How would you solve the growing reading crisis?

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My toddler is napping and I've ended up watching Vanessa. They have had a segment about who should be teaching children to read. They glanced over multiple issues and didn't state which studies they were talking about. But it got me thinking about the what the solution actually is.

Rates of older children reading for enjoyment is at an all time low. Similar story with the number of parents who are reading regularly to their younger children. Children are starting school not know how to turn pages of books. Screen time is often cited as the problem and there are studies showing the amount of screen time children are receiving can be associated to socioeconomic status.

So how would you try and fix this? Or do we just accept it?

Bedtime stories.
Bedtime stories.
Bedtime stories.
That is all that is needed. From birth to at least age 10.

What that does is teach a child that books are only for bedtime.

But is that actually borne out, that literacy has changed?

People have been moaning about attention spans being shorter than their generation's were since, well, at least Pliny the Elder.

It's unfortunately something that happens to us as we get older - we start imagining that things were wonderful when we were young. And I think it's really important to be wary of that.

I think the parents that care will do the "right things" and their children will have the opportunities to learn to read. The parents that don't care, from whatever background, won't bother regardless of how hard you get them to try or what opportunities you present/how easy you make it.

I know families with very very limited funds who access the library and enjoy reading with their child and have literate children.

I know other families who have the means but (in their own words!) "don't believe in reading". They don't read to their children, refuse to do the school assigned reading, don't model reading at home etc.

Schools can only do so much and bedding it in as a skill happens at home.

The people that don't care will never care - but their functionally illiterate children will grow up and show why we should care as society and either more people will start caring again or society will accept non readers. I suspect with fewer jobs per young person, it will be the former. No reading = no job.

I don't disagree!

Nurserys and pre-schools have to step in when parents won't read to and with their children. The book bag scheme is great, where kids are given a few books to keep at home - if the books are in the home, kids can at least be familiar with looking at them, even if their parents don't read to them.

I think most parents know it's important, but many don't prioritise it, and sadly there seems to be a strong socio-economic component to it.

I'm not sure what you mean by your first question. Do you mean we should be encompassing digital literacy?

I was referring to the attention span of children of similar ages in the classroom. It's deteriorated a lot in really tangible ways.

I think the best way to try and engage the kids whose families don’t value reading would be to make the school books super engaging, as they’re the ONE source of books for those kids. I know they’re to support phonics etc but they are dire.

The main reason, as others have said, is screen time and you can’t really do much about that if the parents don’t care. It’s super depressing as a teacher - the impact on concentration and attention span is so noticeable now.

Exactly. We need to stop acting as if all parents are equally as engaged. Many don't give a crap. Some parents think reading is a waste of time and their DC won't see a book until they get to nursery.

https://spectator.com/article/were-losing-the-ability-to-read/

American universities are really struggling with the inability of students to comprehend texts. It’s extremely worrying.

Also, where are all the philanthropists?!

We need the UK answer to Dolly Parton - see the impact her Imagination Library has had in the USA!

I love this for you, your son is very lucky to have you x

My son is 9, when he needs a new reading book at school he is told he has 30 seconds to choose another! How can children learn to love reading when they aren't allowed to choose a book they might enjoy.
Also the school punishes the children by keeping them in at playtime on Friday if they haven't completed 4 days of reading at home with a parent. It isnt the childs' fault if the parent hasn't listened to them reading.
My son used to enjoy reading but is now seeing it as a chore that has to be done to prevent a missed playtime.

screen time is cited as an issue and yet my children’s school - not unlike most others - sets reading books on Apps from Reception onwards - drives me nuts! all homework is generally on apps - reading maths and grammar in fact

I think this is a bit of a red herring. It's using screens for entertainment that has replaced reading (though tv had already done that), not doing homework on screens. The kids who are avid readers are also doing their homework on apps.

I think it's mostly about whether they come from a home where reading is seen as normal and enjoyable. If reading is already seen as a chore at primary age, the battle is often already lost. Secondary schools don't help when they simultaneously try to persuade kids to read through extrinsic motivators but simultaneously don't let them take out books that are 'too easy' for their reading level, but which they might actually enjoy!

