Research into Practice: Building lifelong readers

The National Literacy Trust Annual Literacy Survey 2025 has revealed that children and young people's reading remains just as concerning one year on. The latest Children and Young People’s reading report has shown that reading continues to decline, albeit at a slightly slower pace.

• Only 1 in 3 (32.7%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 say they enjoy reading in their free time
• Only 1 in 5 (18.7%) say they read daily in their free time

Both are at their lowest levels in twenty years since we began tracking.

However, this report also sheds light on what motivates children and young people to read, and offers a window into what might re-engage those with the lowest levels of reading enjoyment.

Explore this Research into Practice resource to delve into these findings and to discover practical activities for exploring reading for enjoyment in a classroom setting.

The resource includes:

• an overview of our reading findings from the Annual Literacy Survey 2025
• key takeaways for education practitioners, to help put research into practice
• nine activities for ages 5 to 18, inspired by research findings
• a list of National Literacy Trust programmes and resources for ages 2 to 18.