Best Practice

Literacy: Top tips for instilling a love of reading

Summer reading learning loss is a common issue that primary schools face every autumn term, exacerbated this year in the wake of Covid. Dr Sarah McGeown shares some tips to help teachers instil a love of reading this academic year

 

Summer learning loss is a common issue that schools, teachers and parents are met with in the new academic year.

While some pupils may take part in summer reading challenges and are encouraged to read at home with parents and siblings, others without such opportunities and support experience a stalling or decline in their reading abilities over the summer.

This year, any summer learning loss is also coupled with the lasting impact of pandemic disruption – making it more important than ever for schools to have an active plan on how to address the gap and boost reading engagement.

Research by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) and Renaissance for the Department for Education (DfE) found that by the end of the first half of the 2021/22 autumn term, primary school pupils were on average 0.8 months behind in reading compared to where they would be in a typical, pre-pandemic year (DfE, 2022a).

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