Children and young people’s writing in 2023

This report outlines findings from our 2023 Annual Literacy Survey, exploring children and young people’s writing enjoyment at school and in their free time.

This report is based on 71,351 responses to our Annual Literacy Survey from children and young people aged 5 to 18 in schools across the UK in early 2023. Findings show that enjoyment of writing is at one of the lowest levels we have evidenced since 2010.

Key findings in 2023:

• 1 in 3 (34.6%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they enjoy writing in their free time.
  • Levels of writing enjoyment have reduced by 12.2 percentage points over the past 13 years, which means that, over that time, there has been a 26% decrease in the number of children and young people aged 8 to 18 who say they enjoy writing in their free time.
    
• 1 in 5 (19.3%) children and young people told us that they wrote something daily in their free time.
  • While daily writing levels have increased slightly over the past year, compared with 2010, the number of children and young people who wrote something daily in their free time has decreased by over a quarter (28.5%).
    
• 1 in 2 children and young people say that they write to be creative (50.2%) while 2 in 5 write to express their ideas and imagination (40.5%) or their thoughts and feelings (45.5%).
  • Writing continues to support children and young people’s mental wellbeing, with 1 in 4 (24.5%) of children and young people saying that writing made them feel better, while 1 in 7 (15.5%) wrote to support causes and issues they care about.

As we continue to record alarmingly low levels of writing enjoyment among children and young people, urgent coordinated action is needed. It is now time to provide considered opportunities aimed at reconnecting children and young people with the creative elements that transform writing into a pleasurable personal practice.