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Reading Recovery Programme

I am pleased to speak under your chairmanship, Mr. Bayley, during the closing part of this discussion. I congratulate the hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) on securing this debate. We have heard in some powerful contributions that we feel strongly about this issue on both sides of the House, and I applaud his consensual approach to the debate. It is important, because as the hon. Gentleman said, the point at which we learn to read can determine so much of the rest of our lives. A child’s vocabulary at five years old, and reading age at 10 years old, are pivotal. They are even more important than parental contribution, although the two go hand in hand. That is unsurprising, because if reading is not sound, accessing the remainder of the curriculum is a fundamental problem, and no one wants to see a waste of potential. That is why we are rightly concerned about literacy problems, and why I am concerned that one in five 11-year-olds does not achieve his or her expected reading age. The hon. Gentleman said that difficulty with reading varies. However, we should be concerned about all underachievement, because being unable to read properly early in life severely undermines our children’s chances of a secure future. That is important, given the correlation between low literacy and children living in poverty. The concept of reading recovery was introduced to the UK in 1992 under a previous Government, but it enjoyed cross-party support. Many other schemes have drawn on the expertise of the reading recovery approach, but the original approach is intensive. There are daily half-hour sessions in which highly trained teachers support six-year-olds who are usually in the bottom 20 per cent. of their class for reading. As with any reading scheme, reading recovery has its critics. Some question the cost, but research indicates that the scheme has a positive impact when used effectively in schools. The Institute of Education and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority have assessed its impact and they feel that it helps the weakest readers—those to whom the hon. Gentleman referred earlier. The published results are compelling. Seventy per cent. of those who were in the bottom 20 per cent. of their class at six years old and received reading recovery support had moved up to the average band four years later. That is testament to the scheme’s success. Few people doubt that reading recovery can help in the most difficult cases, but reading recovery is aimed at just that—recovering pupils who start to fail in the education system. The QCA believes that the main focus should be on catching children before they fail. I am interested in that view, because it has great merit. The hon. Gentleman discussed the city of Nottingham, where I attended school for a brief period and which I know quite well. All hon. Members owe it to the children in their constituencies to get right first time the teaching of reading. We must root out the underlying problems that create the need for reading recovery. The hon. Gentleman rightly said that the earlier we invest, the more we get it right. We should aim for prevention. That is why I shall concentrate on three areas on which I should welcome the Minister’s response. They are Sure Start, nurseries and synthetic phonics. An important element of the original Sure Start idea was to work with the most disadvantaged families to break the cycle of poverty that exists in all constituencies. In my constituency, there are two small areas of extreme deprivation. Unfortunately, because of their geography, they do not receive the support of a Sure Start programme; however, they receive lots of support from other organisations. We must consider how we can break the cycle of poverty in which people are trapped. Education is an important element, and staff at the successful Sure Start programmes that I have visited in different parts of the country think that literacy is pivotal. The Sure Start programme in Reading, which I visited recently, has developed a home reading support scheme for the youngest children. It includes rhyming tapes to help mothers who may not know the nursery rhymes that we knew as children. Rhymes can be an important first step in gaining the communication skills that lead to reading skills. The Reading programme has also developed a book library, so that children who may not have access to books in their home have the opportunity from the very earliest years to see how books can add to their lives. [Interruption.]