On the 4th of November 2021 the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) published it’s fourth Reflecting Realities Report.

The report “identifies and evaluates representation within picture books, fiction and non-fiction for ages 3–11 and provides a benchmark to track and understand progress and a toolkit to support both producers and consumers of children’s literature to be more critically reflective in the move towards a more inclusive future. This report looks at the children’s literature published in the UK in the 2020 calendar year.”

The Royal African Society is one of many organisations listed in the report to be providing resources and opportunities for schools to develop their provision in the area of representation. Our collaboration with CLPE on the Poetry in the Primary in the Classroom Programme will mean useful teaching resources including a range of poetry texts from African and diaspora authors, will be available on our website soon.

We’re glad to see this piece of research out in the world and look forward to seeing what action follows across UK education and publishing.

You can read the full report here.