Report shows majority of Australian children not reading enough

NEARLY two-thirds of Australian children aren’t reading enough, a new ­report has found, but the reason children give for not hitting the books may surprise you.

Isaac Green, 8, and sister Ella, 6, go to the library with their mother each week to pick out books they enjoy reading. Picture: Mark Calleja

NEARLY two-thirds of Australian children aren’t reading enough, a new ­report has found.

The Scholastic Australian Kids and Family Reading Report surveyed more than 1700 parents and children and found three-quarters of kids could not find anything they were interested in reading.

Head of Education at Scholastic Australia, Christine Vale, said there was evidence children who read frequently were more likely to succeed in their studies.

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“Interestingly, the Kids and Family Reading Report also verifies that principals can have a great deal of ­influence over children’s attitudes towards reading enjoyment and frequency, by creating a culture within the school that embraces independent reading,” she said. “We know there is a strong link between independent reading and success in education.”

Nine out of 10 children said they enjoyed being read to by their parents.

The report found that low-income parents were less ­likely to read to their kids, mainly because they had not been given the message about how important it was for their children’s development.

“We heard from kids that they overwhelmingly love read aloud time with their parents and that many parents are reading to their children,” Ms Vale said.

“We are concerned that key messages around literacy are not being disseminated evenly across all demographics, centralising learning difficulties among lower-income families.”

Mother of two, Kelly Green said reading to her children Isaac, 8, and Ella, 6, was essential.

“We read to them every single night and they love it,” she said. “They get their home readers from school, but we go to the library each week for something extra that they can pick out and they really enjoy it.”