|

Search

National School of Government

Feedback

• Request email bulletins
• Website feedback

Reading literacy - international comparisons

On 28 November 2007, NFER publsihed a report (Readers and reading: the national report for England 2006) which shows that English children are reading less outside of school and that brighter children’s performance has dropped since 2001. It provides information about the reading skills of children in England compared to their peers internationally. It also includes information about changes in attainment since the first survey in 2001. The report shows that while the English score is still well above the international average, it has fallen since 2001. It says “it is lower achievement among the better readers that has contributed most to the overall fall rather than the small increase in the proportion of weaker readers”.

At the same time, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA).published a report (PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) 2006). This rigorous international survey compares the reading attainment and attitudes of over 200,000 9 and 10 year old children in 41 countries. It finds that pupils in England achieved significantly above the international mean (average).

PIRLS highlights:

• that the amount of reading overall outside school has fallen;
• that 37 per cent of our ten year olds play computer games for more than three hours a day.
• the link between high use of computer games and lower attainment in PIRLS; and
• that children in England read for pleasure less often than their peers in other countries. There is a strong link between the amount of reading for pleasure and their achievement in PIRLS tests.

PIRLS shows a significant increase since 2001 in English ten year olds who had the ‘least positive’ attitudes to reading and says that “the proportion of children who reported that they very seldom read stories or novels outside school increased significantly between 2001 and 2006 in England.”
The report also says:

• “Sweden and the Netherlands also demonstrated a similar pattern” (i.e. lower achievement among the better readers contributed most to these countries’ overall fall in score).
• The data suggest that it is lower achievement among the better readers that has contributed most to the overall fall rather than the small increase in the proportion of weaker readers.

Readers and reading: the national report for England 2006

PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) 2006