More children not enjoying reading ‘could hamper progress and confidence’, says Oxfordshire charity
A report shows that children enjoying reading has plummeted in the last year
A survey of more than 76,000 children and young people across the UK has revealed that children and young people’s enjoyment of reading has fallen drastically to its lowest level in almost two decades.
According to The National Literacy Trust (NLT), the report shows that less a third (30.8%) of those aged between 8 to 18 in the South East say that they enjoy reading in their spare time, which has fallen by nearly ten per cent in the last year alone.
‘It’s an essential part of children’s development’
Jane Rendle is the joint CEO at Assisted Reading for Children based in Bicester and she said: “It’s the key to all learning and it helps with all sorts of other things such as, communication, understanding the world around them, empathy. So, it’s an essential part of children’s development.
“And if not, it could hamper their progress and confidence in school. So, I think that a child will learn from an early age will realise that their reading age is below that of their friends and that impacts on how they think about themselves. So, they almost write themselves off.”
Ms Rendle gave us some advice for parents to help encourage their child to engage with reading, she said: “Find out what they’re interested in, use a local library, and make time. We know it’s difficult and life is so busy for everybody but even if it’s just ten minutes a day, it’s so crucial.”
The charity has over 300 volunteers that help children across more than a hundred schools across the county, and are looking for more volunteers to help inspire the next generation to enjoy reading.
‘We need rapid and concerted effort to address this’
The National Literacy Trust say children’s reading and engagement is at “crisis point” and are calling on the government to take action. They want to see a taskforce set up to look at the role of reading for pleasure.
Jason Vit, Head of Local Areas at the NLT, said: “It can’t be left to schools alone, it requires concerted effort from government, public sector, businesses, education and charities.
“So, today is about sounding the warning of a national crisis where we need rapid and concerted effort to address this.”