Research into Practice: Children and young people's perspectives on reading

What teachers can learn from children and young people’s voices

This research-informed resource is designed to help you understand what children and young people aged 8 to 18 think and feel about reading and what this means for our approaches to reading engagement.

Research and context

The National Literacy Trust has been asking children and young people about reading since 2005. Over this period, there has been a decline in the numbers saying that they enjoy reading in their free time. Only 1 in 3 children and young people surveyed said that they enjoyed reading either very much or quite a lot in their free time. Fewer than 1 in 5 (18.7%) reported that they read daily.

The 2025 survey included an opportunity for children and young people aged 8-18 to tell us, in their own words, why they do or do not enjoy reading. 58,398 respondents offered their thoughts and opinions and these responses have been analysed as part of our report Understanding children and young people's perspectives on reading in their own words | National Literacy Trust.

The picture these responses paint is complex and nuanced. Affective, cognitive, behavioural and social and environmental factors each influenced readers in different ways.

• For keen readers, reading was an enjoyable part of their everyday routine, one they actively sought out and found relevant and valuable in terms of the way it supported their learning and sense of identity. They felt encouraged and supported by their surrounding networks and environment.
• Ambivalent readers had a more fragile and fluctuating relationship with reading. They experienced both positive and negative influences in their lives.
• Averse readers actively avoided reading. They described reading as boring, effortful, or irrelevant to their lives. They did not find texts which appealed to them and perceived adult involvement as pressure.

Overall, these responses highlight that efforts to engage children with reading need to be tailored, targeted and personalised.

Using our resource

This resource aims to support teachers to engage children and young people with reading through personalised approaches.

This resource includes:

• A summary of the research findings based on children and young people's responses to the Annual Literacy Survey 2025
• A selection of the responses received, chosen to highlight some key areas and themes which will be most relevant to education professionals
• Suggested strategies to address each of these responses.

Find more support for Reading for Pleasure

Learn more about how the National Literacy Trust is working to support reading for pleasure.