Three-year strategy to improve nation's literacy

The National Literacy Trust has launched its new three-year strategy to help more people with improving their literacy skills, which includes supporting teachers and early years practitioners.

The strategy acknowledges new and nuanced challenges in tackling low levels of literacy and presents solutions to meet these changing demands.

It outlines four ways from 2024-2027 in which we will work to empower people with the literacy skills they need to succeed in life.

This includes bringing information and support directly to the people who need it the most. Examples include tips for a new parent on talking to their baby or working with schools to bring a teenager who finds reading boring a selection of free books and working with the criminal justice system to help adults without literacy skills.

They will also support professionals such as early years practitioners, teachers, librarians and tutors to offer  evidence-based approaches, training, free resources.

The National Literacy Trust will also work with communities to tackle literacy inequality. By 2027, 20 Literacy Hubs will be established in the places with the worst experiences of literacy and poverty in the UK. Local teams working in partnership with these communities will bring together businesses, education, community groups, health and cultural organisations to improve local literacy levels.

The Trust will also work to ensure literacy is a priority for national and local government policy that determines how education is delivered. 

Three aspects in the strategy have been identified in the strategy which would have the biggest impact on delivering our vision for a more equal society driven by literacy.

This includes ensuring every child starts school with language and communication skills ready to grow and learn at school, ensuring every young person, wherever they grow up, leaves school with literacy skills for life, and ensuring everyone leaving the criminal justice system has improved literacy skills to help them thrive.

CEO Jonathan Douglas said: "Technology is changing what it means to be literate. Long periods out of school during the pandemic and the closure of many early years settings has had a serious impact on the early speech, language and communication development of babies and toddlers from disadvantaged communities. Child poverty is rising at the fastest rate in a decade, and we know that child poverty leads to low literacy.

"Partnerships are critical to the way we make change happen and all of our partners' support for the work we do is needed now more than ever."