Research reports

This report brings together three broad areas of education – reading, financial capability and general academic motivation – to understand how they are related.

In this report, we discuss school libraries from the point of view of children and young people. It explores how many children use the school library, why they do or do not use it,...

We surveyed 44,097 children aged 8-18 to look into the link between book ownership, literacy engagement and mental wellbeing.

To celebrate Blue Peter's 60th birthday, we explored children and young people’s letter writing in 2017/18. We looked at how many children and young people write letters in...

To support National Poetry Day on 4 October 2018, we were commissioned to conduct the first ever national survey of children and young people’s views on poetry in England.

This report explores the link between children and young people’s mental wellbeing and their reading and writing enjoyment, attitudes and behaviours.

The NewsWise programme was developed as a collaborative partnership between Google, The Guardian Foundation, the National Literacy Trust and the PSHE Association. This report covers...

This report evaluates the impact of Mrs Wordsmith, an illustrated, data-driven vocabulary programme for children aged 6-13.

The 2017 evaluation of our Books Unlocked programme, which promotes reading for pleasure in prisons, supported by the Man Booker Prize Foundation.

The survey looked at the reading habits of over 4,000 primary school children in 2018

Our evaluation of Early Words Together at Two explores the outcomes of the programme on children, parents, and practitioners. 

This report compares pupils who participated in Readathon with those who haven't and shows that Readathon is related to various improved reading outcomes. 

The final report of the Commission on Fake News and the Teaching of Critical Literacy in Schools.

This report explores how many children and young people enjoy writing, how often they write in their free time, what they think about writing and more.

This report explores the writing enjoyment, behaviours and attitudes of 8 to 11-year-olds in the UK in the 2017/18 academic year. 

An evidence review exploring the link between literacy and life expectancy in England through health and socioeconomic factors.

This research review explores redefining and reframing what it means to be a good reader at age 11, looking in particular at cognitive reading skills, affective processes and...

We asked 42,406 children and young people aged eight to 18 about book ownership in our seventh annual literacy survey, which we conducted in November/December 2016. One in 11...

This literature review provides a brief overview of research relating to the importance of shared reading in the early years, with a focus on personalised children’s picture books...

This report looks at year two of the poetry programme and the impact it has had.

Read about our FA writing challenges and how they increased participating students’ enthusiasm for writing, motivated them to write and improved their confidence as writers.