Thursday, March 27, 2008
When did you last read a book, Miss?
A study by the UK Literacy Association just published reveals teachers have very clear preferences in their choice of reading material, in and out of school, and some big gaps too.
Whilst there have been regular studies revealing the reading patterns amongst children, Teachers reading habits both professionally and for leisure have rarely been recorded. This new study interviewed 1,200 primary teachers from 11 local authorities about their own reading habits and the material they select for use in the classroom.
In terms of leisure reading, 73% of teachers interviewed read for pleasure at least once a month with the figure rising to nearly 100% at least once every three months.
Clear preferences emerged regarding type of reading material, with 40% choosing popular fiction, only 6.5% having read any writing for children and less than 2.5% of teachers surveyed having read any poetry, plays or educational books in the last three months.
Interestingly, the teachers’ tastes in reading seemed to influence their own choices of reading material for the classroom. A similarly low figure of 3% had read poetry to their class, whilst 35% had read novels aloud to their children. This percentage almost exactly mirrors those of the teachers’ personal reading preferences.
When asked to identify good writers for children the majority of teachers named the same five or six very well known names with Roald Dahl the most frequently mentioned. When asked to name poets suitable for children 42% named two or less, and only 9% could name five or more poets.
The study clearly shows the range of books chosen for children by teachers in primary schools is severely limited arising from a lack of knowledge of a diverse range of writers in the teachers themselves. Poetry is particularly poorly represented, a result which concurs with the OFSTED’s Annual Report 2007, which identified lack of exposure to poetry as a key concern. The Literacy Association study concludes there is a poor representation of women in the texts used in English primary classrooms.
The target must now be to find ways to extend the scope and range of teacher’s knowledge and reading experience knowing that the link between that and children’s experiences in the classroom is explicit.
Maybe, next year teachers should get a World Book Day Voucher too.