Kay Tinsley, Director of Teaching and Learning at TKAT multi academy trust, says she’s not surprised that the overwhelming majority of teachers, according to our survey, say they have a personal responsibility to help students improve their reading. “I first started teaching 30 years ago, and before 2016, the sector didn't really have the focus on synthetic phonics that we currently have. When you talk to staff now, they are a lot clearer about how children learn to read and how they can support that process.”
Kay believes the focus by the DfE and Ofsted on the importance of reading has contributed to that shift. “Certainly, in all of our schools, teachers are expected to read to students. There's a lot more reading out loud, there's a lot more listening to texts, and there's a lot more focus on reading longer texts in lessons, asking comprehension questions, or encouraging children to be more strategic readers within subject areas. Teachers will use platforms like myON to focus on non-fiction texts, to explore concepts within the curriculum in a way that they didn't do before, when they would have perhaps relied on bulleted information rather than encouraging students to read lengthier texts.”
Kay Tinsley, Director of Teaching and Learning at TKAT multi academy trust
We now run a phonics programme in our secondary schools specifically for those students who struggle with reading.
Catch up at secondary
Nor is Kay surprised that teachers say that on average a third of their students struggle with reading, and estimate that approximately half a day of curriculum time is lost each week helping students improve their reading skills. “That sounds about right. We’ve noticed the gap has widened between weak and more able readers since the pandemic. So, we now run a phonics programme in our secondary schools specifically for those students who struggle with reading.”
TKAT has 14 secondary and 31 primary schools, many in deprived areas. Kay, who leads on literacy for TKAT, says many people don’t realise what some children’s lives are like. “The statistics around how many children have a bedtime story are really shocking. Many children don't even own a single book. One of the things that we have done together with Renaissance is to give a free book for Christmas to every child in Year 7 and one to every child when they arrive at Reception.”
Developing a reading culture
TKAT runs a number of different programmes to embed reading – both in-house and through Renaissance tools like Accelerated Reader and myON. “The kind of reports these produce are very granular and help us target the needs of those students who may struggle, with say comprehension or fluency, by enabling us to put in place specific support programmes. We spend a lot of time training leaders to ensure that they can make informed decisions about reading catch up and to develop a reading culture.”
myON is a cross-curricular teaching and learning tool that helps students acquire the essential reading skills they need to become fluent readers. Based on a digital library of over 7,000 high-quality, culturally diverse texts, myON provides an easy way to ensure these skills are practised in real time in the classroom and then developed further at home.
Kay says myON’s accessibility outside of school is hugely beneficial. “We are very keen to encourage children to read at home. So, platforms like myON are really helpful because children can actually access it from home on their mobile phones or other devices.” She says teachers generally don’t have an issue with accessing texts digitally. “I used to think teachers were a little bit conservative when it came to reading on digital devices but, in my experience, they’re totally fine with it.”
Platforms like myON are really helpful because children can actually access it from home on their mobile phones or other devices.
There is still a lack of knowledge outside of the English department in secondary schools, about how children acquire reading skills
Teaching reading
Although teachers say they personally feel responsible to help weak readers improve, our survey also suggests that most struggle at times to know how to do it. Kay says that in her experience what teachers tend to find difficult is selecting the appropriate texts for individual students and improving reading comprehension.
“If schools don't readily share information about the reading age of children, then it's going to make it difficult for teachers to select a text that is appropriate in the first place. Many also don't understand how to teach reading comprehension. Nor should schools expect they should figure it out for themselves. There is still a lack of knowledge outside of the English department in secondary schools, of the kind common in primary schools, about how children acquire reading skills. I certainly didn't have that knowledge until fairly late on in my career but you need leaders who actually understand how to lead reading across schools.”
Kay's top tips
- Ensure every teacher reads aloud to students. “We know that the more children are read to, the more likely they are to move forward quickly and become fluent readers. This is absolutely imperative and it needs to be structured into the curriculum. Some teachers may be nervous initially, so support them with training on how to read fluently to children because it's a skill like everything else.”
- Put in place an assessment that enables you to identify and determine children’s reading ability. “Assessments like Star Reading or the New Group Reading Test will help you identify where those children are that have fallen behind and allows you to put remedies in place. This in turn will have an impact on behaviour. Those children who can't read will likely be the ones causing problems in lessons because they can't access the curriculum. It’s imperative that you find out who they are and do something to address any barriers to learning.”
- Make sure that your teachers have access to an online resource. “We’ve seen fantastic uptake from students if they can read on digital devices and their phones. Money is so tight for all of us now and it’s really difficult to resource school libraries. In any case, that's how kids like to read. They would rather be reading on their phones or listening to audio books.”
Kay Tinsley is Director of Teaching and Learning at TKAT, the Kemnal Academies Trust
Assessments like Star Reading or the New Group Reading Test will help you identify where those children are that have fallen behind.
