Question reference: S6W-17719
- Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 4 May 2023
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Current status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 May 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will introduce to improve the reading skills of secondary school students.
Answer
The 2022 Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) data tells us that 79% of P7 pupils achieved the expected Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) level for reading by the end of primary school, which represents an increase of around 4 percentage points on the previous year. 2022 also saw increases in overall pass rates for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher English since the last exam year in 2019.
Education Scotland continues to support teachers’ understanding of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in the area of reading at national, regional and local levels. Their literacy networks, the National Literacy Network and the Literacy and English Curriculum Network, provide the forums to share effective literacy practice with local authorities and schools.
A National Response to Improving Literacy (NRIL) co-led by Education Scotland, Scottish Government and ADES, is underway to identify excellence as well as opportunities for improvement in literacy. The NRIL programme board consists of representatives from a range of stakeholder organisations including each of the six Regional Improvement Collaboratives and The Scottish Council of Deans of Education.
In addition, the Scottish Government also funds the Scottish Book Trust to deliver a range of programmes aimed at improving a young person’s literacy levels and encouraging a reading for pleasure culture in schools, at home and in the community.