When children in the early years recognise themselves in the books they read, the positive impact can be profound, as the Power of Reading research project showed…
At the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) we do the work we do because we believe – and the research shows us – that being literate has the potential to be life-changing.
The research also shows us that if you are a literate child who reads for pleasure then this has more impact on your future life chances than any other factor.
In September 2023, we published our findings on a three-year research project, The Power of Reading in the Early Years. This was in partnership with the Imagination Library UK.
We designed the project to improve children’s early language and literacy development by providing access to quality texts and opportunities for book sharing, at home and in the classroom.
We involved almost 1,500 nursery and Reception children across Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Camden in the project. These are three of the most ethnically diverse areas of London and the UK. Many of these children were educationally vulnerable or experiencing disadvantage.
By the end of the project, the impact was clear. The attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers was smaller in project schools compared to all pupils within the local area.
Double the number of Reception children were now working at or above age-related expectations in communication and language, reading and writing compared to the start of the year.
More than double the number of children demonstrated positive engagement in and attitudes towards reading.
A key theme that arose throughout the project was that of the power of social reading experiences and the wide-ranging benefits these can have for children’s engagement and development in language and literacy and in building their identity as readers and as writers.
Of course, to shape a strong reader and writer identity at a young age, children must make a connection with the reading material we introduce to them.
This includes seeing themselves and their lived experiences reflected in the characters and story worlds they encounter.
Since CLPE’s Reflecting Realities annual survey of children’s literature in the UK began in 2017, there has been a notable increase in representative titles available for children.
What this means is that we can all now choose books for our classrooms that include characters of colour in settings that are familiar to all our children and in stories with universal human themes.
We gifted project teachers a set of such books. This was alongside CLPE’s Power of Reading planning and training. This enabled teachers to share the books in inspiring and interesting ways with the children.
So, what have we learned about the power of reading representative texts with children? What difference can it really make?
Across project classrooms, young children were seen to be more likely to pick up a book independently or become more deeply involved in book talk as a group, if it was centred around a strong and relatable human theme.
This allowed teachers to choose books to support children’s self-regulation and wellbeing during milestones such as transition, or to develop a range of personal, social and emotional skills, particularly post-pandemic, which teachers considered an educational priority.
Notably, very young children were demonstrating increased empathy and inferential understanding of character behaviour because they were supported to relate it to their own experience.
The books chosen for the class pack were centred around human themes that were universally appealing to EYFS children.
When also featuring high-quality ethnic representation, it had a profound effect on some children.
When teachers in the first year of the project used such a book to support a sustained sequence of work, children were both delighted and surprised to see a protagonist that looked like them and became deeply invested in the character and the story world they inhabited.
In turn, they became more animated and eager to contribute during book talk.
By the second and third years of the project, teaching teams were actively choosing such texts to support their curriculum and planning ways to build on these encouraging responses.
Children enjoyed being able to recognise aspects of a character’s life in quality depictions, while still relating to universal themes.
This allowed more children to have a voice within literacy sessions. It also enabled teachers to assess children’s existing vocabulary knowledge and strengthen communication and language development by building on their enthused and knowledgeable starting points.
These were the books that were frequently revisited, often becoming firm favourites.
The project also showed that teachers need a sound knowledge of contemporary, quality children’s literature to be able to create a diverse and representative classroom book stock.
One project teacher commented: “I have been interested to go through our core texts for the year and unpick whose stories we are telling, and which pupils in the class we may, or may not, be representing in our stories.
“I realised that often the central characters in the stories I use as my core teaching texts feature animals or fictional characters as their main protagonist.
“I began to think about what a missed opportunity this was in helping our children to relate to texts personally and see themselves in books.”
When children do see themselves and their lived experiences reflected in the books they read, it promotes inclusion and encourages more children to engage in reading and in literate acts.
In this way, we can ensure that all children are engaging deeply with high-quality books throughout their journey to becoming literate.
Stories to explore in depth
Stories to support reading & writing
Poetry, rhyme & song to share
Non-fiction linked to interests
Anjali Patel is lead advisory teacher At CLPE. Find out about CLPE’s Power of Reading training and membership.
