From national policy to classroom practice: Promoting reading for pleasure in post‐Primary English classrooms

Abstract

In 2011, a national strategy Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life was published in the Republic of Ireland. One key aspect of the strategy was that it placed a renewed focus on reading for pleasure in post‐primary classrooms. The researchers involved in this article worked for the Professional Development Service for Teachers, a national, government‐funded professional development organisation. In response to the strategy, the researchers worked with teachers from nine post‐primary schools across the Republic of Ireland. Through working closely with these English teachers, it was possible to identify assumptions that the teachers made around their students' reading in post‐primary education. This article considers and challenges some of these assumptions and demonstrates what happened when the teachers were invited to do the same. In the course of the research, questions were also raised about some of the recommendations made within the national strategy, recommendations which were themselves based on contestable assumptions, assumptions such as the fact that boys prefer to read non‐fiction. The need for national policy to be rooted in research was, therefore, also identified. Finally, through feedback from teachers and students involved in the research project, the authors of this article were able to devise a series of recommendations for schools seeking to focus on reading for pleasure in the post‐primary English classroom.