In 2011, a national strategy Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life was published in the Republic of Ireland. One key aspect of the strategy was that it placed a renewed focus on reading for pleasure in post-primary classrooms. The researchers involved in this article worked for the Professional Development Service for Teachers, a national, government-funded professional development organisation. In response to the strategy, the researchers worked with teachers from nine post-primary schools across the Republic of Ireland. Through working closely with these English teachers, it was possible to identify assumptions that the teachers made around their students' reading in post-primary education. This article considers and challenges some of these assumptions and demonstrates what happened when the teachers were invited to do the same. In the course of the research, questions were also raised about some of the recommendations made within the national strategy, recommendations which were them-*Corresponding author: Pauline.Laurenson@ul.ie © selves based on contestable assumptions, assumptions such as the fact that boys prefer to read non-fiction. The need for national policy to be rooted in research was, therefore, also identified. Finally, through feedback from teachers and students involved in the research project, the authors of this article were able to devise a series of recommendations for schools seeking to focus on reading for pleasure in the post-primary English classroom.

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This article looks back on the professional development offered to teachers of English to support them in their teaching of film since the introduction of film into the English syllabus in Ireland in 1998. It focuses on three interrelated elements: the interpretation or reading of film; the pedagogy that supports this interpretation; the potential of exploring issues of social justice and the self-other relation through narrative films. The article outlines four distinct phases in the professional development offered to teachers and shares the emerging findings. The first phase involved the introduction of film and its use in opening up discussion and creating interpretative communities in teacher education workshops for teachers of Leaving Certificate English. The second involved an exploration of film genre in workshops designed for teachers of Transition Year. The third involved the development of a dialogic form of pedagogy in interpreting film in a series of workshops directed at teachers of Junior Cycle English. The fourth involved the use of film in exploring education for justice in a series of workshops for pre-service teachers on Bachelor of Education and Master of Education programmes. The article explores the link among narrative film texts, generative questions, thoughtful interpretation, and the value given to dialog and the movement of question and answer in professional development workshops where narrative films are viewed and interpreted. The article is autoethnographic in character (Holman Jones 2005; Ellis et al. 2010). It involves self-reporting, descriptions of practice and reflection on that practice.