Seven in 10 secondary school teachers in England (70 per cent) think there has been an increase in “reluctant readers” over the past three years, according to a new study.
And nearly nine in 10 (88 per cent) also say that the popularity of social media among students has had a hugely negative effect on their willingness to read outside school.
In the survey of 420 secondary school teachers, commissioned by GL Assessment and conducted by YouGov, “reluctant readers” are defined as those who are capable of reading, but who, for a variety of reasons, need to be encouraged to open a book.
The survey found that secondary students with reading skills that are “average” or “just below average” represent almost half (49 per cent) of a typical year group.
Their survey also found that two-thirds (67 per cent) of teachers say that reading progress tends to stall among this group of students at key stage 3.
Reading in secondary schools
Four-fifths of teachers (80 per cent) agree that if students can’t read at the expected level for their age, they won’t be fully able to access the curriculum and this will ultimately impede their performance at GCSE.
Crispin Chatterton, director of education at GL Assessment, said that focusing on reluctant readers could make a huge difference to general academic performance in schools.
“Boosting the reading ability of a student group whose reading may seem superficially fine, but who are actually ‘invisible but struggling’, would significantly improve their academic performance across all subjects,” he said. “Our study highlights that teachers recognise that reading reluctance is a growing problem and demonstrates the importance of having access to data that can quickly flag those students whose progress is being affected.”
Other key findings of the survey include:
- Teachers think that a third (33 per cent) of boys and 15 per cent of girls consider being asked to read as a “punishment”.
- Less than a fifth of teachers (19 per cent) think boys see reading as something that’s “fun”, and over half (52 per cent) say boys will always choose to read an easy book over a harder one.
- Only a quarter (26 per cent) of teachers believe their female students see reading as an enjoyable pastime.
- Over eight in 10 (85 per cent) teachers think that most children read for less than 15 minutes daily outside of school.
- Nearly four in 10 (39 per cent) believe their pupils spend no time at all reading when the vast majority (85 per cent) would like their pupils to be reading for up to an hour each day outside school.
Literacy and school performance
The survey also revealed a gender split when it comes to students making the connection between reading ability and school performance.
Over half (46 per cent) of teachers say boys don’t make the connection between reading ability and school performance - only 15 per cent think they do.
These figures are reversed for girls, where 42 per cent of teachers think that girls do make the link between reading ability and school performance with less than a fifth (18 per cent) thinking that they don’t.
To try to help combat the problem, over half (59 per cent) of teachers say that their school has introduced additional reading time to help and encourage students with comprehension.
Over two-fifths (42 per cent) say that their secondary school has also introduced reading-aloud sessions.
Teachers think that they need more training to help them overcome the challenges they are facing.
Two-fifths of respondents (44 per cent) think teachers need more training themselves to understand the link between oracy and reading. But over three-fifths (63 per cent) feel there needs to be more training in how to develop students’ reading and vocabulary skills.
Professor Jessie Ricketts from the department of psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, said that secondary schools often expect students to have high levels of comprehension to cope with the curriculum - but this doesn’t always transpire.
She said this new data shows the importance of identifying the specific challenges pupils are experiencing and targeting interventions at those areas.
“When helping students who need support with their reading, it is important to identify the nature of their reading needs - for instance, it might be to do with reading words, or comprehension, or both,” she said. “This will always be crucial for ensuring that any help and interventions are effective.”
