 The literacy hourStephen Machin and Sandra McNally Journal of Public Economics, 2008, vol. 92, issue 5-6, 1441-1462 Abstract: In countries like the UK and the US, a significant and challenging problem facing educators is how to ensure that future generations do not suffer from the severe basic skills problems that currently hinder a sizeable group of adults. We look at a primary school programme introduced into English schools, the literacy hour, to work out whether changing the structure and content of teaching can enhance literacy skills, thus acting as a tool to alleviate problems of low literacy. Our results point to a significant impact of the literacy hour with there being around a 2-3 percentage point improvement in the reading and English skills of primary school children affected by the introduction of the policy. The literacy hour fares well when compared to other policies in terms of cost effectiveness. These findings are of strong significance when placed into the wider education debate about what works best in schools for improving pupil performance. The evidence reported here suggests that public policy aimed at changing the content and structure of teaching can significantly raise pupil achievement. The literacy hour therefore has practical implications for raising literacy standards in many countries. Date: 2008 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:92:y:2008:i:5-6:p:1441-1462 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Public Economics is currently edited by R. Boadway and J. Poterba More articles in Journal of Public Economics from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.