In the UK, a new report outlining key steps that need to be taken to reverse the decline in children’s recreational reading has been presented in Parliament.
The report – Turning the Page: A Plan to Revive Children’s Reading for Enjoyment – is a joint initiative of the UK Publishers Association and All-Party Parliamentary Group on Publishing.
The call to action aligns with Australia Reads’ recent Federal Election campaign calling on urgent support from Governments for recreational reading in Australia – as well as broader campaigns from around the world to address the decline in recreational reading.
As in Australia, the UK has seen a concerning downturn in engagement with recreational reading in children and young people. The National Literacy Trust’s Annual Literacy Survey reported that, in 2024, only 1 in 3 (34.6%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they enjoyed reading in their free time.
The report identified three broad categories of issues restricting children’s rates of reading, and provides recommendations on how to address these issues:
Access
Access to books and reading materials is “the first and most crucial step in supporting children to develop positive reading identities.”
While Publishers, public libraries, and charities do an excellent job in facilitating access to books, there are significant structural issues that limit children’s access to books. Amongst the most pressing, according to the report, is children’s access to school libraries.
The report calls on the Department of Education to collect data on primary and secondary school library provision and partner with the Libraries for Primaries campaign to implement universal primary school library provision.
(For our own, local initiative, check out the Student Needs School Libraries campaign!)
Culture
The report states that in order to sustainably raise rates of recreational reading, the response will need to “extend beyond the school gates” to include “parents and carers, teachers, and the wider community.”
In order to change the broader culture around reading, there needs to be a joint approach.
As such, the report calls for collaboration and partnership between sectors, and urges the Government to use its convening powers to bring together publishers, charities, librarians, school leaders and private sector stakeholders to discuss how to respond to the crisis in children and young people’s rates of reading for enjoyment.
Engagement
In order for children to engage with reading, they must have a choice over what they read. They also need to be able to connect with and feel represented in the stories they read.
The report positions this as an issue for the Government, “which has the power to decide what is and is not covered by the national curriculum.”
In order to support young people’s engagement with reading, it calls on the Department for Education to ensure that the national curriculum prioritises reading for enjoyment alongside reading skill development.
It also focusses on the creation and teaching of the texts itself and calls on publishers to “improve the volume and quality of inclusive output”, and for the creation of widely-accessible training for teachers “on how to confidently and sensitively teach texts by writers of colour.”
In terms of sustainability, the report urges businesses, trusts and foundations to increase the funding they provide to charities that support reading for enjoyment to scale their reach and impact.
Australia Reads welcomes the publication of this report, and looks forward to working with industry and Government to better support children and young people’s engagement with reading in our homes, schools and communities. Find out more about our current advocacy work, and sign up to our newsletter to be part of our mission to get more Australians reading.