Turning the page: tackling the myths and assumptions that impede reading in schools

Introduction

The Reading Framework, updated by the Department for Education last year, was the latest in a series of official initiatives that have underscored the fundamental importance of reading in education. A child who struggles with reading, it points out, is unlikely to be able to fully access the curriculum or develop the communication skills necessary to succeed academically. 

Few in education would contest those assumptions. Nor could many teachers, regardless of subject, be unaware of the concerted efforts made by school leaders over the past decade to develop whole-school reading strategies. This is partly as a response to the reformed GCSE curriculum, partly as a way of closing the gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students, and latterly as a means of responding to the emphasis placed on reading by the DfE and Ofsted.

Yet if the importance of reading and strategies to implement literacy are widely accepted and understood, other questions remain. First there is the scale of the problem: how many students do teachers estimate struggle with reading, how many are taken out of class for catch-up lessons, and how much curriculum time is lost as a result?

Then there is the question of teaching reading: do teachers feel they are personally responsible for helping weak readers improve? If they do, how confident do they feel doing so, and would they find it useful if struggling readers in their classes were identified? Is there a difference in attitudes between primary and secondary school teachers when it comes to teaching reading, and do they, particularly non-English specialists, feel it’s their responsibility too? 

Finally, given teaching is a highly literate profession and one whose members, for the most part at least, learnt to read with few of the digital distractions common today, we also wanted to explore issues that might impede a successful reading strategy. Do teachers ‘read’ in a similar way to their students, how comfortable are they with students accessing texts digitally, and do they think the profession has an overly romantic view of reading? 

To discover the answer to these questions, we commissioned pollsters Perspectus Global to survey 600 primary and secondary school teachers across the UK. Their findings were revealing: 

• Teachers in both primary and secondary say a third of their students are weak readers, with a quarter regularly taken out of class to improve their reading 
• They estimate that half a day (2.5 hours) of curriculum time per week is lost through reading support
• Nine in ten believe they have a personal responsibility to help weak readers improve
• But similar numbers have been at a loss from time to time as to how to help them, and believe it would be valuable to know which students in their class are struggling readers 
• There is no significant difference in attitudes between primary and secondary teachers 
• The way teachers ‘read’ isn’t dissimilar to their students – with an approximate 50:50 print/digital split – and most admit they are regularly distracted by digital devices 
• Teachers are pragmatic – three-quarters think it’s fine for students to read/listen digitally 
• And they are split over whether they think their profession has an overly romantic view of reading – half do, half don’t. 

Elsewhere in this report, school leaders and experts in primary and secondary education outline what they think the biggest issues are when it comes to implementing an effective reading strategy and what school leaders can do to address them. They also outline how assessments such as the New Group Reading Test (NGRT) and Star Reading, and cross-curricular tools such as myON, can help. 

Teaching reading

Teachers overwhelmingly feel that they have a personal responsibility to help weak readers improve, and while most think they have the necessary skills to do this, equal numbers have also felt unsure about how to do it from time to time and believe clear identification of weak readers would help: 

• Almost 9 in 10 teachers (87%) feel personally responsible that they should help weak readers improve
• Very few (11%) didn’t. This group said it was the responsibility of the school librarian (45%), the child’s parents (37%) and the English department (36%) 
• Most (69%) feel well equipped to address the needs of students with differing reading skills – though a quarter (24%) don’t 
• However, most have felt at a loss about how to help a struggling reader – 84% sometimes and of those 18% often. Only 17% always feel confident 
• And while half of teachers (47%) don’t mind time losing curriculum time (in and out of the classroom) for reading support, two-fifths (38%) feel they have to adjust their teaching around it, and one in ten (11%) find it frustrating as it puts pressure on them getting through the curriculum 
• Nine in ten secondary teachers (90%) say it would be valuable or very valuable to know which students in their class have been identified as struggling readers. 

Teachers’ reading habits

Compared to most adults, teachers are keen readers, and they read more now than they did five years ago, often on digital devices, but half of them think the profession has an overly romantic view of reading: 

• Almost all teachers read for pleasure – 57% of teachers all the time, 40% some of the time. This compares to a 2020 YouGov survey which found that 43% of adults read for pleasure at least once a week 
• The average amount of time spent reading for pleasure is over four hours per week 
• There is virtually no gender difference (unlike YouGov which found women were twice as likely as men to be keen readers) – but secondary teachers read for half an hour more per week on average than primary teachers (233 minutes vs 263 minutes) 
• Almost half (47.5%) of reading is in traditional print format, just under a third (30%) is on devices or ebooks, and a fifth (22%) is listened to (audio or podcasts) 
• Two-thirds (65%) spend more time reading for pleasure than they did five years ago – a third less 
• When asked if the time they would have spent reading a book is now spent listening to audio/podcasts, teachers are evenly divided – 50% agree, 47% disagree 
• Three-fifths (61%) say they are often distracted by digital devices when reading a book – on average it only takes 24 minutes before teachers are distracted
• They are a very well-read group – 57% have read the first Harry Potter book cover to cover, 44% A Christmas Carol, 41% To Kill a Mockingbird, 40% Of Mice and Men, 38% Animal Farm, 35% Pride and Prejudice and 33% Lord of the Flies 
• Teachers are split over whether the profession has an overly romantic view of reading – 48% agree, rising to 58% of men, 43.5% don’t agree. 

Conclusions

There seems little doubt that weak reading ability is a widespread problem. Teachers in both primary and secondary schools estimate that a third of their students are weak readers and struggle to keep up with the content. Consequently, half a day of curriculum time per week is lost in helping weak readers improve. 

Most teachers are keenly aware how important it is that reading is supported across the curriculum and of their personal responsibility to improve it – even though they don’t always feel confident in doing so. This is where the New Group Reading Test (NGRT), Star Reading and myON can help – NGRT and Star Reading because they are consistent and reliable assessments that can be used to evaluate the reading skills of children from Reception through transition to KS3 and beyond; and myON because it provides the structured, teacher-directed daily practice that students need if they are to become fluent readers.