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More than half of UK children do not read in their spare time, survey reveals
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
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It's not surprising. Reading for pleasure was phased out of schools a long time ago and replaced by "Literacy" and Accelerated Reader where kids are tested on the books they read and have to finish them as fast as they can.
We have a neo-liberal school curriculum in the UK that only sees reading as a function of employment or cultural indoctrination (in the case of the statutory requirement to teach Shakespeare and that no non-UK writers are allowed to be studied at GCSE).
In elementary school we weren't even allowed to check out books from the library if the teacher didn't think we could pass the AR test because it would lower the class average.
I’ve witnessed children forced to read three or four thin “books” in an Accelerated Reader lesson so they can be tested 3-4 times to improve their “data” / test results.
I’m HIGHLY sceptical about the quality of the data the tests produce (reading ages and some sort of AR “progress”).
The whole idea of ACCELERATING reading of books is just repulsive and wrong. Some children (and adults) get more out of a book by simply reading at their own pace and enjoying it.