2013-05-25T14:37:10-04:00 Jonathan Douglas http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=jonathan-douglas Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Jonathan Douglas Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2675776 2013-02-13T05:35:52-05:00 2013-04-15T05:12:01-04:00

Jonathan Douglas http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-douglas/
The analysis of tests undertaken in 2009 has found that on average across OECD countries, disadvantaged students are twice as likely to be among the poorest performers in reading compared to better-off pupils.

However, the study shows there is nothing inevitable about this connection between social background and achievement. In Shanghai in China, South Korea, Canada, Japan, Finland and the Netherlands pupils can succeed regardless of their socio-economic background.

Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's Special Adviser on Education, says a long-term characteristic of the UK's education system has been social division, with a polarisation between the results of rich and poor pupils.

At the National Literacy Trust we know that a child's socio-economic status can impact on their chances of gaining literacy skills and succeeding at school and beyond. A child from a poor home is much more likely to suffer the effects of intergenerational literacy issues. Their parents may have low literacy themselves and lack the confidence to support their children's language development and reading. Even by the time they start school a child from a poor home has heard a quarter of the words heard by their better-off peers. Our research has found that children from poor homes are also less likely to have books of their own, desks or computers, and less likely to have visited a bookshop or a library.

Our work focuses on the country's most disadvantaged communities in order to support children who might otherwise struggle to gain the vital literacy skills they need. Our grassroots interventions give children books to keep and develop their reading and writing. We also help parents to support their children's reading and provide workshops to prepare struggling teenagers for the workplace. We work in partnership with hundreds of schools, providing the latest thinking and resources to ensure disadvantaged children have the same chance to gain literacy skills as other pupils.

Find out more about our campaign to support disadvantaged children and watch a short film of a little girl who became the first reader in her family narrated by Mariella Frostrup.

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Jonathan Douglas http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-douglas/
Clearly, we need to support more children to read in their own time if we are to address the impact it can have on their attainment. At the National Literacy Trust, we give disadvantaged children books of their own to keep for the first time, teach them how to choose reading materials and take them to their local libraries. Children taking part in our programmes attend inspirational storyteller events and book parties. These spark an interest in reading that can lead to these children becoming lifelong readers. We have also found that one of the best ways to encourage reluctant readers is to use popular culture. We draw on a range of cultural influences, from football, with our Premier League Reading Stars programme, to competitions with WWE wrestlers, to support struggling young readers and show them that books, magazines or blogs are relevant to their interests.

We also recognise that many parents need support, particularly those who are unconfident of their own literacy or have had difficult experiences of education. We campaign to raise parents' awareness of their role in developing a child's language and reading habits. We want all parents to talk with their child from birth, to read stories together and to act as reading role models and talk about their reading of books, magazines and news. Our grassroots projects provide workshops for parents and one-to-one support. Parents are encouraged to share books with their children and are introduced to fun learning activities that they can take part in with their child.

Initiatives like McDonald's Happy Readers campaign can also provide extremely effective ways to get books into the hands of families that otherwise might not buy them or search them out. The company has recently replaced the toy in its Happy Meals with a book until 13 February. With our research showing that only half of children really enjoy reading, McDonald's restaurant environment and its focus on families having fun together could encourage many parents and children to enjoy sharing books. Over the next two years it has committed to handing out at least 15 million fiction and non-fiction books to families across the UK.

The children we work with don't have the opportunities that most of us take for granted. For example, one eight-year-old girl we worked with, Mia, is growing up on a tough estate. Her parents are illiterate; there are no books at home or stories at bedtime. Her brothers left school unable to read or write and the eldest has recently been in prison. But Mia attended our storytelling events and chose books of her own to keep. Thanks to our support, she has become the first reader in her family. Watch her story, narrated by Mariella Frostrup.

Our charity receives no government funding and we need to raise £1million to work with 38,000 disadvantaged children and young people who need our support this year. Money raised could help us to provide books and storytelling events for children from low-income homes; workshops to help struggling teenagers prepare for the job market; and one-to-one support for parents who lack confidence with literacy.

Make a donation to help children like Mia. Just £7 could inspire a child to become a lifelong reader with a storyteller event and a book to keep.

Or if you live in the London area, you could take part in our Where's Wally? fundraising run on 24 March. Walk, run or jog 5K or 10K to help disadvantaged children. Find out more and sign up.]]>