Hachette UK's reading programme 'significantly' improved children's reading skills

An analysis of Hachette UK’s Changing the Story Reading Programme with the National Literacy Trust shows "significant improvements" in reading skills and reading resilience among children.

Cumulative data from the first two years showed the percentage of pupils reading at the national average increased from half before taking part, to two in three after taking part. 

Moreover, the percentage of pupils who rated themselves as "very good" readers doubled and teachers observed that children showed greater resilience in their reading.

The researchers looked at data collected from 64 students in total, across two cohorts, who took a survey before starting the programme and one after they had completed it in 2022/2023. They also collected data from Hodder Education’s standardised reading test, Progress in Reading Assessment (PiRA), which provided them with participants’ reading age and standardised tests scores. Finally, they collected data from test scores of students who participated in the Changing the Story programme, as well as data from 10 teachers. 

The data collected from both pupils and teachers indicated that the percentage of children whose reading skills were below the national average for their age decreased from 48.9% at the start of the programme to 23% at the end. Meanwhile, the percentage of children who said they enjoyed reading "very much" doubled after taking part, from 21.9% to 46.9% and the percentage of children who said they didn’t enjoy reading at all decreased from 10.9% to 1.6%.

Nine out of 10 teachers said pupils showed greater resilience when it came to applying their phonics skills and decoding unfamiliar words. The same percentage of teachers agreed that the level of engagement with reading improved and that children are now more confident in their reading.

Hachette UK’s Changing the Story Reading Programme was created to tackle low levels of literacy and reading enjoyment among primary school children in the UK. Part of the publisher’s three-year partnership with the National Literacy Trust, the programme supports over 500 children in 15 primary schools where high numbers of children experience socioeconomic disadvantage.

The programme was designed around reading sessions using Hodder Education’s Reading Planet scheme, which "celebrates diversity and champions individuality through stories, characters and themes". Over 22,000 Reading Planet and Hachette Children’s Group books were donated to the participating schools along with free access to Reading Planet Online and to the National Literacy Trust’s resources and teacher training.

Martin Galway, head of school programmes at the National Literacy Trust, said: "In 2023, we recorded the lowest level of reading enjoyment since we started asking children and young people about this in 2005. Changing the Story offers a powerful response to some of the challenges that sit behind these shocking statistics."

A full evaluation of the report programme can be found here.