Fiona Oakley Literacy Adviser, School Partnerships fiona.oakley@literacytrust.uk

1. Learning to Shape Birmingham 2019 Engaging readers: creating a positive reading culture and why it matters Fiona Oakley Literacy Adviser, School Partnerships fiona.oakley@literacytrust.org.uk T: 020 7587 1842 W: www.literacytrust.org.uk Twitter: @Literacy_Trust Facebook: nationalliteracytrust

2. About The National Literacy Trust We aim to equip disadvantaged young people with literacy fit for employment and life. • We target schools with high levels of poorer children and below average literacy levels and aim to eliminate the attainment gap. • We support the families who need help most, reaching out to communities through partnerships. • We lead the national literacy campaign, raising awareness of the critical importance of the cause with compelling research and a commanding policy platform. www.literacytrust.org.uk

3. ‘This is the era of the “device”; the buzzing and flashing smartphone. It is designed by our society’s finest minds to fight back against you in every minute you attempt to forget it and sustain focus on something else – reading, say’ Doug Lemov, TES, Sep 2016

4. Reading for enjoyment in the curriculum The primary national curriculum ‘All pupils must be encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum.’ DfE (2013:4) The secondary national curriculum “Teachers should develop pupils’ reading… in all subjects to support their acquisition of knowledge…. and encourage them to read for pleasure. Schools should do everything to promote wider reading. They should provide library facilities and set ambitious expectations for reading at home” (p.10). They should “ensure all pupils… develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information” (p.13). DfE (2014) www.literacytrust.org.uk

5. Institute of Education Study IOE Study – Social inequalities in cognitive scores at age 16: The role of reading, 2013, found that: Children who read for enjoyment made more progress in maths, vocabulary and spelling between the ages of 10 and 16 than those who rarely read. Those who read books often at age 10 and more than once a week at age 16 gained higher results in all three tests at age 16 than those who read less regularly. Reading for enjoyment was more important for children’s cognitive development between ages 10 and 16 than their parents’ level of education. www.literacytrust.org.uk

6. The Reading Agency Literature Review 2015

7. Research evidence • Literature Review: The impact of reading for pleasure and empowerment. • Among the benefits it finds are: • improved social capital for children, young people and the general adult population; • better parent-child communication • reduction of depression and dementia symptoms among adults. • The Reading Agency (June 2015) • Children with above expected reading skills are three times more likely to have high levels of mental wellbeing than their peers with below expected reading skills (40.3% vs 13.1%). • Mental Wellbeing, Reading and Writing, National Literacy Trust (2018) www.literacytrust.org.uk

8. Reading for pleasure – where are we now? After six years of increasing reading enjoyment levels, children and young people's reading enjoyment decreased in 2017/18 (from 58.6% in 2016 to 56.6% in 2017/18) Children and young people who enjoy reading are five times more likely to read above the level expected for their age compared with their peers who don’t enjoy reading (17.0% vs 3.5%) Children and young people generally thought positively about reading in 2017/18. For example, 83.0% agreed that reading will help them learn more and 54.1% agreed that there are lots of things they want to read. However, only 41.1% agreed that reading is cool, and a sizeable percentage agree that they cannot find things to read that interest them (33.7%) or that they read only when they have to (30.0%). www.literacytrust.org.uk

9. Motivation to read We evangelists of reading can seem, like so many evangelists, too alarmingly evangelical. If you’re a child from a background without books, from a place where you never see people lost in reading, then you need someone who demystifies the habit and offers you exactly the right inaugural text to kick-start your reading. This doesn’t happen by chance. Geoff Barton TES (2017)

10. A positive reading culture A key aspect of developing a reading culture is to be a reading model for the pupils. Building Communities of Readers Cremin et al. (2007, 2008) One of the key aspects of effective reading in schools is the determination of staff to promote a culture which encourages pupils to enjoy reading, share their views on what they have read and develop the ability to compare texts and express opinions about them. Reading, Writing and Communication Ofsted Guidance, Oct 2011 www.literacytrust.org.uk

11. A key role for teachers a teacher who is a reading model a book-rich classroom environment being familiar with books children being able to choose books for themselves incentives that reflect the value of reading opportunities for social interactions with others about books Gambrell (1996:20) www.literacytrust.org.uk

12. Knowing about children’s literature www.literacytrust.org.uk Who was the last person to share a children’s book recommendation with you? When did you last share a children’s title which was new to you? How would you rate your knowledge of children’s fiction, non-fiction, poetry?

13. Book awards Keep your eyes on the latest book awards: Blue Peter Book Awards CILIP Carnegie Medal CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal English 4–11 Book Awards (UKLA) Guardian Children's Fiction Prize Nottingham Children's Book Award Red House Children's Book Award Waterstone's Children's Book Prize www.literacytrust.org.uk

15. Did you know? Children who are book owners are more than 20% more likely to read above their expected reading level than students who do not own books. Children growing up in homes with many books get 3 years more schooling than children from bookless homes, independent of their parents' education, occupation and class. Children who own books read more books and show greater enjoyment of reading than children without books in the home.

16. ‘Tell Me’ grid

17. Recommending books • Satellite books – books which propel the reader onto other books e.g. If you like this, try... • Desert island reads – create your list and ask the students for theirs • The lost stories – leave extracts from books you know students would like on desks, on classroom shelves • Reading challenges – relevant, fun and challenging e.g. to read a classic; a book by Philip Pullman; a book about gender identity; a book teenage angst www.literacytrust.org.uk

18. Create a school reading challenge

19. Supporting book choice SELECTION (book choice, recommendations, time to talk) READINGRESPONSE (time to read, reading aloud, (a shared experience, shared understanding) exploring authors & genres, developing preferences) ENABLING ADULT

22. Book talk

23. River of reading Invite pupils to complete a ‘river of reading’ to explore what it means to be a reader today and celebrate the breadth of reading undertaken.

24. The Rights of the Reader www.literacytrust.org.uk

25. Exposure to challenging texts ‘What you need is teachers, classroom assistants, librarians spending time with a child to talk about choices in reading; possible suggestions for more challenging books in the context of what they are interested in. We are not saying read hundreds of classics and that everything will be all right. They need to read challenging books in a subject in which they are interested.’ Professor Keith Topping, University of Dundee, The Observer, October 2016 ‘If students encounter only texts that they can read easily, there will be no reason to practice and apply strategies. It is when readers encounter challenging texts that they put strategies to use.’ Kucer, 2001 www.literacytrust.org.uk

26. Fiona Oakley Literacy Adviser School Partnerships fiona.oakley@literacytrust.org.uk