Description

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Did your school encourage a life-long love of reading?

Children who identify as readers are three times more likely to have good mental wellbeing. A reading culture that permeates a school can transform it into a space where reading is supported, encouraged, normalised and valued. Creating a Reading Culture in Primary and Secondary Schools will help teachers and librarians to

• advocate for the importance of a whole-school reading culture with recent research in this field;
• select from a number of research-supported strategies underpinning a whole-school reading culture to tailor your school's approach according to resourcing and priorities;
• develop a clear trajectory for building and sustaining stakeholder engagement and resourcing, including securing external funding for related initiatives; and
• plan and manage a multi-faceted approach to enable real change within your school.

About the Author

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Margaret K. Merga is Founder and Lead Consultant at Merga Consulting, working with schools, professional associations and government departments on a range of literacy-related projects. She also holds the position of Honorary Adjunct at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales. Margaret is author of over 100 peer-reviewed and research-informed publications, with six non-fiction books on literacy, libraries, research methods and research communications. Her research has been cited more than 2,500 times and translated into many languages. She is an experienced educator and has taught in Australia, India, Thailand, Turkey and the US, across the age spectrum from kindergarten to adult education contexts. Her recent publications include School Libraries Supporting Literacy and Wellbeing (2022) which highlights her research on the relationship between libraries, reading and wellbeing and Creating an Australian School Literacy Policy (2023) which details how to design and implement a whole school literacy policy. Committed to sharing research knowledge beyond academia so that professionals can use research findings in practical ways, Margaret has won numerous awards for public engagement while her work has been featured widely in the media.