Radio Times

Review by:

Jane Anderson

Learning to read is a seminal, vital and life-enriching experience, but the most recent research shows that English secondary school children — and I do mean English in this instance, not British — are less enthusiastic about reading than most of their European peers.

With this in mind, writer Michael Morpurgo — a parent, father, grandfather and former schoolteacher — sets out to look at the wider political debate about what is the “best way” to teach our children to read and combines this with individual experiences of the learning process.

At a time when all Year One children are preparing to have their reading skills assessed in a new phonics screening check, Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo, explains very clearly why she has real faith in the phonics system, while Nick Gibb MP, the Minister for Schools, quicksteps around the new screening check with political platitudes.

It’s obviously a subject that will affect the whole nation, not just parents of six-year-old children, and Morpurgo raises the vital question of which is more important: teaching kids to read quickly when they’re young, or helping to instil a love of literature that will last a lifetime.

About this programme

Part one of two. Former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo explores how the experience of learning to read has changed since the 1944 Butler Education Act. He begins by meeting Minister for Schools Nick Gibb, who has implemented a new initiative that will see first-year pupils in English primary schools sit a compulsory phonics screening check. Includes contributions by writers Philip Pullman, Michael Rosen, Julia Donaldson and Ruth Miskin.

Cast and crew

Cast

Presenter

Michael Morpurgo

Contributor

Nick Gibb

Contributor

Philip Pullman

Contributor

Michael Rosen

Contributor

Julia Donaldson

Contributor

Ruth Miskin

Crew

Producer

Beaty Rubens

Share this episode