RTG News
Children's authors challenge Michael Gove's reading lists
9 May 2011
Children's authors Michael Rosen and Alan Gibbons are getting ready to reject a proposal that argues schools should be given government-approved lists of books that children should have read by the time they reach a certain age.
The idea of replicating in primary schools what already happens in the first three years of secondary schools is being put forward by a small panel of experts set up by the education secretary, Michael Gove, to review the national curriculum for five to 16-year-olds, according to the Times Educational Supplement (TES).
Under the current primary curriculum, there is no central list specifying books or authors. However, in secondary schools, the current curriculum for 11 to 14-year-olds includes a recommended list of authors and demands that pupils study Shakespeare.
Gibbons said:
"What we need to see in schools is trust in teachers and librarians. We need a network of people who know about books and keep up to date with children's literature, who have the freedom to select books according to their pupils' backgrounds and interests."
In March, Gove suggested that children from the age of 11 should be reading up to 50 books a year .
Read more at the Guardian.
