By EAL Inclusive

Across the UK, classrooms are rapidly evolving, with 21.4% of pupils officially recorded as having a first language other than English, double the proportion from 20 years ago. The real figure is likely higher, as many pupils grow up using more than one language in ways school records don’t capture.

Yet literacy training and classroom texts remain largely designed for monolingual, British-heritage learners. As the government prepares for 2026, the designated “Year of Reading,” there is a risk the agenda could be delivered through a narrow lens that excludes multilingual learners.

The GEC Inclusion Index - based on the voices of over 26,000 students and staff - adds further context here: fewer than half of students feel their learning needs are fully supported, and only 41.3% feel “seen” in the curriculum. At the same time, fewer than half of staff report receiving relevant CPD for their roles.

This sits against a wider national challenge: around a third of children leave primary school without secure reading, writing and maths skills, a figure that rises to more than half for disadvantaged pupils. For multilingual learners, these gaps are compounded by the challenge of accessing academic and literary texts in a language they are still mastering.

This is where research offers insight. Dr. Sabine Little’s Rivers of Reading study shows what effective multilingual literacy can look like. She highlights how biliteracy develops unevenly across languages and is shaped by both home and school practices. Crucially, it is influenced by the contexts children move between (home, school, community), the content they read (stories, subject texts, cultural materials), and the media they use (print, digital, visual). Biliteracy is also difficult to sustain outside a supportive network with peers playing a particularly powerful role. Tse (2001)* identifies a supportive peer group as the single most influential factor in biliteracy development.

Valuing linguistic diversity
For leaders, the message is clear: pupils’ literacy journeys cannot be supported by English texts alone. Children’s reading choices carry cultural meaning, and access to diverse materials in different languages is central to progress. Families play a vital role too, reminding schools that biliteracy is built through partnership. In practice, this calls for leadership that values linguistic diversity in the curriculum, ensures pupils see their languages represented in libraries, nurtures peer networks, and creates space for families to contribute to children’s reading lives.

We know reading underpins learning across every subject. From historical sources to science investigations, it is the gateway to progress. For multilingual learners (and for many pupils with SEND or disrupted prior education) the ability to navigate complex texts often determines whether they can participate fully and achieve their potential.

Yet many teachers feel unprepared when it comes to embedding inclusive reading strategies within their curriculum design.

Effective leadership determines whether reading is siloed or sustained. When schools prioritise it as a whole-curriculum responsibility and invest in staff expertise, every teacher gains the confidence to drive it. This creates classrooms where multilingual learners are recognised for their strengths and reading is a shared endeavour, not an isolated task.

What does good look like?
Good practice starts with seeing multilingualism as an asset; effective strategies create access points, so invite pupils’ linguistic identities into the classroom, and encourage deep thinking.

This means combining foundations such as vocabulary and comprehension with practices like translanguaging, cultural responsiveness, and subject-specific scaffolding. It means helping teachers unpack texts, making language visible, and building collaborative classrooms.

Real-world examples of good work in progress
At Kensington Primary School, where Soofia Amin leads on multilingualism, inclusive practice is reshaping the reading experience. Teachers draw on pupils’ full linguistic repertoires, value first languages, and adapt teaching to make academic texts accessible.

In a Year 4 class, many pupils who speak English as an additional language now engage with science texts once considered too complex. The teacher uses translanguaging, bespoke glossaries, and scaffolded discussion to unpack key terms. “Reading has become collaborative and accessible for all,” she explains, “even for students who are new to English.”

When a new pupil joined Year 5 with strong literacy skills in Gujarati, the school provided the core text in advance. Reading in her home language first allowed her to join class discussions with confidence. By valuing her Gujarati literacy, staff supported both curriculum access and her sense of belonging.

Similar principles are shaping work in secondary schools. Inclusive teaching trainer Anna Leaman has supported subject teams through her programmes to adapt inference training strategies for whole-class text comprehension. Non-English specialists from these cohorts now guide pupils to connect texts with prior knowledge, unpack key vocabulary, make predictions, and summarise or visualise ideas: building independent reading strategies that strengthen comprehension and help learners recognise and repair breakdowns in meaning across subjects.

What works is not a one-off programme, but a whole-school commitment, empowering teachers with research-led strategies and making inclusive reading part of the school’s DNA.

What three things can leaders do next?

1. Embed an asset-based approach. Multilingualism is a strength. Embed multilingual practices by integrating diverse texts, encouraging pupils to draw on their full repertoires, and training staff to support biliteracy. Advocate for programmes and resources that reflect linguistic diversity.
2. Audit your school’s reading culture. Ask: how is reading supported across subjects? Do teachers feel confident scaffolding comprehension for multilingual learners? A structured audit will highlight strengths and gaps, guiding next steps.
3. Invest in sustained professional learning. Sustainable change comes from structured, long-term investment in staff expertise.

* _{Resisting and Reversing Language Shift: Heritage-language Resilience among U. S. Native Biliterates. Harvard Educational Review 71(4): 676–708. DOI: 10.17763/haer.71.4.ku752mj536413336}