It comes amid what the charity is terming a “reading for pleasure” crisis – its research last term revealed that only 35% of children and young people aged 8 to 18 say they enjoy reading in their free time, the lowest level ever recorded and an 8.8% drop on 2023.
Now a second piece of research published this week (Picton & Clark, 2025) has found that unlike for reading, children’s enjoyment of listening is on the rise (from 39% in 2023 to 42% in 2024).
It means that children’s enjoyment of listening has surpassed their enjoyment of reading for the first time.
The research finds that boys in particular stand to benefit from listening to audio. While only 28% of boys enjoy reading, 43% say they enjoy listening (compared to 41% and 40% respectively for girls).
The study involved more than 37,000 children and young people aged 8 to 18 in the UK and the charity is now calling for the findings to be considered as part of the Curriculum and Assessment Review. It wants to see reading for pleasure prioritised in the review and more use of audio in schools.
The findings reveal that 37.5% of the respondents said that listening to audiobooks had sparked their interest in reading books, while more of those who enjoyed listening to audio also enjoyed reading in their free time, compared with those who didn’t enjoy listening (52% vs 36%). Furthermore, 43% of children on free school meals agreed that listening had sparked their interest in reading, compared to 35% of their peers.
Furthermore, half of the respondents said listening to an audiobook or podcast enabled them to better understand a story or subject (48%), made them use their imagination more than when watching videos (53%), and helped them relax or feel better when they were stressed or anxious (52%).
Jonathan Douglas, chief executive of the NLT, said: “In recent years, we’ve seen a steady rise in children’s enjoyment of listening to audio and uncovered the myriad of benefits it can bring – from sparking a love of reading and supporting literacy development, to deepening learning and boosting wellbeing.
“By working together to leverage children and young people’s enthusiasm for audio, we can play an important role in growing a generation of readers.”
Commenting on the findings, Sarah Hannafin, head of policy at the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “More must be done to develop the curriculum, to make more connections between learning in the classroom and life outside it and to support the literacy skills which children need to navigate through life.
“This must include developing a love of reading and harnessing children’s enjoyment of listening is one way that can, and should, be encouraged.
“The Curriculum and Assessment Review is a vital opportunity to ‘prune’ the current overly crowded primary curriculum in a way that would have clear benefits for pupils – creating more space and flexibility to ensure learning is relevant to pupils in every school community and better meets individual needs.”
Over the next three years, the NLT has committed to directly supporting 1.5 million more children and young people from disadvantaged communities to read for pleasure and develop greater confidence in their reading. As part of this, the charity has curated a range of audio resources to help teachers and families boost enjoyment of reading through listening to audio.
- NLT: To access the NLT reading and listening for pleasure resources and advice, visit https://literacytrust.org.uk/audio
- Picton & Clark: Children and young people’s listening in 2024, National Literact Trust, February 2025: https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/children-and-young-peoples-listening-in-2024/