|
The Right to Read project in 2000 aimed to make children and
young people in public care, together with their carers, excited
about books. It was based on the recognition that having books
in the home and the experience of sharing books with an adult
are important in developing a child's literacy skills, and
was a partnership between the Who Cares? Trust, the National
Literacy Association and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. It has
continued in the form of a campaign in certain local authorities.
(This project is not to be confused with the national campaign
called Right to Read which encourages volunteers from business
to read with children.)
The project focused initially on involving young people in
producing a special insert for the Who Cares? magazine (containing
interviews with celebrities, suggestions for reading, poems
by young people, hints for creative writing and a competition
to win books), and secondly in a pilot study with five local
authorities, each of which was required to set up three reading-related
activities.
A Creative Achievement Day was run, at which at least 50
young people were given a prize to mark a particular effort
in educational achievement, workshops were run and celebrities,
storytellers and representatives of libraries and bookshops
were invited. Right to Read Roadshows were also put on for
foster carers and residential workers, to increase awareness
of the vital role they play in raising children's literacy
abilities. Workers were able to take away a number of books,
and were given advice on how to choose and use them and on
easy ways of making more books available in the home.
Finally, a Starter Library of at least 50 books was established
in a specially created, comfortable and accessible (not locked
away) area in every residential home. Staff in the homes worked
with the NLA on ways to use the libraries to the children's
best advantage.
The project was internally evaluated. Not all the local authorities
managed to run the first two events by the end of 2000, but
those who did found them rewarding and received positive feedback
from children and carers. The Starter Libraries were enthusiastically
received, and a questionnaire sent to children and their carers
revealed that 84% of young people who responded were reading
the new books, and 87% of carers believed that the libraries
were having a beneficial effect on the children.
Critical factors in the success of Right to Read were the
enthusiasm of the project staff and the support of senior
local authority staff and elected members, which gave value
to the project and showed the children, carers and staff that
it was important. All of the local authorities have stressed
the importance of continuing and building on the schemes.
The Right to Read funding scheme, introduced by the Paul
Hamlyn Foundation in 2001, and now part of the Reading and
Libraries Challenge Fund, is aimed at encouraging the long
term measures needed to bring about change.
The project has produced a list of recommendations for local
authorities to develop reading for pleasure:
- Local authorities must demonstrate their commitment to
the value and importance of children accessing books in
the 'home'
- They must produce a centralised strategy for improving
literacy and access to books
- New resources must be designated to ensure children receive
a steady stream of books and are encouraged to read
- Expectations of carers must be raised, supported by senior
management
- The professionals in contact with children in care must
be trained to support their literacy development, including
working with teachers and libraries
- Libraries must work with social services to make links
with children in care.
Right to Read: Promoting the benefits of reading to children
and young people in public care: Project findings and recommendations
for good practice, The Who Cares? Trust, The National Literacy
Association and The Paul Hamlyn Foundation, 2001.
| 80px.gif)
