My experience would, however, seem to reflect the more general picture. A 2019 survey in the UK by the National Literacy Trust showed that just over half (52.5%) of young people aged 8-18 read for pleasure, down from 58.8% in 2016. Only a quarter (25.7%) are reading daily, compared with 43% in 2015.

Set against this, however, is the fact that reading seems to have undergone a renaissance through the pandemic; bookshops present details of large increases in sales and newspapers relay stories of celebrities who have for the first time encountered the joy that reading can bring. So how can we turn students’ attention back to the notion of reading for pleasure? How can we create a school culture in which the value of the written word is recognised and developed throughout the community, as opposed to something that only the English department or your school library makes effort to promote? We have been exploring possibilities:

1.  Talking to the students about the benefits of reading. Not perhaps the worthiest of arguments, but numerous studies do show a correlation between reading independently and academic success. The more we read, the smarter we become.

2.  Develop a reading culture throughout the school. Easier said than done, but getting all teachers to see the value of reading is vital - whether in terms of the analytical, decoding processes required by each subject, or in recognition of the way reading supports individual character development as a whole school aim. Fluency in reading is likely to be something from which everyone in the school community benefits.

3.  Establishing everyday practices that embed the values inherent in the points above. Some of these might include:

• Reading aloud. The education consultant David Didau has much to say about the value of reading to students, as opposed to them reading silently, and this could be undertaken by any or all teachers – at the start or end of lessons, during form/tutor group periods etc.
• Whole school novel: one work could be chosen by the school for all members of the community to read – whether aloud or silently. This might provoke discussions among the students on their own, as well as in less ‘familiar’ contexts – a biology lesson, as opposed to an English lesson, for example.
• Nominate one day in which a particular (short) story is read – a chapter or section at a time, for 5-10 minutes or so in each lesson.
• Establish reading libraries in classrooms for students to borrow from. Teenagers are not inclined to travel far unless they must; having books made easily available to them is likely to get students engaged – especially those who have yet to find the school library.
• Teachers talk about the books that they are currently reading, or that have made the most impact on them. They might read a favourite passage.
• Make reading blogs/record of reading journeys an expectation for longer holidays.
• Older students might come into form groups to talk about reading or read to younger years. Having older boys do this might be particularly helpful (given that boys tend to read less) – not least to help cultivate the idea that reading is ‘cool’.
• Establishment of student-led reading groups, with regular opportunities to recommend particular titles. Video blogs might help.
• Experiences of ‘shared reading’ are very effective. Websites such as ‘Good Reads’ are effective as a way to encourage the sharing of recommended titles.

4.  Talk about the 20 minutes a day ‘rule’ : students who read for this amount of time are going to encounter 1.8 million words over one year. Those who read for 5 minutes will encounter 280,000. This speaks for itself. And ascribing a time value to reading means that it becomes measurable, and therefore easier than just hoping students will somehow develop a love for it.

5.  Encourage the intrinsic rewards of reading. As David Didau says,“It expands the limits of our world, takes us to times and places we could never otherwise visit, and makes our minds more interesting places in which to spend the rest of our lives.” 

If you have experiences or ideas about how reading cultures can be built in schools, please comment below.