Reading aloud potent picture fiction will further surface personal resonances and connections. Let the power of the narrative and the images do the work, just offer space for small group chat, and have a stash of other books by the same author/illustrator, or on the same theme, ready to loan your colleagues.


Making it volitional


Volition and agency are key to enticing readers of whatever age. Many staff will be reading aloud a class book from the school’s reading spine, but if they didn’t choose it, this is really required reading, not choice-led volitional reading. You’ll want to nurture their intrinsic motivation to read, as this is more closely associated with recreational reading than extrinsic motivation, so why not offer a choice of texts from last year’s award winners or a budget for books that each teacher can spend with their class. In one school last year, reading 20 children’s books was set as a performance management target for all staff. Surprisingly, this didn’t backfire on the senior leadership team, perhaps because choice was central, time was set aside to read and share in staff meetings and new stock was ordered based on teachers’ recommendations. Offering challenges can also help, such as reading to your ankle or knee in books, or joining the Teachers’ Reading Challenge.


Making it social


Reading is both solitary and social and always dependent on text and context. So, plan opportunities for staff to share their reading lives and practices with each other and the children. By reading aloud at the start of every briefing meeting or in regular reading assemblies, you’ll be building a set of staff books in common, read for the sole purpose of shared enjoyment. These represent a rich resource for conversation, emotional and social connections and for spinning webs of reader relationships. Creating a staff bookshelf with some of the very best children’s literature, non-fiction, magazines and


4 Books for Keeps No.248 May 2021


comics can also trigger book chat, especially if staff leave post-it- note reviews for each other inside.


Many staff teams explore what counts as reading in their lives and share these prior to exploring the same question with children. Reading rivers, 24 hour reads and reading treasure hunts can all help to highlight diversity and the social nature of everyday reading, as well as our personal purposes and preferences as readers.


Making the benefits explicit


Some staff may be unaware of the significant academic benefits that accrue to childhood readers. Focusing on this in a staff meeting or creating simple posters with research evidence can help. These could show for example, that recreational reading contributes to increased comprehension and attainment in literacy (Tavsancil, et al., 2019), higher mathematics scores (Sullivan and Brown, 2015), enriched narrative writing (Senechal, 2019) and a wider vocabulary (McQuillan et al, 2019). Highlighting the social and emotional benefits that support children’s wellbeing is also important; reading (and being read to) can be calming, offering a safe space for relaxation and escapism, as well as a sense of belonging that is so important (and not only in the context of the pandemic).


In conclusion Understanding that reading is


affective, volitional, and social is


a challenge in an accountability culture which frames reading in education as an individual act of proficiency. But with determination it is possible to rekindle staff engagement and enhance each member’s personal and professional awareness of what it means to be a reader. It’s not only a professional, moral, and social responsibility to keep up to date with children’s texts, it’s also a deep source of satisfaction, and by tempting more staff to read and share the red thread of reading for pleasure, you’ll be nurturing the desire and delight of younger readers too.


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