Children’s reading enjoyment has plummeted to its lowest levels since records began, sparking concerns of a “crisis” across the UK, according to a new report by the National Literacy Trust (NLT).
Only about one in three (34.6%) children and young people aged eight to 18 said they enjoyed reading in their free time in 2024, down from 43.4% the previous year, according to the research.
This marks the steepest decline since the charity began its annual survey in 2005.
Mary Donnelly-Symes, primary English lead at an east London school, said this has been a challenge: “Now the go-to question, I think, in every classroom is ‘can we go on the iPad?’
“They’re so much more used to having a device, and that is their go-to now instead of picking up a book.
“When I first started as English lead, the children would love picking up a book and having our story time and read it for leisure.”
The drop in reading enjoyment is particularly stark among secondary school pupils, where the decline was more pronounced for young people aged 11 to 16.
Gabriela, a year 11 student at the school, said: “I feel like it’s kind of automatic to just kind of, if you have spare time, just pick up your phone and scroll through social media.
“I see kids on the bus, little two-year-olds, one-year olds. They’re already on their phones and they are on parents’ phones and they already know how to use it so well.
“I’ll see them skipping ads and stuff and I’m just thinking it’s kind of insane.”
Only one in five (20.5%) children and young people aged eight to 18 said they read daily for pleasure, a significant drop from 28% in 2023.
‘We need to make this a real priority’
Considering these findings, the NLT is urging the government to urgently establish a reading taskforce and action plan.
Andrew Ettinger, director of education at the NLT, said: “We’re calling on the government to make this a real priority and to put together a multi-organisational taskforce to address this, because we think this has got to the scale of national crisis and needs to be all of our responsibilities to address.”
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A Department For Education spokesperson said: “High and rising school standards, with excellent foundations in reading, writing and maths, is a key part of our plan for change to ensure every child can achieve and thrive.
“Reading for pleasure is hugely important and we encourage families to get their children reading.
“As well as strong links to attainment, reading has a number of benefits including increased general knowledge and character development, so we encourage families to get their children reading.
“We’ve invested over £90m in our English Hubs programme, which supports reading for pleasure, with a further £23m committed for the 2024-25 academic year.”
