News

Reading seen as 'punishment' by too many students

Literacy
Reading progress tends to stall during key stage 3, with boys in particular seeing reading as a form of punishment, a study has warned.

The research finds that 71% of secondary school teachers believe reading reluctance has been a growing problem for the last three years.

Notably, 82% of the teachers say that the popularity of social media has had a negative effect on willingness to read.

The YouGov research was commissioned by GL Assessment and involved more than 500 secondary school teachers. Reluctant readers are defined as students who are capable of reading but who need to be encouraged.

The findings also show that teachers think that a third (33%) of boys and 15% of girls consider being asked to read a “punishment”.

Only 17% of the teachers think that the boys in their classrooms see reading as something that is fun, while 53% say boys will always choose to read an easy book over a harder one.

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