In a primary school classroom, a nine-year old reads aloud to the person next to them. When they stumble over a word, their partner encourages them to try again. Together they discuss what might happen next. But the child isn’t reading to an adult – a teaching assistant or volunteer. Instead, they are reading to a peer in their class. Later they’ll switch jobs, and help their partner out as they read.

What’s more, both children have been taught skills to help them support each other on their journey learning to read. This reading approach is called Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (Pals) developed at Vanderbilt University in the US. It builds on children’s relationships with each other to make learning to read a team endeavour.

The programme now has international reach. We have spent a number of years testing and adapting PALS for use by schools in the UK.

Pupils within a class are paired together, using pupil reading data that shows their current reading level. The aim of the pairing is for there to be a bit of a difference in reading ability between the pupils in the pair. Each pair of children selects the book they want to read, giving them autonomy over their reading material. Pupils benefit from........

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