Kids & Family Reading Report™Canadian Editioncanada maple leaf

About KFRR

History

The Kids & Family Reading Report™, Canadian Edition is a national survey, conducted in English and French, of children ages 6–17 and their parents, as well as parents of children ages 0–5, exploring their reading attitudes and behaviours around reading books for fun. This is the first time Scholastic has released a Canadian Edition of the report. Over the past year, Scholastic has also released new reports in the U.K., Australia and India, and the 6th Edition of the report in the U.S.

STUDY METHODOLOGY

  • The study was managed by YouGov and was fielded between January 31 and February 6, 2017. The total sample size of 1,939 parents and children includes:
    • 371 parents with children ages 0–5,
    • 784 parents with children ages 6–17,
    • plus one child ages 6–17 from the same household.
  • Parents of children ages 6–17 completed their survey questions first before passing the survey on to one randomly selected child in the target age range.
  • The survey sample was sourced and recruited by YouGov using their proprietary panel and trusted partners to obtain a nationally representative sample, in accordance with the most recent population parameters available from Statistics Canada.
  • To further ensure proper demographic representation within the sample, final data were weighted according to the benchmark distributions of child gender within each of three age groups (0–5, 6–11 and 12–17), within each region, from the most recent (2011) Statistics Canada Report.

ADDITIONAL STUDY METHODOLOGY

  • Some survey language was modified in age appropriate ways to ensure comprehension among children ages 6–8.
  • YouGov is a pioneer in online research with offices throughout the United States, the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. YouGov’s custom research specialists conduct a full spectrum of quantitative and qualitative research providing comprehensive market intelligence to the world’s leading businesses and institutions. YouGov was recently named one of the world’s top 25 research companies by the respected American Marketing Association Top 25 Report and has a proven, published record of uniquely accurate data and actionable insights informing political, cultural and commercial organizations around the globe.
  • Children ages 6–11 were not asked some survey questions that involved more sophisticated thinking than is reasonable to ask 6–11 year-olds. Parents were invited to help young children read the survey but they were asked to allow children to independently answer all questions. At the end of the survey, children were asked to record the degree to which a parent helped them with the survey. Consistent with prior research, an analysis comparing the responses of children with and without parental involvement showed no significant differences.
  • Virtually all (96%) of the adults interviewed were the parent or stepparent of the child surveyed. Therefore, throughout this report, we refer to adult respondents as “parents.”
  • Data may not sum to 100% due to rounding.
  • Due to the robust nature of the sample, it is safe to assume that any difference of 6–8 points or more between subgroups is statistically significant at the 90% or 95% confidence level.

SCHOLASTIC CANADA LTD.

Scholastic Canada is the country’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books in both official languages. The company is a leading provider of quality books and ebooks, print and technology-based educational resources. Scholastic also makes a great variety of books available to children through school-based book clubs and book fairs as well as retail and online stores, schools and libraries. Established in Canada in 1957, with a long history of service to schools and families, Scholastic Canada continues to carry out its commitment to spread the love of reading. Learn more at www.scholastic.ca.

Scholastic Canada Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Scholastic Inc., a publicly held company trading on NASDAQ under SCHL.

YouGov

YouGov is a pioneer in online research with offices throughout the United States, the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. YouGov’s custom research specialists conduct a full spectrum of quantitative and qualitative research providing comprehensive market intelligence to the world’s leading businesses and institutions. YouGov was recently named one of the world’s top 25 research companies by the respected American Marketing Association Top 25 Report and has a proven, published record of uniquely accurate data and actionable insights informing political, cultural and commercial organizations around the globe.

A Letter from the Co-Presidents of Scholastic Canada

Scholastic Canada is pleased to share with you the findings from our first Kids & Family Reading Report™ Canadian Edition. We are delighted to join several of our international affiliates in an effort to get a better understanding of the reading behaviours and habits of families from around the world. These surveys began 10 years ago, when Scholastic released their initial Kids & Family Reading Report™. Recently, their 6th edition was published, and last year, the U.K., Australia and India also released their first reports.

As 2017 marks the 60th year that Scholastic Canada has been in business in this country, we felt it was the perfect time to conduct our own study of English- and French-speaking Canadian parents and children to see if our reading habits are that different from the rest of the world. It turns out that Canadian kids and their parents aren’t that different in their attitudes about the importance of reading. But we did see some areas where, as a publisher of children’s reading materials, we have some work to do. For example, we need to help spread the word about the importance of reading aloud to your children from the time they are born.

Our hope is to use the findings from this study to continue to drive conversations about kids’ reading and the power of books, and to help us understand how we all can support children as they begin their reading journey. Perhaps even more importantly, how do we continue to inspire a love of reading as children themselves grow up and face other distractions and choices about how they spend their time.

This landmark research provides both reasons to celebrate, but motivation to work harder to ensure that all children have access to and are able to find books they love every day. While everyone agreed on the importance of books and reading, almost half the children said they have difficulty finding the books they like, and said they look to school and parents for guidance. In today’s busy world filled with competition for parents’ and kids’ time and attention, many children mentioned that books gave them a chance to relax and use their imaginations. Children over six also said that while they aren’t read to at home as much as when they were younger, they would like to be read aloud to more often and looked forward to it as a special time spent with their parents. While the world has changed dramatically in terms of technology and access to it, it seems that children and parents agree: there’s nothing like sitting down with a book and leafing through the pages together.

Literacy empowers children to explore, communicate, debate and think critically. We hope you will find this information valuable and join us as we celebrate 60 years of sharing stories with Canadians. We look forward to continuing to foster the magic of reading in children with you.


Sincerely,

Nancy Pearson & Anne Browne
- Co-Presidents, Scholastic Canada