91Èȱ¬

National Literacy Trust says children's interest in writing has fallen

child concentrating while writingImage source, Phynart Studio / Getty
Image caption,

Writing is no longer only about pens and paper, many children said their preferred form of writing was messaging on a device

When you're not in class, do you enjoying writing in your free time?

Maybe you enjoy writing texts or messages, or poems and stories, or perhaps you keep a diary? It all counts.

Research suggests about one in three children in the UK say they enjoy writing in their leisure time.

More than 70,000 children took part in the survey carried out by The National Literacy Trust.

The charity said the results showed that children's enjoyment levels in writing had reached a crisis point.

Head to the comments below to let us know your thoughts.

Image source, Philippe Lissac/ Getty

Pupils aged between five and 18 in schools across the UK took part in the survey at the start of the year.

The results suggest that enjoyment of writing is at one of the lowest recorded levels since 2010.

It found in the past 13 years, children's level of enjoyment in writing had fallen by 12.2% with only 34.6% of children saying they enjoyed writing just for fun.

It also found one in five children and young people wrote something every day in their spare time, and the most popular form of writing children did was in texts or direct messages.

Children who said they wrote regularly also said there were benefits from the activity.

Writing for enjoyment needs to be encouraged, protected, and nurtured as a priority

— Jonathan Douglas CBE, Chief Executive at the National Literacy Trust

One in four children said that writing made them feel better, two in five said they wrote as a way to be creative and to express their ideas and imagination.

Meanwhile, one in seven children said they wrote to support causes and issues they cared about.

Jonathan Douglas CBE, chief executive at the National Literacy Trust said: "We need to prioritise writing for enjoyment and recognise it's important in helping children express their thoughts and feelings as they make sense of the world around them."

Maybe you love writing stories or poems? We want to know if you enjoy writing, let us know in the comments.