KELLY ASHLEY, Lecturer in Reading for Pleasure, The Open University, UK
TERESA CREMIN, Professor of Education (Literacy) and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre, The Open University, UK
ALISON KING, Librarian, Literacy Lead and PSHE Coordinator, Kings Monkton School, Cardiff, UK
SUSAN LATTER, Lead Teacher, Crofton School, Hampshire, UK
Adolescent reading lives are shaped by a complex interplay of autonomy, identity, belonging and the socio-cultural norms surrounding reading (Boyask et al., 2023; Ivey and Johnston, 2023). While secondary schools recognise that reading skill contributes to academic attainment, they tend to pay less attention to the motivation to read and the influence of structural, instructional and relational conditions (Neugebauer and Gilmour, 2020). Evidence suggests that the transition from reading for school to reading for oneself depends on opportunities to exercise choice, encounter personally relevant texts and participate in meaningful conversations about them (Ivey and Johnston, 2023; Cremin et al., 2026).
This case study explores how two schools – Crofton School in Hampshire (a secondary school with approximately 1,190 pupils) and Kings Monkton School in Cardiff (a through school with approximately 295 pupils) – developed evidence-informed pedagogies to cultivate autonomy and agency among their adolescent readers. Both schools, through participation in the Open University’s (OU) Key Stage 3 Reading Schools Programme, sought to reposition reading as a socially connected, personally meaningful practice rather than a discrete literacy task. Drawing on OU research into reader identity, reading communities and reading for pleasure (RfP) pedagogy (Cremin et al., 2014, 2026), we consider how each school expanded opportunities for choice-led reading, fostered dialogic encounters and developed the relational conditions in which young people’s reading lives could (and did) flourish.
Starting points and challenges
The schools each had different starting points. At Kings Monkton, librarian Alison King noted that Key Stage 3 students (aged 11 to 14) routinely selected texts that they felt they ‘should’ read – classics, lengthy novels or books perceived as academically prestigious – rather than those aligned with their interests or confidence. Students were ‘so used to being told what to read’ and ‘choice in the library was simply overwhelming’. In this case, choice existed but was constrained by internalised expectations about what ‘counts’ as appropriate reading.
At Crofton, lead teacher Susan Latter observed a marked decline in book talk, reading confidence and engagement among Key Stage 3 pupils. Staff were unsure about how to recommend texts in ways that resonated with students’ lived experiences and interests, and many relied on nostalgic favourites or prescribed lists. Students often chose narrow or familiar options, appearing hesitant to articulate preferences or take risks with unfamiliar genres. Autonomy had, over time, become muted.
Despite these differing challenges, both schools converged on a shared principle: adolescents’ agency as readers grows when adults listen closely, notice what matters to young people and create time and space in which for them to shape their own reading lives.
Finding 1: Knowing readers – professional noticing and responsive pedagogy
Both schools placed renewed emphasis on tuning into Key Stage 3 students’ reading histories, anxieties, preferences and aspirations. At Kings Monkton, the introduction of OU RfP professional noticing routines (notice, document, reflect, act) encouraged staff to observe reading behaviours across communal spaces, including corridors, the yard and classrooms. Alison explains that these regular routines helped teachers to ‘remain alert to and aware of reading and interactions based around books’. Everyday encounters became visible and intentional rather than incidental.
At Crofton, baseline data revealed that 70 per cent of the 97 Key Stage 3 staff surveyed were not regularly seeking reading materials for students, and 59 per cent rarely engaged in informal book chat. In response, the school implemented professional development focused on widening staff knowledge of young adult texts, and encouraged all teachers to share their reading identities. This visible modelling generated what Susan described as a ‘buzz around books’, signalling that reading belonged across the school and not solely in English classrooms, and reflecting professional learning that strengthened teachers’ confidence in recommending texts.
As staff knowledge of texts and readers deepened in both schools, recommendations became more tailored and appropriately tuned. Students described this personalised attention as motivating. One Kings Monkton pupil explained that ‘each [recommendation] leads to another new book… and you never know where you’re going to end up’. Research suggests that when teachers know learners well and recommend texts responsively, students are more likely to read volitionally (Ivey and Johnston, 2023).
