The National Literacy Strategy (England)

Note: In 2003, the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) and the related numeracy strategy became part of the Primary National Strategy. More information on the literacy strand of the Secondary National Strategy.

For detailed information on the strategy, including a downloadable version of the Framework for Teaching Literacy, see www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/literacy

Background

• Background
  A timeline of curriculum shifts
• Action initially taken by Government
• The role of parents, schools, LEAs and the inspectorate
• The National Year of Reading 1998/99
• The renewed primary framework, 2006
• National Literacy Strategy- good or bad? (Sue Palmer, 2006)

Research and evaluation

• Select committee report on teaching children to read, April 2005
• Government/Ofsted evaluation
• Research on the National Literacy Strategy

See also:

• The literacy hour in primary schools
• Programmes to support pupils who are falling behind
• Extension of the strategy to Key Stage 3
• Articles on the NLS and the literacy hour from Literacy Today

Background

The Literacy Task Force, led by Michael Barber, was established in May 1996 by the Labour Party. Its purpose was to develop a strategy for substantially raising standards of literacy in primary schools in England over the next five to ten years. It published its preliminary findings, A Reading Revolution - how we can help every child to read well?, in February 1997. This report contained many of the strands that fed into Government policy on literacy. The initial report was consulted on widely. The final report, The Implementation of the National Literacy Strategy, was made public in September 1997. A key element of the strategy was the expectation that from September 1998 all primary schools in England would teach the literacy hour. The idea of a daily literacy hour had been initiated by the Conservative Government as the key plank of the National Literacy Project set up by the DfEE in 1996.

According to an article in the TES (19.09.97), teachers' leaders expressed concern that the final report made little reference to poverty. The interim report included a chapter on addressing disadvantage which promised to spend the fruits of an expanding economy on additional staff and equipment for poor areas of Britain. This chapter was missing from the new document. The head of education at the NUT, John Bangs, commented: "We welcomed the Government's recognition that social advantage is a factor in educational achievement; I hope that the new document is not a retreat."

The introduction to the National Literacy Strategy states: "We have received widespread support for the idea of a steady, consistent strategy for raising standards of literacy which is sustained over a long period and is a central priority for the education service as a whole. We have drawn on a huge amount of information and thinking in reaching our final conclusions."

The National Literacy Strategy was launched in July 1997 by the then School Standards' Minister Stephen Byers. The strategy was overseen by the Standards and Effectiveness Unit.

The Strategy recognised that standards of literacy in this country have not changed significantly between the end of the war and the early 1990s and that there is a wide variation in performance among primary schools. In 1996 only 57% of 11 year olds reached the standard expected for their age in English. This rose to 63% in 1997. By 2002 the figure was 75% and by 2004 - 77%.

In 2002, a 30-member committee under the chairmanship of Baroness Ashton, the schools minister, examined the curriculum following complaints from teachers that pressure to meet the maths and English targets had led to a restricted primary curriculum. Evidence that the curriculum was too restrictive was mounting- an Ofsted report had warned of a "serious narrowing of the primary curriculum" in most schools. The DfES published Building on improvement. The booklet was intended to stimulate discussion about the next steps needed to sustain improvements in achievement made by the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies and raise standards further. It was published following the announcement that the Government had failed to meet its targets for the 2002 key stage 2 tests (reference DfES 0613/2002). The Government also hoped to boost test results in 2003 through an 18 moth pilot which targeted intensive support in 131 of the lowest performing schools.

By 2001 the secondary stage of the strategy was developed, known as the key stage 3 Strategy. By 2005, the strategy had develped to cover key stage 4 as well and was renamed the Secondary National Strategy. The primary part was renamed the Primary National Strategy, to bring together the approaches of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies.

A timeline of curriculum shifts
This information is taken from the TES, October 2006

1967 Bridget Plowden's report, Children and their primary schools, advocates putting the child at the centre of education. It recommended a flexible curriculum, individualised learning, learning by discovery, the importance of play and the evaluation of progress.

1978 An HMI survey of 542 schools concludes that the curriculum is wide enough but more able children should study it in greater depth rather than be stretched by introducing new subjects.

1988 National curriculum introduced comprising 10 subjects. National testing introduced. These measures signal a shift towards centralisation in education.

1992 'The Three Wise Men' - Robin Alexander, Jim Rose and Chris Woodhead- publish their report, ordered by John Major, the prime minister, into teaching methods and standards in primary schools. They talked of "highly questionable dogmas which have led to excessively complex classroom practices and have devalued the place of subjects in the curriculum".

