The UK National Literacy Strategy - Essay Example

REPORT ON POLICY DOCUMENT – THE NATIONAL LITERACY STRATEGY (UK ONLY) INTRODUCTION The United Kingdom has been concerned with the quality of education in schools ever since the end of the war; it denoted a new era and education needed a revamping to meet the challenges of the emerging global village. The Government in UK felt that it was not just enough to increase the quality of education, but also ensure that this education was available to all its citizens, despite their origins, financial backgrounds and special needs. Addressing these issues could be done only by a comprehensive educational policy that reached the entire population of the country and increased the quality of learning and teaching substantially. The Government started with the National Curriculum, which universalized the teaching methods and content through out the United Kingdom, but found that it had many drawbacks. It failed to address deeper issues concerning the individual capabilities of people and the non-uniformity in the quality of teaching available in the country. The National Literacy Strategy was introduced as a more comprehensive way of addressing the educational concerns of the nation; an important initiative of the UK government and a major step in ensuring equal opportunities of education for one and all. The paper discusses the impact of the National Literacy Strategy in the primary schools of United Kingdom; the rise in the literacy levels, the factors affecting it, the areas that need improvement and the future implications of the strategy. There have been many official reports on the change the strategy has brought about in primary education, but at the same time, teachers and educational experts on questions of effectiveness and implementation of the strategy have raised many concerns. This paper looks into both official and unofficial viewpoints and concerns, trying to gauge the overall effectiveness of the strategy. HISTORICAL CONTEXT 1988 ERA (National Curriculum) The National Curriculum was formulated with the aim of introducing a uniform method of learning for all school students of the United Kingdom up to the age of 16. It was implemented in 1988, with the vision of a curriculum that provided equal opportunities for all pupils to learn and achieve and develop their capabilities. It also aimed at promoting the overall development of the pupils – moral, spiritual, social and cultural – and preparing them for the responsibilities and opportunities of life. The curriculum has laid out four main purposes for its implementation in the United Kingdom and reviews the school curriculum regularly to ensure that these purposes are met. They are Establish standards in curriculum and education Establish an entitlement Promote public understanding Promote continuity and coherence (National Curriculum Online, 2006). The National Curriculum ensured that all students are challenged according to their age and capabilities, by determining the content of what was taught in the schools and by setting targets for learning and achievements. National Literacy Strategy, 1998 The UK Government recognized the need for a drastic improvement in the literacy rates of the country, after they found no significant changes after the war up till the early 1990s. The 1996 education reports showed that only 57% of the 11 year olds in the country had reached the expected standards of their age in English and one year later, this had increased only by 9%. The Government wanted to increase this to 80% by the year 2002 and the Literary Task Force was appointed in 1996, to develop a strategy to achieve this goal. The National Literacy Strategy was an initiative of the Labour Party of 1996, who appointed a committee to develop a strategy to increase literacy levels and standards in primary school in the United Kingdom. While the National Curriculum focused on the entire schooling of England, the literacy strategy was to focus itself on the primary schools of the United Kingdom. The Literacy Task Force, led by Michael Barber, appointed by the Labour Party, submitted its final report named ‘The Implementation of the National Literacy Strategy’ in 1998, with the main recommendation that all primary schools in UK should teach the literacy hour daily, starting from September 1998. From the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy, "We have received widespread support for the idea of a steady, consistent strategy for raising standards of literacy which is sustained over a long period and is a central priority for the education service as a whole. We have drawn on a huge amount of information and thinking in reaching our final conclusions." The School Curriculum and Assessment Authority was asked to develop a plan by which primary schools could include literacy in their curriculums, by incorporating it into the National Curriculum. In January 1998, all the primary schools were instructed to cut down on the hours spent on subjects like Art, Geography, Design and Technology, History and Music in order to make room for one hour of literacy class every day. The Government also ensured that all the teachers got sufficiently trained to teach literacy well and give