Finding 2: Dialogic encounters – informal book talk and conversational reading cultures
In both schools, informal book talk emerged as a driver of engagement, social connection and reader identity development. At Kings Monkton, fortnightly blethering sessions during library lessons, combining spontaneous discussion, read-alouds and shared recommendations, positioned students as equal contributors. Alison described these opportunities as ‘open, reciprocal exchanges about books, reading and identity’. Students enjoyed hearing excerpts from unfamiliar texts, with one Year 8 pupil reflecting: ‘I like hearing chapters from stories I never would have picked up myself.’
At Crofton, informal book chat was deliberately woven into Key Stage 3 tutor time, hallway interactions and brief classroom moments. This low-stakes, multi-positional approach created different entry points for reluctant or uncertain readers, which Susan perceived prompted spontaneous conversations about the students’ self-chosen texts that fed forwards, nurturing more positive communal dispositions towards reading.
Over the year, Crofton staff who initially felt hesitant about involvement in the RfP culture reported that reading conversations had become ‘energising’, ‘comforting’ and ‘fun’. At Kings Monkton, book talk spread beyond the library and staff observed similar shifts, noting its occurrence ‘in the canteen, the yard… on school transport’. These widening peer–adult interactions and networks helped to normalise reading as a social practice, which, research indicates, can strengthen reader identity (Hall, 2012; Boyask et al., 2023).
Finding 3: Autonomy in action – choice-led reading, self-selection and agency
The final theme concerns autonomy: students choosing texts that speak to their identities, interests and reading goals. Research indicates that when texts are well aligned and accessible, students are more motivated to read and persist with them (McGeown et al., 2020). Across both schools, autonomy needed explicit modelling, scaffoldingProgressively introducing students to new concepts to support their learning and legitimisation, as some pupils felt pressure to demonstrate academic ‘seriousness’ and selected books that they did not actually read, as in a study by Watson et al. (2022).
At Kings Monkton, by modelling and ‘blethering’ about a broader range of texts (such as graphic novels, verse novels, illustrated narratives), long-standing norms around ‘respectable’ reading were disrupted (Neugebauer and Gilmour, 2020). Borrowing behaviours shifted markedly, from superficial, short-term library loan patterns to more sustained engagement. As staff and peers offered more responsive recommendations, students borrowed, read and returned books in more purposeful, extended cycles. Alison described earlier borrowing as ‘patchy’, with students reading a title every half-term or simply abandoning books after a few days. By the end of the programme, sequences of intentional borrowing – rather than isolated transactions – had become the norm, signalling deeper engagement and ownership. Such shifts reflect findings from research that autonomy develops when students feel trusted to drive their own reading journeys (Ivey and Johnston, 2023).
At Crofton, choice was similarly foregrounded through the accessibility of contemporary, diverse collections. Tutor time reading was reimagined to include shared read-alouds selected by students, including short stories, picture fiction and contemporary titles. Students described these sessions as ‘fun’, ‘comfortable’ and ‘inviting’, suggesting that autonomy emerged not only from choice itself but also from recognition of reader identity. By the end of the programme, Key Stage 3 pupils were actively shaping the tutor time reading offer, asking for greater choice and initiating discussions about why certain texts resonated with them, a reflection of the change from compliance to pupil-led curation.
Conclusion and implications
Taken together, these case studies demonstrate that autonomy in secondary reading cultures is not a standalone construct but a relational and dialogic process. Agency develops when students feel known, experience low-stakes reading conversations, encounter a broader range of relevant texts and have opportunities to co-create reading spaces and practices (Boyask et al., 2023; Cremin et al., 2026). Across both schools, autonomy grew through reciprocal cycles of conversation and choice, consistent with research showing that motivation rises when adolescents experience control, social belonging and relevance in reading (Neugebauer and Gilmour, 2020).
Concrete behavioural shifts strengthened these findings. At Kings Monkton, borrowing patterns moved from canonical, high-profile traditional authors towards more diverse and contemporary titles. At Crofton, students increasingly directed tutor time reading and initiated discussions about text selection. End-of-programme surveys at both schools specifically evidenced growing staff confidence to recommend texts, more peer-to-peer interaction and positive reader dispositions. Kings Monkton students requested that library time blethering sessions continue into Year 10, while Crofton staff reported a marked increase in informal book talk across school.
Overall, these case studies show that when schools move beyond compliance-based models and prioritise responsive, relational pedagogies, students begin to encounter reading differently – not as an obligation but as a choice.
Across both schools, the combination of professional attention to knowing readers, the development of dialogic encounters around texts and structured opportunities for autonomy in action helped to create conditions in which adolescents engaged more confidently, socially and volitionally with reading.
