There is no doubt reading is good for us. Reading is how we learn, how we express ourselves and ultimately, can determine the rates of success in terms of job satisfaction later in life.
In terms of Australian statistics, most individuals read for just under an hour a day, which equates to six hours and 18 minutes of reading each week. From a comparison on a global perspective, Australia does not rate highly in this area, with the country coming fifteenth place, well outside the top 10 countries in the world. India is the winner in this area, with individuals reading an average of 11 hours each week.
In terms of children, reading can literally change the life of a child. A study was completed, examining the reading habits of kindergarten to year 12 students, detailing that just 6 minutes of extra reading per day, can lead to improvement, leading to a child reaching benchmark literacy standards.
Students who read for 15 minutes or more each day can improve their literacy skills at an accelerated rate. With these facts and figures in mind, it can be hard not to see the benefits in teaching our children the importance of this life skill and making time for it each and every day.
Wherever we go outside our homes, we are faced with the opportunity to see and read what is before us. Thinking about taking the bus and reading the timetable, going to the grocery store and reading the specials on that week, or even thinking about being in remote areas such as bush walks and reading the signs that have been planted along the trails. Reading is fundamental to succeeding in this life and without this skill, people will struggle with daily tasks.
“A person’s future opportunities for success and prosperity will be even more entwined with skilled reading abilities. It is therefore an important societal responsibility to offer every person the opportunity to become a skilled reader, and in many cases, this means becoming a skilled reader.” (Grin, 2012)
We need to be encouraging our students to read, and not just read at school, but to prioritise opportunities to develop this skill in and outside of the home.
Parents, not only teachers, are crucial to developing this lifelong skill.
For young children, this could be simple things like taking five minutes to read a story before bed, making books accessible for children to grab and flick through the pages and interpret the pictures or discuss predictions. It can also look like singing nursery rhymes or even telling stories to your children yourself. This helps young children develop new vocabulary and ways to express themselves. Reading and storytelling for children promotes brain development, imagination and quite beautifully, strengthens relationships. (Raising Children, 2020)
With the temptation for teenagers to spend time on devices, reading needs to be encouraged in a variety of ways to further promote the healthy habits of reading daily. Thinking of things such as keeping a variety of reading materials at home, choosing a books that tie into your child’s interests, choosing graphic novels as a way to gauge your child into reading different genres and making time to read with your child, maybe thinking about spending time after dinner each night reading together as a family, instead of having the television on and phones or tablets accessible.
There are far too many benefits of reading to not encourage our students to make this a part of our daily routines. It may take some time to create some new habits that involve reading daily, however, the statistics are clear when demonstrating the benefits.
Laura Ferguson — Head of Primary