Phonics roadshows and English hubs are among a range of measures announced by the Government in a bid to improve child literacy.
The programmes will form part of the drive to tackle inequality and ensure “every child will get the best literacy teaching”, Education Secretary Justine Greening said.
The Department for Education said a £7.7 million curriculum fund will aim to encourage the development of high quality teaching resources, while it is hoped a £5.7 million investment will help boost literacy and numeracy skills in 469 schools around the country.
Thirty-five English hubs across the country will be set up by a new Centre of Excellence for Literacy Teaching, to focus on raising standards in schools, while language development at home will be the focus of a fund trialling approaches across the north of England.
The measures are part of the Government’s social mobility action plan Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential, which was published last month.
Ms Greening said: “School standards are rising with 1.9 million more children being taught in good or outstanding schools than in 2010. Our ambition is that no community will be left behind on education.
“Today’s literacy investment will help make sure that not just most, but every child arrives at school with the vocabulary levels they need to learn. And our investment will mean that once they are at school, every child will get the best literacy teaching.
“We’ve already seen what a difference our approach on phonics has made for children in England.”
Responding to the Department for Education statement on a £7.7 million curriculum fund, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said: “Once again this Government believes that these small initiatives are enough to reverse the damage they are doing to our schools.
“This funding will do nothing to change the fact that £2.7 billion has been cut from the budgets of England’s schools since 2015, and that teacher recruitment targets have been missed for the fifth year in a row.
“Until this Government gets the basics right, they will never be able to deliver the education that every child deserves.
“The next Labour government will reverse the Conservatives’ cuts to school funding, protect funding in real terms, and end the public sector pay cap to give our teachers the pay rise they deserve.”