By Gavin Mackintosh And Sheila Mckenzie -
Teenagers in British mainstream schools need to read more books to keep their minds and intellect as sharp as possible.
Research conducted by The Eye Of Media.Com shows that despite guidance for extracurricular reading by the Department Of Education, pupils in many mainstream schools do not read much outside of their academic work.
Children from 11 different mainstream and tutor groups were surveyed about their reading habits, with confirmation from their parents in some cases. Just 12 % of pupils from mainstream schools said they read outside their curriculum, with that percentage trebled when the same question was put to pupils from private schools in the Uk.
One of the factors found to be responsible for the gap in reading activity between private and public school children seemed to be the wider availability of books to read in the homes of private school pupils. Many pupils also had parents who read and actively encouraged them to read compared to our findings in the homes of pupils from the mainstream schools we spoke to.
Levels of academic or extra curricular reading was far from satisfactory compared with active reading of pupils attending fee paying private schools. Although schools have a library, many do not have any dedicated time for library reading of pupils, and the few that do, do not supervise the process to ensure pupils are gaining from the exercise. Schools lacking in this area have been spoken to in order to work towards encouraging their pupils to read books and novels outside of their curriculum.
Among those that have agreed to take positive measures in this area includes Castle High School in Canvey, Essex, Temnal technology college in Kent, Mayflower High School in Billericay, and Duston Upper school in Northamptonshire.
Researchers also concluded that financial comfort may also be a factor in the higher motivation of children from private school homes to pursue wider reading at home more than those. 27% of those from private school homes spoken to said the drive to emulate the high paid jobs and achievement of their parents was a motivating factor too.
Guidelines used for the broad ongoing research in Uk schools were provided by teachers and former teachers from some of the most outstanding Uk private schools, including.
GAP
The reason for the gap between private school children is bad practise and the fact that most children attending private schools come from academic backgrounds where they see their parents read at home. Private schools more often than not encourage pupils to read books outside their curriculum to develop their vocabulary and their intellect and also to keep teenagers busy.
When teenagers have too much time on their hands the chances of falling into bad company becomes greater. Schools that encourage and supervise regular reading , including reading clubs after school are the best for children to develop. Pupils in schools that inspire them to read and encourage their parents to give them the push also encourages this habit since the classroom becomes a reading orientated environment where those who are developing faster intellectually are respected more.