VIEWS & OPINION
Inspire reading for pleasure by inviting writers into the classroom
Comment by AINE VENABLES, education manager at Hay Festival
While we often hear that reading for pleasure is the single most important indicator of a child’s future success (OECD, 2002), it can quickly drop down a school’s priorities. Author and illustrator visits – live or digital – are an effective solution, offering classes a spark of inspiration to get them excited about reading. Live encounters through events or visits can transform the dynamic of
reading. A writer brings their character to life; an illustrator conjures a new world in realtime; the hilarity of cherished stories may be acted, sung, or both. Sharing a love of reading with other people is an uplifting and bonding experience, a much-needed antidote to the creeping loneliness of the modern world. By bringing stories out of the four walls of the classroom, they can be
approached in a new, active way. Where reading might be a passive activity alone, the engagement of writers and illustrators live makes it a shared, pro-active process that can inspire pupils to follow their own artistic path. Suddenly, what may have felt remote and polished in book form becomes accessible. A door is opened. And the benefits can be more profound than a child’s future economic
prosperity. Pupils who enjoy reading and writing have significantly better mental wellbeing than their peers (NLT, 2018). Reading for pleasure is an exercise in empathy too. Using literature to step into the lives of others can be a powerful format for pupils and teachers to explore the world and its complexities. Writers shake up the dynamic in a classroom, allowing creativity to flourish in unexpected ways.
Top tips on writers in the classroom
• Before a trip or visit, spend time with your class finding out about the writer’s work and life. Make sure there are copies of their books in the school library and encourage the pupils to explore them in their own time.
• Take part. When writers are running activities in the classroom, don't use it as an opportunity to get on with other tasks such as marking; get involved too. The shared experience will live on in the classroom and in conversations if the teacher and pupils are fully engaged during the session.
• The more physically engaged the pupils are, the better. Authors with performance skills, whether musical or injecting drama into their narrative in other ways, will be popular and have a lasting impact. Work with writers who encourage break-out sessions, movement, group activity, interaction and participation.
• Don't worry if the class seems out of control during a session. Writers who are used to working in this context are comfortable at managing groups of children and may encourage over-excitement. They will also be skilled in bringing them back to focus.
• It is valuable for pupils and teachers to be able to watch writers and speakers again and again. The National Literacy Trust, Scottish Book Trust and Hay Festival’s free Programme for Schools archive (
hayfestival.org/education) offer these resources, allowing pupils to enjoy events again and again.
• Bringing a writer in can be the catalyst for something new in the school such as a book club, a creative writing group or a newspaper team. Plan to encourage and support this before your trip.
Online teaching must benefit pupils first and foremost
Comment by KEITH METCALFE, headmaster at Malvern College
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, being able to move aspects of our everyday lives online became invaluable, whether that was doing our shopping, talking to relatives and friends, or teaching.
But it is vitally important that these things are an exception and do not become the norm. We all craved the return of human contact, when we could again see, and hug, our loved ones. Equally, teachers and pupils alike have craved a return to the classroom. Not something I could have imagined writing 24 months ago.
It is really important for a school to have a coherent message and that can only really be achieved with the whole staff and pupil body in school, and with face-to-face communication.
We coped very well last year with our pupils not being in the classroom, but relationships are an extremely important part of teaching. It’s about pupils interacting with the teaching staff and also with each other, which just isn’t possible to the same level online.
A school like Malvern offers much more than just what goes on in the classroom. You can’t beat the experience of being on the sports pitch with others or performing together, in terms of the core and transferable skills that each child learns. Our Boarding Houses are another key part of the Malvern experience. They become like an extended family, with in-House dining and shared evening activities – they are where you learn to build strong relationships and develop a support network. You can’t ever fully replicate that online.
Schools should not be reckless about a return to face-to-face teaching. We, like most other schools, have taken a cautious approach to the first few weeks back. We test pupils regularly. Pupils are wearing face coverings in certain settings, although not in lessons or the Boarding Houses. We can quickly step up or step down measures as required.
Last year there were certain restrictions on extracurricular activities, which have now been lifted so we can return towards normality this year. It has been excellent to see a full chapel and to hear hymns again, albeit with face coverings. We can bring back more of our music and drama programme and we are very much looking forward to performances again. We risk-assess them and, where we can, we move events outside.
We are delighted to have all of our pupils back in school and, despite the pandemic, or because of it have seen pupil numbers increase and the waiting list lengthen over the last two years. I think a lot of that is down to the way we have coped, or even thrived, with the pandemic, not just through teaching, but with every aspect of Malvern life. When we were forced to move teaching online, we came up with innovative ways to keep some of the activities going that you would imagine we would have to cancel. For example, for outdoor pursuits we conducted an online course in mountain bike maintenance and set pupils home climbing challenges, and the cyclists, runners, skiers and kayaker created a Strava group to set challenges and targets. It might not seem much, but it is these touches which add to our pupils’ overall experience
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www.education-today.co.uk
October 2021
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