Child reading at 'crisis point' with 5% fall in the South West
There's concerns it's impacting young people's future prospects
Last updated 6th Nov 2024
Over 5 per cent fewer children in the South West are reading for pleasure than 12 months ago - according to a data from the National Literacy Trust (NLT).
The charity says their latest figures show children's reading is at "crisis" point as the number enjoying it in their free time has plummeted to just one in three.
In the South West, that figure has tumbled from 41% in 2023, to 35.7% this year.
And now the NLT is calling for the Government to convene a taskforce to tackle the issues behind the fall in enjoyment of children reading.
Jason Vit from the NLT says children's future prospects are being harmed.
The charity's Head of Local Areas said: "The real problem with children not reading for pleasure is that it has effect on all of their academic attainment, it also has a lifetime effect on mental well-being on physical health and on earning."
With reading enjoyment figures the lowest they've been in two decades, the charity fears young people are missing out on vital development opportunities, which could lead to a lack of creativity.
"It doesn't matter the format, but if you are reading a novel or a story, then there is imagination at play," Jason told Greatest Hits Radio, adding: "The whole time you have to create the pictures, you see the characters in your own head, and that's really important for creativity."
He told us that one of the major factors in the falling numbers is the competition for children's time, saying the only uplift in recent years was in 2020, during the Covid-19 lockdown's, when children spent more time at home.
Jason said technology is playing a part - but it's not the enemy in this case.
"Technology can be brilliant," he said. "It can allow people with poor illiteracy skills to access text audio books, all of those things. But if that technology isn't mediated by parents, that can be a real problem if children are just left to it, without understanding that it's about enjoyment, not just about going through a process."
He said parents need to communicate the enjoyment of reading, whether it's a blog post, an online article or a matchday programme that we have read.
"Communicate that you've got something positive out of it. That's the role modelling you pass on. It's not how to decode or how to read difficult words, what you transfer to a young person is that reading is enjoyable," Jason said.
The charity's says it's calls for a reading taskforce need to bring together a multitude of expertise, from education, charities and government.
Jason said: "No one sector of society, no one organisation can solve this problem alone, national literacy trust is committing to working with one and a half million children over the next three years, and that's us playing our part. But we are a small charity trying to tackle a national scale problem."