1998 David Blunkett launches literacy and numeracy strategies following concerns over standards. Teachers say they fear the literacy hour will be unsuitable for the most able and those with special needs.

2003 Charles Clark introduces the primary national strategy, extending to languages, PE and music the support given to literacy and numeracy.

2005 Commons education select committee orders an inquiry after finding the number of children entering secondary school with poor levels of literacy is "unacceptably high".

2006 A new primary framework is published, intended to help teachers plan lessons and access resources more effectively. It also raises the bar in maths, suggesting that pupils learn their times-tables a year earlier.

(TES, 13 October 2006)

Action initially taken by Government to launch the strategy

• Set literacy target: The initial national target for England was that by the year 2002 80% of 11 year olds would reach the expected standard for their age in English (ie level 4 in the key stage 2 National Curriculum test for English). Schools with the furthest to go to reach the literacy target (an estimated 7000 schools) received extra intensive support from specially appointed consultants.
• Make space in the curriculum: The School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA) was asked to offer advice on how primary schools could make space within the national curriculum to concentrate more on literacy. In January 1998, SCAA, which was by then QCA -the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority - told primary schools to cut the time spent on history, geography, design and technology, art, music and PE in order to spend an hour a day on literacy and numeracy and meet the Government's targets. Teachers could ignore the national syllabuses for these subjects but they should "have regard to" them and maintain a broad and balanced curriculum.
• Adapt Initial Teacher Training: A national curriculum for Initial Teacher Training was introduced requiring every course to give top priority to ensuring that all trainee primary teachers could teach literacy well (piloted from September 1997, and being compulsory from September 1998).

1) Parents:

Encouraging parental responsibilities and exploring new methods of getting information on how to improve children's literacy by:

• introducing home-school contracts which include an emphasis on the importance of work at home to support a child in learning to read;
• urging parents to spend twenty minutes a day in reading to their children, or hearing them read;
• getting advice to parents through health visitors through health visitors' networks and doctors' surgeries;
• urging businesses to promote the importance of reading and writing to parents.

To receive their core entitlement schools should be required to:

• set literacy targets and agree them with their LEAs;
• devote a structured hour each day to literacy for all pupils;
• produce a school literacy action plan for the next two years;
• produce detailed and practical schemes of work for literacy in line with the National Curriculum requirement;
• dedicate three INSET days to staff training per year from September 1998/99
• produce Individual Education Plans for children with Special Educational Needs

LEAs should:

• develop an Educational Development Plan giving a high priority to literacy;
• support the National Literacy Strategy.

Inspectors should:

• look for evidence of a whole-school strategy for raising literacy standards;
• examine the impact of the National Literacy Strategy by surveying 5 to 10% of primary schools in the year 1999 - 2000.

To back up the programme, the 1998-99 school year was designated the 'National Year of Reading'. Among a whole series of events, parents were be urged, through media campaigns, to spend twenty minutes a day helping their children read. Employers were asked to give their employees some time off to read with their children. For information on the National Year of Reading 1998/99 and its follow-up: the National Reading Campaign visit www.readon.org.uk.

In 2007 the Government announced a new National Year of Reading - ten years on. For the National Year of Reading 2008 visit www.yearofreading.org.uk

The renewed primary framework, 2006
This article is adapted from an article by Larraine Harrison in Primary English Magazine, June 2006

Following a consultation period, from September 2006 a renewed version of the Primary National Strategy's (PNS) Framework for teaching literacy came into use. The framework can be found online at www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primaryframeworks/literacy.

The main difference between the original framework and the updated version were as follows:

• The renewed version is available in an electronic version via the internet, with links to the whole range of PNS resources. It is updated as and when necessary to include new PNS materials.
• Whilst the objectives for speaking and listening remain the same as those in the QCA/PNS Speaking, Listening, Learning publication, the reading and writing objectives have been slimmed down to key areas to facilitate deeper learning.
• The objectives are presented by year group, as before, but are no longer presented termly with a specified range of text types.
• Objectives are presented in 12 strands, shared between the three national curriculum categories for English. There are four strands for AT1 speaking and listening, three strands for AT2 reading, and five strands for AT3 writing.
• The objectives are aligned to assessment focuses for reading and writing, and there is a clearer focus on assessment for learning.
• On-screen texts have equal weighting with paper-based texts.
• There is a stronger emphasis on learning over time, with literacy learning organised into three blocks of work: narrative (including plays), non-fiction, and poetry. The blocks are organised into smaller units which take two to four weeks each to teach. This is to allow time for response in reading, the covering of speaking and listening objectives, oral composition, writing, and the constructing of multi-modal texts.
• Speaking and learning objectives have been included.
• There are specific expectations and recommendations regarding the teaching of phonics.

