Reading for pleasure is the key to lifelong learning. A school with a reading culture is one where reading is valued, modelled and talked about. A place where staff and students read and are encouraged to read for pleasure at school and at home.

flickr image from Carlos Porto

Reading for pleasure is the key to lifelong learning and one of the most effective ways to leverage positive social change in society. According to the OECD report Reading For Change (PDF 2.1MB), students who are more enthusiastic about and engaged in reading perform better in tests. It went on to say that being an enthusiastic and frequent reader is more of an advantage, on its own, than having well-educated parents in good jobs.

Research also shows that the more children read the more they keep reading, leading to improved vocabulary and verbal skills, general knowledge, language skills and ability to think and reason.

Read more about the importance of reading for pleasure in this report by the UK Education Standards Research Team, ESARD.

Creating a reading culture takes time, commitment from leadership and staff, collaboration between the school library team and staff and with family and whānau.

 The aim is to create a school where students:

• are encouraged to choose to read
• are surrounded by reading role models
• have access to as many reading experiences as possible.

A school wide reading culture
If you visited a school, what would you see that demonstrates a positive, active reading culture?

Boys and reading
Why in New Zealand, like in many other countries, do girls perform better in reading literacy than boys? Here we consider the issues around boys and reading.

Reading aloud
Reading aloud to children of all ages has far reaching benefits. Find out about the value and benefits of reading aloud, and suggested strategies and approaches for home and school.

Engaging teens with reading
There is ongoing discussion in education about teens not reading as they used to do. However, this is confused by different perceptions about what ‘reading’ means. In a digital world literacy for teens may mean they’re still reading (and writing), but just not always in the traditional ‘book’ way.