Former UKLA President, Colin Harrison has been working on a report in response to an across-the-board decline in reading scores across Europe.

Between August 2024 and March 2025, he worked with four international colleagues (Greg Brooks, P. David Pearson, Sari Sulkunen and Renata Valtin) on this report, commissioned by the EU, on how reading should be taught in every European country. 

A decline in PISA reading test scores across Europe in 2022 was not new: in most nations reading scores had already been declining for more than a decade. In response to this, however, the European Commission sought out an international group of literacy experts to put together a report that would, drawing upon on the latest evidence-based research, provide guidance for policymakers and teachers on how reading should be taught. That report has now just been published as Effective Practices for Literacy Teaching.

Following the example of earlier EU reports on how to teach reading, this report includes twenty detailed examples of research-informed good classroom practice, aimed at teachers, and early feedback suggests that these will be found useful by teachers across the age range from pre-school to adult level.

We believe, beyond its European intentions, that this is a great resource for UKLA members as the examples of good classroom practice can be used in any literacy teaching setting.