Brian Creese

Today is International Literacy Day. On this day we celebrate the role that literacy plays in our lives. We also reflect on what literacy means to us all, individually, locally, nationally and globally.
There is a marked increase in interest among policy makers about literacy, much of it driven by the OECD’s PIAAC study. Its league tables, ranking countries by the literacy and numeracy proficiency of their working age populations, have attracted welcome policy attention. However, a focus on comparative proficiency levels has limited value. All of the countries involved have uncomfortably large populations of adults with literacy and numeracy skills at or below Level 1. From PIAAC we also know that the make-up of the ‘low-skilled’ population is different in each country – and that provides a more fruitful focus for our attention.
This year UNESCO has a focus on what literacy means in the 21^st century. At NRDC we have been engaged with others in the UK and internationally to try and understand both the supply of literacy and numeracy skills among the population, but also the demands placed on their literacy and numeracy skills: in the workplace, at home and in the many other settings in which people engage with an increasingly textual world.
The driving force for policymakers in England is the belief that good literacy is required to improve productivity among the workforce. The IOE’s National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC) has been working with Ipsos Mori on a study for the Department for Business Innovation and Skills of the impact of English and maths on English employers.
The use of literacy and numeracy skills in the workplace is complex; different jobs, and the various elements within them, involve a range of literacy and numeracy practices, with workers often learning the specific skills they need for their job from peers and co-workers. Employees consistently report that they have adequate skills to do their jobs. What we see in the workplace is that we often work with others in ways that maximize our strengths and allow us to learn from them. We also see how workplaces can be adapted to remove the demand for literacy and numeracy or to scaffold its use.
Despite the policy focus on the workplace, we have continued to work with emergent adult readers on reading for pleasure. Those less confident with their reading may get great joy from reading novels, biographies or other texts in supportive, collaborative environments. They use adult experience and expertise to develop reading confidence, skills and practices gradually and communally – and in doing so are more able to tackle some of life’s other challenges, such as job interviews or finding better heating deals.
If we think about literacy in 2014 we need to consider mobile communications. People who never read a book and may see themselves as non-readers, may happily tap away at a smart-phone or tablet. We have looked at how learners ‘doing’ literacy work on a computer may see it as IT (‘I’m good at that’ ) as opposed to literacy ‘I’m not good at that’. Is reading a page of a book the same as a newspaper as a screen on a PC or screen on a smart phone? And if not, is digital literacy a new form of literacy, or literacy in a new form?
And finally, it’s worth remembering that the NRDC has long been at the avant-garde of Europe’s thinking about adult literacy, and today more than ever, with its leadership role in the new EC-funded European literacy policy network ELINET, is cementing its place as a hub for the sharing of ideas and information with colleagues across Europe. We are not alone in struggling with these problems and the only intelligent way forward is to work with like-minded organisations across the continent and, increasingly, the world.
The underlying idea of International Literacy Day is that the acquisition of literacy is a human right. We would certainly agree with that, and suggest that an important stage on the road to such a noble goal is to increase our understanding of what literacy actually means and involves in the 21^st century.
 

Julia Douetil

‘Literacy is much more than an educational priority – it is the ultimate investment in the future …. We wish to see a century where every child is able to read and to use this skill to gain autonomy.’    

Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General

UNESCO has designated September 8 as International Literacy Day. Created in 1945 to mobilise for education as a human right, build intercultural understanding and pursue scientific cooperation, here is what UNESCO has to say about literacy:

‘Literacy is a human right, a tool of personal empowerment and a means for social and human development. Educational opportunities depend on literacy.
‘Literacy is at the heart of basic education for all, and essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy. There are good reasons why literacy is at the core of Education for All (EFA).
‘A good quality basic education equips pupils with literacy skills for life and further learning; literate parents are more likely to send their children to school; literate people are better able to access continuing educational opportunities; and literate societies are better geared to meet pressing development.’ 

It is a timely reminder, as we start our new school year and thousands of young children embark on the journey of adventure that is learning to read and write, that literacy is so much more than decoding, comprehending, spelling, grammar and composition. Literacy is about thinking and learning in ways that change the way a person understands and engages with the world. It is about ideas, inspiration, emotion and discovery. It is about taking responding and wondering, challenging and being challenged. And as such, it is essential that every child in our schools is given whatever help it takes for them to be successful. Our government has rightly placed literacy, and success in literacy for those children most at risk of failing, at the top of the agenda for our schools.
Learning to be literate is too important to allow it to become a confusing battleground of ideologies, as adults fight to establish their preferred method as the only way to teach children to read. As Dorothy Morrison, of Ohio State University, put it:

‘The key is to be concerned more with the child than with the program…. No program should be included or thrown out at the expense of another. The key is to monitor the progress of each child to see what works and to be flexible enough to switch quickly if one approach is not working.’

For more than 20 years schools in England have ensured that all their children would be successful readers and writers by age six through Reading Recovery.  Reading Recovery teachers start from the individual child, identifying precisely what they know and how they think about and engage with reading and writing, and design a programme specifically for that child. The evidence is now compelling that these children continue to achieve at good and average levels of literacy to at least age 11, and most likely well beyond into senior school.
Yet there are still those who balk at the cost of providing a child with a highly qualified teacher, for a short intervention of one-to-one lessons, as an alternative to allowing them to fail.
Now that we know almost all children can catch up with their peers within six months, and go through their school life as good readers and writers, if we say that the intervention to achieve this is too expensive, we are saying that some children are only entitled to a low budget education which does not include literacy. Who would want that for their child?