Most schools have a reading for pleasure strategy. It usually looks like this: children get a book, the timer starts, the room goes quiet. Independent reading slot, ticked off. Except Hayden's argument in this clip is that what just happened there has almost nothing to do with reading for pleasure.
This is a clip taken from the Q&A section of Episode 194 of Teach Sleep Repeat, and it tackles one of the most misunderstood areas in primary and secondary education. Independent reading time is not the same as reading for pleasure. Schools treat them as interchangeable, and it's costing children the thing we actually want them to have.
Hayden breaks down why sitting children down with a book doesn't build readers, and why the solution isn't a better reading scheme or a new display in the corridor. Reading for pleasure is a whole school ethos, not a slot on the timetable. That means every teacher, every TA, every adult in the building contributes to it or quietly undermines it, whether they realise it or not.
This is the kind of conversation that should be happening in staff meetings and subject leader reviews, but often isn't. If you're a reading lead, an English coordinator, a headteacher thinking about culture and outcomes, or just a teacher who wants children to actually enjoy books, this clip will give you something to take back into school.
Short, direct, and genuinely useful for anyone trying to build a real reading culture rather than just a reading routine.
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