Comprehension Questions Don't Teach Reading

I'm going to say something that might upset some English leads.

Comprehension questions don't build reading fluency. Ofsted said it. The DfE said it. The research has said it for years.

And yet walk into almost any Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 2 classroom and what will you find? Children answering questions about texts they can barely read aloud.

What Ofsted and the DfE Actually Say

Ofsted's Telling the Story report doesn't mince words: "Teachers over-use reading comprehension questions. This does not build pupils' reading fluency."

The Strong Foundations report is equally direct: schools are "introducing complex tasks too early and therefore not building children's fluency in foundational knowledge."

One in four children leave primary school unable to read at the expected standard. We've known this for years. And we keep doing the same thing.

For a deeper look at what Ofsted found – and what they missed – read about Ofsted's full findings on reading fluency.

What the Evidence Actually Says Works

Repeated reading of the same text. Not new extracts every lesson. The same text, read again and again until it flows.

Teacher modelling of prosody. Stress. Intonation. Rhythm. The things that turn decoding into meaning.

Daily practice. Not a fluency intervention twice a week. Every. Single. Day.

If you want to dig into what effective fluency practice actually looks like, that's a whole conversation in itself – but the short version is: keep it simple, keep it daily and keep it joyful.

What We've Done at Fetcham

At Fetcham, we've stopped pretending that comprehension questions teach reading. They assess it. They don't build it.

Instead, we've leaned into what the evidence says works: choral reading, echo reading, poetry, rhymes, flash phrases, performance. And here's what surprised me: the children love it.

Walk into our classrooms and you'll hear voices rising together, children performing poems with expression and confidence, flash phrase cards flying. There's energy in the room. There's joy. Children who once read word by word are now reading with rhythm and flow — and they're proud of it.

Fluency practice doesn't have to be a grind. Done well, it's one of the most engaging parts of the school day.

This applies in KS1 too. Even in Year 1 and Year 2, we sometimes default to comprehension questions before children have developed the fluency to engage meaningfully with text. Reading fluency in KS1 needs daily practice, not weekly comprehension worksheets.

The Real Question

The question is: are we brave enough to do what works, even when it looks different from what everyone else is doing?

If you're rethinking your approach, start by understanding how to assess fluency rather than just testing comprehension. That shift alone can change everything.

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Got questions about fluency practice or assessment?

Drop me an email: simon@readingfluency.co.uk

Or find me on LinkedIn: Simon Sharp