Home
Half of KS2 pupils don’t read an hour a week at home

Half of KS2 pupils don’t read an hour a week at home

And more than two-thirds of parents read with their child for less than an hour each week, excluding homework, survey finds

5th February 2020, 12:04am

Amy Gibbons

Half of children in key stage 2 read for less than an hour a week outside of school, while one in 10 never read for fun with their parents, a survey has found.

New research shows that a significant proportion of young children aged 7-11 are missing out on regular reading sessions at home, with one in four parents skipping bedtime stories.

Of the 2,007 parents surveyed, 1,004 (50 per cent) said their child spent less than an hour each week reading for fun at home.

Study: Reading novels quickly brings weak readers up to speed

In-depth: Disadvantaged pupils miss out on author visits

Insight: Four steps to ensure pupils read for pleasure

And 1,388 (69 per cent) said that, on average, they read with their child for less than an hour on a weekly basis, excluding any reading set by the school.

Of these, 249 said they invested no time at all in reading with their child outside of educational settings.

Despite this, 1,849 parents (92 per cent) said they considered reading for pleasure “important” for children of primary school age.

A quarter of parents (24 per cent) said they never read bedtime stories to their child. This compared with 352 (18 per cent) who do so every day.

The survey was commissioned by children’s charity BookTrust and carried out by Opinion Research.

Gemma Malley, a director at BookTrust, said: “We are seeing a real cliff edge in terms of children reading for enjoyment, and while parents want their children to read more, there’s a real danger that families are sleepwalking into literary poverty.

“We know that reading for enjoyment is closely linked to academic development as well as building confidence and resilience, and children who are read to are much more likely to read for enjoyment themselves.”

In response to the findings, children’s author Anne Fine has launched the charity’s annual Pyjamarama campaign to encourage families to read together.

Ms Malley added: “We hope that through Pyjamarama we can encourage families across the country to reconnect with reading and to snuggle up with a fantastic book together.”