Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Philip Hollobone (Conservative). It was answered on Monday, 17 December 2007 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

International Comparisons

Question: The English language is this country's greatest export, but our decline down the international league tables for literacy shows that hundreds of millions of children around the world are learning to read and write English better than children in our own country. Is that not a source of national shame? What is the Minister going to do about it?

Answer: Naturally, we are doing a number of things to improve literacy standards in this country, but it is simply wrong to suggest that they are falling; they are continuing to improve. It is great that other countries are improving their literacy standards too, and as I said, more of them are entering the comparative studies. It has been said that one of the studies of literacy should not be used for comparative purposes because the sample was too small, and the basis of most of this country's fall in the other was the fact that higher attaining readers are not spending enough time reading, and are being too distracted by computer games. Society as a whole needs to tackle that together.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 469 c577-8
Session: 2007-08
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Education Standards Literacy Curriculum Primary education Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Science Numeracy Programme for International Student Assessment
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk