Yet another new literacy campaign has been launched www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/08/reading-literacy-uk-cbi-schools-read-on-get-on-campaign
I could not resist making a comment.
There have been numerous initiatives to reduce the English 'literacy crisis', and some have made a small temporary difference. The problem keeps recurring, because its cause remains unchanged: different sounds for identical letters (on, only, once) and different spellings for identical sounds (to, too, two).
They make English literacy acquisition exceptionally difficult and dependent on one-to-one help, even for children of average intelligence and above. More regular spelling systems enable all children to learn to read faster and with much less support. They also leave far fewer weak pupils lagging a long way behind.
Literacy campaigns are merely like plasters on a festering sore which keeps re-erupting. The only long-term solution is to reduce some of the worst inconsistencies of English spelling.