Roundtable on Reading
and Equity: Reading,
Poverty, and What
Schools Can('t) Do
About it

In collaboration with the Building a Reading Culture Project (BRC) team, the Office of Education Research (OER) held a roundtable on reading and equity at the Bishan Community Library on 22 September 2017.

The aim of the roundtable was to showcase project findings that demonstrate the link between reading and poverty, and generate discussions about what schools and the community can do to nurture students’ interest and proficiency in reading.

The session began with the Principal Investigator, Associate Professor Loh Chin Ee, presenting the findings of her research project.

Mr Charles Peters, Assistant Director and Senior Specialist at the STELLAR Centre, then spoke about what primary schools are doing to help low proficiency readers. Ms Raihana Hussain, Senior Librarian at the National Library Board (NLB), later presented on the work that NLB is doing with schools to nurture students’ interest in reading.

The final presenter was Associate Professor Sue Nichols, Associate Head of Research at the University of Southern Australia, School of Education. She shared on her work with the community in Southern Australia to provide insights into how to engage families in literacy learning and development.

Various stakeholders attended the roundtable, including representatives from the Ministry of Education, National Library Board, Design Council Singapore, National Institute of Education, and various school leaders and educators.