OU’s Professor Teresa Cremin awarded CBE for ‘services to education’

Posted on 2 January 2026 • University news

Professor Teresa Cremin, Co-Director of The Open University’s Literacy and Social Justice Centre, has been awarded a CBE for ‘services to education’ in the New Year Honours list announced by the King. 

Professor Cremin initiated the OU’s highly successful ‘Reading for Pleasure’ Research and Practice Coalition that works with organisations, schools, policy makers, and many others to impact positively on children’s life chances through reading. 

The Reading for Pleasure Coalition draws on decades of OU research, and was co-created in 2017 with and for teachers, student teachers, librarians and all those interested in developing the beneficial habit of reading in the young.  

The OU’s Reading for Pleasure Research and Practice Coalition has: 

• Pioneered and supported over 600 ‘Teachers and Reading Groups’ across the UK and abroad in partnership with the UK Literacy Association. This has involved approximately 9,000 members, who collectively teach over 2 million pupils. 

• Enabled nearly 450 schools to graduate from the Reading Schools Programme, developing recreational reading throughout school communities. 

• Created the Teachers Reading Challenge with The Reading Agency, with nearly 10,000 teachers participating, setting their own goals and sharing their love of reading.  

• Introduced a national Reading for Pleasure Student Ambassadors Scheme, for trainee teachers with over 230 Ambassadors since 2021.  

Professor Teresa Cremin, Co-Director of The Open University’s Literacy and Social Justice Centre, said: 

“I am extremely humbled to receive such an honour. But this isn’t just for me, it reflects the work of everyone involved in our Reading for Pleasure movement.  

“This is for the teachers who tailor their book recommendations to children they know well personally, and with whom they connect as fellow readers. It’s for the head teachers, librarians, teaching assistants and third sector colleagues who create classrooms full of the joy that reading can bring and it’s for my OU colleagues and our partners who believe passionately in the power of Reading for Pleasure as a potent tool for social justice. 

“Thank you – each one of you – you are making a difference.” 

Professor Klaus-Dieter Rossade, Executive Dean for the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS) at The Open University, said: 

“It’s hard to think of a project or programme that epitomises more the spirit of The Open University than Reading for Pleasure. This is the very best of OU research, leading the way in shaping national policy and creating practice in classrooms that can inspire any child regardless of background or circumstance to read for pleasure.  

“Under Teresa’s leadership, Reading for Pleasure has inspired tens of thousands of professionals, parents and carers to champion reading as one of the most powerful social justice tools there is. Teresa is a credit to The Open University, and we are all extremely proud that she has been recognised for her outstanding contribution to education in this way.”