it top priority in primary schools. The main concern expressed by teachers and educational experts, with regard to the literacy hour was that it did not take into consideration issues like poverty, which keeps many children away from school and that it did not address issues of children with special needs. ANALYSISING THE NATIONAL LITERACY STRATEGY (NEWSPAPERS, REPORTS DFES WEBSITE) An interim report based on the HMI inspections of 138 schools during the spring of 1999, has analyzed the achievements and drawbacks of the National Literacy Strategy during its early implementation. The report has given the following recommendations for further improvement. to improve the effectiveness of head teachers, to improve teachers subject knowledge, to place a greater emphasis on the teaching of writing. The effectiveness of head teachers is something very important in the successful implementation of the NLS in the primary schools of the United Kingdom. Heads willing to make unpopular choices get the most out of national initiatives to boost reading and maths according to a report by the office for Standards in Education. Ofsted examined how a sample of 24 schools had coped with the national numeracy and literacy strategies. They said that the most effective heads "are not afraid to make difficult or unpopular decisions", and had encouraged frank, sometimes painful, discussions of their school's weaknesses (National Literacy Trust). Apart from this, the National Literacy Strategy has concentrated on developing the reading and writing of pupils in primary schools; the UK Government had a National Year of Reading in 2000 to popularize reading among young people. Despite this rapid progress, we are not complacent about the challenges ahead. In particular, we have always known that improvements in pupils' writing would be harder to achieve than in reading. We have already done a great deal to raise standards of writing, and this has led to some improvements, particularly in the middle years of primary school. Now, we have made closing the gap between reading and writing standards a top priority for the current school year (Barber, 2001). But what is the unofficial view of this improvement? Has the strategy made such a deep impact as the official sources suggest? Professor Tymms of the Statistics Commission submitted a report in 2005 which looks at the effect of the strategy in the years 1995 to 2000. He found that there was improvement in the literacy levels of primary schools, but it was not to the large extent as claimed by official sources. The sharp rise in KS2 scores in the latter 1990s cannot be simply interpreted as a rise in schools performance standards - there are a number of qualifications that need to be made. Yet Government Departments have usually failed to mention any caveats about other possible reasons for rising test scores in their public comments. This may partly reflect a failure of communications on the part of the education research community (Statistics Commission Report, 2005). So, what could be the next logical step? Where does the National Literacy Strategy tend to go from here? Is it possible to modify the strategy to suit the needs of the pupils as well as help the teachers make it effective? These issues are addressed in the next section, where the future of the Strategy, from the viewpoint of education experts and academicians, are analyzed. EVALUATING THE NLS -- FUTURE DIRECTION (THE PRIMARY STRATEGY) The Primary Framework has been modified in 2006 to include the following important changes in the curriculum, for the improvement of literacy and numeracy in primary schools of the country. 1. Create a clear set of targets and outcomes for teachers to plan progress in English and Mathematics, personalize the learning process and cater to children with special needs. 2. Give necessary Government support for schools to implement the recommendations of the Rose report. 3. Introduce electronic formats for teaching and assessment strategies, with quick links to the resources available through the Primary National Strategy. A report by the Ofsted in 2005 about the implementation of the primary strategy in schools found that it was successful to a large extent, but had scope for improvement in many areas. Inspectors from Ofsted found that most of the primary schools in the country were happy to include the Primary Strategy in their curriculum, which aims for combining ‘excellence in teaching with enjoyment in learning’. They also found that the literacy and numeracy levels of the pupils had increased significantly, but some schools were reluctant to change the old methods of teaching in order to include the educational activities recommended by the Primary Strategy. “No one can argue with the plan's commitment "to develop knowledgeable and reflective practitioners who take ownership and control of their professional development". Nor could anyone but welcome the proposal to foster "the local leadership of the strategies" as well as the proposal "to increase the active engagement of practitioners with the strategies at local level", says John Bangs in his article titled ‘Not too late for a strategic retreat’ published in the Times Educational Supplement. In this