New children's literacy campaign: should Mumsnet sign up?

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello everyone

The charity Save the Children, with whom we've done a bit of work in the past, is asking if Mumsnet can give its collective support to a campaign to improve children’s literacy here in the UK.

Save the Children say: “Reading is the key to a child’s future: it unlocks their potential and opens up a world filled with possibilities. For our poorest children, reading well is their best route out of poverty, but thousands of children from poorer backgrounds leave primary school not reading as well as they should.”

As ever, we'd like to know what you think about adding Mumsnet's voice to this. The aim of the campaign is to ensure that every child is a confident reader by age 11, but Save the Children's position is that to achieve this we all need to play our part. The campaign hasn't launched yet, but Save the Children will be working with a coalition of organisations, communities, parents, teachers and schools, businesspeople and politicians. They are working with a range of media, including The Sun. They don’t want to give away all their campaign tactics before the launch (understandably) but if you have any specific questions about the methods and aims of the campaign, let us know and we'll see if we can get answers for you.

Please do also use this thread to let us know what you think about Mumsnet officially getting behind this one.

Thanks,
MNHQ

[Heels99]

a there not lots of organisations already doing this? Literacy trust, book start, the reading agency etc etc. is there a need for STC to also get involved, what will the tangible outcomes be, how will what they are doing be different or integrate with existing programmes?

I am not persuaded of the value.

I can see why the sun has been chosen as presumably it's readers are target audience to do more reading with their kids or whatever, the guardian readership are hardly the target group. Much as I hate the sun.

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello all

Sorry for the slight delay - Save the Children are having a good read of the thread and we hope to have a response from them early next week if not before.

[Mashabell]

The Sun is Britain's most read paper. A prolonged literacy campaign by it therefore has a better chance of making a difference than any of the others. But if i remember rightly, 40% of British adults never read anything: no papers, no books or magazines - nothing at all for information or pleasure.

Most of the children who lag behind in their reading by age 11 probably have parents in that category. Campaigners for better literacy need to bear that in mind.

Opening more really good children's centres for preschool children and their parents in the most deprived areas has perhaps the best chance of making a difference.

[mrz]

The Daily Mail overtook The Sun ( now fourth) in the readership tables

[zebedeee]

Elmhurst and St George's were given as examples of successful schools which could illustrate effective practice. But by looking at the Ofsted dashboard and the school websites it is hard and time consuming to ferret out effective practice and really no policy making conclusions could be made.

Elmhurst KS results are better when they no longer use a synthetic phonic approach - would their KS1 results show an improvement if they took a systematic rather than a synthetic approach to phonics, or do they need to add 'something' extra?. 'Closing the gap' data shows for reading 96% Level 2 and above for 'disadvantaged' pupils, compared to 88% 'other'(non-disadvantaged) pupils achieving level 2 or above. I am not sure how Dashboard define 'disadvantaged' but I'm sure there is a description on the website somewhere - maybe these are the children that STC are targeting.

I have spent quite a bit of time looking at St George's website, but haven't found it easy to find out how they approach the teaching of reading apart from Y1 'Please read with your child every night an sign their Reading Diary.' similar for Y2 and Y3, Y5 and Y6 are required to have a their diary's signed at least four times a week and 'The dedicated Upper School shelves in the school library offer a range of good quality books to challenge our readers as they become fluent and independent in their reading.' Marrying the data with the website info. is the 96% KS1 (second quintile) the result of children 'reading with' their parents - is this what is most effective and how are the parents carrying this out, just listening or sharing the reading, have they been shown effective prompts for better reading, comprehension etc.

So nearly an hour later... it it v. time consuming and wholly inconclusive as to what successful schools do or not do that makes them effective via the internet.

[mrz]

As you seem to be struggling with Dashboard zebedeee

St George's Reading
In 2013, 100% of pupils attained Level 4 or above in the key stage 2 reading test. This has not changed since 2012. (National av was 86%)

In 2013, 100% of pupils attained Level 4 or above in the key stage 2 writing assessment. This is an increase of nine percentage points since 2012. (National Av was 92%)

literacyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/plaudits-for-sounds-write.html

Elmhurst Reading
In 2013, 96% of pupils attained Level 4 or above in the key stage 2 reading test. This is an increase of three percentage points since 2012.

