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Developing and Sustaining Reading for Pleasure (Primary) course

Endorsed by Education Scotland

Applications for the 2026–2027 Developing and Sustaining Reading for Pleasure (Primary) course are now open. Closing date: Friday 3 April 2026 at 23:59.

A national online programme for primary teachers aiming to enhance their professional knowledge and practice of reading for pleasure pedagogies to support children to become frequent regular readers. This course is run by Scottish Book Trust and is endorsed by Education Scotland. 

Participants will learn the essential pedagogical practices associated with developing and sustaining a reading for pleasure culture in the primary setting. They will gain the skills, knowledge and expertise to lead on the enactment of this, tailored to the needs of the pupils in their own unique context.

They will learn the key principles of:

They will also simultaneously deepen and enrich their own knowledge of contemporary texts for children.

Explore practitioner enquiry posters from this year's participants

Read our evaluation report for the 2024/25 course

Duration

The programme will be delivered online and offered once. It runs from September 2026 until June 2027, beginning with a pre-programme survey and some pre-reading, then an online launch session in September.

Participants then undertake a series of online Professional Learning Activities, progressing through supported self-led units on our online platform between September and January.

There will then be a live online session in January 2027 on undertaking a practitioner enquiry and a final live online ‘Sharing the Learning’ session in June 2027 to share the resulting enquiries with the Scottish Book Trust team and a selection of their co-participants.

Cost

£190.00. ​ Payment can be made by an individual, school or Local Authority, if your course application is successful. Payment must be made in full before the schools break up for summer. Payment can be split into three payments if paying as an individual and if required​.

Money generated from the course will be used to support our programmes and outreach work designed to support a love of reading in children, families and adults through all life stages. The money will help deliver more life-changing work.

Who can apply?

Applicants must:

  • Have full GTCS registration 

  • Be currently employed as a primary school teacher or hold a promoted post in Education within a Local Authority setting in Scotland 

  • Have discussed and agreed participation in this course with your head of establishment/local authority. NB: Written agreement is required – a form will be emailed to you to share with them once we have received your application. If you haven't received this within 2 weeks, please contact us at [email protected].

  • Agree to return our evaluation survey within two weeks of your final session 

  • Read and agree to our privacy statement

Equal opportunity and diversity monitoring form

This is a voluntary monitoring section of the application form and any information you share with us will be used for monitoring purposes only so Scottish Book Trust can evaluate how well we are doing in the elimination of discrimination and advancing equality.

The Equality Act 2010 requires equal treatment regardless of age, disability, gender re-assignment, marriage or civil partnership, maternity or pregnancy, race, religion or belief, gender and sexual orientation.

If you would rather not disclose any of the information, please select the ‘I do not wish to disclose this information’ option for each.

How to apply

Applications for Developing and Sustaining Reading for Pleasure (Primary) are completed through our online form. You can also use the Word document at the bottom of the page to prepare your answers before filling in the online form.

Click here to apply for the 2026–2027 Developing and Sustaining Reading for Pleasure (Primary) course

Entry to this course is highly competitive and the application process is rigorous.

We follow a three-stage process:

Stage 1

We will check applicants’ information to ensure they meet our eligibility criteria. Eligible candidates’ applications will move forward to the next stage.

Stage 2

We review eligible applications and award points against the following criteria, in no particular order:

The highest-scoring candidates’ applications will move forward to the next stage.

Stage 3

At this stage, personal statements will go to panel where they will be read, discussed and judged accordingly. We will be looking for full answers to the questions so please include as much detail as possible. Content suspected to be AI-generated will not be accepted.

Applicants will be informed of the result of their application by 24 April.

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