Kids ‘swipe books like they’re iPads’, says primary teacher - as child literacy drops since Covid

25 March 2025, 11:49

A teacher whose job is to help children learn to read has said that some pupils swipe books as if they were iPads - as she warned that literacy rates are falling since Covid-19.

Ros Boatswain, who works as a deputy headteacher and reading recovery teacher at Marish Primary School in Slough, told LBC that “children turn the pages of books like they’re working a tablet”.

Child literacy levels for Key Stage 1 - when pupils are between the ages of five and seven - fell between 2019 and 2022, which corresponds roughly to the years of the pandemic.

Although the overall literacy levels for this age recovered by 2023, the gap between poorer students and children not on free school meals widened.

Ms Boatswain said she thought some of the changes to children’s reading levels had been brought about by lockdown, when pupils were told not to come into school for several months, and took lessons online.

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But she also warned that some of the decline in reading was “just down to the way society is going”, pointing to increased phone time and a steep decline in the number of public libraries in recent years.

Much of the issue starts at home, Ms Boatswain said, with parents seeming to be less interested in getting their children into books.

“Parents aren’t reading to their children so much any more, you don’t get children hearing nursery rhymes as much from a young age,” she said. “And they’re not reading for pleasure so much any more.”

She said there were many reasons why it might be harder for some parents to read to their children - such as difficult shift patterns, lack of confidence reading themselves, and language barriers.

“Class, deprivation - it all fits into it,” she said. “It makes it harder - if you don’t see your family reading you might not see it as something to do.”

And while many parents in the UK in the 2020s are not native speakers of English, Ms Boatswain said often the language barrier can often be an incentive for parents. “Sometimes it makes people strive harder if it's their second language,” she added.

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Ms Boatswain said she works with children of all ages at her primary school, but if you can “get them when they’re in year one, really see the progress.”

“You can sometimes feel a bit silly - it’s a bit babyish if you’re older, reading books that are meant for younger children.”

Kids Who Read Succeed, an initiative run by LBC’s Nick Ferrari, tries to get children interested in books because a love of reading is likely to help them in later life.

Ms Boatswain agreed, saying: “Definitely, it covers everything. You’re more likely to overcome inequalities, have better mental health and self-esteem, learn about empathy and creativity.

“It gives you communication skills and vocabulary, as well as being a form of escapism. If you can’t read it stops so many avenues.”

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Kids Who Read Succeed works with the National Literacy Trust as well as Schoolreaders, which also partners with Ms Boatswain’s school, among others. Schoolreaders brings volunteers into schools to help children with their reading.

Ms Boatswain said the volunteers at her school had been “absolutely fantastic”, and she works on the charity's education advisory board.

“When I heard about it at first I was a bit reluctant, because I wasn’t sure what the volunteers would be like," she said. "But they’re brilliant, and so helpful. They really go above and beyond.”