Writing
In 2013, 92% of pupils attained Level 4 or above in the key stage 2 writing assessment. This is an increase of one percentage point since 2012.

[mrz]

Successful schools teach children the most effective strategy for tacking text (no guessing) within a language rich curriculum it's that simple!

[RabbitRabbit78]

Would not support a campaign involving the Sun for reasons already stated by other posters, and IMO mumsnet would be hypocritical in doing so given their support of the NMP3 campaign. As a parent I would not want my son being "encouraged" to ask us to buy the Sun or even for it to become a recognisable brand in our house.

Also, without knowing what form their "campaign" will take, I could not support it regardless of partner. I am a trained primary school teacher, and know about issues with literacy (or rather illiteracy). Tackling it needs a consistent whole-school approach bought into by all staff, and committed to long term - if possible, between feeder schools and secondaries.

I suspect STC will be offering incentives for schools to take them up on their "scheme" which (even if valid) may not be supported for a long enough time to make any difference.

[mrz]

I suspect schools won't be involved in the scheme

[awfulomission]

I'm tired and addled but as far as I can tell from the OP mrz is right; it seems there will be relatively little involvement from schools. The focus would seem to be on the input from home/extra curricular agencies, probably with an onus on developing and enriching parental involvement with their child's literary development.

I'm assuming libraries will be involved under the 'communities' label.

I don't know why they can't give a few more details about how this encouragement and advice (if that is what it is to be) will be disseminated. Surely it's hard to agree to put your name to something without knowing a little more? I mean, would it be vouchers in 'The Sun'? Advice articles in 'The Sun'? Sitting together to read an article from that paper together? Also, who are their advisors for this project?

I wouldn't be happy to sit down and leaf past P3 with my DS in order to get to the bit we'd be doing together. I might buy the paper and see what they suggest to help our reading together.

FWIW ALL of the children I work with are struggling readers and I have one of my own at home. I don't want to say exactly what my job is because (though unlikely) I don't want to out myself. Some of the parents of the children I work with are desperate to help them but don't know how. Some see teaching their children to read as exclusively the job of the school and, honestly, could do with the sort of public education campaign this might be.

Sorry, my post's a bit on the fence.

[mrz]

The Sun already have online education initiatives (and I seem to recall run literacy/numeracy sessions?) currently involved with Google and the new computing curriculum.

[awfulomission]

Maybe that's one of the reasons why STC are joining with them as opposed to The Mirror/Mail for eg. The structure's in place already so it's easier for them to piggyback.

[mrz]

www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5812835/The-Sun-Code-Camp.html

[[

[Ferguson]

As a retired Teaching Assistant with twenty years in primary schools, Yes, such an initiative might be another way to boost reading and literacy skills.

But I too, do find it unfortunate that of all currently available printed media, it is the Sun that is involved. It is probably prejudice and snobishness, but I do not give much consideration or respect to anyone who reads the Sun. But perhaps that is better than my own situation, that I have never read a daily newspaper other when I was looking for employment.

[zebedeee]

Not struggling with the dashboard, just struggling to find how dashboard/school website reveals effective/ineffective practice. Looking at the data and the blog link re. st george's it appears that their cohort that scored highly in the phonics check 2012, did less well in the Reading SATs 2013 than the children taking SATS the previous year - so one extrapolation could be that a high pass mark in the phonics check/phonics programme is detrimental to the reading achievement in KS1 SATS. Obviously lots of data samples would need to be used before any conclusion about correlation between phonics check and KS1 reading SATs could be drawn - positive/negative/ambiguous. And if any such number crunching was to be carried out it could either be embraced or dismissed if it didn't fit with personal opinion/belief. (Like the Cluella study which demonstrated that the children in their research 'were significantly more successful blending phonemes with added schwa than without.')

