NLT policy

Cultural Offer for Children

1 Feb 2008

The Government has recently announced £135 million of funding to give all school children five hours of high quality culture a week. The money will be split between a £25 million Find Your Talent scheme and £110 million investment in the Creative Partnerships programme. While the offer will be delivered through school activities, the five hours do not necessarily have to take place during school hours, therefore not simply adding pressure to the curriculum. The National Literacy Trust (NLT) believes that the offer provides an exciting opportunity to build on literacy provision for school children; both directly and indirectly.

The Government wants the cultural offer to contain learning about culture, as well as learning through culture. To achieve this schools are expected to offer five hours of activities a week including:

Visits to top quality theatre

Visits to national and local exhibitions and galleries

Visits to heritage sites

Opportunities to engage creatively with libraries and archives

Creative writing opportunities, including listening to authors talk about their work

A range of music and new media opportunities

The chance to produce a piece of creative writing and talk to authors about their work is the most obvious link between the cultural offer and literacy. Author visits will provide two different opportunities. Firstly, those children who have a particular talent and enjoyment of creative writing will be able to further their interest and receive support and advice from an authoritative source. Secondly, young people who struggle with reading ability or lack confidence will be able to listen to authors read their work, helping them to better understand the work as well as the subtleties within it.

The announcement that children will have the opportunity to engage creatively with libraries is also clearly linked to literacy. Libraries can be used in a number of ways, and provide a well resourced and physically different setting to the classroom. Libraries will also become important as budgets and practical considerations mean that delivering five hours of culture a week will be heavily reliant on local services and affordable options. Along with in school music programmes, libraries provide a local and convenient way to fulfil the cultural obligations.

As libraries will be vital to the delivery of the cultural offer one of the key challenges facing schools is to ensure that libraries are utilised in an inventive and inspiring way, providing enjoyment and benefits for school children. This will require building on creative thinking and a systematic approach to partnerships between libraries and schools. Individual events with authors are the obvious starting point, but it is also important that more regular and long term programmes are considered, such as creative writing workshops. 2008 is the National Year of Reading (NYR), and one of the challenges of the NYR is to increase library membership. Together the NYR and cultural offer provide the perfect chance to start innovative library programmes for school children across England.

Despite a less direct link to literacy, the role of visits to theatre, museums and heritage sites should not be underestimated. Seeing a play acted out brings the story to life and can help children to engage with texts more effectively. This is particularly important for children who would otherwise have no opportunity to witness live theatre. Furthermore successful participation in cultural activities is defined by the ability to communicate effectively. Being able to understand the relevant literature enables children to access the wider benefits of heritage sites. Literacy’s role in enhancing children’s understanding of culture is central to all aspects of the cultural offer.

The link between the two is reciprocal as participation in culture equally enhances understanding of literacy. A wide range of cultural activities has the potential to genuinely engage with children’s personal interests. This may motivate them to discover more through reading, fostering positive attitudes towards reading and an increase in reading for pleasure.

The NLT believes that the cultural offer will have a significant positive influence on school children achievement and enjoyment of reading. The interdependence of culture and literacy will ensure that improving access to and understanding of culture naturally improves literacy skills. However, this is dependent on schools being properly informed and understanding the importance of building cultural activities into the existing curriculum while not undervaluing the impact of more practical low cost initiatives such as partnerships with libraries.   

George Dugdale, Policy Adviser

National Literacy Trust [February 2008]

 Downloadble version of this response: Cultural offer for children  [pdf].

Tags: Health, Policy, Schools & teaching, Volunteering & community, Young People

Return to nlt policy