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Five amazing facts about the benefits of reading

Media releases

17 September 2018

With Australian Reading Hour taking place on Thursday 20 September, people are being urged to pick up a book for an hour – either on their own or with their children – and enjoy the benefits of reading. As Australia’s largest children’s education charity, The Smith Family supports the development of literacy skills in children from disadvantaged backgrounds, implementing programs to help improve children’s reading interest and abilities from an early age. Here are five reasons why reading is so important:

Literacy is one of the most important foundations for success in school and life. However, one in seven Australian adults[1] does not have the required standards of literacy to meet the demands of everyday life.
Reading with children during their critical early years is key to developing their language and literacy skills. Yet some parents lack the confidence and resources to support their children’s reading. The Smith Family’s Let's Read program[2] helps parents and carers develop their children’s reading skills from birth to five years. The program encourages families to share rhymes, songs, stories and books every day to help children establish the building blocks for literacy and foster a love of reading.
The number of books at home is strongly linked to a child’s academic achievement. International studies[3] have found that students with many books at home achieve, on average, at higher levels in reading, mathematics and science than students from homes with fewer literacy resources.
One in five Australian Year 4 students is struggling with their reading, with significant achievement gaps for children from disadvantaged backgrounds[4]. The Smith Family’s student2student program helps students who are behind on their reading by matching them with an older reading buddy. The pair reads together over the phone two or three times per week for 18 weeks, with 96 per cent of students improving their reading ability over this time.
Students’ achievement grades in English can help identify children at risk of leaving school early. The Smith Family’s Attendance Lifts Achievement report found, on average, a low achievement grade in English predicts low or decreasing school attendance in the years following. Further, students who achieved a satisfactory or better grade in English in Year 9 were much more likely to complete Year 12 than those whose achievement was below satisfactory.

[1] ABS data for the 2011-12 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, which was conducted in 24 countries around the world, coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

[2] Let’s Read was developed by the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and The Royal Children’s Hospital. The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and The Smith Family have partnered to implement Let’s Read with communities across Australia.

[3] Thomson, Sue; Hillman, Kylie; Schmid, Marina; Rodrigues, Sima; Fullarton, Jessica (2017). PIRLS 2016: Reporting Australia's results. Melbourne Vic: Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

[4] ibid.

Media contacts:

Andrew Dickson | National Media Manager (National) - 0421 285 529 | andrew.dickson@thesmithfamily.com.au
Carla Horton | Senior Media Advisor (QLD & WA) - 0423 618 776 | carla.horton@thesmithfamily.com.au
Reid Jermyn | Media Advisor (VIC, SA & NT) - 0412 803 566 | reid.jermyn@thesmithfamily.com.au
Ben Chenoweth | Senior Media Advisor (NSW, ACT & TAS) - 0413 346 934 | ben.chenoweth@thesmithfamily.com.au

The Smith Family is a national children’s education charity that helps young Australians experiencing disadvantage to create better futures for themselves through harnessing the power of education. We partner with around 800 Australian schools and work with over 162,000 children and young people experiencing disadvantage access our education support programs to help them overcome . For more information, visit thesmithfamily.com.au