[mrz]

re. st george's it appears that their cohort that scored highly in the phonics check 2012, did less well in the Reading SATs 2013 than the children taking SATS the previous year - so one extrapolation could be that a high pass mark in the phonics check/phonics programme is detrimental to the reading achievement in KS1 SATS.


"In 2013, 96% of pupils attained Level 2 or above in the key stage 1 reading assessment. *This is a decrease of one percentage point since 2012."

Oh dear zebedeee ... suggest you actually look at the figures

In 2012 97% of pupils achieved Level 2 or higher (1 child out of class of 30 didn't - 3%)

In 2013 96% of pupils achieved level 2 or higher (1 child out of class of 29 didn't - dashboard rounds up to 4%)

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello all

We've had a response now from Save the Children: here it is.

"Hi everyone

Thanks very much for all the thoughts and feedback. It’s new for us to talk about a campaign to a community and get soundings before we launch, and we really appreciate all the expertise you've brought to the table."

"I thought it would be useful first of all to revisit why we're looking at reading. We come to education and reading from child poverty. We've been campaigning on child poverty in the UK for 80 years, and this push will be the most ambitious thing attempted since free school meals in the '40s. As you know, child poverty is relentlessly on the rise, despite the recovery. As our report A Fair Start for Every Child showed in May, this means potentially ruined childhoods, children growing up in cold, damp homes."

"We all know that poverty can cut short life chances. Our analysis in last year’s report on educational inequality Too Young to Fail showed that by the time a child is seven, nearly 80% of the difference in GCSE results between rich and poor is already set. We see too often that poverty can become a life sentence. And reading well early is the single thing that makes the most difference."

"That's why we are launching this reading campaign, along with a large number of other charities, including those addressing special needs, early years and language development as well as literacy, in September."

"This isn't just an education policy-led campaign, like others before. Our campaign is about mobilising the public to raise the importance of reading and the enjoyment of reading at the same time. We all want to solve the problem of children falling behind because they are from poorer families once and for all."

"I wish we could share all the details ahead of launch but we have to keep the powder dry. We are looking at activities around the whole country, and we're especially focused on trying to reach poorer parents and children. We aim to get reading and the joy of reading out there as widely as possible, to reach children wherever they are and whatever media their parents read. That does include work with The Sun, and a vast range of other media."

"The Mumsnet community could be a huge and powerful part of that – helping to shape the future of the campaign. I'd be more than happy to come back to this thread after launch and take your soundings again at that point."

All best,

Mora McLagan
Coalition Lead - National Mission on Reading
Save the Children

[mrz]

As a teacher I would suggest it would be better to focus on child poverty and ensure these children have a home with a warm bed and food, so that they arrive in school having had a good night's sleep with a full stomach so that they are ready to learn. Hungry, tired children struggle to learn.

[FabulousFudge]

I'm inclined to agree, as a primary teacher as well. Hunger and never knowing where your next meal is coming from are huge barriers to learning, as one might expect.

Also, I have taught children with parents from all backgrounds and don't believe that it's just 'poor' children who struggle with reading, although presumably STC research has proved otherwise on a larger scale.

However, I am passionate about reading and recognise that it improves children's life chances in all curriculum areas. Could STC work with Book Start and Literacy Volunteers etc to raise awareness and support? Also Sure Start, as presumably the families of the poorest children are the hardest to reach and engage?

I think Mumsnet will have to think very carefully before getting involved in a campaign where they'll be on the 'same side' as The Sun, when they are 'against' them on the page 3 issue.

[AuntieStella]

If they're not going to say what they will be doing, I don't think I would be right to join in.

They are asking too much to be taken on trust.

For although the aim is undisputedly good, there are so many areas of disagreement in actual activities it is impossible to form a view on this specific proposal.

Whatever that proposal is, of course. I think I would be very unwise to back something unknown, especially now it is clear they will not explain even in broad terms what literacy support and other activities it will be offering.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

Well that was a disappointing cop out.

I'm not the 'why reading' bit of the campaign was ever in doubt.