An Open Letter from the Children’s Laureate Wales and Bardd Plant Cymru

On Monday 26 January, Nicola Davies, Children’s Laureate Wales and Siôn Tomos Owen, Bardd Plant Cymru published an open letter urging the current and upcoming government to take immediate action in response to the dramatic fall in literacy levels and reading for pleasure among children and young people.

There is a crisis happening in our schools. The life chances of young people in Wales are being stifled by an education system under intolerable pressures. The statistics tell the story. Educational attainment measured by PISA across all subjects is lower in Wales than in any other country in the UK, with a dramatic fall since 2018. At the root of this story is poor literacy with markedly larger declines for Welsh-language reading compared with English-language since 2020.

In spite of the wealth of evidence that reading for pleasure is a greater indicator of future academic success than socio-economic status, only 1 in 4 children aged 8-18 in Wales report enjoying reading. It is a shocking fact that libraries are mandatory in prisons, but not in schools; one in four schools in Wales doesn’t have any sort of library, let alone a librarian. Books should be visible, available and easily accessible and if they aren’t then children cannot and will not read.

None of this is news. Government are well aware of the needs, and have begun to tackle the problem. For example, the recent £8.2m of funding promised over the next 3 years for CAL:ON is a start. But still, schools struggle with ever tighter budgets and can’t find the funds for books or libraries, public libraries close and children’s reading is fading.

As the current Bardd Plant Cymru and Children’s Laureate Wales, part of our role is to champion the voices of children across Wales and help them explore who they are through reading and writing. We see first-hand the impact that books and writers can have on young minds.

We are not alone. As Laureates we are privileged to work alongside teachers, publishers and organisations devoted to improving the lives of young people in Wales through children’s engagement with reading and writing.

For example, Books Council of Wales runs the Schools Love Reading programme and the Tir na n-Og awards which this year will be fifty years old but is unable to fund its modest plans to provide a book pack of 50 books to every school in Wales. With almost 20% of children in Wales not owning a book at home it’s very clear that these books could make a crucial difference.

Llenyddiaeth Cymru | Literature Wales – which runs and funds national laureateships, including ours are key advocates for the value of writers visiting schools. In 2023, a pilot writer-in-residence initiative was hosted in Tonyrefail Community School with startling results. Not only did evaluation show children’s writing improved, but it showed positive impact on attendance, and attainment across the year group.

The National Literacy Trust works in south Wales and its Young Readers Programme has provided books for 6,300 primary school children in the last five years and created library spaces for 95 schools in Wales. But this only reaches a small proportion of the children and schools that need books and libraries.

Online initiatives like Darllen Co are a massive step forward for Welsh Language books in school as they are e-books that can be accessed from home on any device. These books are also by new (living!) authors, illustrated and about current trends and the digital element excites and encourages children to read – on a screen yes, but they are still reading.

Together these, and many other fantastic organisations, dedicated teachers, writers and librarians are already doing great work against enormous odds. But what they can do is continually hampered by budget cuts and piecemeal funding.

So, at the start of the National Year of Reading, we call on the current and upcoming government to truly invest in the future of our young people by:

• developing a national strategy for literacy in Welsh and English that is informed by research and the expertise of those working in the field in Wales and other bilingual countries, and stable, long-term funding to implement it;
• making libraries in schools mandatory – with appropriate funding for them to be stocked with books that excite and engage the children of Wales in both Welsh and English, and animated by writer visits.

In addition we invite everyone to help build a national culture of reading simply by being readers. As adults we can demonstrate the power of reading and writing and help to open the door for young people, to the delight, wonder, and learning waiting inside every book.

Yours faithfully,

Nicola Davies, Children’s Laureate Wales
& Siôn Tomos Owen, Bardd Plant Cymru

Signed in support by:

Mei Mac,
Menna Elfyn,
Ceri Wyn Jones,
Tudur Dylan Jones,
Ifor ap Glyn,
Eurig Salisbury,
Aneirin Karadog,
Anni Llŷn,
Casia Wiliam,
Nia Morais,
Alex Wharton,
Connor Allen,
Eloise Williams.