2 Other strategies to encourage reading

As you saw in the previous section, reading is key to helping students gain knowledge, nurture empathy, develop ideas, and understand the world in which we live. While some students need no encouragement to read, others may need to be guided, nudged and coaxed away from distractions such as social media, gaming and socialising. Boys, in particular, read less than girls and are less likely to enjoy reading, a gap which has widened during the COVID-19 pandemic (Clark and Picton, 2021; Department for Education, 2012). It is essential, therefore, to adopt strategies that encourage students, especially those who are reluctant readers, to develop good reading habits, which they can sustain. Previously, you considered how marketing in your library and around your school can help you achieve this. It is key, however, to recognise that marketing is not the only way you can encourage reading. There are various other strategies you may wish to adopt which can be implemented in various ways.

You may wish to approach matters from a broad perspective, ensuring your library stocks an inclusive and diverse range of books which allows all your library’s users to find something they enjoy. Alternatively, you may wish to adopt more focused methods, such as group work, structured reading schemes, author visits, or static displays. While some of these suggestions might be appropriate to use with all the students in your school, there may be some which are more suited to a particular demographic of student. Therefore, before implementing any of them you should identify the strategies that best suit you and your school’s needs. For example, according to he National Literacy Trust , boys were more likely than girls to report that listening to audiobooks had increased their interest in reading with more than 1 in 2 agreeing with the statement (Clark and Picton, 2020). Therefore, if you work in an all-boys school, placing an emphasis on audiobooks may be a useful way of encouraging the development of a reading-rich culture.

Getting to know students, their reading ability, and what motivates and interests them can also help you encourage reading for pleasure as you will be better able to direct students to resources which suit them. For example, for those with a low reading-age but a higher interest-age, using young adult books with limited vocabulary will be beneficial. Likewise, directing students with English as a Second Language (EASL) to a graphic version of a story can be a great way to maintain their engagement.

For students who are best motivated by rewards, a points-based reading scheme may be best suited. Reading schemes that allocate reading levels can be particularly helpful for helping students quickly and easily find books themselves, preventing them from walking around the library aimlessly or asking you to choose for them. Clearly marking the reading level can also help students pick books appropriate to their needs, rather than choosing books which may discourage them or make them feel stigmatised. Similarly, providing a set reading list can be a really helpful way of directing students who are overwhelmed by choice to books they might enjoy. Reading lists needn’t just include fiction books intended to be read in students’ spare time. They can also include useful subject-related content such as lists of useful websites, non-fiction books, DVDs and videos, as well as links to areas on your LMS, to exemplar work, and to research guides.

In the video below, Nick gives some examples of how he has encouraged reading at his school and offers some tips and advice based on his approach. After you have watched video, complete the activity to reflect on your current strategies and assess their strengths.

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NICK:

Getting students to read can be a big challenge, especially after the summer holidays or on transfer to secondary school. And keeping them reading as they get older and have more homework can be really difficult too. Some schools do use formal point-based reading schemes, and these can really work well, but I think the real goal is to make reading for pleasure a habit beyond the classroom, and this is where the library can be really effective.

We know from research that this has huge benefits, not just in terms of vocabulary and general knowledge but also for young people's empathy and well-being and their outcomes in life. So try to engage staff in initiatives like DEAR, Drop Everything and Read, and work with your special educational needs department. You could set up a program to get older students to help reluctant readers.

It's also good to have reading role models. These could be celebrities, but it could even be your own teacher setting an example. Things like Get Caught Reading can be really effective. Encourage teachers to take photos of themselves on holiday reading a book. The students love to see that. Or you could get them to try to match teachers with their favourite books.

You can use World Book Day to get the whole school involved. I chose a short story, divided it up, and got teachers to read it for five minutes in each lesson. This worked really well. Students wanted the next installment and wouldn't let teachers get away without reading it.

So whatever you do, it's important that teachers are involved and that senior leaders are on board. And it's important to be aware of the diversity of staff and students in our community while doing this. Reading for pleasure can be a great leveller.

Themed events such as Black History Month or Pride are a great opportunity to promote books that perhaps students wouldn't otherwise think of reading. You have to make these initiatives seem exciting and appeal to students so they want to have a break from their screens and read a book instead. And really, that's what it's all about.

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Some other initiatives you might consider adopting include Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.), buddy schemes with older students, and the use of celebrity reading-role-models to help children find pleasure in reading. Making the most of events such as World Book Day and linking reading events to important social matters such as Black History Month and Pride can also help to promote books that students might otherwise not come across. Furthermore, schemes such the Oxford Reading Tree and Accelerated Reader are also useful as they provide an incremental framework that contributes to raising students’ reading ages and confidence in their reading ability. Getting all staff on board with your initiatives can help to build a whole school environment which supports reading for pleasure.

You may wish to set out new initiatives you plan to adopt in your library development plan. When doing so, it can also be helpful to consider any current or previous strategies you may have adopted and assess their success. To get you thinking about how you might approach this attempt the activity below.