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June 2012 - Education

Market research carried out for publishing company Pearson, which questioned 410 secondary school English teachers in the UK, has found concern over how little pupils spend reading outside the classroom.

An overwhelming majority of 94% of the UK teachers polled thought their pupils preferred to spend time online, while two-thirds said reading was not seen as "cool" by pupils and more than two-fifths claimed children are turned off reading for pleasure by the time they finish primary school.

A total of 97% of the teaching professionals also thought parents could do more to encourage their child to read.

Children's author Frank Cottrell Boyce commented on the findings: "It's worrying to think that so many young children are not being inspired to pick up a good book and get lost in a story. According to Unesco (the United Nations agency which promotes knowledge), the biggest single indicator of whether a child is going to thrive at school and in work is whether or not they read for pleasure.”

He added: "Clearly we need to make sure we are providing our children with the right types of books which stimulate their interest, capture their imagination and make them turn the next page."

The study further found that 83% of teachers said boys were likely to be attracted by fantasy novels, compared to 65% who said the same about girls. Meanwhile, 93% of teachers said that boys were most likely to find horror books engaging.

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