Effective practices for literacy teaching

In light of the PISA 2022 student results, which showed a decline in performance in basic reading skills across Europe, this report presents a detailed literature review of the most recent European and international research on effective approaches to literacy teaching. It highlights practices that have been properly evaluated and are supported by evidence of impact.

Targeted primarily at policymakers, but also relevant to teachers, parents, and all those contributing to children’s literacy development, the report analyses over 600 studies on effective teaching practices (both pedagogical and content-specific), support programmes, and policies that promote literacy for all children across the EU. It covers different levels of education and takes into account gender perspectives as well as the needs of vulnerable and special needs groups.

Based on the key findings, the authors discuss the teaching of comprehension beyond letters and words (e.g. drawing inferences, judging relevance and trustworthiness), the role of dispositional characteristics such as motivation, metacognition, and world knowledge, and the teaching of digital literacy skills, including critically evaluating online information. Building on these findings, they present 20 research-informed recommendations for policymaking.

Authors

Colin Harrison, Greg Brooks, P. David Pearson, Sari Sulkunen, Renata Valtin

Cite as

Harrison, C., Brooks, G., Pearson, P.D., Sulkunen, S., Valtin, R. (2025). ‘Effective practices for literacy teaching’ EENEE-NESET report, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. doi: 10.2766/485436. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/485436