Well it's not ALL that is needed.

You need to read bedtime stories that engage them and in such a way that it helps their reading. Sitting across the room droning on for 10 minutes a night isn't helping anyone.

And kids need access to books for fun, not just as a think associated with bedtime.
They need to be encouraged to try reading themselves and be pushed to extend their reading.
I'm sure thry need lots more, but I have three kids who just learnt to read with seemingly little effort from us. But they've always had stories read to them (and any suitable time of day!), they've had access to libraries and a house full of books, they know we read and they're pretty much always allowed a new book of we go to a charity shop.

It's not all about bedtime stories. I teach at a girls' grammar school. The number of keen readers in Y7 is pretty high. By the end of Y 9 it has absolutely fallen off a cliff!

@HollyGolightly4 it's with Foresters Friendly! It's absolutely brilliant. Not sure if they still do it x

We're lucky enough to benefit from this is our county in the UK and the books are fab!

I don't think it is a red herring. It's a lot easier to deal with a child who has never had a screen rather than try to police one who does. You can hardly take the moral high ground that screen time is bad while on the other hand actively encourage them to sit down for more screen time because it's homework.

But I agree with your points about reading more broadly beyond the tech issue.

Wow that's amazing! I had no idea!

So chartering the age most kids get a mobile phone then....and correlating with the time that parents will start to ease off with rules around it, like taking it off them at bedtime.

I think childhood reading needs to be addressed as it opens up all the other subjects. If you can’t read you can’t learn science.

A lot of children aren’t being read to any more and there needs to better guidance on screen time. If one parent could stay at home rather than working this could benefit kids too, but it’s very much a luxury in this economy.

But I disagree with comments around adults reading as I don’t enjoy reading. I can’t model it more as honestly it just doesn’t bring me pleasure.

What do you mean by “libraries are full of twaddle”@Amblealongside? Too many popular books? Too many older books that no one wants to read? Too many classics? Not enough classics? It’s quite a sweeping generalisation.

My library seems to have a decent mix of popular books in all genres, literary fiction, classics, older books that are still in print (eg: 1950s and onwards so not considered classics yet). It seems to cover a wide range of interests and is well-used, and I assume most libraries would aim for a similar mix

I'm struggling to understand how we even go to this point tbh, makes me feel quite sad. 😟 I've always always loved books. My mum read me a bedtime story every night. Hell at one point she had 3 kids under 8 and still read each a bedtime story!!

Also even as far back as primary school we had reading homework every night. I think I started with the easier ones (does anyone else vaguely remember the stories of Biff and Cliff etc? Or the books about Mr Post the Postman type books?) . Every night you had to read X amount of pages and your parent would record it in your reading diary. I'm going to assume that's no longer a thing?!

I remember in primary the books were colour coded by ability. When I was in year 6, my reading level was "free reader" which meant for my reading homework I could read ANY book I wanted, at one point I was reading Pretty Women 👀 and whilst she's been cancelled for her in hindsight not...pc 👀 views, as a kid I love the Enid Blyton books. I remember in year 6 I also used to sit and help one of the other kids who struggled with his reading to read.

Even back in nursery/reception we also had a reading corner and picture books! The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Gruffalo, etc.

It's a shame libraries aren't used more. I used to love nothing more than getting my library card and checking out as many books as I could!

Its a depressing thought that so many kids may never even have had a bedtime story read to them or ever discovered the real joy of reading 😟

Our library is very poor and I don't know how that can be addressed. You can order books in from other libraries but I know when I was a kid I chose my books by browsing the shelves. The popular books have city-wide waiting lists and the existing copies are often never returned. The quality of books looks utter shit to me as well, your choice is basically Percy Jackson or Dork Diaries. I honestly don't know what he answer is.

In primary school, we used to have colour coded reading books and you worked your way up through them. It didn't really encourage a love of reading but it was very structured, and at the end of each day the teacher read a chapter of a book aloud. I know my daughter's school doesn't have these.

As an adult, my phone and the internet distracts me from reading and that's the biggest issue for children. There's no getting around that. My daughter likes to read on her tablet but YouTube is too tempting for her. Its a time and attention suck.