Best Practice

Reading attitudes matter: Do you know what your pupils think?

Literacy & English
You may know if your students can read well, but do they ‘want’ to read? Professor Teresa Cremin urges schools to focus on reading attitudes and children’s sense of themselves as readers
Image: Adobe Stock - Adobe Stock

As we get into the swing of the new academic year, I wonder what messages about reading and “being a reader” are emerging?

What does your physical environment and school ethos suggest about what it means to be a reader inside your school’s walls? Significantly, what do your staff know about the young people in front of them as readers?

At this time of year, many schools seek to establish children’s “reading ages” and comprehension capacity and then create intervention groups and set tailored targets. Fair enough – such knowledge is needed.

But teachers also need to pay attention to young people’s reading attitudes, everyday practices, and their sense of themselves as readers.

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