Reading Skills
Education inspectors in
An Ofsted report said improvement was being marred by a growing gulf between schools that successfully tackled weaknesses and those that did not.
Ineffective schools tended to blame others, including children and parents.
Government Response: Department for Education and Skills
Stephen Twigg, schools standard minister: "We welcome Ofsted’s recognition that standards in reading are rising and that there is some excellent work going on in schools.
"Since the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy in 1998 standards in reading at both Key Stage one and two have been increased significantly. Between 1997 and 2004 the percentage of pupils achieving the expected level for 11 year olds rose from 67 per cent to 83 per cent at age 11 - approximately 96,000 more children.
"We have made real progress in tackling poor performing schools reducing the number where fewer than 65 per cent of 11 year-olds achieved the expected standard in English from over 6,100 in 1997 to 2,235 this year. The Primary National Strategy also promotes a number of ways teachers can help individual children who need help to catch up, providing structured support from a teaching assistant in addition to the daily literacy hour.
"It is vital that every child receives the best support possible in learning to read. We know that there is a tail of underachievement - schools which could, and should, be doing better, even taking account of their circumstances. Over 850 low attaining schools are receiving tailored help to ensure they can deliver improved literacy. Other low-performing schools are receiving support through the Primary Leadership Programme, linking schools needing support to some of our most effective headteachers. We know it can be done. Some of the biggest improvements at Key Stage two have been seen in economically disadvantaged areas such as Hackney where English improved by seven percentage points and
"We will continue to build on the success of the Primary National Strategy to address the concerns OFSTED raises to ensure schools have the necessary support to improve further.”
Party Response: Conservative
Tim Collins shadow education secretary, said: "For a government that promised so much for education in general and literacy in particular, this report makes for dismal reading."
Stakeholder Response: National Union of Teachers
Steve Sinnott, NUT general secretary, said: "Teachers will welcome OFSTED’s recognition that the teaching of reading is a success story. Schools have committed enormous time and energy in ensuring pupils’ reading develops to the highest level.
"Teaching assistants have a major role in schools. But the report makes it crystal clear that they cannot substitute for teachers.
"The responsibility of local authorities and government is to emphasise that the extremely important and valuable role of teaching assistants is to support: it is not to attempt to take on the job of teaching.
"Schools experiencing difficulties must be able to turn to their local authorities for help and to the government for sustained professional development."
Stakeholder Response: Institute of Education
Julia Douëtil of the
"Luckily, we do have effective ways to help them, such as Reading Recovery, which has been proven to work for four out of five of the least able children, bringing them up to average reading levels within 20 weeks.
"But although schools, the DfES, and the Primary National Strategy all agree that Reading Recovery should be available for all children who are failing to learn to read, there is no agreement about who should pay for it.
"The government has allocated £6 million, or around £300 per school, for 2005-6 to support the lowest achieving children in literacy, maths and science.
"Given the concerns highlighted by Ofsted, a lot more than that will be needed to support the ‘stubborn core’ of pupils at the bottom end of the reading scale. "
"Many of these points can be supported by our own research. These include the recommendation that LEAs should ‘ensure that…teaching assistants understand and use intervention programmes effectively’ and the suggestion that schools should ‘raise teachers’ expectations’ of their pupils.
"I also strongly support the message to policymakers that a large part of the answer lies in the provision of training to improve subject knowledge, so that consistent whole school policies can be more confidently designed and implemented.
"This should include knowledge of reading and its development as well as knowledge of best practice in teaching reading. Proper assessment and individually beneficial interventions depend on understanding what the child has to learn as well as how this might best be taught.
"This level of training, which incorporates findings from psychological research into reading and recognises that this body of research has more to offer than insights into the role of phonological awareness and phonic knowledge, is rare indeed, to the detriment of all. "
Related Stakeholders
Discuss this article via video now
