There’s no expression I dislike more than ‘reading for pleasure’. I say this as someone who takes a huge amount of pleasure in reading and getting lost in a book. But let’s be honest: it’s such a smug and a middle-class conceit. Reading for pleasure is what you can do only after you’ve done the hard graft of learning how to do it and how to do it well. Until then it’s no pleasure, and often just a chore. In fact, it may never get to be a pleasure but a necessity. And that can be enough.
The worst part about it though is not the pretension but that it often stands in the way of addressing the real problem: children cannot advance in their education and in navigating everyday life if they do not learn to read well. It’s not just for fun, it’s not a nice to have – it’s a vital life skill.
Of course, all teachers know reading is important but what this report from GL Assessment shows is that they are also aware that struggling and reluctant readers are a growing problem. They know that boys tend to outnumber girls, who instinctively seem to see the connection between reading ability and school performance, and suspect social media plays a part. What they are less clear about is why numbers are increasing and what to do about it, which is where this report can help.
Children cannot advance in their education and in navigating everyday life if they do not learn to read well.
If primary school is about learning to read; at secondary it’s about reading to learn.
Everyone at secondary level understands that being able to read is important to access the curriculum. As Beth Morrish, Director of Secondary Literacy at Meridian Trust, says, “if primary school is about learning to read; at secondary it’s about reading to learn”.
But if children don’t leave primary secure in their reading, things can soon start to unravel at secondary. Teachers here often don’t really understand how reading is taught at primary or how complex the process of learning to read is. To remedy this, secondary teachers don’t have to become direct instructors of reading, but they do need training to develop an understanding of how they can help pupils to access their subject, to understand the process and what is meant by ‘reading’.
In any intervention, the temptation is always to concentrate on the very weakest. But when looking at those finding reading difficult there’s a bigger group of ‘invisible struggling’ readers just above them – those who can read just enough to get by but who don’t really understand most of the lesson. This often overlooked average/just below average cohort represents 49% of all students. If these students are not reading at the expected level for their year group, they’re not getting the full benefit of what’s being taught and they won’t perform to their full potential at GCSE.
If secondary schools address this group with targeted interventions and training, the uplift in reading ability will pay massive dividends in the future in terms of these children’s results and life chances. That’s a huge win with a huge cohort.
They still may not read for pleasure, of course, but reading may become more of a pleasure. I’d settle for that.
If secondary schools address this group with targeted interventions and training, the uplift in reading ability will pay massive dividends in the future in terms of these children’s results and life chances.
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Find out more about the New Group Reading Test
Developing strong reading skills is essential for accessing the whole curriculum. With reading being a complex skill to master and measure, find out how NGRT can help.