As you will no doubt recall, on the 21st November I sent an e-mail to Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening and the Department for Education about School Libraries. you can read it here: Dear Justine: School Libraries Need Your Help!
I have just received a response from the Ministerial and Public Communications Division on behalf of the DfE which you can read below:
Dear Mr Imrie
I am writing on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education to thank you for your email of 21 November, about school libraries.
I can understand your reasons for contacting the department and can assure you, the government strongly support school libraries because of the important role they play in encouraging young people to read for pleasure.
We believe all children deserve to be taught a rich curriculum which encourages extensive reading of books and other kinds of texts, both in and out of school and school libraries complement public libraries in providing this. It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian.
Schools decide how much of their budget to spend on books. In addition, Booktrust works with primary and secondary schools throughout England and runs programmes and competitions such as Read for My School, that offer young people the opportunity to read a wide range of exciting material. You can view the information about Booktrust online at: http://www.booktrust.org.uk/.
You may be aware the national curriculum states that teachers are expected to encourage pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. Within the national curriculum, the programmes of study for English have been developed to make clear the importance of reading for pleasure.
The department funded The Reading Agency in 2015-16 to expand its Chatterbooks scheme to set-up book clubs in 200 primary schools for Key Stage 2 pupils, where reading attainment at key stage 2 is currently low. This funding also supported those schools in enrolling their year 3 pupils with a public library. In 2015/2016, we also funded more bookclubs to encourage year 3 pupils to enrol in a library. In addition Poetry by Heart http://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/ was also funded between 2012-17, to develop and support inspiring poetry teaching in schools, and to motivate pupils and teachers to explore England’s rich literary heritage. Pupils choose these from the anthology of over 600 years of poetry on the competition’s website.
In addition, we want to make sure that young people have access to qualifications that set expectations that match those in the highest performing countries. Employers and educators have continued to report that school leavers lack crucial skills. In 2012, more than two in five employers (42%) reported that they had organised remedial training for at least some young people joining them from school or college. Young adults in England were amongst the worst performers in literacy and numeracy in the OECD’s recent survey of adult skills. We are reviewing GCSEs and A levels to be robust and rigorous, to match the best education systems in the world and to keep pace with universities’ and employers’ demands. One of these changes is in English, English language will encourage pupils to read a greater range of high quality, challenging literature and non-fiction texts drawing across a range of genres and types (from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries).
Greater weight will be placed on pupils’ demonstration of accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar. English literature will encourage pupils to read a wide range of classic literature fluently, including 19th century novels, Shakespeare and the Romantic poets. In total, pupils will have studied at least three Shakespeare plays by the time they have completed key stages 3 and 4.
I hope this information is helpful and once again thank you for writing.
Your correspondence has been allocated reference number 2017-0055419. If you need to respond to us, please visit: https://www.education.gov.uk/contactus and quote your reference number.
As part of our commitment to improving the service we provide to our customers, we are interested in hearing your views and would welcome your comments via our website at: http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/YBK1O/
Yours sincerely
[redacted]
Ministerial and Public Communications Division
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Well, it’s a reply…but one that’s left me asking ‘what about secondary schools?’ Especially in the context of what it said 42% of employers having to organise remedial training and the OECD survey showing England was one of the worst performing countries when it comes to literacy and numeracy in young adults. It’s all very well saying that the curriculum demands wide reading but without libraries and without librarians it’s just not going to happen.
It’s the usual endorsement without enforcement. With funding cuts imminent, schools have to make difficult choices. And this kind of waffle does not help. But well done for keeping up the pressure.