Fostering Reading for Life: The Importance of Reading at Secondary School 

Reading is crucial. Every child and young person must leave school able to read proficiently, for both pleasure and purpose. However, we have a long way to go for this to happen, particularly in light of the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students’ outcomes.   

The picture for reading is concerning, particularly at secondary level. England’s average score in reading for PISA 2022 was significantly below the average score in 2018. Research from the National Literacy Trust has shown that less than 35% of children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they enjoyed reading in their free time in 2024, that’s a decrease of 8.8 points in a single year. From an adult perspective, The Reading Agency’s State of the Nation’s Adult Reading report showed that in 2024, half of all adults did not read for pleasure, with over 1 in 10 people (around 5.9 million people) finding reading difficult.  

We know that being a non-reader can have a huge impact. Boyes et al (2016) found that children with reading difficulties are at greater risk of developing mental health problems later in life. Billington (2015) also reported that “Non-readers tend to get more depressed than readers with non-readers being 28% more likely to report feelings of depression.” The negative effects do not just impact mental health. If you are functionally illiterate, you are also more likely to be incarcerated, with approximately 57% of inmates having reading skills below that of an 11 year old. 

Aside from the negative impacts of not being able to read fluently, there are myriad positive impacts to being able to read and enjoy reading too. The Reading Agency’s report found that there is a significant link between life satisfaction and reading, with their research also finding that reading leads to improved mental health and wellbeing, sleep, concentration, creativity and much more. 

So, what can we do to ensure all children become proficient, confident readers who want to read as adults? Much of the current discourse around reading is focused on the EYFS and Primary phases. The early steps of learning to read and decode are of course, crucial, as are the beginnings of building understanding and the cultivation of reading enjoyment, but none of this ends on the last day of Year 6. In order to become really fluent readers, students have to continue to build fluency, make meaning and strengthen their enjoyment of reading throughout their time at Secondary school. So, how can we continue students’ reading journeys successfully, and support all students to become fully fluent readers? 

Building a Reading Culture

We know that reading is important  – not just from an academic standpoint but also in many other ways. Rather than accepting this fact quietly, we need to shout it from the rooftops! Think about your school right now – does it shout that reading is important? Would your students, staff, parents and community know it is important to you? If you’re having to think about it, the answer may be that while it might be important to you, it isn’t necessarily as visible as you need it to be. Just a few things to consider might be: 

• Role models – Do the students see staff reading? Are references made to books, texts and reading throughout the school day? Is your headteacher also your ‘head reader’? Have you set up a whole school recommendations strategy? Do students read with other students? 

• Time – How much time is devoted to reading? What about the split between reading for purpose and specifically just reading for pleasure? How often do staff read aloud to students for pleasure? 

• Spaces and places – Where does reading happen? Is it encouraged at lunchtimes and breaktimes? Are books used in assemblies and other communal events? How well is the library utilised? Are displays about reading changed regularly? 

• Celebrations and activities – How is reading celebrated? Do students go on visits linked to reading? Are authors, poets, illustrators and playwrights invited into school?  

Building a reading culture is the first step in getting all students to become great readers, because the key is getting everybody reading. If you can do that, just by promoting reading, you’re halfway there. 

Reading Right Across the Curriculum

Too often, reading is boxed off into English, but reading is pervasive across life and so it needs to pervade our curriculum too. Having a reading strategy for the whole school is crucial, so that reading is seen as everybody’s job to promote, not just the English department’s. The EEF’s Guidance Report – Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools gives some key pointers when considering how to prioritise disciplinary literacy by: 

• Auditing existing literacy practices, attitudes, and resources in school 

• Creating subject specific literacy plans, rooted in the discipline, that address barriers to accessing the curriculum related to reading;  

• Supporting teachers to define effective reading in their subjects; for example, history teachers might discuss what reading strategies are deployed by historians to appraise historical sources;  

• Evaluating the quality and complexity of existing reading materials in school, assessing the degree of academic challenge such texts pose to our secondary school students as they progress through school; relating this to baseline data of students’ reading ability, and;  

• Ensuring that the development of disciplinary literacy is coherently aligned with curriculum development. 

