The EEF’s reading house has recently undergone some careful renovation. Whilst its evidence-informed foundations (adapted from Hogan, Bridges, Justic and Cain) and grounded in Gough and Tunmer’s ‘Simple View of Reading’ remain unchanged, the refreshed version places a stronger emphasis on practice, with new insights from teachers and leaders, as well as blogs and videos drawn directly from the classroom.
Together, these additions help to illustrate how the reading house can support effective reading instruction and professional learning in action.
Identifying specific reading needs
While no representation of the process of reading can capture all its complexity, the reading house breaks down reading into key building blocks. It shows us how word reading and language comprehension come together to enable reading comprehension.
Jess Hutchison, Gloucestershire Research School
The reading house breaks down these components of reading, and in doing so, we find a potential tool for guiding diagnostic assessment.
By using the reading house in a diagnostic capacity, schools can make more informed use of assessment information, ensures that teaching and interventions are targeted appropriately.
Whether you’re planning whole class-approaches to reading instruction, or high-quality structured interventions, the updates to the reading house now provides:
- Clear definitions to create a shared language for reading amongst staff
- Quotations from teachers and leaders reflecting on different ‘rooms’ of the house in practice
- Blogs from the Research Schools Network offering valuable practice perspectives
- Curated practical tools and helpful classroom resources
- ‘Clips from the Classroom’ video exemplification of classroom practice in action
Supporting professional development
The refreshed reading house is not only a valuable tool in supporting the diagnosis of reading needs – it also has the potential to strengthen professional development.
One of the biggest challenges in improving literacy in schools is developing a collective understanding of reading amongst staff. The reading house provides a common framework and shared language that can bring coherence to planning and delivering professional development on reading.
Used as part of a sequence of professional development, the resources within the reading house can support staff to:
- Build knowledge around the different aspects of successful reading, and understand how these aspects relate to one another
- Reflect on teaching approaches to support effective reading instruction
- Embed teaching techniques within their own practice
Alex Fairlamb, Educational Consultant specialising in Teaching and Learning, Professional Learning, Curriculum Design, and Secondary Literacy.
Explore the reading house
Whether through supporting classroom practice, guiding interventions, or shaping professional development, the Reading House can help you unlock the door to reading for every pupil.
Find out more
This blog explores vocabulary, comprehension, and word reading in more detail.
This blog looks at the importance of background knowledge as the ‘cement’ that may hold the house together.
This blog considers teaching approaches to support pupils who are struggling to access the reading house.