Let children read for enjoyment, say children's authors

A letter to the Guardian from former Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen, and children's authors including Meg Rosoff, former Booktrust online writer in residence Bali Rai, Philip Ardagh and Alan Gibbons, calls on the government to scrap plans for reading tests. These tests, they argue, pose a threat to a child's reading for enjoyment, something close to the heart of Booktrust's work.

You can read the full letter and see all 91 signees here

We are writers and artists who produce books for children. In our view, the proposed draft primary English curriculum, the phonics screening check at the end of year 1, and the new spelling, punctuation and grammar test at the end of year 6 pose a threat to reading for pleasure in primary schools.

The recent Ofsted report Moving English Forward made a specific recommendation to the government that it call on all schools to develop policies on reading for enjoyment. To date, there has been no such move by government. On the other hand, millions are being spent on systematic synthetic phonics programmes and training, subsidised by the government, although there is no evidence that such programmes help children understand what they are reading.

 As a result, more school time will be devoted to reading as an academic, test-driven exercise; less time will be available for reading and writing for enjoyment. We deplore this state of affairs and consider that the quality of children's school lives is about to be altered for the worse.

 We call on the government to implement the Ofsted recommendation on reading for pleasure, to withdraw the phonics screening check and the spelling, punctuation and grammar test, and to reinstate mixed methods of initial reading methods (which include "basic phonics" and real books).

 Michael and Bali both recently spoke at our joint Reading for Enjoyment summit with National Literacy Trust and The Reading Agency, which you can read more about here