ENGLISH teaching in Blackpool is to be revolutionised to improve standards in reading and writing.

Blackpool Borough Council is bringing together education experts and headteachers for a major conference in the resort next week to discuss government plans and how to enhance teaching methods in the town.

The Department for Education and Employment wants local authorities to meet national targets and introduce a literacy strategy for children's early schooling.

However, Blackpool, which wants standards to rise across the board, is going one step further and including secondary schools in its strategy.

And education chiefs want 83 per cent of 11-year-olds to reach the national standard for reading and writing by the year 2000.

The strategy will be unveiled at the two-day conference at the De Vere Hotel on May 19 and 20 and those attending can expect to hear plans which will mean some primary schools having to replan timetables and provide teacher training specifically for literacy.

From September, teachers will also have to dedicate an hour a day to English to improve pupils' reading and writing skills.

In addition, secondary schools will have closer ties with their primary counterparts and start similar initiatives.

Blackpool's education chairman Eddie Collett commented: "The introduction of new literacy teaching methods is one of the most radical changes in education for years and I am confident this will lead to standards improving."

This was echoed by education director Dr David Sanders who added the council's literacy task force would provide all the support schools needed.

"Our special advisory team will provide intensive assistance to make the changes swift and help all our schools successfully meet the town's target for pupil reading and writing standards," he said.

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