Children need to read more challenging books, says Dundee uni professor
Reading habits among Scottish school pupils have been revealed
The number of books children read increased by almost a quarter last year as social media trends such as TikTok help shape reading habits, according to the latest research.
The 2023 What Kids Are Reading Report looked at nearly 1.3 million pupils across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, including more than 40,000 in Scotland.
It found that pupils read 27,265,657 books in the 2021-2022 academic year which was 24% more than the 2020-2021 academic year.
'BookTok' having an influence
Researchers also found that social media trends such as BookTok, a community on TikTok, is helping drive interest and engagement in some books such as Alice Oseman's popular Heartstopper series.
Across the UK, Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney and David Walliams remain first and second most popular authors among primary school pupils while, in secondary school, Kinney was most popular followed by Walliams and then JK Rowling.
However, the report found that while average book difficulty rose as pupils became older, this was not in proportion to the rate at which the pupils should have been improving in reading.
Throughout secondary school, pupils were still reading books at almost the same level of difficulty as upper primary pupils, researchers found.
The study was carried out by learning and assessment provider, Renaissance, and analysed by the University of Dundee's Professor Keith Topping.
Pupils urged to challenge themselves more
He said: "Now in its 15th year, the report continues to provide invaluable insights into the reading habits of pupils and longstanding trends have become evident.
"Over this long period, we have seen a repeated decline in reading comprehension from primary to secondary pupils.
"To help tackle this, secondary pupils need to be encouraged to read books of increased difficulty, more appropriate to their age."