This report by the National Literacy Trust finds that children and young people’s enjoyment of writing and daily writing habits are at crisis point.
A survey of more than 76,000 UK children and young people revealed that fewer than 3 in 10 (28.7%) 8 to 18-year-olds say they enjoy writing in their free time – the lowest level recorded by the charity since it first started surveying children about their writing in 2010.
What’s more, just 1 in 9 (11.1%) say they write daily in their free time, halving in the past 12 months (19.3% in 2023); while 1 in 3 (35.7%) say they rarely or never write in their free time, a troubling increase of 55% (12.7 percentage points) in the same period.
Children’s enjoyment of writing and daily writing habits peak when they start primary school but steadily decline until they leave secondary school; indeed, three times as many children aged 5-8 than those aged 14-16 say they enjoy writing (66.7% vs 21.8%) and five times as many say they write something daily in their free time (41.9% vs 8.3%). Meanwhile, more girls than boys enjoy writing (34.6% vs 22.1%) and write daily (13.3% vs 8.6%).
There were also regional differences in children and young people’s enjoyment of writing and daily writing in their free time depending on where in England they went to school. While all regions saw significant year-on-year declines, more children who go to school in the North East, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber and Greater London enjoyed writing in their free time, with similar trends for daily writing; while children who go to school in the South East were the least likely to enjoy writing and do it daily in their free time.