Hansard

The best way in which to cultivate literacy is to encourage reading and a love of books. For example, in both primary and secondary sectors, time must be dedicated each day to private reading, ranging from 10 to 60 minutes depending on the pupil's age. Alongside that, we must promote a culture of reading and each child should always have the book that they are reading in their school bag or close by them. Built into the curriculum should be opportunities for people to talk about reading. The five-to-14 assessment's emphasis on talk encouraged that, as does the talk element of standard grade English and the group discussion element in intermediate English.

The key is to normalise reading, as it will not be the custom in every home. Children who do not read at home have a much poorer chance of engaging with the curriculum and achieving successful outcomes. That could be done alongside reading initiatives such as DEAR—drop everything and read. A bell could ring in the school once a day or once a week and everyone—from the janitor to the head, wherever they were and whatever subject they were studying—would have to take out a book and read until the bell rang again. That reading spell could last as long as the school saw fit. It is also important that children see adults reading for pleasure.

Reading assessments are important. Regardless of the level they are at, children must be assessed according to nationally standardised criteria, with feeder primary schools sharing assessed work with secondary schools and vice versa. That used to be the norm, but it is not done nearly enough these days. It is important that primaries and secondaries understand assessment criteria in the same way. If we do not all assess in the same way, with the same application of national criteria, the transition to secondary can be difficult and there may appear to be slippage when there is none. Indeed, that is why there are many difficulties with the transition between primary 7 and the first year of secondary school in a number of cases.

Once a child's stage of development is understood, teachers can set individually agreed long-term and short-term targets for that child with the parents involved as much as possible. A role should be found for parents in overseeing progress towards those targets. When that is not possible, teaching staff could be assigned a tutor group of pupils. A child's progress towards achieving his or her targets should be monitored, and they must be realistic for the child; otherwise, they will not be achieved despite the child's best efforts, and the child could even be discouraged. Literacy evenings in schools encourage parents and pupils to discuss how they can ensure that a culture of reading is developed at home, and local writers could be invited to such events.

The school library must be used across the curriculum in secondary schools, not just in the English department, although that is where it clearly plays a key role. There is no subject in which a library does not have an important role to play, and every school should have a qualified librarian. Primary schools in a cluster could share one between them if they were not large enough to justify their own librarian. Of course, the number of school librarians was reduced under Labour and the Lib Dems. I believe that local government should be encouraged to restore school librarians where they have been removed.

Encouraging children and their parents to join their local library is also important. Reading could be set as a piece of homework to be completed with a parent, even when parents do not value education—a situation that itself must be addressed. As other members have said, there is an issue about generation after generation being in the situation of functional illiteracy.

Reading is important for instilling civic responsibility, too. For example, there could be a readathon, and children could be sponsored to raise money for a charity by having, say, five class hours over a week to read at home. They could be sponsored by the hour, by the book or at a flat rate, and the whole class could gather a sum for an agreed charity. Illiteracy can be solved with imagination.

The findings of the literacy commission must act as a stark reminder of the problems that we face. Only yesterday, at the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee, we were advised by a witness that, astonishingly, trainee journalists at Cardonald College in Glasgow often have to be given remedial classes in basic spelling, punctuation and grammar. That is unbelievable.

Shocking figures in the commission's report reveal that 18.5 per cent of Scots children leave primary education functionally illiterate and that 1 million Scots have literacy problems. The Scottish Government recognises the report's recommendations, such as the creation of literacy plans by local authorities, and is already working actively to promote literacy and numeracy.

We whole-heartedly agree with the call for a sustained commitment to tackling illiteracy at all levels. The curriculum for excellence has three action points in relation to that. First, as a fundamental principle, the focus on literacy and numeracy should be increased and embedded throughout all learning and teaching. Secondly, all teachers—rather than just English and mathematics teachers—will be responsible for improving literacy and numeracy. Despite what Liz Smith said, I do not believe that that was previously a fundamental principle in all subject areas. The Scottish Government is introducing a national literacy qualification, which all children in secondary 3 will take.

The proposals have been heralded by many education experts, including Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education, which stated that the

"Curriculum for Excellence proposes to address literacy and numeracy directly, emphasising the need to develop these fundamental skills across the curriculum and to provide formal recognition of progress up to the end of every young person's school career."

The Scottish Government contributes £500,000 a year to the positive behaviour team, a nurture group working alongside local authorities and schools to provide training and support to improve educational approaches and attitudes towards learning. The Scottish survey of achievement will, biennially, measure performance on literacy using a representative sample of pupils from primaries 3, 5 and 7 and secondary 2. At present, the survey is conducted only every four years, but the information will be used for action on illiteracy.

Illiteracy is not confined to the classroom. As other members have pointed out, many adults have difficulties. Last September, the Scottish Government published "Progress in Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland", which sets out goals and directions to improve adult literacy. Central to that is the Scottish Government's learning connections adult literacy team, which provides support and funding in a variety of forms. For example, learning connections funds the big plus campaign to encourage improvements in people's reading, writing and numeracy by their taking up some of the free help available throughout the country.

The community learning and development initiative also plays a pivotal role in combating adult illiteracy. The partnerships in each local authority, comprising representatives from councils, colleges, third sector organisations, Jobcentre Plus and trade unions, help to deliver adult literacy and numeracy. The Scottish Government is investing a further £4 million in the initiative over the next two years to improve skills and boost the community learning and development workforce.

I welcome the work and commitment of the Scottish Government, and parliamentarians from across the political spectrum, in attempting to eradicate the problem of illiteracy in Scotland.