to not force my teenager to read a book a week?

[milafawny]

My 15 year old daughters school have initiated a new reading scheme that states every child must read a book "for pleasure" each week and produce a written report on it for every Monday.

I have a few objections to this.

Firstly, this is not "reading for pleasure", this is enforced reading with follow up home work each week.

The selection of books isn't open, they have to read books provided on the app on their iPad, again, making it not "for pleasure" when they cant select the book.

The smallest book in the selection is 300 pages long. Most are longer. The largest has 1200+ pages. Expecting a book of that size to be finished weekly along with a completed report, on top of GSCE level homework, is a big ask.

Specifically regarding my daughter, she is diagnosed with both dyslexia and ADHD. She has already be informed in school that this scheme is expected of her too. Reading is not, nor has it every been, an activity she does for pleasure. Its takes her time, she gets frustrated and upset when she cant understand or stay focussed. We have tactics in place for when she has to read, usually breaking it into smaller sections but this doesn't allow for reading longer texts, but these tactics are not enough to have her motivated to read a different book every single week. She cannot read something aloud at all. She still find its difficult to focus attention long enough to watch a film. In something she has no interest in, namely reading, she's not even going to manage 5 minutes. I have bought her many many books over the years that are ones she has expressed an interest in - most are non-fiction biology books. Ive tried with books of things she has shown interest in, such as horrible history's that are more factual. None of the selection of books are like this, they are all fictional story based. We have tried harry potter and hunger games as we broke the films down and watched it as you would watch a tv show, i think she managed the first chapter of book 1 of harry potter in a month. She gets no enjoyment from it.

Would IBU to email school and state my daughter is not participating in the scheme, and expect this not to result in a weekly detention due to the reasons i have outlined?

Nope.

And I'm an avid reader and usually in favour of following school rules, but just, nope.

I struggle to read more than 10-20 pages on a work night. The books in the series I currently read are between 450 and 750 pages. I am on week 3 of trying to finish one of them, and I am really trying hard and enjoying it.

A GCSE student in their final year has no chance on top of all their other homework, let alone a SEND student. And the fact that the books can only be chosen on an app (and therefore tracked), so are not even up to them, is ridiculous. Even more so with the book record.

I'd refuse, as, I am sure, will many others. If school are being arsey, keep a diary of how long the regular school work takes and ask them whether they really think it's reasonable. After all, each school will need to fill their EBacc buckets and that won't happen if one subject takes major time over all others.

That reads like a list from the English curriculum and is unreasonable on so many levels, especially for low-ability readers. I mean, some Y11 students have a reading age of 7 for crying out loud.

"I understand how eight books per half term (including the holiday week) might seem a lot, but if she is reading for the recommended 45 minutes to an hour per day, this is accomplishable...

The books are centred around the materials studied in class and will help deepen her understanding of themes and context of those texts, which is especially important as she embarks upon her GCSE journey...

The minimum reading age of 16 years required for GCSE subjects' literacy demands. I hope you understand why we're championing reading so much in school: all scientific research and studies conducted in this area have concluded that it benefits young people to no end, including helping stave off certain health issues later in life...

I understand that barriers to learning can lead to a disheartened mindset, but the ERP list does offer modern books, as well as some classics, to engage pupils and encourage them to stick with their reading"

These are snippets from the message i have received from the head of English.

I dont even know what to say to that.

Good grief; this cannot be real! That’s a really random list! The thing about reading for pleasure is we often find an author we like and read more of their books. Or we may read more around a theme. You would never be able to do that with that list.

I don't think the list would be unreasonable as a stretching set of targets for people who were strong readers or heading for A Level English. Some people want to read classics. Crime and Punishment is a bit ambitious maybe but the others seem fine.

I totally agree that the force-feeding approach is bonkers but I don't think there's anything wrong with the list.

Reading 20 mins a night 5 days a week maybe, but not 'finishing a book' - surely they don't mean the latter?! It makes me sad that some schools expect you to write about it afterwards. Just reading is the thing that has such an impact on academic achievement. Writing about it is a whole other thing which kind of defeats the point. I can remember DS1 who liked reading not admitting to what he'd read simply so he didn't have to write about it. I think it would be fine to say to them you are happy to support instilling a reading habit with suggesting a regular ten mins before bed or something but not 'a whole book'. The school has been a very clumsy with their policy I think in an attempt to make things better.

I understand encouraging reading for pleasure.

However, being told what books to read and how much reading to do and having to do a book report is not reading for pleasure.

It's homework by another name,

@LittleOwl153 Sorry i didnt mean to quote you in the last reply

I love reading but it is what I want to read. Having to read something that I have little choice in AND write a report on it as well is a sure fire way to turn the most avid reader against it.

This!

I also agree that you can't force "reading for pleasure". Forced and pleasure is tautology (I think that's what it is! It's been a while since I studied that stuff!).

