British teenagers have ranked 9th in the world for their literacy skills, with Micheal Gove and his 2010 educational policies being lauded for aiding this development. However, 1/4 of primary school aged children will leave Year 6 without the necessary reading requirements of their age group - leaving them unprepared for secondary school. This begs the question, what has caused this disparity and how can we reverse it?
While responsible for a successful educational policy that has created an older generation of talented students, it falls flat in our current economic climate – an economic climate that Gove had a role in creating. Schools no longer have the materials needed and parents can no longer afford to support learning at home, and austerity is partially to blame.
The era of austerity has been characterised as a slash in government spending, removal of social security buffers and the weakening of public services – leaving low-income families far more vulnerable to the current cost of living crisis. Subsequent events such as Brexit, Covid and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have left disadvantaged communities constantly playing catch up with virtually no support. While Gove can try and hide the skeletons in his closet by parading around with these current education statistics – he cannot escape his role in austerity and its role in creating the modern cost of living crisis.
As poverty worsens and the cost-of-living crisis continues to apply pressure onto family life, certain ‘luxuries’, such as books are pushed to the side to make room for survival. 1 in 3 financially struggling parents have cut down on the number of books they are buying for their children, and 1 in 4 primary schools in disadvantaged areas do not have libraries. This leaves no space for children to learn how to read, but also no space to enjoy it.
Perhaps Gove’s voting record and his nearly 100% support of austerity measures has been his undoing – and his ‘successful’ education policy will continue to falter as the cost-of-living crisis worsens.
It would be easy to completely place the blame on the Conservative Party and their policies of austerity. However, there is quite clearly a cultural factor to the ongoing literacy crisis. Children are not only struggling to read, but they do not want too either. Only 1 in 3 children aged 8 to 18 enjoy reading as a hobby, marking a 36 percent drop from 2005, and technology is at the forefront of this drastic change.
Ofcom suggests that children aged 8-14 spend nearly 3 hours daily across multiple different social media platforms – leaving very little room for reading. While political issues with educational policy and spending have certainly played a major role in creating a literacy crisis, what happens in the home has exacerbated matters.
We need to be investigating the two realms that impact educational outcomes the most: the private sphere and the public sphere.
The government need to do better to lift the financial burden off families and schools. Funding for primary schools fell by 10% between 2010-11 and 2018-19, only recently returning to normal levels. While this is moving in a good direction, this funding needs to be allocated to schools, especially those in disadvantaged areas, so they can have dedicated budgets for reading and literacy. Children should have free, equitable, and extensive access to books to support their reading – this is a governmental responsibility.
What is not a governmental responsibility, however, is placing limits on children’s screen time. It is the responsibility of parents to ensure their children are getting a good balance between time spent on technology and time spent reading. While the government should legislate on issues such as online safety and regulation, they should not be responsible for doing parents jobs for them.
I want the next generation of children to feel the excitement of the Scholastic book fair; I want them to feel the intrigue involved in starting a new book and I want them to feel the anticipation of flicking through the last few pages. Children are being robbed of what makes childhood so special: imagination and creativity, and it is up to the government and parents to ensure that the magic survives and continues to shape young minds.