A Literacy Strategy We're Proud to Support

Here’s one undeniable and unavoidable fact, which every one of us who cares about a child’s reading journey, should be prepared to confront:

‘Today’s literacy journey is vastly different to that which it once was’.

And here’s another, which, if you’ve followed the mantra of Lexonik for a while, you’ll know all too well:

‘No-one should be limited because they can’t read’.

Combine the two, and you can imagine why my colleagues and I are so delighted to have had sight of the new National Literacy Trust strategy.

Released in detail in the last few weeks, the three-year plan very much acknowledges that we’re now in an altogether different landscape when it comes to tackling low levels of literacy.

Not before time, it’s a strategy which is openly preparing to consider how technology is changing what we interpret by ‘being literate’ and ‘engaging in reading’.

It’s a strategy which is taking into account the brutal truth about how poverty is rising and resulting in lower literacy rates, and honing in on the fact that the pandemic had an enormous bearing on early years engagement and on schooling across the age groups.

Having recently signed the NLT’s pledge, we are genuinely delighted with the strategic direction being proposed and are 100% intent on being a partner in their attempts to ‘empower’ individuals over the next three years.

This approach is completely aligned with our belief that transforming literacy is a ‘whole system’ scenario, which means looking at education in practice (in the classroom), in the home (aiding parents to be further enablers of their child’s development, in the community (preserving and enhancing our libraries and similar assets), in the workplace (ensuring leaders and employers understand the stigma around illiteracy and the role they can play), and even in the justice system too.

The strategy – which I encourage you to read in full by visiting the NLT’s website at Our Strategy | National Literacy Trust – majors on four fundamental points ways of empowering a population of would-be readers:

• By directly supporting literacy skills and building confidence
• By helping professionals increase the level of literacy provision
• By standing side by side with communities to tackle literacy inequality
• By influencing leadership and policy to create lasting change

Taking these all important intentions in turn, we can attest to their importance.

• We know from our classroom based work that when we take learning directly to children who have previously lived a world of compromised reading engagement and ability, their confidence soars. We see the smiles. We see them ‘high five’ our tutors at the manner in which they’ve been able to grasp concepts and techniques….and we see the confidence in their teachers soar in tandem with that triumph.
• We know that when we can bring interventions like Leap and Advance to our teacher audience, we are directly enabling them to better support their young people, and that the positivity and the commitment to a school-wide reading culture, is inevitable.
• We see time and again that where a community is supported in overcoming literacy challenges, everyone wins.
• We make no apology in always making a noise when we bang the drum and repeat the same message among leaders and influencers who we feel need to hear our mantra. We tell them, with absolute conviction ‘no one should be limited by an inability to read’.

So, from us here at Lexonik, it’s a huge A+ for the strategic direction, to the National Literacy Trust.

We’re with you.

We will champion this intent and every turn and very much hope that it bears the fruit that our population deserves.

No-one should be limited by an inability to read!

Sarah Ledger

CEO, Lexonik

**If you’d like to comment directly to Sarah and our team about the strategy, or you think you’ve got something pertinent to share with us on our podcast about this direction and how you’re already seeing the benefits of some of the key areas of focus, please get in touch.