The curse of evidence

When I talk with schools about reading aloud more in lessons, based on the findings of the Just Read research, there are several barriers.

One is that when we read aloud it is enjoyable!

Another barrier when I talk about this is time: we don’t have time to read aloud more in lessons.

The third is the issue of evidence: we are inclined to think that if there isn’t something in pupil’s books, the lesson hasn’t happened!

In the rush to written outcomes, we short circuit what’s needed to get to great outcomes.

I think it’s no coincidence that the National Curriculum documents for English have these elements: speaking, listening, reading and then writing.

We can see what happened when the Nene Park Academy tried the ‘Just read’ in their school and similarly in the Gloucester Road Nursery and Primary school.

I think we need to focus on what works, and make sure we don’t do things just to produce evidence.