Research evidence on reading for pleasure Education standards research team May 2012

Role of parents/carers and the home environment 
Evidence suggests that parents and the home environment are essential to the early 
teaching of reading and fostering a love of reading. Key findings from the evidence 
include: 
•
Parental involvement in a child’s literacy has been reported as a more 
powerful force than other family background variables, such as social class, 
family size and level of parental education (Flouri and Buchanan, 2004 – cited 
in Clark and Rumbold, 2006); 
•
Children whose home experiences promote the view that reading is a source 
of entertainment are likely to become intrinsically motivated to read (Baker, 
Serpell and Sonnenschein, 1995 – cited in Clark and Rumbold, 2006); and, 
•
Children are more likely to continue to be readers in homes where books and 
reading are valued (Baker and Scher, 2002 – cited in Clark and Rumbold, 
2006). 
Findings from PISA support this. OECD (2010) report that parents’ engagement with 
their children’s reading life has a positive impact on their children’s reading 

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performance. Children whose parents reported that they had read a book with their 
child “every day or almost every day” or “once or twice a week” during the first year of 
primary school performed higher in PISA 2009 than children whose parents reported 
that they had done this “never or almost never” or “once or twice a month”. On 
average across the 14 countries that had collected information on this question, the 
difference is 25 score points, but it ranges from 4 score points in the partner country 
Lithuania to 63 score points in New Zealand. 
The importance of resources 
Evidence suggests having access to resources and having books of their own 
impacts on young peoples reading attainment. In a survey of over 18,000 young 
people aged 8 -17, Clark and Poulton (2011) found that seven in 10 young people 
have books of their own. Girls were more likely than boys to have books of their own, 
as were non FSM pupils in comparison to pupils who receive FSM and pupils from 
white and mixed ethnic background compared to black ethnic backgrounds. They 
found that pupils who had books of their own were more likely to enjoy reading and 
read more frequently. Young people who had books of their own were twice as likely 
to read daily. Those without books of their own were five times were more likely to 
say they never read. Clark and Douglas (2011) found that 58% of children who read 
below the expected level had books of their own compared with 80% of children who 
read above the expected level for their age had books of their own. This was much 
stronger than the relationship between access to electronic media and literacy 
attainment.
Clark (2011) reported that three percent of children do not have any books in the 
home. Boys, FSM pupils and Asian pupils were twice as likely to say they did not 
have books at home. Clark (2011) found a relationship between estimated number of 
books in the home and reading attainment. Of the young people who said there were 
no books at home over a third read below their expected level, half at the expected 
level and seven percent were reading at above the expected level while of those who 
estimated they had more than 500 books at home 10% read below the expected 
level, half read at the expected level and two fifths were reading at above the 
expected level. Clark (2011) reported that even a small number of books could make 
a difference. Of those who report having up to 10 books in the home, a fifth read 
below the level expected for their age, while nearly three-quarters read at the 
expected level and 8% read above the expected level. Similarly Clark, Woodley and 
Lewis (2011) found that 19% of young people had never received a book as present 
and these young people were more likely to read below the expected level. 
Evidence from the US reinforces the UK findings on the relationship between book 
ownership and attainment. Lindsay (2010) in a meta-analysis of 108 studies found 
that having access to print material improves children’s performance and encourages 
young people to read more and for longer. A longitudinal study by Evans et al. (2010) 
found that having books in the home has as big an impact on a child’s attainment as 

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parental education level. They found that having as few as 20 books in the home 
could have a benefit for children in helping them achieve a higher level of education. 
Similarly a German study by Schubert and Becker, (2010) found that the home print 
environment was a strong predictor of reading achievement, even when income, 
parental education, aspects of schooling, language used at home, and other aspects 
of the home environment were controlled for (cited in Clark and Poulton 2011).