Evidence from the OECD (2002) found that reading enjoyment is more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economical status and that reading for pleasure is more important for children’s cognitive development than their parents’ level of education.
The challenge of making sure that every child has the keys to unlock the pleasures of reading has become more complex across this last year of lockdowns. It is by no means insurmountable but, for some children, and particularly for those young learners who find reading a complex and difficult skill to master, it requires a flexible and personalised approach.
The solution lies, as is so often the case, in having the right people in the right place at the right time.
Three key components need to be in place:
1. Qualified Volunteers Needed
There are many recently retired reading recovery teachers, Early Years teachers and senior managers who understand the importance of ensuring all children learn to read fluently by the end of Y1 and who have the training and expertise to mentor those who are having difficulties. Those willing to work voluntarily, for several hours a week after school across a 10-12 week period, would submit their details to a register. This would work in a similar way to the recent pandemic scheme in which retired doctors and nurses volunteered to help with the vaccination roll-out.
2. Schools Know Best
State primary schools would compile a register of those pupils in Reception and Y! (and possibly in some instances Y2) who are slipping behind/experiencing difficulties in acquiring early reading skills and who would benefit from extra tuition outside the school day. It is important that this starts as soon as possible, ideally in the summer term running into the holiday, as this type of tuition is most effective across an intensive 10-12 week period. Detailed planning in consultation with the class teacher would ensure tuition is tailored to the needs of each child and designed to consolidate any particular skills not yet acquired. Learning to read combines intricate skills in phonetic knowledge, knowledge of grammatical structure and understanding of meaning and different children need different tuition support in one or more of these skills.
3. Matching Mentor to Child
Volunteer teachers on the register would be matched to a child/family in their area and would then liaise directly with the school to co-ordinate a tuition programme after school hours with their allocated pupils. The programme would ideally include 3 weekly sessions with the child in their home after school as well as an agreed number of timeslots each week to give online support to the parents/carers so that they are given the tools to work with their children on the days that the mentor isn’t with them.
Children who struggle initially with reading benefit from daily sessions, so the idea would be to provide this through a combination of teacher mentor and parent/carer. Across the 10-12 week period of mentoring, the teacher would be also up-skilling the parent to support their child’s reading progress so that, by the end of the tuition programme, the parent is able to continue this support.At the end of the 10-12 weeks, the teacher mentor would re-assess their child’s reading ability, complete the programme and ensure the parent/carer had the tools to continue support and to enjoy regular reading sessions with their child.
For so many reasons we need to read and it is the right of every child, pandemic or not, to learn at an early age to love reading – it will stay with them for life if they learn in the right way.
3007-11