Ministers announced one-to-one catch-up lessons today for thousands of pupils who struggle with reading, writing and maths. Unquestionably, they seem a good idea.
Of the three programmes being rolled out nationally, the Every Child a Reader programme is the most established.
It pays for "reading recovery" teachers in inner-city schools who give children intensive tuition. It's an expensive business - around £2,000 to £2,500 per child - but that's nothing compared with the estimated £2.5bn a year cost of providing ongoing special educational needs.
If children don't get that help, they are more likely to give up on education altogether - 70% of pupils that are permanently excluded from school have low literacy skills, not to mention 60% of prisoners.
But, to paraphrase the children's laureate, Michael Rosen, perhaps if the literacy hour hadn't killed off stories and extinguished children's enjoyment of reading, this kind of programme wouldn't be necessary to try and rekindle enthusiasm?
Around 30,000 children - including nearly one in 10 boys - leave primary school without basic skills in reading and writing. As the phonics champion and government primary curriculum reviewer, Sir Jim Rose, has pointed out, boys need genres and topics that capture their interest, as well as help with spelling and handwriting. What they don't need is hours spent analysing dry texts to improve their literacy.
