Viv Bird on International Literacy Day

One in five adults - around 793 million people - lack basic literacy skills

Today is International Literacy Day. Since 1965, when it was first proclaimed by UNESCO, September 8 has been celebrated around the world as a spotlight on the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. According to UNESCO, as many as one in five adults - around 793 million people - lack basic literacy skills, barring them from education, keeping them in poverty and reinforcing inequality. While this might seem like a problem for developing nations, the effort to improve literacy levels is a very real issue for us closer to home. Recent research by the National Literacy Trust has highlighted that one in three children nationally stated that they did not own a book and that children with no books were two-and-a-half times more likely to fall below the expected reading level for their age.

When we read, we map and make sense of the world, which is an enriching and liberating experience.

The message I would like to deliver on International Literacy Day is that if we want long term economic prosperity, we need to invest in our young people and give them a myriad of opportuntiies to access books as the tools for learning and wonder. When we read, we map and make sense of the world, which is an enriching and liberating experience. For children especially, stories unlock the secret life of the imagination, encourage them to question, to think creatively and become better communicators and literacy learners. As a teacher quoted in the recent All Party Parliamentary Group for Education's Report of the Inquiry into Overcoming Barriers to Literacy stated:

'The biggest difference between those who can read and write and those who find it a challenge is that those who can have been shown how much fun it can be by parents and other significant adults. Schools need to continue conveying that message - reading for pleasure, information and writing for interesting purposes.'

The importance of parental engagement and early education on children's potential to achieve is both significant and incontestable; later child outcomes can be predicted as early as two-years-old and parenting style and the home environment are influential factors in the gap between high and low achievers in literacy. Parents are a child's first educators and sharing stories with children needs to start early. The Millennium Cohort Study (2010) has tracked nearly 15,000 children born in 2000 and 2001 from birth to five, and found that children who are read to every day at three are likely to be flourishing in a wide range of subjects (including literacy) by the age of five. The Progress in International Reading Study (2007) found that a child who likes reading and reads frequently during their leisure time is the biggest single indicator affecting school performance.

Booktrust leads the way in giving every child access to books

Booktrust leads the way in giving every child access to books though its bookgifting programmes and support for school and public libraries. This is made possible by a unique public private partnership involving the support of children's publishers, central and local government and health trusts. Bookstart, our bookgifting programme for babies and toddlers, is managed and coordinated by local authorities - mostly library services - who liaise with partners in health and local organisations. They help us to reach vulnerable families who are less likely to use the public library service, to ensure that no child misses out from the gift of books and parental guidance about the importance of early communication, literacy and book sharing. The report on Overcoming Barriers to Literacy referenced above also recommended that:

'There should be a focus on parental support and early intervention by funding wider programmes to ensure that parents read with their children and have access to books,' explicitly stating that 'initiatives such as Sure Start Centres and Bookstart should be guaranteed funding over a period of time.'

Booktrust recognises that some children, for all sorts of reasons, need extra help on their reading journey. Last night I was at an event at Westminster where Booktrust officially launched the evaluation of Letterbox Club Green with, amongst others, Dame Jacqueline Wilson and Edward Timpson MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Looked After Children. Letterbox Green is an extension of the Letterbox Club, a unique programme established in 2007 by Booktrust, which delivers parcels of reading materials, maths resources and stationery every month for six months to children in public care aged between 7 and 11. The impressive improvement in the reading levels of children aged between 11 and 13 taking part in the pilot, demonstrates the positive impacts of the programme for an older age group, along with positive interactions around the packs between the children and their foster families.

Letterbox Green, like all of the Letterbox Club groups, was established by Booktrust to help close the gap between mainstream attainment levels and those of children in care, which is known to widen as children get older: many children in care fall further behind. Letterbox Green was developed - in partnership with the University of Leicester - thanks to a grant by the Siobhan Dowd Trust for a pilot involving 60 children in 2010; its success has led to Booktrust securing local funding which has enabled us to support over 900 children this year. We have ambitions to reach over 2,000 11-13 year olds in foster care by 2012.

On this day as we think about the literacy challenge across the world, it seems like an opportune time to celebrate programmes such as the Letterbox Club, and the fact that Bookstart's success has led to the programme being adopted in 26 countries across the world, including affiliated schemes in Europe, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Columbia. In the UK alone since the small pilot of Bookstart in Birmingham in 1992, we have gifted 40 million books to children and families. Every one of these represents an opportunity to engage children in the pleasure of reading.

Viv Bird, Chief Executive