Last week, Australia Reads was pleased to be at the AATE/ALEA 2024 Literacy Educators Conference in Adelaide, talking about the joys and benefits of reading for pleasure.
Over three days, we gained an insight into the latest conversations and learnings around the teaching of reading in Australian primary and secondary schools, and spoke with educators around the country about what resources and research they need to help build a reading culture in their workplaces and communities.
Of particular interest were the learnings shared by the conference’s keynote speaker, Professor Teresa Cremin, a respected thought leader on reading for pleasure and Professor of Education (Literacy) at The Open University, around practices of encouraging reading for pleasure, and building a reading community in schools.
Australia Reads representative, Anna Burkey, also joined a lively and informative discussion with author and educator, Karen Yager, Nicola Evans and Jenny Ryan from the Copyright Agency’s Reading Australia, and Jemma Myors from HarperCollins Australia, on how to better support student’s reading of Australian texts in classrooms.
Key takeaways from the conference include:
Encourage the social experience of reading
In order to build an effective reading culture in our schools, Prof. Cremin emphasised we need to move away from seeing reading as a solitary, individual pursuit, to a social, collective experience. Where possible, we need to make opportunities for “we” reading, over “me” reading, for students, teachers and parents.
This can be achieved in the school environment through reading aloud, shared reading between students, and regular ‘informal book chats’, where students can talk about books and reading in a relaxed, non-assessed setting. In order to encourage interactions and discussion between students, it’s helpful to have multiple copies of books available so that young people can read the same books concurrently.
Autonomy and choice are key
In order to support the development of children’s reader’s identities, it was agreed that we need to empower children to choose their own reading material. While assigned reading has an important role in the classroom and for skill development, student agency is key when it comes to developing positive and long-lasting habits around reading for pleasure.
This message was consistent with existing research which shows that when children choose their own reading material, they are more likely to finish a book, and to enjoy it! Data from Scholastic (2019) showed that 89% of children (age 6-17) agree their favourite books are the ones that they have picked out themselves.
Get teacher’s reading contemporary and diverse books
For schools to develop a reading culture, it is important for teachers to be actively engaged in reading for pleasure too. Teachers are encouraged to move beyond the childhood classics, and embrace reading material that is contemporary and diverse.
A broader knowledge of both children’s and adult’s literature enables teachers to more effectively and authentically recommend books to young people, and also expands their own sense of themselves as readers – which can translate into positive role modelling for students.
As author and educator Karen Yager emphasised, it’s important to engage with your colleagues across the school about books and reading – not just fellow English teachers!
Prof. Cremin spoke about the success of Teacher’s Reading Groups in the UK, as a place for English teachers to connect with their broader faculty, as well as connecting with educators from other schools through books and reading.
Reading resources and research are appreciated
From our conversations with Australian school teachers and librarians, a number of resources and research areas were identified as potentially supporting their work building a reading culture in schools. Educators were interested in practical examples of effective reading programs and in-class activities for young people, the collection of data and national targets on reading, and further research on student’s attitudes and behaviours around reading.
This need was reflected in the enthusiasm and support for high quality resources provided by organisations such as the Copyright Agency’s Reading Australia website, as well as from organisations such as Story Box Library and the Story Factory.
Jemma Myors from HarperCollins also emphasised that publishers were eager to hear from teachers what resources would be helpful to support the teaching of Australian books in classrooms.
The 2025 ATEE/ALEA National Conference will be held between 3-6 July in Hobart, Tasmania.