Why do the Teachers’ Reading Challenge?
We have all heard about the crisis in children’s reading, with engagement and enjoyment at an all-time low (NLT, National Literacy Survey 2025) However, we believe that by working together, as educators, parents and organisations dedicated to unlocking the power of reading, we can turn this around.
The Open University’s research reveals that teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature and other texts is essential for developing a rich reading curriculum, and when combined with the four-fold reading for pleasure (RfP) pedagogy, effectively nurtures the reading habit in young people (Cremin et al, 2014). It is the cornerstone on which interactive communities of readers are built.
Modelled on The Reading Agency's popular Summer Reading Challenge, which is run annually to motivate more children to read during the break from school, the Teachers' Reading Challenge invites you to develop your repertoire of children’s books and discover ways to inspire reading for pleasure in your school or library.
Reading by choice is the single biggest indicator of a child’s opportunity and future success; it can mediate socio-economic background and may help address endemic inequalities. (OECD, 2002, 2021).
Children who read are more likely to succeed in school and read more often, having a positive impact on vital reading skills, mental wellbeing, self-confidence and learning (Sullivan and Brown, 2013; Sun, et al., 2023). By taking part in the challenge, you can help more children choose to read, by:
- Develop your reading repertoire of children’s texts
- Enrich your capacity to foster a love of reading
- Enhance your reflection on the nature of reading and being a reader