What does a whole-school reading culture look like?
‘If I visited your school’, I often ask teachers and school librarians, ‘wouldI knowthat it’s a school that values reading…beforeI got to the library?’(This assumes the library’s lively, well-stocked, welcoming,and used). ‘Would I see photographsof a recent author visit on yourentrancearea’s computer screen? Would I see, at child’s-eye level in the corridors,jumbled book titles,‘children’s picks’, and author bios?Are there poems in unusual places, likethe back oftoilet cubicle doors?
Yes, it’s certainly possible toseesigns of a reading culture, but you can use other senses too.If I asked a child what book they’d last read or heard – or if I stopped a teacher with the same question – would I get a good answer?I hope you’dalsobe able tohearclass teachers reading aloud (maybe serialising books, a chapter a day), along withhearingbook recommendations from staff and children at assembly time. There’s also, to borrow from Paul Simon, ‘the sound of silence’, as children and their class teacher all read their books togetherin DEAR, ERIC, STAR, or otheracronymedreading times.
Finally, there’s that sixth sense – an intangible atmosphere about the place. ‘The animation of the kids… the sense of intellectual life in the corridors’, as author Anthony Horowitz put it.What keepsmeenthusing about reading has something of the same intangible quality; personally I don’t need reports, surveys and yet more evidence, it’s a feeling in my gut, borne of being encouraged as a child, being a reader myself, and still discovering great children’s fiction today (most recentlySophie Anderson’sThe Girl who speaks BearandM G Leonard’sThe Highland Falcon Thief), thatkeeps me proselytising to teachers and ‘waving and raving’ books toyoungaudiences.A reading culture is not just seen andheard, butfelt.
The Whole School – everywhere and everyone
You’ll notice I used the full phrase in this blog’s title – a ‘whole-school’ reading culture. Everyone should be involved; it can’t be ‘MrsJonesversus the others’, or ‘yes,Key Stage 1 are good at that’. If you’re appointing a ‘Reading Champion’, make sure that those ‘others’ don’t ease off and leave it to the champ. Weallneed to be reading champions!
Also, it's so easy tosay‘our school provides a reading culture’. Your websitemightsay that (it probably says you’re passionate about it!), butdon’t commit the politician’s sin of over-promising and under-delivering.Make it real: part of the school development plan, withtheHead’s support, and parent/governor involvement. And make it wide: TAs, school meals staff, caretakers – any of them canremember a favourite book,recommend a book,and talk aboutwhat they’re reading to a child or grandchild.And that’s even before we get toguests…
Today we have averyspecial visitor…
Your school’s reading culture may be more on show some days than others– and I don’t mean simply before visits byOfsted,Education Scotland, Estyn,ISI or otherordeals!A well-planned and followed-up school visit, by an author, illustrator, storyteller or other ‘book worldguest’can make a huge impact on children– and on the staff who are listening in, too. Your local library service should know of authors who’ve visited your area, or colleagues and friends might be able to recommend people. You can often approach potential guests directly, through their websites, or you could try author agencies:Authors Aloud UK(1) is just one example, and there aretwo-threemore.
Balance these visits by guests from the local community: a firefighter, a local councillor, a parent, a local sportsperson. Children wouldexpectan author tosay“reading’s great!”, but when this message is repeated by ‘ordinary citizens’, they’ll realise that there’s a whole community out there who enjoy reading; that it’s not something that just their teachers tell them. This is doubly useful ifchildren don’t see books or role models at home, and triply useful if ethnic minority authors are among your guests.
A library with classroomsaround it
Having worked in libraries for around 120 years (rememberI’m also a storyteller, so I may exaggerate), you’d expect me to mention school libraries.Mydefinitionof a school is ‘a library with classrooms round it’, and there’llbe a blog entry in future about libraries, never fear!In the meantime,here are a few well-chosen words, and some questions:
- Is your classroom book collection in good shape and inviting, or muddled and unloved?
- Is it propped up by your own book purchases?
- Hands up if yourschoollibrary’s a bit moribund andignored(then put it right)
- One in eight UK schools admit to not having a library; I hope you’re not one of them!
- Bringing books together saves money, shows the need for order, and breeds library-savvy children
- Children may learn to read in the classroom, but in the school library… they learn to bereaders.
Readers are made by readers
Although you’ll see mentions of role models earlier in this piece, I want to reinforce itat the end because it’s arguably the most important point to make. I appreciate that not every teacher has the time or inclination to be a voracious reader, but find out who the book fans are, and try to achieve a ‘critical mass’ of teachers who’llinspire children to read by talking about their own reading and asking them about theirs. There’ll be teachers who have out-of-school interests with reading attached, andyou may discover closet science fiction fans, or other genre buffs, who can pass on their obsession to a new generation. In author GeraldineMcCaughrean’ssuccinct words: ‘Be seen reading. If you don’t, they won’t’.
I’m convinced – where else do I look?
This article has included some of my guiding principles and favouriteideas, but there are many more in thefreely-downloadableGet Everyone Reading (2), which I wrote for the School Library Association. Let mealsopay credit tosomeotherpeople whose ideas you ought to look at. WriterMichael Rosen’s20-point plan for Reading for Pleasurepiece(3), for instance, or Norfolk teacherJon Biddle’s hilarious but provoking mirror-image piece,23 ways to create a non-reading school(4).Get Everyone Readingalso lists some key books, websites, and social media sourcesof ideas.If you’re lucky enough to have a school library service, start there first.
Andin between yourreading, try a ‘visual audit’ of your school, looking for what your own reading culture looks like. Then improve it. Good luck!
Talking Point: Enthuse more than you use
Throughout the history of children’s books there have been educators who’veusedfiction forteaching or socialpurposes(and authors who’vewrittenbooks,sometimeswith thisin mind).We’re currently in an age where fiction’ssocialbenefits are muchtouted:of coursebooks can help with wellbeing and mental health;of coursethey can develop empathy,promote and demonstrate diversity, and so on; these are positive benefits that children will get from either a few spotlighted books,or(more subtly) from a generous and wide reading diet anyway.
But if fewer children are reading for pleasure, those spotlighted books will loom larger in their reading diet, maybe occupying most of it, and the wider landscape of unalloyed, ‘message-free’, read-what-you-like fiction may get diluted. Thebooksthat are most likely to create readersbeyondschool – adventure, funny, scary,sportandanimalstories;non-fictiontoo–if promoted withzealbyknowledgeableteachersand librarians,will develop a real habit of reading.And it’s the memory ofthosereadingexperiences(and thoseadult role models)that willcreate adult readers.Other than one-to-oneoccasions, useany‘prescription fiction’approachsensitively, whilst enthusing even more aboutthe sheer escapism and fun ofall those authors and series–yes,even the ‘cheap and cheerful’ ones – that hopefully line your school libraryand classroomshelves.
Alec Williams is a speaker, trainer and storyteller.
More information on Alec can be found at:
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