Why reading for pleasure could well be the most essential reading skill!

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As teachers and schools, we place an enormous emphasis on reading, and rightly so. However, it is rare that we ask ourselves do we put as much emphasis as we should on reading for pleasure? While school messaging often promotes reading for pleasure, and some classes set aside some time for reading for pleasure, there is so much value in making reading for pleasure central to our approach to reading.

Empirical evidence for just how much reading for pleasure impacts reading attainment is hard to come but ask any teacher, and they’ll be able to tell you exactly how much impact it does have. We have all sat in a classroom and talked to those pupils who do read (and read enthusiastically!) at home, and the difference is marked. Such pupils have expanded vocabularies, an interest in and often a love of reading and tend to show much greater reading fluency. They can apply the ideas from the books they read to their work, use the structures of texts they have read and have a more intuitive understanding of what a reading question is asking. Of course, these are generalisations and not every child who loves to read at home can do all these things – but experience tells us this is true most of the time!

Knowing all this, even if it is intuitive rather than strictly evidence-based, should spur us all on to promote reading for pleasure as much as possible. The challenge is to move from thinking this is something we should do to deciding this is something we are going to do and make a success of it! I have spent lots of time and energy trying to make this a reality in my classroom, and while I can’t say it’s the finished product, it’s getting there. Here are what I like to think of as talking points for promoting and valuing reading for pleasure in your school or classroom – it might not entirely be a toolkit just yet, but I believe all of these have clear value and will move you closer to the goal of truly promoting reading for pleasure:

• Recognise the pupils who already read for pleasure and make them your reading heroes! Find a way to celebrate what they do and a platform to give their peers feedback on what they’ve been reading and why they love it.
• Reading isn’t just reading books – reading is reading no matter what you read! Whether it’s an Ereader, in a game, puzzles or something else altogether, celebrate it.
• Boys – don’t oversimplify and assume boys don’t read at home! While some boys may choose not to, many will.
• Boys (and girls!). Gaming is a huge part of many pupils’ lives – don’t fight it, embrace it! Love Fortnite? Read a strategy guide!
• Reading anything is better than reading nothing – cater to pupil’s interests. Twist your English lead’s or librarian’s arm to buy books/comics/graphic novels/whatever it takes to meet the interests of your class.
• Pushing pupils towards ‘high quality’ or more challenging can be counterproductive – encouragement to consider other books in time is much better than a drive to the books you believe pupils should read above all else.