Reading – Don’t Let It die!

Published: March 12th, 2026

A recent article in the Times (James Marriott) questions if our love of books is more fragile than we realise? Marriott quotes recent statistics, suggesting that about a third of British adults have given up reading for pleasure, and that the OECD reports that literacy is either ‘declining or stagnating’ in most developed countries. How worried should we be? Marriott has been making a Radio 4 series about how the rise of literacy has shaped civilisation: citing that, while speaking and listening have been around since humans began – on only three occasions has writing been invented – in Mesopotamia around 3400 BC, in Ancient China around 1250 BC, and in Mesoamerica around the first millennium  BC. Yet, genuine mass literacy arrived very late indeed, with the introduction of compulsory education around the end of the 19th Century. So, reading as a solitary, mindful activity for the masses has been here for only about 120 years. So let’s not lose it, asks Marriott. 

What does reading do? It seems that while immersed in a novel, both literature and empathy become joined, as readers activate those areas of the brain associated with the actions performed by its characters. In other words, we lose ourselves inside the story. 

But continuing to mourn the decline of reading, is not, in itself, going to get our young people reading for pleasure again. The ‘what’ and ‘why’ we can understand – as books have become buried beneath computer screens and phones. But we can, and must consider the ‘how’ of bringing reading back into fashion. 

Let me outline briefly what my granddaughter’s school is doing to support poorer readers. ‘Stop Everything and Read’, operates for a half hour during school subject learning: using a rolling programme (Mon, period 1. Tues, period 2, etc.), so that reading time is fairly shared between subjects. The teacher reads to the class from a PowerPoint, as pupils listen, before answering questions from what they have seen and heard. They are asked to look out for words with particular meanings – a ‘vocabulary bank’. 

This raises interesting questions. Firstly, the topic. How is each story related to the subject (history, geography, science, english, art?) within which it features? Should it be? Should reading time spent in a history lesson focus on a story with a historical background – then discussed? Could there be a story or non-fiction article about the artist, Van Gogh, or Lowry? Stories do not have to be fictional. 

The second issue centres around vocabulary. Should pupils be asked to identify (and write down) words associated with that subject: the aim being to ensure that these words are heard, read accurately, and remembered within their subject context? 

My third issue with this reading programme concerns comprehension. Do the questions include a range of comprehension aspects (eg. detail, main idea, comparison, sequence, cause and effect), presented at varying depths of understanding (literal, inferential, evaluative). 

What a valuable opportunity this type of programme offers for linking general reading development – with cross-curricular subject areas, and in so doing, bringing  all staff together as part of this ‘whole school’ initiative. Reading development cannot ever be the sole prerogative of the English Dept.

The data presented with my previous blog (9.3.26: Every Child to Read) emphasised the problems this school has with so many children arriving with RAs below their chronological age. And there are many schools with similar problems. This initiative offers many opportunities and is worth building upon, to ensure that it meets the needs of every learner involved. 

So, for this National Year of Reading – much to think about. Don’t let it die! 

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