Written question asked by Henry Smith (Conservative) on Monday, 1 November 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 3 November 2010. It was answered by Nick Gibb (Conservative) on Monday, 22 November 2010 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Teaching Methods

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to improve the (a) literacy and (b) numeracy of the lowest achieving five per cent. of children aged between six and seven years; and what plans his Department has for the future of (i) Every Child a Reader and (ii) Every Child Counts programmes.

Answer: The Government are committed to raising standards of literacy and numeracy in schools, in order to equip every child with the basic skills they need to succeed throughout their education and later in life.We will therefore be strengthening the use of systematic synthetic phonics in teaching children to read. This will be backed up by a new age six reading test, which will allow teachers to identify and help those children who are struggling.For those children that fall behind in literacy and numeracy, the Government have committed to fund the Every Child suite with £89 million for 2010-11. We are currently working through proposals for intervention programmes beyond 2011 and will set out these proposals in the forthcoming Schools White Paper.

Secondary information