The national literacy strategy: a critical review of empirical evidence

This article examines three areas that are of central importance to the pedagogy of the National Literacy Strategy Framework for Teaching (FFT) at primary level: inspection evidence; school effectiveness (SE) research; and child development evidence. Analysis of national inspection reports on the teaching of English illustrates that these cannot be used as a reliable source of evidence. A focus on the claims made in support of an objective‐based framework in SE research shows that there is very little evidence to support the particular use of objectives in the FFT. A synthesis of child development research in relation to language and literacy finds that the FFT does not adequately reflect the evidence. It is concluded that there is an urgent need for a formal review of the FFT.