Launch of video on impact of the ‘Faster Read’ pedagogy

Innovated at Sussex a decade after the original research: Julia Sutherland (PI) and Jo Westbrook

A video has just been launched to support teachers interested in adopting the ‘Faster Read’ approach to reading with students in mainstream secondary, primary or specialist and alternative-provision schools in the UK. Being a successful reader is a key contributor to students’ cross-curricula academic attainment, progression to HE/employment and life chances. However, international reading assessments in OECD countries (PISA, 2023) indicate that a fifth of adolescents have inadequate reading literacy, reinforced by studies from the global south where the percentage is even higher at between 40-45% (Delprato & Shepard, 2023).

The ‘Faster Read’ (FR) pedagogy aims to develop the reading comprehension, interpretation and engagement of students, including ‘struggling readers’. It combines immersive, whole-text reading of culturally engaging novels, dialogic class and peer talk, and reading strategies,  with teachers explicitly engaged with theories of reading. Post-Covid, its relevance has intensified, with ‘lockdown’ reading and learning losses widening for students from disadvantaged contexts.

The original, interdisciplinary research was conducted in Southern England in 2014-15 at the University of Sussex by colleagues in Education, Dr Julia Sutherland (PI), Prof. Jo Westbrook and Psychology, Prof. Jane Oakhill (Sutherland et al, 2023; Westbrook et al, 2019) from CIE/CTLR research centres. The quasi-experimental, mixed-method study included 413 students of 12-13 years, primarily in ‘low-attaining’ classes and their 20 English teachers, in diverse schools, including areas of poverty. ‘Struggling readers’ (defined as having a reading age 1+ year lower than their chronological age) made, on average, 16 months’ progress in reading comprehension in 12 weeks, measured by standardised tests. Qualitative data showed that students’ reading engagement, use of reading strategies and quality of dialogic peer discussion of texts greatly improved, with some reported impacts on writing, school engagement and attendance.

Follow-up impact studies (2017, 2022) have shown that the Faster Read approach has spread to 200+ schools in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and their English Departments, becoming embedded in schools and transforming teachers’ understanding and practice. An estimated 40,000 students have experienced this pedagogy so far and a significant number of Initial-Teacher-Education courses include it in their reading curricula for beginning teachers.

In the video (link below), Julia Sutherland and Jo Westbrook describe the Faster Read pedagogy, with English teachers, Lauren Haywood, Emily Evans and Johnny Pearson explaining why it has radically transformed their practice and had such impact on their students’ reading levels and engagement with books.

Web version for online use

High Res Master for archive