This paper reports some of the key findings from an evaluation of Reading Quest, an early literacy intervention for 6 and 7 year olds, presenting findings relating to children’s confidence.

Reading Quest is an intensive one-to-one tutoring schemebased in Oxford (UK)for Year 2 pupils in disadvantaged areas who do not reach expected levels of literacy. The intervention is based on Marie Clay’s Reading Recovery model (Clay, 2007) which comprises daily half-hour lessons with a trained teacher for between 12 and 20 weeks. Reading Quest’s support is less intensive and comprises three one-to-one half-hour sessions per week over a period of six weeks, from tutors with a range of experiences (and who are not necessarily trained teachers). Tutors also provide a weekly Family Library in Reading Quest schools, where parents are invited to come and discuss their child’s reading and borrow books and games to share with their children at home. The less intensive nature of the intervention means that fewer resources, such as tutor time, are needed andpotentiallymore children can receive the intervention in a year.

Reading is often seen as the cornerstone of success in education in countries around the world: literacy competence gives us access to new information and those who can read well are more likely to succeed in school than those who do not. Reading skills at the point of entry to school are consistently associated with later levels of achievement (Duncan et al., 2007).Reading is often viewed as the foundation for success in education (Wise, 2009), so it is important to evaluate early intervention schemes such as Reading Quest.

Reading and self-confidence

Self-confidence in reading, and motivation to read are both important predictors of reading development (Cox and Guthrie, 2001; Katzir et al, 2009; Netten et al, 2011). In recent years this relationship has been shown to be reciprocal – self-confidence both supports and is supported by improvements in reading ability even for young children in the early years of primary school (eg Quirk et al, 2009). Similarly, a two-way relationship has been found between motivation to read and time spent reading, with each positively affecting the other (Guthrie and Wigfield, 2000).

Reading interventions can support the development of self-concept and confidence (e.g. Burroughs-Lange and Douetil, 2006; Miller et al, 2010;  Rumbough and Brown, 2000). However, this is not always the case: Miller et al (2012) found that a reading intervention for children with volunteer mentors in Ireland improved reading competence, but had no effect on reading confidence or enjoyment. It seems, then, that improved confidence in reading from one-to-one support is not a given, and the mechanisms which support confidence in reading need to be explored further.

The need for support for reading in England

A number of reports indicate that reading standards in England may not measure up well to those of other countries. For example in their comparative report of international reading standards for 10 year olds, Twist et al. (2012) conclude that in England in 2011, the strongest readers were among the best in the world, but there was a greater proportion of weaker readers than in many other high achieving countries. Ofsted (2011) has commented on the very marked underperformance of pupils from low-income families, suggesting that if overall standards in literacy are to improve, then there is an urgent need that they rise for this group of pupils in particular.

 This paper will focus on the reported impact of Reading Quest on children’s confidence in reading. The research question asks to what extent improvements in confidence are reported by tutors, teachers, parents and children. 

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