As last year, we report on Regional Variations for England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The numbers in Wales are quite small, so some of the choices in Wales are possibly over-influenced by a few schools.
Year 1
There are relatively small numbers in Year 1, especially in Wales, so some of the choices might seem eccentric. England and Scotland liked Julia Donaldson, with The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child topping the charts in both countries (last year, this was also true of England and the Republic of Ireland). Northern Ireland and Wales preferred Roderick Hunt, whose books had lower readability levels (see Table 46). The Republic of Ireland had more varied choices, some of which were unique to Ireland. Difficulty levels were high for England, similar to those of last year (ATOS 2.0, UK 3.0). Pupils were reading two years above their chronological age. Scotland’s ATOS had dropped from 2.0 to 1.5. Most alarming, however, was Northern Ireland, where ATOS had fallen from 5.0 to 0.84. The Republic of Ireland had also declined, from 1.8 to 1.0. How much of this was due to small numbers creating unreliability is open to question. However, even in Northern Ireland, pupils were still reading at a level above their chronological age. The quality of Reading Comprehension (APC) in all countries was good, but a little low in Northern Ireland, which was surprising given the low difficulty of the books there.
Year 2
England and Scotland still liked the Gruffalo, and now Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland also liked the Gruffalo. Beyond this, Wales and Northern Ireland still liked Roderick Hunt, while England and Scotland were more interested in Martin Waddell and Michael Rosen. The Republic of Ireland mixed higher readability books with Roderick Hunt (see Table 47). Book difficulty was highest in England and Scotland (2.6, 2.7, UK 3.7). Pupils were reading at a year and a half above their chronological age. Northern Ireland was at 2.2, a considerable improvement on last year (although the children make up for it later), as was the Republic (in their case, a considerable decline from the previous year). Wales was lowest at 1.6 (UK 2.6), much as last year, but even here, pupils were reading at six months above their chronological age. The quality of reading comprehension (APC) was similar in many countries (approximately 0.89 – 0.93).
Year 3
In Year 3, the Gruffalo was the top book across all five regions/countries. England, Scotland and Northern Ireland liked Roald Dahl, while Wales still liked Roderick Hunt (as last year), and the Republic of Ireland was very keen on Dav Pilkey (see Table 48). England, Scotland and Northern Ireland had very similar high levels of book difficulty (3.4 – 3.2), with the Republic of Ireland not far behind (3.0). Wales was considerably lower at 2.1, just as last year, but even here, pupils were reading at their chronological age. As last year, the quality of reading comprehension (APC) was similar across all countries at 0.88 – 0.90, despite the differences in book difficulty.
Year 4
In Year 4, Jeff Kinney began to gain popularity, especially in England, Scotland, and the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland continued to favour Roald Dahl. However, Wales liked Julia Donaldson (see Table 49). All countries except Wales had high ATOS (4.7 – 5.0), reading two years above their chronological age. Wales had declined further from 2.9 to 2.6 and was now reading six months below their chronological age. Despite these variations in book difficulty, reading comprehension (APC) was similar across all countries (about 0.89 – 0.91, as last year).
Year 5
England, Scotland, and the Republic of Ireland read many books by Kinney, just as they did last year. Northern Ireland liked Roald Dahl. Wales mixed Jeff Kinney with Julia Donaldson. (See Table 50). England, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland were at the same level of difficulty (5.4; UK equivalent 6.4), indicating that children were reading almost a year and a half above their chronological age. Wales had declined from 4.6 to 4.2, after an improvement last year, but pupils in Wales were still reading at their chronological age. Quality of reading comprehension remained high in all countries (0.91 – 0.93), as it was last year.
Year 6
In England and the Republic of Ireland, the top book was Louis Sachar’s Holes, in Scotland it was John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, in Northern Ireland it was Marita Conlon-McKenna’s Under the Hawthorn Tree, and in Wales, The Legend of Bigfoot by Thomas Kingsley Troupe. After that, Jeff Kinney reigned supreme everywhere (see table 51). All countries except Wales showed a similar level of book difficulty (ATOS 5.3 – 5.5, UK 6.4) – pupils were reading half a year above their chronological age. Wales had a reading age of 5.1, very similar to last year, indicating that pupils in Wales were reading at their chronological age. Standards of reading comprehension (APC) were good across all countries (0.90 – 0.93).
Year 7
This is the first year of secondary school, except in Scotland, so we can expect interesting differences. Jeff Kinney took the top two places in England and Wales, while Scotland strongly favoured the low readability books of Alice Oseman. Northern Ireland favoured Kinney after Marita Conlon-McKenna. The Republic of Ireland mixed Kinney with Boyne, Sachar and Palacio (see Table 52). Difficulty was much the same across all regions (5.1 – 5.4, UK equivalent 6.3). However, this was still more than half a year behind chronological age. The fact that Scottish pupils were still in primary school did not seem to have protected them from the decline. However, as last year, Wales had shown an ability to catch up in secondary school. Most countries showed good levels of comprehension quality (0.88 – 0.91), although Scotland was again a little lower (0.85).
Year 8
A very diverse range of books was evident in all countries. England had George Orwell’s Animal Farm as the top book, Northern Ireland had Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful, and the Republic of Ireland had R.J. Palacio’s Wonder. Scotland’s top book was Nigel Hinton’s Buddy, and Wales was still wedded to Kinney (see Table 53). England, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland had ATOS at 5.4 – 5.5 (declining in England’s case, rising slightly in the other two cases). Wales had also substantially increased to 5.5. However, this was still a year and a half below the pupils’ chronological age. Scotland has risen slightly to 4.9, but this lags behind other regions. Thus, difficulty continued to plateau (as it had since Year 6), meaning that as each chronological year passed, the children fell further behind in their reading. Comprehension quality was lower than for other Years and similar across all regions (0.86–0.89).
Years 9-11
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck was very popular in England and Wales. Northern Ireland’s top book was Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo, the Republic of Ireland’s was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and Scotland’s was The Cone-Gatherers by Robin Jenkins. Otherwise, choices were quite diverse. Difficulty levels were at 5.0 to 5.3 in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, indicating that children were reading at almost three years below their chronological age. Wales was much higher, having leapt from 5.1 to 5.8 (UK 6.8). The Republic of Ireland was a little lower (4.8), having declined from 5.7. Despite the low levels of difficulty, comprehension quality stayed much the same across all regions (0.87 – 0.90).