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Bringing children’s voices to the heart of our evaluation

  • Published: 27/01/2025

Authors  

  • Yaspia Salema, Lecturer in Education at UCL 
  • Hannah Gregory, Impact and Evaluation Manager at Bookmark* 
  • Julie Bennett, Evidence and Impact Manager at Chapter One 

At Bookmark Reading Charity and Chapter One, we share the vision of a world in which all children can read. We offer programmes that help children to read through one-to-one support with volunteers from corporate organisations and members of the wider community. 

We’ve long recognised a gap in how reading programmes are evaluated: the voices of children themselves are often overlooked. This recognition led us to collaborate with an independent consultant, Dr Yaspia Salema, whose expertise lies in developing child-friendly research tools that empower diverse young readers to share their views. Together we examined children’s reading attitudes and behaviours, and developed a creative approach which puts children at the heart of our evaluation process. 

In this piece we set the scene for our collaboration. We explore the concerning trends in children’s reading, consider the role of children’s reading attitudes and behaviours, and propose our approach to capturing children’s voices. 

Closing the reading gap: Why our work matters now

Many children in the UK are not reaching the expected standard in reading, and children who face disadvantages are less likely to meet the expected standard than their peers (1). 

Educational inequality grew during the pandemic when lower income families struggled to access online learning during lockdowns, lacking necessary devices and reliable internet at home. 

The difference in access to books, technology, and quiet spaces created vastly different learning experiences for children across socio-economic groups (2). 

More recently, the increasing number of children experiencing persistent poverty has heightened the educational disparity (3). The latest national data continues to evidence a striking gap in attainment: 62% of children facing disadvantage met the expected standard in reading last year, compared to 80% for their peers (4).

Children’s reading attitudes and behaviours are strongly linked to their reading attainment and are key to closing this gap (5). There are countless benefits to nurturing reading attitudes and behaviours from a young age. 

Importantly, they are associated with improved proficiency in reading and learning outcomes overall (6). Our programmes place an emphasis on promoting positive reading attitudes and behaviours in children for this reason. 

Children’s reading attitudes, behaviours and identity

We consider reading attitudes an emotional response children have towards reading, shown by whether they consider it a favourable activity or not (7). Reading attitudes, such as confidence, are based on a child’s perception of their own ability (8). That is, whether they see themselves as good’ or poor’ readers. This self-assessment shapes a child’s identity as a reader, and links to their reading behaviours – which are their actions and tendencies towards reading. 

Children’s perceptions of themselves as readers are dynamic, not fixed, so they can have multiple reader identities’ that shift depending on the interactions they have within their learning and home environments (9). We recognise children are influenced by where they are, and who they interact with.

Child reading a book. She has tied up black hair and is sitting at a desk reading.

Our approach to capturing children’s voices

Children’s reading attitudes, behaviours and identity are abstract concepts and can be challenging for children to understand. To make them more relatable we have chosen to connect them to real-life events from children’s experiences of reading on our programmes. 

The child-volunteer relationship is at the heart of our reading programmes and creates a reading experience for children that is distinct from other interventions. We believe the true impact of our programmes comes from the time children spend reading with their volunteers. Our technology and content create an interactive environment which nurtures a strong reading relationship. Our evaluation approach hinges on this bond. 

The data collection tools we have developed focus on asking children about their interactions with their reading volunteers: how often they read together, their level of engagement and the shared conversations they have about books. We use children’s responses to understand their reading attitudes and behaviours, without using abstract concepts that could be challenging for young children to comprehend. 

Putting it all together

We seek to address the alarming gap in reading attainment and improve children’s literacy through our volunteer-led, one-to-one reading programmes

Children’s reading attitudes and behaviours are key, but including children’s insights on them can be challenging. It is important that we understand the impact our programmes have on children’s reading with insight from children themselves. 

Our approach addresses this and brings children’s voices to the heart of our evaluation.

You can read more about the creative methods we developed to harness over at Chapter One, where part two of the blog is to come!

*Hannah Gregory held the role of Impact and Evaluation Manager for Lisa Constance who has now returned and is the key contact for this work. 

References

1 Department for Education (2024) Academic year 2023/​24: Key stage 2 attainment. 

2 Clark, C. and Picton, I. (2020) Children and young people’s reading in 2020 before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. National Literacy Trust. 

3 Hutchinson, J., Reader, M. and Akhal, A. (2020) Education in England: Annual Report 2020. Education Policy Institute. 

4​Department for Education (2024) Academic year 2023/​24: Key stage 2 attainment. 

5 McGeown, S.P., Johnston, R.S., Walker, J., Howatson, K., Stockburn, A. and Dufton, P. (2015) The relationship between young children’s enjoyment of learning to read, reading attitudes, confidence and attainment. Educational Research, 57(4), p.389 – 402

6 Cremin, T. & Scholes, L. (2024) Reading for pleasure: scrutinising the evidence base – benefits, tensions and recommendations. Language and Education, 38(4), p.537 – 559

7 McKenna, M.C., Conradi, K., Lawrence, C., Jang, B.G. and Meyer, J.P. (2012) Reading attitudes of middle school students: results of a US survey. Reading Research Quarterly, 47(3), p.283 – 306

8 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study International Report (PIRLS). 2006. Accessed September 20, 2013. http://​tims​sand​pirls​.bc​.edu/​p​i​r​l​s​2006​/​i​n​t​l​_​r​p​t​.html. Accessed 28th August 2024

9 McKenna, M.C., Conradi, K., Lawrence, C., Jang, B.G. and Meyer, J.P., 2012. Reading attitudes of middle school students: Results of a US survey. Reading research quarterly, 47(3), pp.283 – 306

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