Reading 'can bring social change'

Young people from even the most deprived backgrounds could outshine their more affluent peers if they regularly read books, newspapers and comics outside school, the report Reading for Change says.

The report authors say the findings are highly significant and suggest that encouraging reading for pleasure could be one of the most effective ways of bringing about social change.

The study analysed the results of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Pisa survey which examined the knowledge of 15 year olds.

"Fifteen-year-old students who are highly engaged readers and whose parents have the lowest occupational status achieve significantly higher average reading scores (540) than students whose parents have the highest occupational status but who are poorly engaged in reading," the report says.

"All the students who are highly engaged in reading achieve reading literacy scores that are significantly above the international mean, whatever their family background.

"It is reassuring to know that while socio-economic background plays a role, it is not a dominant factor in predicting involvement in diversified reading."

Books in the home

But the research also found the availability of reading material in the home played a part in developing a child's reading skills.

"Students who have access to a larger number of books have a tendency to be more interested in reading a broader range of materials," say the report authors.

"While socio-economic background is weakly related to the profiles of reading, access to books at home seems to play a more important role."

UK above average

The report suggests teenagers in the UK are reading well above their peers in other OECD countries.

Of the 31 countries examined, the UK is rated seventh in terms of the average reading age of 15 year olds.

Finland has the highest mean reading age of 546, while Brazil has the lowest at 396.