Reading standards in decline

UK - Reading standards among children are in sharp decline as pupils increasingly opt for easy books in school and at home, The Telegraph reports. 

Research found that by the end of primary school, students begin to shun relatively difficult texts in favour of more straightforward alternatives suitable for younger children.

Academics from Dundee University analysed children’s reading habits throughout primary and secondary education and found the difficulty of books “declined steadily” from the age of 10 onwards. 

A major international study last year has also found that reading standards among secondary school children in Britain had slipped compared with those in other countries. 

Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) revealed teenagers dropped from 17th to 25th in a global league table, being outperformed by nations including Liechtenstein, Poland and Estonia. 

The Telegraph reports that Prof Keith Topping, from Dundee’s School of Education, said the latest study presented some “disturbing signs regarding [the] difficulty of books” compared with a previous report carried out a year earlier. 

“Although in a small number of years the difficulty of books remained the same as our study in 2010, in the majority of years the difficulty of books has sharply declined,” he said. 

“If we are to address the worrying decline in reading skills identified in PISA world ranking for Britain, we have to ensure our children are reading at or above their reading age.” 

The study analysed the reading habits of 150,220 children in primary and secondary school. Researchers logged the books chosen and quizzed pupils about their understanding of particular texts.