Shared Practice: Supporting Reader Identities (April 2026 recording)

Children and young people’s understanding of what it means to be a reader are formed at a young age through their interactions with others at home and school (Bourne, 2002; Levy 2009). Through these interactions, they learn what counts as reading and what it means to be a reader. They experience the positive and negative outcomes (depending on how they are positioned) linked to different literacy identities. We know that school literacy practices strongly influence children’s developing reader identities.

We encourage all reading to be seen as ‘good reading’. In this webinar, the Scottish Book Trust team share practical and inspiring ways in which our programmes and resources can help support staff to nurture children and young people’s emerging and evolving reader identities. As well as sharing examples of good practice from Reading Schools, we also heard from three guest speakers:

Nadine Aisha Jassat is an award-winning poet and children's writer and the current Reading Schools ambassador for secondary schools. Becca McHugh is a pupil support worker at Knox Academy who helped Meadowpark Communication Provision gain Reading Schools accreditation, and Jacqueline Baird is the school librarian at Kirkintilloch High School. They share some of their insights from their wide-ranging experiences and top tips on how to integrate practical ideas into your setting to encourage all learners to see themselves as readers.

Webinar: Shared Practice: Supporting Reader Identities

Introduction and research insights (4mins 43s)

Liam from Scottish Book Trust gives an introduction to the research around children and teenagers’ understanding of what it means to be a reader, and discusses the importance of broadening conceptualisations of what a reader is.

All reading is good reading (10 mins 47secs)

Emily from Scottish Book Trust shares how giving children and young people access to a range of text types, as well as celebrating and spotlighting these in your practice, can help validate and nurture reader identities.

Guest speaker: Nadine Aisha Jassat (22mins 23secs)

Nadine Aisha Jassat, poet and children's writer and the current Reading Schools ambassador for secondary schools, talks about her experience writing verse novels and delivering creative poetry workshops. She encourages practitioners to take poetry off the page and talks about how creative play can support readers and writers. Finally, she introduces the new bookmarks she has been developing for Reading Schools, which provide a range of engaging reading and writing prompts(this will open in a new window).

Guest speaker: Becca McHugh (14mins 55s)

Becca McHugh is a pupil support worker at Knox Academy who helped lead Meadowpark Communication Provision through their Reading Schools accreditation. Becca talks about the challenges of supporting learners who have negative associations with reading, and shares how paired reading projects between her high school learners and the local primary school, as well as with elderly residents of a day centre, was an incredibly valuable experience for her learners. 

Guest speaker: Jacqueline Baird (21mins 55secs)

Jacqueline Baird is the school librarian at Kirkintilloch High. She talks about the interactive games and engaging activities she uses to help learners connect with texts and feel more comfortable and confident using the library, along with the powerful impact peer-to-peer support has had in her setting.

In practice examples from Reading Schools (9mins 41secs)

Liam and Emily share examples of fantastic practice from three Reading Schools, including unique social book groups, a Traitors book challenge and a comic suitcase!