Slides for a Kingston University Masterclass session on 'Building a Nation of Readers: The battle for Literacy in the UK', by CILIP CEO Nick Poole

1. Building a Nation of Readers
The Battle for Literacy in the UK
Nick Poole, CEO, CILIP
Kingston University, 24th October 2017
These slides online at http://www.slideshare.net/cilip

2. “The objects of the Institute shall be to
work for the benefit of the public to
promote education and knowledge through
the establishment and development of
libraries and information services and to
advance information science.”
CILIP Royal Charter 1898
CILIP Constitutional Documents (amended 2014)

4. We want to build a 'Nation of Readers' – a sustainable, thriving
ecosystem in which readers can read, researchers can research
(and publish) and students can learn.
In which libraries can lend and booksellers sell, publishers publish
and authors write. In which all of these things happen in an
equilibrium which ensures that everyone can afford to eat and
pay their mortgage.

5. Authors Agents Publishers Distributors Retailers Librarians
Readers,
researchers,
consumers
Teachers

6. Improving literacy creates readers, in turn driving social and
economic benefits for everyone

7. A presentation in 3 parts:
 Literacy Today
 The Battle for Literacy
 The Way Ahead

8. Part 1: Literacy today

9. “Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets
us communicate effectively and make sense of the world.”
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk

10. https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/developing-digital-literacies
Literacy in a digital age...

11. Source: OECD Report Building Skills for All: A Review of England
 In 2013/14, England was 23rd
out of 23 OECD Nations for
Teenage Literacy
 England is the only OECD
nation where literacy for 16-
24 year olds is lower than
55-65 year olds

12. Source: CILIP Literacy & Numeracy in Prison
 Approximately 30% of the
UK prison population fail
the Level 1 (Basic) literacy
test

13. Source: National Literacy Trust Mapping Literacy Need across the UK
 In 2016, National Literacy
Trust and Experian mapped
literacy across the UK
 86% of English
constituencies had at least 1
ward with low or extremely
low levels of literacy

14. 1. Source: US-based Reading in Prison initiative and report
2. Source: Royal College of General Practitioners report
 In the US two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th
Grade will end up in prison or on welfare
 60% of the US prison population can’t read & 85% of young people in juvenile
court can’t understand the verdict1
 In 2015, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) found that 43% of UK
adults couldn’t understand the information given to them by their GP, in a letter
from their hospital or inside a packet of tablets (including dosage)2

16. Literacy worldwide

17. Literacy worldwide

18. The better news...
Source: Source: Clark, G. (2008). A farewell to alms: a brief economic history of the world. Princeton University Press.

19. The better news...
Source: Source: Our World in Data – National Centre for Educational Standards (US figures)

20. The “Attainment Gap”
Source: House of Commons Education Selection Committee Report of Session 2014/15
 “White working class underachievement in
education is real and persistent. White children
who are eligible for free school meals are
consistently the lowest performing group in the
country, and the difference between their
educational performance and that of their less
deprived white peers is larger than for any
other ethnic group.
The gap exists at age five and widens as
children get older. This matters, not least
because the nature of the labour market in
England has changed and the consequences for
young people of low educational achievement
are now more dramatic than they may have
been in the past.”

21. The benefits of literacy
For individuals...
 Reading for pleasure builds
empathy, wellbeing &
understanding
 Increased earnings (lifetime)
 Improved attainment
 Improved health (36% of people
with low literacy experience
depressive symptoms – 20%
with reasonable literacy)
For society & economy...
 Low levels of literacy cost the
taxpayer £81bn p.a. (Reading
Agency)
 More literate nations tend to
have higher per-capita earnings
 Innovation & ‘knowledge
intensive’ industries
 Investment in literacy & skills is
up to 3 times as effective as
investment in capital,
equipment & infrastructure

22. The picture that emerges is one of serious inequality.
Children who are exposed to reading and literacy at an early age have a
fundamentally better shot at getting on in life than those who are not.

23. Part 2: The Battle for Literacy

24. 2016 was the best year on record for the
publishing industry...
 7% increase in overall sales (to £4.8bn)
 6% increase in export sales (to £2.6bn or
54% of total)
 6% increase in digital sales (despite 3%
drop in eBook sales)
 16% increase in children’s book sales
 Non-fiction up by 9%, fiction down by
7% (23% since 2012)
Source: Publishers Association Yearbook 2016

25. Challenging times for libraries...
 Since 2010, approximately 343 public
libraries have closed & 500 have been
handed over to communities to run.
 8,000 professional librarians have lost
their jobs (25% of the professional
workforce), replaced by 15,000
volunteers.
 In some areas book borrowing (issues)
has declined by up to 50%.
 250m visits to public libraries in England
in 2015/16 & 16-24 year olds the fastest-
growing group
BBC Public Libraries dataset 2016

26. Premier League Primary Stars

27. Businesses committing to promoting literacy

28. Read on, get on
A coalition of businesses, charities & organisations committed to getting all children reading
well by the age of 11 by 2025

29. The fall & rise of the Book
Group
 23% of UK workplaces have
a book group
 2.1% of all UK adults were a
member of a book group in
2016
 40% of book group
members admit to lying
about having read the
book...

