Save the Children has commissioned Professor James Law and Tom King, School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle University, to carry out  analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study. The paper produced features prominently in the Read On Get On (2) report, published 8th September 2014, which suggests there are strong links between poor literacy, low pay, unemployment in the UK.

In the run up to the General Election, lobby groups press hard to have their interests represented in the party manifestoes. With the 2015 General Election looming now is the time to line up the arguments and write the documents that will inform this process.

Save the Children, together with a number of different charities, are writing a document entitled “READING FOR A FAIRER FUTURE: A national mission to ensure all children are reading well by 11 by 2025: delivering the Read On, Get On campaign”. This draws together data from a variety of sources to make the case that parties need to be focusing on the attainment (and specifically oral language and literacy) of very young children in the early years if they are to get a grip on key policy issues flagged up by the UK’s performance in the PISA and other international league tables. Continue reading →