National Literacy Trust

The University of Birmingham is the first university to partner with the National Literacy Trust (NLT) on founding a regional Literacy Hub. Our research underpins the Birmingham Hub’s collaborations with local schools, young people, businesses and cultural organisations on a series of engaging activities to spread awareness of the importance of storytelling and literacy at every stage of life.

Our work is notable for its place-themed focus on local people, the local environment, and local heritage, with projects designed for and with Birmingham’s communities, as represented by our recent joint-published Place-based Literacy pamplet and CPD series. Notable projects include: Haunted Birmingham, which saw local writers – young and adult – imagining ghostly visions of local heritage sites, schools, parks, restaurants and more; Home Words, which invited local people to submit their most cherished words and see these words turned into poems that celebrated our city’s rich multilingual diversity; Shakespeare and Me, which invited adult learners in different settings across Birmingham to use quotations from Shakespeare as springboards to discuss their own life experiences; and Story Exchanges, in which, working in pairs, individuals share significant stories from their lives and retell their partner’s story in the first person, as if it were their own.

Such work is vital because new research from the NLT highlights the continued decline in reading and writing for pleasure among children aged 5 to 18, with reading enjoyment at the lowest level seen in 20 years.

Half of Birmingham’s wards rank in the top 10% of literacy need nationwide, and 1 in 10 young people aged 5–18 in Birmingham do not have a single book of their own at home.

This all matters because children born into communities with the most serious literacy challenges have some of the lowest life expectancies in England. Research has also consistently shown a connection between reading enjoyment, frequency, and academic attainment. Enjoying and frequently reading and writing leads too to increased empathy, mental-wellbeing, and social-mobility. Fostering local reading and writing for pleasure is thus a crucial social justice issue.

The NLT is the Department of Education’s key partner in delivering their Go All In campaign to mark and celebrate 2026 as the UK’s National Year of Reading, with the ambition to address the steep decline in reading amongst children, young people and adults. The University is proud to be a partner of the NLT during this prestigious year and looks forward to working in collaboration with the Birmingham Hub to support their critical work during this eventful year and beyond.