Government plans to boost literacy by ensuring pupils spend at least an hour a day reading have been greeted with uncertainty, according to young journalists at Children's Express. The organisation asked a group of children under 12 their thoughts on literary standards.
| If a child had a choice between a book or a computer, obviously they would choose a computer. |
I really, really like to read. If I'm going somewhere and know I'll have to wait, I'll take a book with me. I like to read because it occupies your time and it's entertaining. It can also help you learn, depending on what type of book it is.
Eleven-year-old Koiya Donovan's love of reading is something the new Labour Government would like to see all primary school children embrace. Its plans to encourage children to read more have met wide-spread approval among adults but what do the pupils think themselves?
Many children do not consider books a fun activity. I'd rather play or watch TV, said ten-year-old Panashe Mutandiro. If a child had a choice between a book or a computer, obviously they would choose a computer, added Cenk Ceki, aged ten. Computers are more fun, they've got more activities and you can do lots of things.
The types of books the team are expected to read at school proved a big reason why reading was seen as boring. "There are not many authors who really write to impress and make children laugh, laugh, laugh," explained 12-year-old Marvyn Benoit.
Books are expensive and at school we've got books that no one's going to read, said Koiya. In some instances, book shortages exacerbate the situation: It's just that there's not enough books for every single person. So every time there's a new book it's gone already in a click, said Marvyn.
A survey by the Social Market Foundation in 1995 found that more than half of 11-year-olds failed to reach Government reading standards. But although the discussion group thought it important to encourage reading, they greeted the Government's plans with a mixed response.
If you can't read you've failed in life, but I think it's totally out of order to have summer schools. The brainiest can have fun in the sun but the poor readers have to go to summer school, said 10-year-old Pfungwa Chipatiso, summing up the feelings of most of the children who felt special lessons in school holidays amounted to punishment for not being clever enough.
Secretary of State for Education David Blunkett's plans to boost literacy by ensuring children spend at least an hour a day reading were also greeted with uncertainty. Youngsters felt that in order to fit more reading in, the school day would have to be longer.
I don't think it's a good idea because we already have to be at school for 8.30am and we don't finish until 3.15pm, said Dante. We've got a life to live and we need to be able to do whatever we want like go outside, play football and ride our bikes. And you have to do all this reading too, observed Duane O'Garro, aged 12.
The team argued that teachers were aware of the importance of reading and encouraging individual pupils. What we do depends on your ability in reading. If you need more help in reading then you could read practically every day to the teacher or several times a week. The better you are the less you have to read every week. The best only have to read once a month, explained Koiya.
However, some children were more enthusiastic about more time devoted to reading. "We should have a lot more time on reading because we only get about 15 minutes and if you are reading a Roald Dahl book it would take a month to finish it," said Pfungwa.
Others felt they already spend enough time reading and were concerned that 'real' work was neglected. "We read a lot so sometimes we don't get our work done," said Panashe.
Despite adult concern about the standard of literacy in primary schools, most of the children had faith in their teachers' ability to get them to the right standard without Labour's plans. I think my teacher knows our weaknesses and abilities in reading. First she puts us all in one group where we have to read out loud to the other children in class, said Cenk. Then she splits us into smaller groups, with people who can't read confidently in one and people who can in another. I think I'll be OK when I go to secondary school because every time I read I get better and better, he continued. As my dad says, you have to read to succeed, concluded Marvyn.
About the article
This article was produced by the Children's Express London Bureau and was published in Teacher Update magazine.
