Writer Visits and Children and Young People's Reading and Writing Engagement. National Literacy Trust Research Report

National Literacy Trust. Swire House, 59 Buckingham Gate, London, SW1E 6AJ, UK. Tel: +44-2078-282435; Fax: +44-2079-319986; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.literacytrust.org.uk

N

14

Slaughter and May

Authors; Writing Attitudes; Reading Attitudes; Children; Adolescents; Learner Engagement; Poets; Childrens Attitudes; Program Effectiveness; Reading Skills; Self Efficacy; Foreign Countries; Elementary Schools; Secondary Schools; Institutional Characteristics; Gender Differences; Age Differences; Socioeconomic Status; School Location; Reading Habits; Literature Appreciation

United Kingdom (England); United Kingdom (Wales); United Kingdom (Northern Ireland)

This report uses data from the National Literacy Trust's 2019 Annual Literacy Survey and the Great School Library Campaign to determine how many schools in the UK have had a writer visit in the last year, their reasons for organising the visit, and the relationship the visit had with children and young people's engagement with reading and writing. Using data from the National Literacy Trust's ninth Annual Literacy Survey of 56,905 children and young people aged 9 to 18 across the UK, conducted between January and March 2019, the authors explored how many children and young people say that they have had a writer visit and what the relationships are between a writer visit and children and young people's reading and writing enjoyment, behaviours, and attitudes. Key findings include: (1) 1 in 4 (26.9%) children and young people said in 2019 that they had had a writer visit at school; (2) Fewer children and young people who receive free school meals (FSM) said that they had a writer visit compared with their peers who do not receive FSM (23.7% vs. 27.6%); (3) Around twice as many children and young people attending independent schools (54.7%) reported having had a writer visit than children and young people attending other schools; (4) Twice as many children and young people who had an writer visit to their school read above the expected level for their age compared with their peers who did not have such a visit (30.8% vs 16.5%); (5) Children who had an author visit to their school reported higher levels of reading enjoyment (68.2% vs 47.2%) and writing enjoyment (43.9% vs 32.4%) than their peers who did not receive a visit; and (6) Children who had an author visit to their school were also more likely to have high levels of confidence in their reading (36.8% vs 25.1%) and writing (21.9% vs 16.9%) capabilities than their peers who didn't receive a visit.

ERIC

2020

ED603684