• undertake a critical review of the strategy, paying particular attention to the clarity and usefulness of the Framework for teaching as a tool for improving standards in literacy across the whole curriculum
• review and consolidate the guidance on the teaching of phonics, particularly for teaching phonics and spelling in Years 3 and 4 (for pupils aged 8 and 9)
• provide further guidance for teachers on teaching guided reading
• provide guidance for schools on how to tackle the widening gap between the standard of boys' and girls' writing.

What's the story: the reading choices of young people in Ireland
Report published by Children's Books Ireland, June 2002.

In autumn 2001, Children's Books Ireland carried out the first, large-scale comprehensive survey of the leisure time reading choices of children throughout Ireland, north and south. Over 2,200 children aged between seven and 16, from 62 different schools - both large urban and small rural - took part.
The young people were asked about their favourite books and writers, their favourite comics and magazines and their favourite genres. They were asked to describe their enjoyment they get from reading and the factors which help them decide what to read, and about their views on their school and local libraries.

Findings
Unsurprisingly, younger children enjoy reading books more than young adults, and girls enjoy reading more then boys. Both sexes and all ages get great enjoyment from periodicals, especially teen magazines. The amount of book reading declines very considerably with age and varies substantially between girls and boys.
Primary-age girls read the most, followed by primary-age boys, post-primary girls and post-primary boys. Among primary pupils, although girls read more books than boys, the age decline is more apparent with girls than than with boys. In post-primary pupils, while again, the girls read more books than the boys, the age decline is greater with the boys.

For both groups of young people, the Harry Potter books easily dominated the recently read books and are the favourite books with both primary and post-primary children. In the primary children this is particularly evident, with the Goosebumps series a remote second. Roald Dahl and JK Rowling occupy first and second place respectively as the favourite authors in both primary and post-primary lists.
The most popular genre with both groups of children was humour. With post-primary pupils this was followed by horror, adventure and modern, true-life fiction. With primary children other popular genres were adventure, mystery, animal and scary stories.

With the primary children, the three most popular periodicals were Beano, Sabrina and Smash Hits. With post-primary pupils, they were Sugar, J17 and Bliss.

With primary children the major influence in helping them to choose a book is that the name of the book sounds interesting. With post-primary children, the most important factor was the recommendation of a friend. With both groups, the lowest ranked factor was the recommendation of an adult such as a teacher, parent or librarian.
At primary level, patterns of book ownership were very similar for boys and girls. However, at post-primary level girls reported themselves as owning substantially more books than boys. Primary school children were more likely to perceive that their homes had 'a lot' of books compared to post-primary children. For both groups, there were strong associations between books in the home, books owned by children and whether or not they liked to read books.
Overall, primary school children thought well of their school library in terms of its having the kinds of books they liked to read. In general, girls and younger primary children were more satisfied than boys and older primary children. By post-primary level, the majority of children rated their school library as poor or very poor at having the kind of books they liked to read. Again, the girls and younger primary pupils were more positive than boys and older primary pupils.
At both primary and post-primary levels, young people in Northern Ireland
were more positive about their school library than those from the Republic of Ireland. Primary-age girls were most likely to visit their local library, followed by primary-age boys, post-primary girls and post-primary boys. Post-primary girls had more positive opinions of the books in library than post-primary boys. There was no substantial difference in the views of post-primary pupils in Northern Ireland and the
Republic of Ireland.

Girls of all ages were more likely than boys to buy books for themselves. They were also more likely to be given books. The pattern of buying periodical was similar for primary boys and girls. At post-primary level, girls were much more likely to buy periodicals for themselves.
The vast majority of those interviewed enjoyed reading of some kind, whether it be books, comics, magazines or newspapers.

This information is taken from the report's executive summary. The full report is available for 30 euros.
Contact Children's Books Ireland, 17 Lower Camden Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. Tel: 00 35 31 872 5854. Email: childrensbooksire@eircom.net.