ABSTRACT
Perhaps the recent emphasis on literacy in schools, crucial as progress here is, has put at risk some other things that have an important place in the English lesson. At its best the spirit of English teaching finds its home in the imagination-expanding discourse that happens when teacher and children are totally absorbed in responding to a story. An initiative by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, The Power of Reading, supports teachers in effective uses of literature in the classroom. Details of this project involving 750 primary schools are available on the CLPE website (www.clpe.co.uk). The United Kingdom Literacy Association’s Teachers as Readers project looks at the creative use of literature as well as researching patterns in primary teachers’ reading, both personal and professional (www.ukla.org).
