Plean Straitéiseach
Léigh agus íoslódáil Plean Straitéiseach Leabhair Pháistí Éireann.
Strategic aims and objectives/our goals and how we will achieve them
Our mission at Children's Books Ireland is to inspire a love of reading in children and young people on the island of Ireland, and to champion equitable access for all to excellent books. We share our expertise and enthusiasm with the adults who guide and influence young readers, and encourage schools and early childhood settings to build a positive culture of reading and reading aloud. We support and promote authors and illustrators and connect them with their audiences through our work.
We will bring readers together so that children can encourage each other and engage critically and playfully with books. Giving every child and young person an opportunity to become a reader gives them equitable access to the many benefits of reading, and opens up a lifetime of stories for all children regardless of their background.
How will we achieve our goal?
We will:
- Create opportunities for every child to become a reader, with most supports for those with the highest level of need.
- Inform and inspire children and young people’s reading from birth through the teenage years, in English and Irish, and respecting the language of the home.
- Deliver the Laureate na nÓg programme to engage and inspire children, young people, and their communities through literature.
- Include children and young people in our work and in our decision-making in meaningful ways.
- Support the development of communities of readers around a shared love of reading.
There is a unique value in children’s literature from Ireland, made by our talented authors, illustrators, translators, poets, publishers and storytellers. We will nurture our community of artists throughout their careers and connect them with their audiences, so that young readers in Ireland can experience the richness and diversity of Irish society and culture expressed in literature. We will defend artists’ rights to creative freedom of expression and readers’ rights to access excellent books.
How will we achieve our goal?
We will:
- Raise the prof ile of Irish and Irish-based authors and illustrators.
- Advocate for appropriate pay, conditions and other supports which will enable authors and illustrators to have sustainable careers, and continue to model good practice in this area.
- Lead in implementing and advocating for positive changes to make the sector more inclusive. • Develop creative and practical supports for début authors and illustrators and provide continuing professional development in live literature event practice for artists at all career stages.
- Provide mid-career and established artists with the time and space they need to create.
- Create communities of practice for artists at all career stages to connect, formally and informally, around Ireland.
We will grow and strengthen our network of champions – people who can encourage children’s reading as a family member or trusted adult, and those who have professional connections to children, including our invaluable booksellers and librarians. We will consolidate our reputation as the go-to organisation for independent advice and recommendations on books and reading at every stage from birth through the teenage years.
How will we achieve our goal?
We will:
- Increase our impact by reaching more families and community groups through strategic partnerships.
- Continue to develop our media presence and maintain strong relationships with key partners.
- Produce inviting, accessible publications which showcase excellent Irish children’s literature, and keep our community informed about international books, trends and developments.
- Emphasise the connection between reading for joy and wellbeing.
Developing a positive culture of reading for joy from early childhood through secondary school is the most powerful way to ensure that every child has the chance to become a reader, regardless of their background. We will share our expertise and enthusiasm widely and raise the profile of Irish children’s books in this sector
How will we achieve our goal?
We will:
- Advocate for policies and investment at Government level which will encourage children and young people to develop a lifelong love of reading and allow all children equitable access to this cultural right.
- Support the development of reading for joy in schools and early childhood settings.
- Upskill and support educators in early childhood settings, primary and secondary schools, particularly in relation to Irish children’s books.
- Increase awareness of the organisation in the education sector
Children’s Books Ireland is a charity that lives our values every day, in everything we do. We value the many relationships which are the foundation of our work, and which support our ambitions. We work with integrity, in a way that is respectful, responsible and connected. We rely on many strategic partnerships to achieve our aims and to grow our impact exponentially
How will we achieve our goal?
We will:
- Work with honesty and transparency, adhering to the principles of the Charities Regulator and fulfilling our charitable purpose.
- Maintain an evidence informed practice, measuring our impact and communicating it to our key partners.
- Value our team, ensuring that Children’s Books Ireland is a good place to work and that we respect and encourage the people who work so hard to achieve our aims.
- Minimise our impact on the planet and work sustainably.
- Be part of an international community, using our voice at a European and international level, learning from our peers, sharing information, and promoting Irish children’s literature.
- Ensure that we are properly resourced to achieve our ambitions.
Values
Excellence:
We are an energetic, creative, and flexible organisation, and we take pride in maintaining an extremely high standard across all our work and supporting an equally excellent and committed sector. The people who make up Children’s Books Ireland care deeply about encouraging every child to be a reader, and ensuring that every child has access to the best quality books.
Connection:
We nurture an environment that is vital to children’s reading, and work in partnership with those who share our aims. Children’s Books Ireland is at the heart of the children’s book community.
Warmth:
We are open, friendly, fair and accessible in all our interactions and activities. Kindness and inclusion are paramount to how we work, and we look for these values in our partners.
Joy:
We know that reading can delight, excite, and enhance the lives of children and young people, and we are excited to share that in our communications, our publications and at our events. Children and young people benefit significantly from reading, and while we raise awareness of these benefits with adults, we talk to children about enjoyment. We provide opportunities for young readers to have joyful experiences with reading and to delight in the artforms of writing and illustration.
Why do we do what we do?
Ireland performs well in international reading assessments, with PIRLS (at primary level) and PISA (at secondary level) being the two on which most emphasis is placed. Both measure reading literacy and Ireland is among the highest performing countries in both studies. But there is a marked difference between performing at reading literacy and reading for joy.
Reading frequency at an early age is highly predictive of reading habits as a child grows older, which tells us how important it is to encourage reading to and with children right from the start of life, and how crucial it is for young readers to have books that excite and interest them at every stage. Irish and international studies show that those from less advantaged backgrounds and boys from all backgrounds perform less well at reading literacy and read less than girls and those from more advantaged backgrounds. Our view, which is supported by evidence, is that we must encourage reading for the sheer joy of it at every age in order to develop lifelong readers who can reap the many benefits of being a reader, and delight in the artforms of literature and illustration.
Research published in 2023 by BookTrust (UK) on the benefits of reading shows that children who read are more likely to overcome disadvantage caused by inequalities; are more likely to be happier, healthier and experience better mental wellbeing and self-esteem; are more likely to do better at school and make progress across the curriculum; and are more likely to develop empathy and creativity. Reading is more important for children’s cognitive development than their parents’ level of education and is a more powerful factor in life achievement than socioeconomic background. According to the OECD, finding ways to engage students in reading may be one of the most effective ways to leverage social change.
What we know in the Irish context:
The Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal study informs the work we have to do at each age and stage of a child’s life: at nine months old, 19.5% of infants are never read to. At three years old, 20% of children are read to infrequently – three or fewer days a week.
Reading frequency at three years of age proved to be highly predictive of reading habits two years later, and this predictive pattern extends throughout childhood: reading for pleasure at the age of seventeen is strongly associated with patterns at nine and thirteen years of age.
All of this tells us how important it is to encourage reading to and with children right from the start of life, not just when they start school. At nine years old, only 6% of children report never reading for pleasure. At thirteen, however, this figure rises to 19%, and within another four years, there is a significant decline: over half of seventeen-year olds never read for pleasure.
In this older age group, our role is to help maintain that enthusiasm for reading as children transition to secondary school and as they exit the school system and move into adult life. More than half of twenty-year olds in Ireland reported in Ireland reported that secondary school had been of no help in fostering an appreciation of reading for pleasure.
Children’s Books Ireland’s target audience is from newborn to eighteen years old, and we must find the right ways to share our enthusiasm and expertise with children, young people and the adults who guide their reading at various times in their lives.
