ABSTRACT
Students’ reading proficiency has potential impacts on their access to the wider curriculum, academic performance, and long-term learning experiences. The poverty attainment gap in reading is a persistent issue in England, made worse by the between-school segregation of poorer students. This new research investigates the extent to which improved teacher–student interaction could help close the attainment gap, based on data from PISA 2018 for England. The results show that differential teaching enthusiasm and motivation in the classroom can partially predict the poverty attainment gap. Teachers are recommended to consider each student's needs, taking into account the potential cultural variations between high- and low-income students.
The findings also suggest the importance of enhancing students’ reading attitude with adequate stimulation approaches. However, it is crucial to use the best available evidence on how to improve teachers’ style of classroom interaction, especially for disadvantaged students. It is not yet clear what that “best available evidence” is, or whether teachers are expected to find it and judge it for themselves. Despite progress on “what works” in classroom interaction, there is still little secure evidence on how best to encourage teachers to use such high-quality research evidence appropriately. This chapter explores both the problem and its possible solutions, summarising the findings from a structured review of prior studies on encouraging evidence use.
