Children’s literacy rates are declining: how can we stop this?

Recent research has called for the urgent revival of children’s literacy. It has been found that only

3 in 10 secondary school pupils say that they enjoy reading in their free time, and just over half of primary school pupils.

With children now steadily losing their interest in literature as they get older, what exactly can be done to rekindle the appeal of reading in the classroom?

I think that I speak for most students, when I say that the school curriculum, particularly in secondary school, is heavily dominated by classic works of white authors. Whilst the focus on classic literature is, of course, crucial for developing students as critical thinkers, it would be more effective to involve more classic authors from different cultural backgrounds. Integrating representation into children’s literary education, would help them to feel seen by engaging with them on a personal level of identification. As an ethnic minority student, I know that it is a little disheartening to have to get to degree-level to consistently study more diverse literature, and finally see your own culture reflected outside of the white, and mostly Western, canon. In recent years, works from ethnic minorities, such as Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses, have steadily been integrated into pre-GCSE lessons – but what about the GCSE students, who are probably on their second or third Shakespearean play? Whilst Shakespeare is, obviously, integral to literary understanding, there are plenty of renowned writers from ethnic minority backgrounds (Audre Lorde, Arudhanti Roy, and Natsume Soseki, to name a few) who can make the GCSE curriculum more inclusive and less saturated for all students, developing their literacy skills through the engagement of diversity.

On the topic of diversity, another way to improve children’s literacy skills is to introduce a broader range of literary forms outside of the standard prose, poetry, and plays that tend to dominate classroom learning.

It is important for developing children to be engaged on different sensory levels when studying literature as an artistic expression

Why not broaden the horizons of the types of literature that are out there for students to explore? For example, graphic novels, a genre rising in popularity in parallel with the rise of digital art, tend to interest students by aiding the telling of stories with stylised art. Also, spoken word poetry encourages the development of their abilities to communicate creatively and listen for messages behind word choice and tone. Moreover, a variety of forms is likely to involve more modern works, which may be more relevant to the current times and therefore more  accessible to students of various skill levels. Not only are such genres beneficial for broadening literacy skills, but they also make learning generally more fun and engaging for all ages by continually incorporating something new.

A final way to encourage young readers is to simply reinforce the doors that literacy skills open – and keeps open – for their futures, even if they have no interest in studying literature beyond GCSEs. The majority, if not all, of job fields will require some form of reading comprehension, whether a child grows up to be a painter, reading the specific details of a commission, or a maths teacher, reading and comprehending the reasoning behind their own students’ answers. To encourage the development of these crucial skills, a greater engagement with how literacy is used in the workplace can be facilitated, for example, through the organisation of workshops or career talks. This approach would be mostly geared towards older secondary school students, thinking about their next steps in life and how they may adapt what they have learnt from reading in the classroom to the real world of work.

If you are a student yourself, please remember to nurture your reading and writing skills to grow into a well-rounded communicator – your future self will undoubtedly thank you. And if you happen to be a teacher, a tutor, or any form of literacy mentor – why not implement one or two of these ideas into your own lessons? Hopefully, the approaches that schools take to these declining literacy levels will combat them effectively, and we will be able to reignite the value of reading in the growing minds of children.