TEY 13.2

ANJALI PATEL IS LEAD ADVISORY TEACHER AT CLPE When children in the early years recognise themselves in the books they read, the positive impact can be profound, as Anjali Patel explains… The power of relatable texts A t the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) we do the work we do because we believe – and the research shows us – that being literate has the potential to be life changing. The research also shows us that if you are a literate child who reads for pleasure then this has more impact on your future life chances than any other factor. In September 2023, we published our findings on a three-year research project, The Power of Reading in the Early Years , in partnership with the Imagination Library UK, designed to improve children’s early language and literacy development by providing access to quality texts and opportunities for book sharing, at home and in the classroom. Almost 1,500 nursery and Reception children across Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Camden – three of the most ethnically diverse areas of London and the UK – were involved in the project. Many of these children were educationally vulnerable or experiencing disadvantage. By the end of the project, the impact was clear: The attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers was smaller in project schools compared to all pupils within the local area. Double the number of Reception children were now working at or above age-related expectations in communication and language, reading and writing compared to the start of the year. More than double the number of children demonstrated positive engagement in and attitudes towards reading. Since CLPE’s Reflecting Realities annual survey of children’s literature in the UK began in 2017, there has been a notable increase in representative titles available for children. What this means is that we can all now choose books for our classrooms that include characters of colour in settings that are familiar to all our children and in stories with universal human themes. Project teachers were gifted a set of such books, alongside CLPE’s Power of Reading planning and training, to enable them to be shared in inspiring and interesting ways with the children. So, what have we learned about the power of reading representative texts with children? What difference can it really make? RELATABLE THEMES BOOST ENGAGEMENT Across project classrooms, young children were seen to be more likely to pick up a book independently or become more deeply involved in book talk as a group, if it was centred around a strong and relatable human theme. This allowed teachers to choose books to support children’s self-regulation and wellbeing during milestones such as transition, or to develop a range of A key theme that arose throughout the project was that of the power of social reading experiences and the wide-ranging benefits these can have for children’s engagement and development in language and literacy and in building their identity as readers and as writers. Of course, to shape a strong reader and writer identity at a young age, children must make a connection with the reading material we introduce to them. This includes seeing themselves and their lived experiences reflected in the characters and story worlds they encounter. 50 Teachearlyyears.com