You could consider appointing a reading champion for each subject, who can guide and implement key reading strategies that are appropriate to that specific subject, liaising with the Reading Lead and subject teams to get the most out of reading. By planning in reading opportunities into every subject, and indeed every lesson, we can give students the chance to practise and gain confidence in reading for meaning, as well as gain new vocabulary, knowledge and skills to support the subject they are engaging in. 

Teaching the Thinking Behind Reading

The thinking behind reading also needs careful consideration, particularly when students are engaging in academic reading. Reading strategies and close reading need to be explicitly taught and modelled, with students given the chance to practice reading in different subjects. They need to become strategic, active readers, using these skills to comprehend and make meaning from any text they read, whether that is for pleasure or a particular purpose.  

Consider how reading is taught in your setting currently. Are strategies taught explicitly and modelled by staff? Are students given the chance to practise and apply their reading in different contexts using different texts? Are strategies explored in different subjects and the nuances of applying the strategies unpicked with students? 

Not Forgetting About Fluency

In most secondary schools, over a quarter of new Year 7s will arrive not having reached the expected standard in Year 6 Reading. Whilst this does not automatically mean they aren’t fluent readers, it does point to those students needing support to continue to build their fluency further. Indeed, some may still struggle to decode, and be in need of a clear Phonics intervention. The Department for Education’s Reading Framework is clear that older students learning to read and needing support to decode must be taught Phonics and access phonically decodable books appropriate to their age and phonics knowledge. This is in addition to listening to and engaging with the texts that their peers are reading. For students whose fluency or comprehension need support, they will require specific intervention to catch up with their peers too. For those students who are finding fluency challenging, considering a specific fluency-focused intervention is key, such as those constructed by Tim Rasinski in The Megabook of Fluency. 

OFSTED’s 2022 research ‘Now the Whole School is Reading’ outlined that schools who were successful at supporting struggling readers had: 

• Senior leaders who prioritised reading by investing in additional, bespoke help for struggling readers and training for staff who taught reading 

• Teachers who could accurately identify gaps in pupils’ reading knowledge 

• Staff who had expertise in teaching weaker readers 

• Clear procedures in place to monitor this teaching and its impact on struggling readers 

All of this is excellent practice. However, it’s also important not to rest on our laurels with reading fluency more generally. As texts and concepts become harder, there is a risk that some students, who were previously not at risk, will fall behind because of their fluency. Planning in regular opportunities to read, in all subjects, is crucial, perhaps building in chances to engage in modelled reading, echo reading and choral reading to provide further practice. Fluency can often be forgotten once students can decode, but we have to continue to support it, if we want all students to engage fully with reading. 

Consider fluency in your setting – is it prioritised? Would staff feel confident modelling fluency and explicitly teaching fluency through echo and choral reading? Do students who need support for fluency get it? 

The One Education Reading Award for Secondary Schools

Having a strong and purposeful Reading curriculum is crucial to education at secondary level. By developing students reading, both for purpose and pleasure, we can give them the very best chance to succeed, both at school and beyond. Following the success of our Reading Award with primary schools, SEND schools and Alternative Provision settings, we have now developed our Secondary Reading Award. 

The One Education Secondary Reading Award is a Reading quality standard for secondary schools and settings. It is the only Reading quality mark which focuses on the full Reading curriculum offered by schools. Whether you want to improve your Reading offer or celebrate your achievements, the One Education Reading Award offers a straightforward process designed to support your individual needs. 

At the heart of the Secondary Reading Award is our research-based criteria document which guides schools to develop their Reading provision. Our approach is split into three areas: Reading for Fluency; Reading for Meaning and Reading for Enjoyment. These three elements of Reading are broken down into key objectives, making next steps clear to schools completing the award. 

For more information on the One Education Reading Award, please visit our website or watch our free webinar below, which offers an introduction to the award alongside top tips to support reading in your school.

Introduction to the Reading Award

If you would like to discuss how the One Education Reading Award could support your school’s development, please email Laura.Buczko@oneeducation.co.uk.