Best Practice

How to get pupils writing for pleasure, enjoyment and success

Literacy & English Oracy education Curriculum Teaching resources
With fewer children writing for pleasure and fewer choosing to write in their spare time, what can we do as schools to revive the desire to write – both in and out of the classroom? Suzanne O’Connell takes a look
Image: Adobe Stock

In June, Headteacher Update (2024) reported on National Literacy Trust (NLT) research showing a marked decrease in the enjoyment children take from reading.

Of the 76,000 children and young people, aged 8 to 18, surveyed only 28.7% said they enjoyed writing in their free time compared to 46.8% in 2010 (Clark et al, 2024).

The report states: “Findings show that children and young people’s enjoyment of writing, and frequency of writing in their free time, is at an unprecedented low. Increasing evidence of a long-term downward trend calls for urgent action to reconnect children and young people with writing that promotes connection with creativity, self-expression and mental wellbeing.”

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