I love reading. Always have, always will. This makes my heart sink to my boots.

I would be talking to the school about it for sure. It sounds extremely counter-productive anyway and with your DD's extra issues, it sound like a disaster.

What a piss take.

They need to take into account the actual ‘reading’ pupils do as part of their normal homework. 45 mins a day extra is ridiculous.

I would:

1. Text any other parents you know asking for their opinion. Strength in numbers and all that

2. Go back to the teacher and ask them realistically how a child is supposed to have an extra 45 mins spare per DAY after school, commutes, dinner, other homework, hobbies and some wind down time before bed.

3. Ask why other homework doesn’t count as reading

4. Ask how anyone is supposed to read some of those super-long books in 1 week, plus report.

I would email and tell them no. I would also add that it’s unnecessary extra hours starring at a screen.

@milafawny perhaps you would like to go back to them with the average reading time for some of those books:

The Count of Monte Cristo: 30 hours and 56 minutes
Crime and Punishment: 11 hours and 58 minutes

And that's an average reader. So it really isn't accomplishable for your DD.

I'd love to know what themes they are studying too with that list!

Crazy! I'm an avid reader, and so are 3 out of 5 of my kids.

My avid readers absolutely love reading, but alway hated English as they didn't like writing about what they'd read. (Still managed very good grades despite their hatred of it) So this would have totally put them off reading if they'd been made to read specific books a week, and write a report on them.

As for my non reader in mainstream education, he wouldn't have coped it with it at all, he has Adhd and is autistic. It would have caused all sorts of meltdowns. He does read, but very specific stuff.

I'm doing a reading challenge this year, and that's only a book a fortnight! And I'm behind. Life gets in the way. Even more so when you're studying many subjects for GCSE, plus whatever else your teen has going on in her life.

I loved reading as a teen, but if school had turned it into a chore I would absolutely not have done it, out of principle

A book a week is a huge ask as well. 50 pages a day of even the shortest book?

A book a month, maybe. Set the goal to be attainable and that feeds motivation and feelings of achievement. Make it a long hard slog every single week for no discernible reward, and that's a sure fire way to kill a love of reading.

Ask the teacher when exactly they are supposed to fit 50-200 pages a day of reading in, on top of homework and extra curricular activities and downtime?

I've just looked this up. Average words in a page of a novel is 250-300. 50 pages is 12,500 words, 6 days a week. Average reading speed of a 15 year old is 200-300 wpm (not taking ADHD and dyslexia into account).

So, for the shortest book, they want your DD to find a minimum of 6 hours a week to read it...

Fucking ludicrous.

And I really hope my maths is right after working all that out, but it's been a long day

Is the reading to be done while AT SCHOOL, or is this something they are imposing on them while not at school? If the latter, I think they are way out of order. You can’t force a person to “read for pleasure” when that is something they do not want to be doing with their free time. WTH is that?

Maybe they’re trying to teach the students about collective action because, even as a conscientious student who went on to study English Lit at University, I’d have been protesting this.

HRTFT so might repeat others.

YANBU. Reading for pleasure means reading because you enjoy it. DS1 (19) does not, and never has enjoyed reading (although he likes being read to/audio books). Being forced to read a book, especially from a set list, every week would be hell for him. He's read 2 books this year. One of which was Heartstopper which has barely any words in it.

It’s not only ridiculous, it’s totally redundant. I’m dyslexic and have adhd, and I couldn’t read until I was 9/10. There is no way I could have done this. No one ever forced me to read or chose books for me. I still become someone who enjoys reading and has an MA in a wordy subject.

Who has time for this as set work in Year 11, when GCSEs are around the corner? If they were in Year 8 it would make a little more sense, but it seems a poorly thought-through plan for older students with plenty of content to learn for actual public exams. I’d definitely contact the school to express concerns.

Writing a report on a book is the quickest way to put anyone off reading for pleasure

^ agreed and I'm a massive reader

I would possibly look at going through Senco …. I found them very helpful in terms of reasonable adjustments .

I love reading. I'd happily read a book a week..... but write a report on it by Monday? That's a sure fire way to kill any love of reading.

People advocating Audible - do you listen to books yourselves?! They are long! 8h 25m for the first Harry Potter book by way of example. Definitely not a reasonable adjustment.

We're still awaiting the reasonable adjustments to be put into place for her hearing loss and hearing aids that she got early last school year, that a hearing specialist came into school to assess and make suggestions to the senco and class teachers on the adjustments for - so maybe by the times she leaves they'll have that in place. But I'm not holding my breath, and that is an entirely different thread.

When are they meant to read a book they choose then? Because they’ve got normal
work to be doing and now this forced them extra reading from a curated list… so when do they get to actually read for pleasure with a book they chose from all the books available and not just an approved selection from the school?