Reading with parents 'improves children's exams results'

Parents can improve their children’s academic performance by the equivalent of up to six months’ schooling by reading together, singing songs and even sharing family meals, talking to children about their day, discussing films and television programmes and telling stories,
according to international research.
A study shows that children given encouragement by mothers or fathers at the age of five go on to achieve significantly better exam results at the end of secondary school.
The research said most parents knew “instinctively” that spending time with their children can give them a head start in life.
But it added: “As many parents have to juggle competing demands at work and at home, there never seems to be enough time
Often, too, parents are reluctant to offer to help their children with school work because they feel they lack some of the skills that would make a difference to their children’s success in school.
“The good news [is] that it does not require a PhD or unlimited hours for parents to make a difference. In fact, many parent-child activities that are associated with better reading performance among students involve relatively little time and no specialised knowledge.”
The OECD analysed data from 14 different countries, including the results of independently administered tests and surveys of parents.
It found a close link between parents’ “involvement with their child” as they started primary education – aged four, five or six – and academic performance at 15.
The same pattern was found irrespective of families’ social class, it was revealed.
Children who read with their parents every day or at least once a week gained significantly higher scores in exams sat at 15, according to figures.
The average improvement was found to be the equivalent of six months’ extra schooling compared with children who did not have the same level of encouragement from parents.
The study also found that the highest-achieving children still received encouragement from parents well into their teens.
It said that “students whose parents’ discuss political or social issues with them either weekly or daily” achieved higher scores.
“All parents can help their children achieve their full potential by spending some time talking and reading with their children – even, perhaps especially, when children are very young,” said the study.
The findings came as a separate study by the charity Booktime found that 98 per cent of teachers believe children fail to read enough for pleasure in the home.
It also emerged that one-in-10 parents preferred to expose their children to literature by putting on an audio book – instead of reading themselves(telegraph)