Shared Reading

The shared reading part of the Scottish Children’s Book Awards encourages less able 9-11-year-old readers to read the three picture books in the Bookbug Readers category to 5-7 year olds, and both age groups vote for their favourite books.

The secret of the shared reading project is that, although the picture books the older kids read to younger ones are really intended for younger children, our readers didn’t feel patronised by them as the purpose was to read and find out the views of their younger peers.

Scottish Book Trust were able to support 15 local authorities over the last three years to run shared reading projects in ten schools in each authority. Many of the schools who took part in the project are still running shared reading in connection with the Scottish Children’s Book Awards.

Official, independent research into the programme highlighted the improvement in attitude and confidence in reading, particularly for less able readers:

“I don’t normally enjoy reading, but I really enjoyed this!” P6 pupil, Falkirk.

Why try shared reading?

• Builds confidence, motivation, enjoyment and enthusiasm of more reluctant P6/7 readers: although the reading material is of a younger reading age than material for their age group, pupils don’t feel patronised by it as the purpose is to read and find out the views of their younger peers: “Children really enjoyed reading and sharing books with younger children in P2. It was a great boost to their confidence, fluency and self esteem.” Lois Cassidy, Slammanan Primary School, Falkirk
• It’s pupil-driven: often we find even after the project has finished older pupils are still very keen to read to the younger ones, and the younger ones are still keen to be read to
• Helps you fulfill the curriculum for excellence: link
• Links secondaries to primaries in their cluster: where secondary/primary pairing takes place, pupils build good links with their feeder schools
• Builds trust and respect between pupils

• Official research based on the experiences of the children and teachers at 10 Falkirk schools who took part in 2008 highlights the many further benefits of being involved in the shared reading scheme and is available to download here.

We are delighted that so many schools recognise the impact a shared reading project can have on their pupils. If you would like to find out more, or to ask any further questions, please contact the Scottish Book Trust children’s team, scottishchildrensbookawards@scottishbooktrust.com.