Scottish Book Trust is a national charity which has been bringing the benefits of reading and writing to everyone in Scotland since 1998. We believe books, reading and writing have the power to change lives. A love of reading inspires creativity, improves employment opportunities, mental health and wellbeing and is one of the most effective ways to help break the poverty cycle. Every year, we deliver our world-class programmes and annual awards to well over two million people. From introducing books and storytelling to pre-school children to inspiring and empowering adult readers and writers, we believe it's never too early – or too late – to begin a magical journey with words.

We deliver our programmes in every local authority area in Scotland and we work with partners ranging from small community groups to the Scottish Government. You'll find us in schools and libraries and at community events. You'll find us in towns and cities and in isolated, rural communities. And you'll find us bringing books to life for children in care, families living in challenging circumstances and people in prison. In short, you'll find us wherever we're needed most.

The aim of this new online course is to enhance teachers’ professional knowledge and practice of reading for pleasure pedagogies to support children to become frequent regular readers thus providing a mechanism for social justice that offers the potential to improve children’s life-chances.
(Hendy, Thompson and Truby, 2023)

The course is open to primary teachers in Scotland including those who aspire to a literacy leadership post, are new to a literacy leadership role or are in an acting capacity, or who are new to leading literacy with whole-school/setting responsibility. The programme is for those interested in developing their knowledge and practice in reading for pleasure pedagogies, to help support them with developing and sustaining a reading culture in the primary classroom.

The programme will be delivered online and offered once. It runs from September 2024 until June 2025, beginning with a pre-programme survey and some pre-reading, then an online launch session.

Participants then undertake a series of online Professional Learning Activities, progressing through 5 units on our LMS platform between October and December. Our platform provides an opportunity to post reflections and engage in professional dialogue with co-participants.

There will then be a live online session in January 2025 on undertaking a professional enquiry and a final live online session in June where they share their professional enquiries with the Scottish Book Trust team and a selection of their co-participants. To complete the programme, participants are also required to complete a post-programme survey.

The closing date for applications is the 31^st May 2024 but will re-open early next year for 2025-2026.

Please e-mail schools@scottishbooktrust.com for more information.