Education journalist Mike Baker explains the Government’s latest attempt to crack underachievement in primary in the 3Rs. After 200 years in the education spotlight, reading, writing and numeracy remain at the very core of our primary education. Ministers are now set on 90% of 11-year-olds achieving the expected level or higher in English and maths, although standards in the '3 R's' have plateaued over the last few years. In 2008, results from a three-year pilot programme monitored by the Institute of Education, showed pupils struggling to read made spectacular improvements on the Every Child a Reader scheme. On average, the children boosted their reading age by nearly two years in four or five months. The principle of intervening early has now been rolled out to writing and maths with Government support for Every Child a Writer and Every Child Counts. So how is this all going to work?

Video Series: Need To Know
Release Date 2008