30. The ‘celebrity author’ effect...
 The 2016 most-read books in the
Renaissance Learning What Kids are
Reading report were JK Rowling’s Harry
Potter and the Philosophers Stone and
Zoe Sugg’s Girl Online
Source: Renaissance Learning What Kids Are Reading Awards 2016

31. Developing “reader communities”
 The Kingston University/Kingston Public
Libraries initiative KU Big Read promotes
literacy and reading as a shared
experience across students, staff and
residents
Source: Kingston University KU Big Read website

32. It’s not just about whether people are reading, but what
they’re reading & why they’re reading it.

35. Representation & publishing
Source: Various, incl. publishers websites & The Bookseller
 In 2016, of the 000’s of books published, fewer
than 100 were from authors of a non-white
background
 Of the 100 Bestsellers of 2016, just one was by
a British writer from an ethnic minority
background
 Several major initiatives are seeking to change
this picture, including the Jhalak Prize for
Fiction and the Penguin Random House
WriteNow list

36. Winning the battle for equal access to literacy depends on authors
being able to write & publish fantastic, diverse books & readers being
able to find, buy and enjoy them

37. Making a living as an author
Source: Society of Authors
 Median earnings c. £12,500 per
annum (compared to national
average wage of £26,000) – below
the national minimum wage for full-
time jobs
 Despite spectacular performance by
publishers, median wages for authors
have declined by 29% in the last 10
years
 1 in 10 authors can earn a living from
writing
 Women earn 77% of the salary that
men earn for equivalent work

38. Part 3: The Way Ahead

39. Authors Agents Publishers Distributors Retailers Librarians
Readers,
researchers,
consumers
Teachers
Increasing the number of people
who can read and who choose to
read for pleasure or attainment is
good for all of us.
It’s good for the book business
and good for society at large.
That’s why we need to build a
Nation of Readers

40. Source: OECD Report Building Skills for All: A Review of England
 The highest-performing
nations for teenage (16-19)
literacy include Korea,
Japan, the Netherlands and
Finland

41. Learning from Finland
Source: IFLA Main factors behind the good PISA (Literacy) results in Finland, Pirjo Sinko
 Finland’s education system consistently outperforms other nations in world
rankings for educational attainment, literacy and numeracy
 Formal education begins at 7 years
 Pre-school development focuses on creative play, equality, communication and
the ‘joy of learning’
 Formal education avoids examinations (until 18), selection & ‘teaching to the
test’
 “Kindergarten in Finland doesn’t focus on preparing children for school
academically. Instead the main goal is to make sure that the children are happy
and responsible individuals.” – Pasi Sahlberg

42. A society where reading is prized
Source: IFLA Main factors behind the good PISA (Literacy) results in Finland, Pirjo Sinko
 Teachers are not left alone to promote literacy & reading for pleasure but have
considerably more autonomy to design teaching & learning in the classroom
 Libraries are amongst the most beloved (& well-funded) civic institutions
 Most homes in Finland subscribe to at least 1 newspaper
 Strong interest in literature as a means of sustaining the language & culture
 Foreign-language TV subtitled in Finnish – promoting reading for children
 Rich oral tradition & a contemporary culture of storytelling
 Strong emphasis on a broad definition of literacy to include finding & using
information as well as reading

43. We want to build a 'Nation of Readers' – a sustainable, thriving
ecosystem in which readers can read, researchers can research
(and publish) and students can learn.
In which libraries can lend and booksellers sell, publishers publish
and authors write. In which all of these things happen in an
equilibrium which ensures that everyone can afford to eat and
pay their mortgage.

44. 10 Priorities for the UK
1. We need to decide to become a highly-skilled, literate nation
2. Many of these issues are driven by consumer choice and the electorate – we ought not to
accept a public agenda that fails to deliver literacy for all
3. We have a world-class publishing sector, but the focus on the bottom-line constrains
innovation & diversity
4. We need to disrupt the publishing supply-chain, creating opportunities for more scalable
mass-distribution of works – democratising access to the means of distribution while
sustaining an industry which drives quality
5. We need to encourage diversification across the supply-chain, blurring the boundaries
between publishers, distributors, retailers and services

45. 10 Priorities for the UK
6. We need to bring forward policies which promote an education system that emphasises
outcomes and teacher autonomy over form-filling and standardised testing
7. We need proactively to tackle the under-representation of BAME and minority ethnic
groups in writing and publishing, including re-stating the value of the author at the heart of
book publishing, retail and distribution
8. We need to stop dismantling public and school libraries and instead focus on building
bridges between libraries, education & reading for pleasure
9. We need to correct the broken market between academic research and publishing,
ensuring that knowledge can be shared & built upon
10. Across the whole publishing supply chain, we need to focus on maximising every individuals
access to high-quality, diverse books (and e-books) which encourage discovery, reading,
empathy and the development of skills

46. Authors Agents Publishers Distributors Retailers Librarians
Readers,
researchers,
consumers
Teachers

47. Improving literacy creates readers, in turn driving social and
economic benefits for everyone

48. Thankyou!
These slides online at http://www.slideshare.net/cilip
Nick Poole, Chief Executive, CILIP
nick.poole@cilip.org.uk
@NickPoole1
@CILIPinfo