UK literacy charity wants audiobooks on national school curriculum

A new study by the National Literacy Trust (NLT), a charity that campaigns for higher literacy across the UK, has found that a significant percentage of children now consume literature through audiobooks.

For the first time since the NLT started surveying listening habits, more children said they preferred listening to books (42.3%) over reading them (34.6%).

The Annual Literacy Survey of children’s reading habits, run since 2010, surveyed children in England, Wales and Scotland from ages five to over 16s.

Of the 66,008 children who took part, 42.3% (or 37,893) said they listened to audiobooks in their free time. Although it’s only a slight increase on the 2023 findings, it is a significant figure for the NLT as they found the lowest number of children reading for pleasure since 2019. Just over a third of children said they enjoyed reading in their free time.

Around half of listeners said that they found audiobooks were a good way to “relax or feel better when stressed or anxious” (52.0%) and that the format made it easier to understand the story (48.4%).

Encouragingly, half of these respondents (52.9%) also said that they found they used their imaginations more when listening to audiobooks. A similar number also said that audiobooks encouraged them to enjoy reading in their free time.

Across gender, slightly more boys than girls (43.4% vs 40.4%) said they listen to audiobooks, which is a far narrower gender gap than in reading (28.2% boys vs 40.5% girls) and writing (22.1% boys vs 34.6% girls).

Enjoyment of audiobooks was also measured across those who take part in the free school meals initiative. Slightly more children on free school meals listened to audiobooks than children who don’t use the scheme (43.6% vs 41.7%).

On the results, the NLT has said that “children and young people’s levels of reading and writing enjoyment are in crisis, with quite dramatic decreases in levels of both over the last year alone.”

However, “listening enjoyment has remained relatively steady” which has led to it overtaking reading for the first time.

As a result, the NLT is campaigning for audiobooks to be included more in the national curriculum to encourage reading. Jonathan Douglas, the NLT’s chief executive said: “By working together to leverage children and young people’s enthusiasm for audio, we can play an important role in growing a generation of readers and turning the page on the nation’s reading for pleasure crisis.”