Scots teenagers urged to read challenging books

Study shows Scottish 16-year-olds have a reading age of only 13

Scottish pupils aged 11 to 16 are not reading challenging enough books at secondary-school level, according to research.

Dundee University academic Professor Keith Topping carried out a study of the reading habits of about 26,000 Scottish children for online assessment provider Renaissance UK.

He found that primary-school pupils typically push themselves to read more complex books than secondaryschool pupils.

By the age of 11, a pupil’s reading age falls behind their chronological age by one year and when they reach 12-13 their reading age has fallen behind by two years.

When pupils hit 16, their reading age typically falls to at least three years behind, the study found.

This means that many 16-year-olds sitting exams this year will have a reading age of 13, researchers said.

Prof Topping, who specialises in educational and social research at the university’s school of education, said: “The brain is a muscle that literacy skills help train. As it gets more toned, like all muscles, it needs more exercise.

“Currently, primary schools are exercising it more vigorously by reading more challenging books – we now need to replicate this in secondary schools.

“More discussions between young people about books they are reading should be encouraged.

“I would also encourage all secondary teachers, not just English teachers, to look closely at their pupils’ literacy levels and remember – even the brightest students need to be stretched.”

The findings have been released as part of Renaissance’s 2017 What Kids Are Reading report, which found that the trend was reflected across the UK.

Renaissance managing director Dirk Foch said: “If we are to avert a slide in literacy standards many secondaryschool pupils would benefit from dedicated reading-time in secondary school.”

The brain, like all muscles, needs more exercise PROFESSOR KEITH TOPPING

These days most UK homes can access literally hundreds of television channels. Spend an evening flicking through them and you may well be forgiven for thinking the very last thing we need is another one.

However, the BBC is apparently convinced otherwise and so, next year, a new channel will be created.

Catering specifically for a Scottish audience, bosses at the Beeb have – perhaps unsurprisingly – described the development as “exciting”, confidently predicting it will provide a “huge boost” for the creative industries north of the border.

Much of the desire to offer such a service appears to be rooted in the run-up to the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, when the BBC was accused of bias.

The former First Minister Alex Salmond is among those to have been forthright in his criticism, describing its coverage of the historic poll as a “disgrace”.

Despite such attitudes, the corporation’s director general Tony Hall has insisted Scots “love BBC television” and so concludes we probably want a bit more of it. To be fair, he nevertheless acknowledges the organisation could “better reflect” modern Scotland.

Whether or not the new channel successfully captures and caters for such a need or is yet another channel to flick past en route to something more interesting remains to be seen.

The report showed children push themselves to read more in primary than they do in secondary school.