Four in five boys from disadvantaged backgrounds do not read daily

New research from the National Literacy Trust reveals that four in five boys from disadvantaged backgrounds don’t read daily. The research surveyed 70,403 children aged 5 – 18 from across England, Scotland and Wales as part of the National Literacy Trust’s ongoing mission to reduce poverty by improving literacy levels across the UK.

When children don’t read daily and don’t enjoy reading, they are far more likely to have low literacy levels which impacts every area of their education. Recent GCSE results showed the stark contrast in grades for those who live in disadvantaged areas, compared to their more affluent peers.

Literacy levels impact everything from a child’s success at school, to their career potential, their physical and mental health, and even their life expectancy. Research shows that boys from a disadvantaged background are one of the groups at most in danger of having low literacy skills.

This issue has become more urgent as a result of the pandemic, as the disruption to learning has meant that children from disadvantaged backgrounds have fallen even further behind than their more affluent peers.5 Boys from disadvantaged backgrounds are the only group in which reading frequency dropped markedly during lockdown in 2021, which only serves to further cement their position of vulnerability.

Recent data show that 59% of children are finishing primary school at the expected standard of reading, writing and maths. This is fewer that in 2019 and far below the Government target of 90% by 2023. One way that the National Literacy Trust is specifically targeting this group is their partnering of football with literacy, which has been a huge success for over 20 years and helped many children of both genders from disadvantaged backgrounds improve their literacy skills.

“While our football-themed programmes are designed to support children from any background who are not meeting expected standards, we often find that teachers select a high percentage of boys to participate,” says Jim Sells, Programme Manager for Sports and Literacy at the National Literacy Trust, “Our programmes with the Premier League, such as Premier League Reading Stars, and our work with role models, such as Marcus Rashford and his Book Club, are a crucial life line for many of the young people we work with. By going into the places and spaces that children feel comfortable in, like their local football club, and showing them how football and reading – of any kind – can go hand in hand, we are giving young people the motivation to improve their literacy skills and take control of their lives.

This is not about lazy assumptions, that it’s just boys that love football or that all boys love football. Our recent work on the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 has inspired not just boys but all young people. But this research has identified a specific need to support schools to inspire boys to read more often, and we’re here to help with that.”

Assistant headteacher Amanda Holland, at Robert Clark School in Dagenham, shares how Skills Academy, another football-based literacy programme from the National Literacy Trust, made a huge difference to her students’ literacy skills: “Using football to motivate adolescent boys to read works so well. At this stage in their lives they often become apathetic about reading, so giving them reading material they like is crucial. There were some particularly stand-out results; one young man has progressed three reading ages since taking part in Skills Academy, going from the reading age of a ten-year-old to reading at a 13-year-old level! We’ve also had two boys go up two reading ages – it’s been fantastic.”