Children's Laureate makes plea for more spending on books for schools
Michael Morpurgo, current Children's Laureate, has said in an article in today's Guardian newspaper that parents should fight for more cash to be spent on classroom books, in a campaign on the lines of Jamie Oliver's high-profile drive to improve school meals.
He goes on to say what many school librarians know - if there is a shortfall in school budgets it is almost always the book buying which will suffer.
Morpurgo, who has made story and storytelling the main focus of his two year Laureateship is quoted as saying "It's easy for people to see the benefits of good food and exercise. But the benefits of books are far less obvious. Governments like things they can measure and for which they can set targets to show they are doing their job properly, so education has become ever more focused on delivering an extremely narrow set of results.
"Along the way, books have become marginalised - mere educational tools - and everyone from teachers to pupils has lost some of the magic of reading.
"Of course, we have to ensure that everyone reaches the basic standards of reading and writing, but how are you going to achieve that without first giving children a sense of fascination and wonderment for books? That means putting books and storytelling at the heart of school life."
He goes on to say what many school librarians know - if there is a shortfall in school budgets it is almost always the book buying which will suffer.
Morpurgo, who has made story and storytelling the main focus of his two year Laureateship is quoted as saying "It's easy for people to see the benefits of good food and exercise. But the benefits of books are far less obvious. Governments like things they can measure and for which they can set targets to show they are doing their job properly, so education has become ever more focused on delivering an extremely narrow set of results.
"Along the way, books have become marginalised - mere educational tools - and everyone from teachers to pupils has lost some of the magic of reading.
"Of course, we have to ensure that everyone reaches the basic standards of reading and writing, but how are you going to achieve that without first giving children a sense of fascination and wonderment for books? That means putting books and storytelling at the heart of school life."
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