Alan Duff: Education think tank and the 'child literacy crisis'

Children from Camberley School in Hastings bask in the exciting glow of the power of books. Photo / Warren Buckland, File

OPINION

I don't know where these damning reports on literacy come from. After 30 years at the coal face of kids' reading, we have not been asked once for our opinion.

Take the new report from The Education Hub think-tank, "Now I don't know my ABC - the perilous state of literacy in Aotearoa New Zealand".

To be fair, many of the issues it raises are beyond the scope of Duffy Books in Homes. But there are some aspects, especially in relation to disparity, in terms of access to resources, transience, economic and social issues, that schools in the Duffy programme deal with every day.

At Duffy we know time spent on literacy and reading has been cut back hugely because of other pressures on the curriculum and even classrooms. We know teachers and parents are not reading to young children and sharing the magic of words.

Alan Duff. Photo / Michael Craig, File

It is hardly surprising then that some young people are reading less for enjoyment - or never.

However, we stopped believing or even reading headlines about the "latest literacy results" a long time ago. It's become too much like a regular drumbeat with everyone, from self-claiming experts to people with ideological agendas, focusing on the negative: Scandalous, shameful, blameworthy…

Many kids come from "bookless" homes. If you give them books to take home, it's often the first books they have had to call their own. They treasure and share them with their whānau. We've seen children choose a book that's so obviously too young for them, but they whisper: "it's for my baby brother and sister...". We have seen books spark a fire for learning.

The Duffy charity gives out 700,000 free books a year to children in need at early childhood, primary, and some intermediate schools. Next year we will celebrate gifting 15 million books. We're an organisation that has been doing something about literacy in New Zealand, as well Australia and the United States, since 1993.

Backed by commercial sponsorship and government support, the philosophy behind the
programme is simple: kids who can't read become adults who can't communicate and that's a serious disadvantage in a world that operates on the written word.

We always give a positive message to our 100,000 "Duffy kids".

At the end of terms one and three, special role model assemblies are held at every school.

We are grateful to the sportspeople, musicians, artists, writers, radio personalities, television presenters, fashion designers, and many others who visit Duffy schools, present books and talk to the kids about their achievements and goals.

They tell the kids "it's cool to read and cool to achieve", and make a connection between success and reading.

Someone should get our thoughts on literacy in low socio-economic schools. We have a swag of inspiring, happy tales to tell of Duffy kids who have gone on to become the first tertiary-educated person in their family, or school.

Here's one example: Sol3 Mio. You know, the famous singing trio. They're former Duffy kids who took their inspiration from Duffy books and turned it into aspiration and who will be forever grateful they were exposed to life being more than just unfulfilling drudgery.

Lawyer, journalist, and author Reina Vaai is another. Also a former Duffy Kid, she says she doesn't consider herself particularly talented or intelligent. She says she never thought she would have the opportunity to work as a journalist on television, have her own newspaper column in the paper, practice in criminal law, write a book, and then move to study at Cambridge University all before turning 30.

But Vaai says her superpower is her ability to deal with rejection, not allowing it to upset or deter her. It's role models like this we introduce to our Duffy kids.

You can keep the damning literacy reports.

• Alan Duff, an award-winning author, co-founded the Duffy Books in Homes scheme in 1993.