A Literacy Hour in the Nursery? The Big Question Mark

This paper challenges the assumption that the Literacy Hour is suitable, in some form, for the ‘nursery’ phase of preschool care and education. It begins with an analysis of the model of literacy which dominates government approaches to raising literacy standards in the UK and finds it to be mechanistic and brutal. The Literacy Hour is analysed in some detail and the problems it poses for early years literacy and the professional training of literacy teachers are outlined. The paper concludes with a ‘manifesto’ setting out the values and appropriateness of 24‐hour literacy in the early years.