A major international education study delivers a surprising finding: primary school pupils in England are doing well in literacy. 

While many other developed nations experience long-term declines in literacy, something is going right in England. 

Amid the country’s economic, political and social challenges, it’s vital we understand and learn from England’s sustained high score in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls).

What’s more, the latest score of 558 places England well above international and European averages.

We should not only understand the reasons behind this success but also examine where other nations have struggled.

So, what did England do that other nations didn’t?

It’s not just about policy that is supported by strong evidence and analysis, but effectively implementing it - something that can only be achieved by dedicated teachers and other educators on the ground.

For the last decade, high-quality reading schemes and “hub schools” offering focussed professional development and support have helped ensure that evidence-based policy reached individual children and localities nationwide. 

In national school systems as large, diverse and complex as England’s, improvements are typically slow and patchy - and we see that both here and around the world.

But in literacy, English schools - especially frontline teachers - reduced attainment gaps and significantly improved our international standing, moving from joint eighth to fourth place in the international rankings.

Mixed messages about what works in reading and maths still rattle around the system. The hit American podcast, Sold a Story, shows what can go wrong when ideology displaces evidence in critical areas like phonics.

Keep on improving

We must not stop here. We need to ensure gains in primary are sustained in secondary education.

But we can see what works and continue to implement effective approaches with high fidelity and focus.

This brings vital stability and assurance to the hard work of teachers - particularly as they support young children adversely affected by the pandemic. 

Let’s not forget literacy and thought are intimately connected; using language with precision also allows precision in thinking.

A wide vocabulary means better understanding as well as richer cultural life. With this, we see better individual life outcomes as well as improved society. Early literacy means so much for each person and for us all; and we are doing the right things in both policy and practice.

Schools and teachers deserve our congratulations. Policymakers in other fields would do well to look at the quiet success of literacy in England’s primary schools. 

Tim Oates CBE is group director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge University Press and Assessment