor reading material to the reader’s terms rather than taking a prescriptive approach as middle class citizens.

Conclusions

The panel agreed that literacy is instrumental to empowering individuals to take control of their lives and building a bright future for Britain. Improved literacy levels can lead to wider social benefits such as reduced crime, a more representative political class and a fairer society.

The panel strongly argued that public libraries remain a vital community resource and will continue to play a vibrant role in raising literacy standards. Despite the coalition continuing to be hugely supportive of library services, it is clear that in the face of deficit they are not immune from spending cuts.

Finally, the panel concluded that whilst it is important to inspire individuals with literacy difficulties to develop a passion for reading, it is equally important to allow people the freedom to flourish as readers according to their individual interests. In the digital age, the internet has transformed the way in which we communicate.  As a society, we need to accept these changes and embrace the changing nature of reading habits.

Tags: Adults, Children, England, Local Authorities, Policy, Prisons, Schools & teaching, Social inclusion

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