World Book Day, working together with The Open University's Reading for Pleasure team, have developed a series of webinars and vlogs to encourage reflective discussion around the barriers to reading for pleasure as readers and practitioners in school.
Reading for Pleasure, as reported by NLT, declined still further in 2024. World Book Day have also been carrying out work on identifying the specific barriers for children in seeing themselves as readers and choosing to read for fun.
World Book Day has worked with Beano Brain to speak directly to children and families about their reading habits.
World Book Day and the Reading for Pleasure team at The Open University have been working in partnership over the last several years to connect research and practice with the World Book Day campaign.
This series of webinars and vlogs is a series of reflective conversations around the barriers that children have identified, with librarians, teachers and reading volunteers reflecting on their own experience of that barrier and how it can be addressed in a school setting.
Introductory webinar: outlining the research and barriers.
Episode 1: Readers don’t always see genuine role models
Episode 2: Readers don’t always feel confident sharing their thoughts about books – out on 29 April
Episode 3: Readers don’t always want to read the same thing – out on 13 May
Episode 4: Readers don’t always find it easy to concentrate and get distracted – out on 3 June.
The series culminates on 12 June with a final reflective webinar pulling together the threads of the discussions and hearing your reflections too.
Add your barrier beating ideas to our Activity BankIntroducing the barriers to Reading for Pleasure identified in World Book Day’s research within the context of research in the wider sector and our approach to this series.
World Book Day, The Open University and Amy Greatrex, a practicing teacher, share research, practice and thinking in this area.
Research links mentioned in the webinar are listed below.
Featuring practitioners in conversation, this episode discusses the journey to becoming a genuine role model, how to support older children who haven’t yet chosen to read and effectively connecting reading to children’s interests.
Featuring practitioners in conversation, this episode discusses creating an ethos and culture which supports children to be open about their reading choices and how to communicate reading rights to parents.
Featuring practitioners in conversation, this episode discusses building children’s confidence in their own reading choices, the importance of genuine teacher role models and taking care over how recommendations are offered.
Featuring practitioners in conversation, this episode discusses creating a physical and emotional environment which supports children’s reading choices and discusses reading routines that model making ‘the right choice at the right time’ to children.
Our final live webinar in this series draws together the themes of the sessions so far and invites you to do the same. Featuring reflections from practicing teachers Amy and Scott as well as how the themes connect to research lead by Teresa Cremin.
We hope that you’ve found this webinar series useful. We would be very grateful if you would take the time to complete this short evaluation.
If you have any thoughts on topics you’d like World Book Day to cover in future CPD please also get in touch
Brandt, L., Sharp, A. and Gardner, D,(2021) ‘Examination of Teacher Practices on Student Motivation for Reading’ The Reading Teacher, Vol 74.6 Pg 657-838
Cremin, T. (2023) ‘Reading for pleasure: Recent research insights’, School Libraries in View (SLIV), Vol 47 pg 6–12.
Cremin, T, Mottram, M., Collins, F. and Powell, S. (2014) ‘Building Communities of Engaged Readers: Reading for pleasure’, London: Routledge.
Cockroft, C. and Atkinson, C. (2017) ‘I just find it boring’: Findings from an affective adolescent reading intervention’ Support for Learning (SfL), Vol 32.1, pg 41-59
Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2018) ‘Raise Reading Volume Through Access, Choice, Discussion, and Book Talks’ The Reading Teacher, Vol 72.1, pg 89-97
Hall, L.A. (2012). ‘Rewriting identities: Creating spaces for students and teachers to challenge the norms of what it means to be a reader in school’. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Vol 55, pg 368-373.
McGeown, S., Bonsall, J., Andries, V., Howarth, D., Wilkinson, K. (2020) ‘Understanding reading motivation across different text types: qualitative insights from children’ Journal of Research in Reading, Vol 43.4, pg 597-608
McGeown, S., Norgate, R., & Warhurst, A. (2012). ‘Exploring intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation among very good and very poor readers’. Educational Research, Vol 54.3, pg 309-322.
Pennac, D (2006), ‘The Rights of the Reader’, London: Walker
Reedy and Carvalho (2021) ‘Children’s perspectives on reading, agency and their environment: what can we learn about reading for pleasure from an East London primary school?’, International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, Vol 49.2
Scholes, L. (2019) ‘Differences in attitudes towards reading and other school-related activities among boys and girls’ Journal of Research in Reading, Vol 42.3, pg 485-503
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