article, Bangs is trying to evaluate the changes in literacy that the National Literacy Strategy has brought about and trying to decide whether all the concerns have been addressed by the policies of the strategy and its plans for the next five years. He wonders whether the strategy is on the right track. Going back a few years, Michael Barber, in an article in the Literacy Today has claimed success for the strategy in the early years; he says that the key stage 2 results have shown a 10% increase in 2000 in the number of 11 year olds achieving expected standards, compared to the year 1998. There is also evidence of high levels of support for the strategy from the teaching profession, which has worked, and is continuing to work, extremely hard to raise standards. In a survey of Year 4 and 5 teachers, 91 per cent said that they supported the principle of a National Literacy Strategy and 75 per cent said that they enjoyed teaching the literacy hour. An independent survey of head teachers also showed that 95 per cent support the literacy strategy, and that 89 per cent said that pupils were positive about the literacy hour. The keys to this success have been the high quality materials, excellent professional development and consistent investment year on year (Barber, 2001). Bangs does not deny this, but points out the concerns voiced by teachers about the fallouts in the strategy’s implementation plans for the next five years. “There is nothing in it that both gives teachers ownership of developments in areas such as literacy and numeracy, nor any idea that teachers' views on what works will filter through the hierarchy to change strategy guidance”, he says. This statement brings us to the important question of how effective the National Strategy can be, now that it has achieved its preliminary goal of 80% of 11 year olds reaching the minimum standards in English language. The future of the policy and its success in the coming years cannot be ensured unless the Government takes the suggestions of teachers also into consideration, before implementing further changes into the strategy. CONCLUSION There is no denying the fact that the various schemes implemented by the National Literacy Strategy has made an impact in increasing the standards of education in the primary schools of the United Kingdom. The fun-filled educational activities, the National Year of Reading and other initiatives have helped pupils learn better and ensured that they stay in schools to complete their education. But the drawbacks of the strategy need to be addressed in the changing educational needs of the schools in the 21st century. The National Literacy Strategy needs to be placed in a much more realistic social context, instead of its current approach of universal application. It needs to take into consideration factors that affect the literacy rates of a country and the lowering of standards in primary schools, including poverty, special needs of some children, unemployment of parents, etc. The Education Select Committee report, submitted to the Parliament in April 2005, is a humbling example of this. The report said that the figure of one in five pupils failing to reach the expected levels in reading in England was "unacceptably high". The government took a lot of flak (Mike Baker, 2005). The National Literacy Strategy of the United Kingdom has failed to take into consideration, many concerns raised by the teaching community. Though it has implemented teachers’ training programmes and introduced strategies, which make learning fun for the pupils, the strategy could do well to take a re-look at the changing global scenario and adapt itself to the changing needs of the educational community. References 1. Baker, M (2005), What could be Right About Reading, BBC April 19 2. Bangs, J (2006), Not too Late for a Strategic Retreat, The Times Educational Supplement 27, January, http://www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2187054, accessed December 19, 2006 3. Barber M., (2001), National Literacy Strategy – recognition of success, Literacy Today, Issue 26 http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Pubs/barber.html, accessed December 19, 2006 4. National Curriculum Online, http://www.nc.uk.net/nc_resources/html/about_NC.shtml, accessed December 19, 2006 5. National Literacy Trust, http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Database/Primary/stratevaluation.html#Ofsted2005, accessed December 19, 2006 6. Office of Public Sector Information, United Kingdom, http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ , accessed December 19, 2006 7. Ofsted (2005), The national literacy and numeracy strategies and the primary curriculum, www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications, accessed December 19, 2006 8. Parliament of the United Kingdom, www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmeduski.htm, accessed December 19, 2006 9. Statistics Commission Report (2005), Measuring Standards in English Primary Schools, http://www.statscom.org.uk/C_402.aspx, accessed December 19, 2006 10. The Standards Site: Primary Framework for Literacy and Mathematics, http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/ accessed December 19, 2006 Read More