The red thread
In this, my final article on the red thread of reading for pleasure, I want to inspire a new wave of relentless determination to entice all teachers to read children’s books and share their delight in them. We know that teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature and other texts is not an optional extra, it is foundational. But I fear that as readers of Book for Keeps, as members of library and publishing circles, of book clubs and the Twitter kids’ books community, we are living in an echo chamber. We delight in sharing and receiving book recommendations, in meeting authors, in reading and being part of a book loving collective. But what about all those teachers who are far less engaged?
The challenge
Only last week a practitioner wrote in a zoom chat line– ‘Are you seriously asking me to read kids’ books- I just don’t have the time’. Whilst many teachers offered encouragement, I doubt their words, or my keynote, made any difference. Years ago, our research revealed that teachers’ repertoires desperately needed expansion (Cremin et al, 2009). Primary practitioners’ knowledge of children’s texts was scant (24% couldn’t name a picture fiction creator and 22% a poet!) They relied upon books from childhood and a narrow canon of ‘celebrity authors’ – in particular Dahl dependency was rife. Secondary teachers’ knowledge of authors was also limited, dominated by Dahl, Morpurgo, Rowling and Donaldson (Clark and Teravainen, 2015).
Worryingly, a recent lockdown survey revealed the same trend, with almost the same list of popular writers receiving by far the highest number of mentions (CLPE, 2021). Dahl was the most frequently cited author that these teachers’ reported reading aloud during this time. In countless school improvement projects too, I continue to find practitioners’ knowledge of children’s texts remains a cause for concern.
However, it isn’t easy for classroom teachers to find the time to expand their reading repertoires, especially as reading in schools is often conceived as a matter of proficiency, a skill to be taught and tested. Moreover, despite the inclusion of reading for pleasure in the National Curriculum (DfE, 2014), there is no requirement for teachers to develop this essential aspect of their subject knowledge, either in teacher training or through professional development.
The consequence
Yet unless practitioners have a wide and deep knowledge of children’s literature and other texts, and a working knowledge of the children as readers, they are not well positioned to instil a love
of reading for pleasure: determinedly sharing the joy by Teresa Cremin
of reading and enable the will to influence the skill. In our school improvement work we regularly find that children’s favourite authors mirror the restricted range known to staff. Limited professional repertoires constrain children’s experience of diverse texts, of texts that reflect their young lives, that explore current issues and are written by #ownvoice and new writers. Frequently, the baseline audits of staff knowledge reveal significant gaps; in September 2020 for instance, one head teacher found only 3 of the 41 books named by the staff were published after 2004! In another, as the English leader noted: ‘Staff themselves were shocked by their own answers [to the baseline audit] and acknowledged that their choices reflected books from their own childhood, from their own children’s childhood or from texts taught in school. Not many teachers had read a children’s book (outside of the classroom) for a long time.’
Children need role models who voice their passion and pleasure in reading. Knowledge of children’s literature and of individual children as readers is the cornerstone on which interactive and reciprocal communities of readers are built. So as a profession we surely need to pay increased attention to those staff members, teachers and teaching assistants who are less than keen readers. They may have less time, lockdown may have disturbed their reading practices, and they may have forgotten, or never yet experienced, the affective, social and relational satisfactions of being a reader.
Ways forward to tempt and engage staff
We cannot make teachers (or children) find reading satisfying or demand they enjoy themselves, but we can entice, tempt, and invite them into the imaginative, informative and engaging world of reading, and share our own pleasures and experiences as readers. Multiple possibilities beckon.
Making it personal and affective
In order to draw staff into the reading community, it is vital to get to know more about their interests and lives beyond school. Armed with knowledge about their hobbies, fascinations, a forthcoming wedding and so forth you can tailor your text recommendations to tempt your colleagues, perhaps gifting these wrapped up as a half-term treat. Additionally, inviting staff to create their reading histories (texts and contexts) or bring in books from childhood will trigger memories and informal conversations about their reading lives. Affective engagement underpins reading for pleasure, so let’s tap into this and take time in staff meetings to revisit memories of bedtime stories or of books that moved us. Displaying these can also help.
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