Over the past few years in Parliament, I have highlighted the impact that a disadvantaged background can have on a child’s chances of success at school and therefore of success later on in life. This phenomenon – that disadvantaged children tend to do less well – is known as the attainment gap, and it is a stubbornly persistent feature of the British education system. It means that the circumstances of your birth, do, to some extent, determine where you’re likely to end up in adulthood.
This is not to say however, that that message has gone unheeded. This Government has done huge amounts in an attempt to raise standards for all children, but particularly the poorest. For example – this year, we introduced a new and improved curriculum which will better challenge pupils, and ensure that they’re equipped with the necessary tools to go on to further learning later on. We introduced the Pupil Premium, additional funding attached to the most disadvantaged children and worth £2.5billion this year. This crucial extra support, targeted at the poorest children creates enormous potential for schools to help those children catch up.
This week, a coalition of organisations including charities, literacy experts, businesses and media have launched a new campaign – Read On. Get On.– with the goal to get all children reading well by the end of primary school, by 2025. This laudable goal reflects the level of ambition that this government has set for our nation’s children. The campaign reports that currently in the UK, 1 in 4 children leave primary school without achieving an adequate standard in reading, and among the poorest children that rises to 40%. That figure is far too many and it is right to call on not only government, but teachers, parents, grandparents and communities to take action to improve it.
Whilst reading isn’t everything it is clear that it is foundational – the crucial first step on the path to further learning. And by taking a broad approach, calling for all children to be reading well, we disproportionately benefit the poorest who are the most likely to be falling behind.
In the chamber recently, the Minister for Schools Reform, Nick Gibb, said that “reading is the most important issue in education”. Given the undeniable impact that reading has on so many outcomes, from in-school attainment to employment prospects to health, not to mention the impact our economic prospects on the global stage, I think we can go further – getting all children reading well is one of the most important issues for our communities and our country.