This project was recruiting, but is now full.

Teacher Choices trials explore some of the most common questions teachers ask about their practice, testing the everyday choices educators make when planning their lessons and supporting their students.

Prior to the trial, the research team conducted a scoping phase during which they surveyed and interviewed Early Years educators about their provision. Nearly all surveyed educators reported having dedicated storybook reading time, either as a whole class or with keyworker groups, but there is significant variation in practice regarding how they plan their storybook sessions, and which approach they consider to work best. There is a gap in existing research about whether it is more effective to plan storybook interactions ahead of time or to respond to children’s choices in the moment, so this trial aims to generate important evidence to support educator practice.

This project will investigate the impact planning these storybook activities has on outcomes. 

Two different approaches to planning interactive storybook reading will be compared:

a) Responsive or Child-led Approach: Educators ask children to select the book for the daily group reading session or actively involve them in the book selection process. While reading, the questions and discussion points occur spontaneously.

b) Planned Storybook and Discussion Points Approach: Educators not only select the storybook ahead of time, but they also plan the specific discussion points they will use while engaging children in conversations about the story.

Participating settings were asked to deliver one of the approaches and asked to stick to that approach for its main storybook sessions for fifteen weeks. Other aspects of the settings’ storybook reading routine could remain the same (for example, whether the setting reads in key worker groups or with the whole class).

Who is leading the project?

A team from Coventry University are carrying out this research, led by Professor Julia Carroll. The team work within the Centre for Global Learning, an education research centre.

Who can take part?

The project was open to all schools and early years settings that cater for children in the year before they start reception (ages 3 to 4). The project was keen to recruit settings from the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector as well as state-maintained settings. Participating settings had to have at least 8 children attending at least 3 days per week.

Oral language skills are fundamental for learning. Studies consistently demonstrate that there is a higher prevalence of oral language needs in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities and those working with children have told us they are prioritising supporting children’s language skills following the disruption of the pandemic.

Previous research has shown the value of group storybook reading in improving language skills among young children. Dialogic or interactive reading has proven to be even more effective in boosting language abilities. Instead of just reading aloud to the child, educators encourage discussions, ask questions, and provide opportunities for children to express their thoughts and ideas related to the book.

The project is part of the 2022 Choices round, which focuses on specific areas of teaching practice identified as having gaps in the evidence base and with potential to benefit disadvantaged pupils. These are: early language, KS1 mathematics, and cognitive science.

The programme will be evaluated by Coventry University using a randomised controlled trialAn RCT is used evaluate an educational programme by assigning settings to one of two groups: the intervention group, who receive the programme or the control group, who continue with business as usual. This ensures that any differences in outcomes can be confidently attributed to the programme, providing a robust estimate of the impact and contributing to the evidence for what works in improving educational outcomes., randomised at setting level. This means that settings that sign up are randomly assigned to one of two groups. Each group will deliver one of two approaches to planning interactive storybook reading:

a) Responsive or Child-led Approach:

b) Planned Storybook and Discussion Points Approach

The aim of the evaluation will be to assess the impact of each approach on children’s expressive vocabulary. The trial will also evaluate the impact of each approach on pupils’ language and their attitudes towards books and reading. An Implementation and Process evaluationAn IPE is used to understand how and why an intervention has (or has not) been successful. Data is analysed to explore programme quality, reach, adaptation and differentiation, as well as setting fidelity and responsiveness to the trial design. will be conducted alongside the impact evaluation to explore:

- Educators’ views of the approaches, how easy they are to implement, and how effective they are.
- Variation in practice in storybook reading in different settings and the extent to which this influences pupils’ outcomes.
- Examples of good practice for each of the two approaches.

As part of this trial, Coventry University developed an outcome measure that was used to measure children’s expressive vocabulary. There is a separate webpage with more information about the pilot of this new vocabulary measure.

The evaluation report will be published in Summer 2026.