Some Reception children are arriving at school unfamiliar with how to handle a physical book—but the often-repeated “one in three” figure does not mean that researchers watched one-third of children swipe pages like a phone. It is a survey estimate from school staff, while the specific observation about children “swiping” books was separately reported by an education expert to Parliament.
What the survey actually found
In its School Readiness Survey 2025, published in January 2026, Kindred Squared reported that primary-school staff estimated 32% of children starting Reception in the 2025 cohort incorrectly used books. The survey asked staff to estimate the proportion of children showing listed behaviors; it was not a direct observation or individual literacy assessment. The staff survey base was 1,076. Kindred Squared’s survey report covers fieldwork in October and November 2025.
That distinction matters: “incorrectly use books” is the report’s measure. It does not establish that exactly 32% tried to swipe pages, could not read, or shared a particular habit. The survey statistic is about staff-reported book use, not a count of children literally treating books as touchscreens.
Where the “swiping” description comes from
Dr Helen Hendry, a Senior Lecturer in Education at the Open University, told the UK Parliament Education Committee that children were arriving in Reception and “swiping” physical books. She also said screen use at home “may limit knowing which way around you hold a book, that you need to turn pages and you follow it in one direction.” Those are her attributed observations and proposed explanation, recorded in the committee’s report on reading for pleasure—not the wording or causal conclusion of Kindred Squared’s survey.
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Book handling is one part of a broader readiness picture
Kindred Squared defines school readiness broadly: readiness to access the learning and development opportunities of Reception, rather than simply academic attainment. Staff estimated that 37% of children joining Reception were not school ready in 2025, compared with 33% in 2024. They also estimated that 25% struggled with basic language skills. The report records concerns about independence and emotional regulation as well. These are separate indicators; the survey does not show that book-use difficulties caused the other concerns.
Does this prove screens cause children to swipe books?
No. The survey describes staff estimates, and Dr Hendry’s testimony offers a possible explanation. Neither establishes that screen exposure caused unfamiliarity with physical books. A related but different study illustrates why the distinction matters: a 2023 cross-sectional analysis of 317 Thai children aged 5–6 examined touchscreen use and tested emergent-literacy measures. After adjustment for primary-caregiver characteristics, the associations did not reach statistical significance. It did not test whether children swipe physical books, and its population, outcomes and setting differ from the UK school-readiness report. The authors also note limitations in measuring screen exposure and application types. Read the study in BMC Pediatrics.
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What families can take from the finding
There is no need to treat the survey as evidence that a child’s screen habits have caused a problem or that a particular screen-time rule will solve it. A practical, low-pressure response is simply to make physical books available and share them: let a child hold a book, turn its pages, look at pictures and follow a story together. That gives practice with the object and the activity without turning a reported readiness concern into a diagnosis. The survey did not test a reading intervention or show that buying a book changes school readiness.
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