Interesting Facts

On World Book Day I thought I would share some scary facts about the land of Shakespeare and Dickens. According to the OECD, young people in England have the lowest literacy levels in the developed world. (One term used is "functionally literate", and around 16 per cent, or 5.1 million adults in England, can be described as functionally illiterate, in that they would not pass an English GCSE and have literacy levels at or below those expected of an 11-year-old. Another study conducted by the Royal Society of Literature showed that 1 in 5 Brits cannot name a single author of literature, and that 15 per cent of those surveyed believed that literature is too difficult to understand. Happy World Book Day!)

According to a study by uSwitch.com, one in 10 children in the UK has a mobile phone by the time they are 5 years old. (What's worse is a study by the National Literacy Trust said that children as young as 7 are more likely to own a mobile phone than a book. We can only hope they have downloaded the Kindle app.)

According to a study by Learndirect people in the UK have to use maths skills up to 14 times daily and literacy skills 23 times a day. (I'm sure I use my literacy skills more often than that. Maybe I need to keep a record.)