Fostering the Love for Reading in Learners: Crucial Role of Parents and Teachers’ Partnership

Reading remains a basic and foundational skill for learners to experience feat in their schooling. Instilling a love for reading among the early grade learners is an investment necessary for their academic success. Early-grade learners who develop a love for reading are more likely to excel in school and community engagement. Propelled by the impact of the partnership between the parents and teachers on the reading capability of the learners, this study was conducted to determine their role in nurturing the love for reading among Grade One learners. This study examined how schools establish strong partnerships between parents and teachers to support the learners’ love for reading. Challenges in establishing partnerships were identified and addressing such was done by proposing activities aimed at creating a positive reading environment and fostering a love for reading. It was found that both the parents and teachers nurtured a love for reading for learners by making reading fun and interactive, serving as role models along with reading, exposing them to different reading genres, and providing positive reinforcement. The schools were able to establish partnerships between parents and teachers by involving them in planning school-based reading programs, implementing reading activities through collaboration of the parents and teachers, motivating learners to enjoy reading, providing feedback on learners’ reading progress, and creating home-school connections. The challenges encountered by the school in promoting partnership were the lack of training of parents in teaching reading, the passivity of some parents, conflict of schedule, and limited reading resources. Sets of reading-related activities and initiatives anchored on the principles of parents and teachers’ partnership were proposed and expected to foster the love for reading among learners.