The renewed framework was part of a response to the vision projected in the Excellence and Enjoyment document. It also reflects developments in ICT and the expectations of the Every Child Matters and the personalised learning initiatives. All this suggests that the following five key aims now inform the Primary National Strategy's literacy work:

1. Greater flexibility in the use of the elements of literacy teaching that were originally contained in the literacy hour.
2. Structuring teaching and learning in longer sequences and units of work to build on the identified cycle of 'review-teach-practise-apply-review'.
3. Raising expectations in areas including:
*Children's progression in key aspects of literacy
*Children's acquisition of phonics knowledge
*Planning for achievement by each year group
*Learning and motivation, as opposed to coverage of objectives
*Applying literacy across the whole curriculum.
4. More accurate assessment- in particular clearer links between how children are assessed using framework objectives and how they are assessed using NC levels. Guidance is offered on how to assess children's progress across units of work and there are prompts to help teachers judge the extent to which children have achieved key ideas for each year.
5. Broadening pedagogy in a range of areas, including speaking and listening and extended dialogue, and ICT.

(Larraine Harrison is school improvement adviser for Barnsley Learning Services)

For a revised version of the primary framework visit www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primaryframeworks/literacy or email: dcsf@prologue.uk.com quoting Ref: 0359-2006BKT-EN.

(Primary English Magazine, June 2006)

National Literacy Strategy - good or bad?
This article is written by Sue Palmer and taken from MyChild, October 2006

It's almost 10 years since the Literacy Hour was introduced into English primary schools - 60 special minutes every day when teachers and children concentrate on reading and writing. So has a National Literacy Strategy been a good thing for children?

On the positive side, it's definitely led to more and better teaching of literacy - arguably the most important skill our children will learn in school. A massive government training programme ensured teachers today are more knowledgeable about the mechanics of reading and writing than ever before.

The strategy also revived some tried and tested methods. Phonics (helping children blend letter sounds - or phonemes - so they can see, for instance, that c-a-t makes cat) and grammar are definitely back on the timetable. An there's been a real improvement in resources - most primary schools now have a library of colourful 'big books' for teachers and children to share, and plenty of games and activities for practising basic skills.

But a massive, government-run project usually brings 'unintended consequences'. Many teachers are unhappy with how much tests, targets and school league tables now drive what happens in classrooms. While parents obviously need information about their children's progress, a 'high stakes' testing regime often leads to a narrow, overfocused approach, which is boring for children , thus making them less willing to learn.

The Strategy was also very prescriptive. It decreed exactly how to teach the Literacy Hour, and every teacher in the land received a personal copy of its Framework for Teaching, setting out term-by-term coverage, down to the last spelling rule. Unfortunately, in many schools this rigid, 'one size fits all' approach took much of the fun out of teaching and learning.

In an attempt to undo some of these ill-effects, the Government eventually produced another document, 'Excellence and Enjoyment', which pointed out the importance of exciting, creative teaching. They also moved away from the idea of an inflexible Literacy Hour. And in 2006, they published a new slimmed-down framework - in electronic form this time - which will hopefully put more control over the 'how', 'when' and 'what' of teaching into the hands of the teachers.

Importantly, this new framework includes guidance on developing spoken English, not mentioned at all in the original. Research now shows clearly that children's progress in reading and writing is underpinned by their oral language skills, so it's vital to redress the balance between pencil-and-paper work and opportunities to develop speech and vocabulary. There's also more emphasis on reading for pleasure and children's individual reading, previously neglected in the concern to push up exam marks.

But those tests, targets and league tables are still there, and the pressure on schools to improve test results has not lessened. The new framework also raises the expectations for the under-sixes, which could lead schools to make an even earlier start on formal learning, with possible ill-effects for some children (especially boys, who are slower to show an interest in reading and writing than girls).

So will schools be able to escape the straitjacket and make learning fun? The one sure lesson from the last 10 years is that, to achieve excellence and enjoyment, your child's teachers needs the freedom to think creatively, take a few risks, and adjust the curriculum to fit the children, rather than expecting children to fit into a government-approved mould.

What can I do to support my child's literacy learning?

• Support children with any literacy homework (don't do it for them!)
• Encourage reading for pleasure and information
• Help set up writing for real purposes (e.g. shopping lists, letters, postcards, holiday diaries)
• Above all, find time to spend time with your child, sharing day to day experiences, and talk and listen, listen and talk. This is the ultimate key to success not just in literacy, but in all learning.

(MyChild, October 2006)