Government is too ‘reticent’ about advising parents how to help children learn at home, says former education secretary
Parents who lack confidence in reading should turn on television subtitles to improve their children’s literacy, Justine Greening has said.
The former education secretary suggested that government had in the past been too reluctant to tell parents how to bring up their children, and called for it to take a more “active” role by advising parents on how they could create a good “home learning environment”.
One literacy charity has backed her comments by calling on broadcasters to automatically subtitle children’s TV programmes as a way of improving reading skills.
Speaking last month at a social mobility summit organised by the Sutton Trust in New York, Ms Greening highlighted the use of TV subtitles as a “practical” thing that parents could do to improve their children’s prospects.
