Backlash against literacy 'hubs' announcement

The government has announced 26m investment in teaching reading and language skills, including the creation of a Centre of Excellence for Literacy Teaching and 35 literacy 'hubs' around the country, as well as further investment in phonics programmes.

The moves are part of the government's social mobility action plan Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential, published in December, which aims 'to help more children from disadvantaged backgrounds master the basics of reading in primary school'. Former Education Secretary Justine Greening said, "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." The government had previously announced a 12 million investment programme in a network of English Hubs, focused in the 'Northern Powerhouse', to further improve early language and literacy, but this is now extended across the country. However, Angela Rayner, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, said the additional 45m investment in child literacy "will do nothing" to reverse 2.7bn of funding cuts it says schools in England have faced since 2015, while educationalists and authors have called for the investment to be redirected to school and public libraries, already 'hubs' of literacy and best placed to encourage children in reading for pleasure, they said. Author Alan Gibbons tweeted: "Government closes getting on for 500 libraries, sacks a quarter of librarians, hands over libraries to volunteers, slashes book funds, cuts opening hours and takes the public library service to the brink, then announces 'hubs." As part of a 26m investment, the new 'Centre of Excellence for Literacy Teaching' will be responsible for setting up a national network of 35 English Hubs across the country 'to work with schools in challenging circumstances and help raise standards'. The centre will also 'promote and share effective practice', focusing on reception language and literacy teaching, which the government has already done with its Maths Hubs high performing schools which share their knowledge with other schools locally. From April, new phonics and reading partnerships will be set up to develop teaching improvements and to encourage more children to read for pleasure. There will also be another 20 phonics and reading roadshows run across the country with a specific focus on reception teaching. 5.7m has also been set aside through the Strategic School Improvement Fund for initiatives that boost literacy and numeracy skills in early years and primary education in 469 schools around the country. Organisations will also be able to bid for the contract to launch a 5 million fund to trial approaches across the North of England that will help parents and carers to support early language development at home.