Reading tip for kids? Turn on TV subtitles, says MP

PARENTS should turn on TV subtitles to help their children learn to read, former education secretary Justine Greening has said.

In yet another sign that families are abandoning the bookshelf for the box set, Miss Greening highlighted the use of subtitles as a ‘practical’ thing families can do to boost their youngsters’ literacy.

She said this approach would be particularly useful for parents who are themselves weak readers, and called on ministers to take a more ‘active’ role by advising parents on how they can create a good ‘home learning environment’.

But critics blasted her suggestion as the ‘nanny state at its worst’ – and said the Government should instead focus on improving adult literacy.

Miss Greening made the comments at a social mobility sum- mit by the Sutton Trust in New York last month, the Times Educational Supplement reported.

‘If we could just get parents having subtitles on the TV as a matter of course for a child’s early years,’ she said.

‘If you’re not a great reader yourself, as a parent, that’s one thing you can do, to help children listen and learn words. It can help. It’s not going to change the world, but it can help.’

But Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, yesterday said it was ‘an inadequate solution to a serious problem’.

He added: ‘It’s a pitiful example of the nanny state. Governments are forever saying that parents should sit and read with their children, but a lot of parents don’t because they … can’t read. It’s not going to be solved by telling them to turn on the subtitles.

‘What we need is an adult literacy programme.’

‘Pitiful example of the nanny state’