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Less than 50% of Australian children in their first year at secondary school can identify adjectives and verbs, according to reports. The poor literacy standards are blamed on primary schools' failure to teach grammar as part of their curriculum.

The improvement in reading scores for 11 year-olds between 1996 and 2000 is misleading, since many children have been credited with reaching a level which their abilities do not deserve. It is argued that success should be achieved by creating self-esteem and confidence among pupils by offering inspiring, motivating and exciting lessons, not be achieving easily measurable targets set by the government.

National test results that apparently showed a marked improvement in the English achievements of 11-year-olds between 1996 and 2000 came about largely because the standard of the reading test was reduced, according to the results of a three-year study commissioned by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. The study found that while the proportion of students achieving expected levels of competency rose to 75% in 2000, vs 575 in 1996, the correct figure for 2000 should have been 65%.

Some 74% of headteachers believe that the speaking and listening skills of children entering nursery at the age of three have deteriorated over a five-year period, according to a survey by the National Association of Head Teachers and the National Literacy Trust. More than half of heads want parents to be encouraged to talk and listen to children and to teach them rhymes. Based on the figures, the National Literacy Trust plans to launch its 'Talk to your baby' campaign to promote early language development.

Although the National Literacy Strategy looked negatively upon reading out loud, the author believes that it is one of the best tools for teaching writing and reading. Listening to reading, and reading out loud, are the most natural ways of picking up linguistic rhythms and patterns.

Less than 4% of primary schools in England have made progress each year under the National Literacy Strategy, according to analysis of 300 representative schools being tracked by Ofsted. Over 285 of the schools have had one year where English standards have stalled or fallen. Progress in maths is not much better, with around 4.5% of schools making progress each year. Chief Inspector David Bell said that an estimated 200,000 7 year olds are not reaching the expected standard in key stage 1 tests.

The UK Labour party is clearly seeking to establish a broad-based consensus in education policy with the preliminary report from its Literacy Task Force, entitled 'A Reading Revolution: How We Can Teach Every Child to Read Well.' The Literacy Task Force is focusing on teacher training, thus echoing the national curriculum for student teachers developed by the Teacher Training Agency, and its work is generally to be welcomed. However, it must be remembered that it is hard to combine academic and political priorities.