News

Reading enjoyment falls as students grow-up

English
The huge decline in reading for enjoyment as children grow up shows no sign of disappearing, new research has shown.

The annual National Literacy Trust survey has found that 72.6 per cent of key stage 2 children say that they enjoy reading very much or quite a lot.

However, by the age of 14 to 16, in key stage 4, this figure has dropped to just 40 per cent.

The trend is one that has been sustained in this research since 2010. The key stage 2 to 4 gulf in reading for enjoyment averages 31.1 percentage points over this period.

The study also finds that key stage 4 children are much less likely to see the links between reading and employability. Only 36.4 per cent of the 14 to 16-year-olds said that being good at reading would improve their job prospects, compared to 71.3 per cent of key stage 2 children.

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