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Almost two thirds of secondary school students find compulsory readings boring or far from what interests them, according to a study by the Portuguese Observatory of Cultural Activities for the National Reading Plan.

The study " Reading practices of primary and secondary school students – Barometer'23 " covered a sample of over 31,000 students and was conducted in partnership with the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics and the School Library Network, with the McDonald's Restaurant Association as a sponsor. While 45.1% of students in the 3rd cycle say that compulsory reading books are interesting, this percentage drops to 33.8% in secondary school, where 62.7% of students classify compulsory reading as boring or meaningless. In secondary school, 3.5% of students consider compulsory reading books to be entertaining. "This finding invites, once again, reflection on the choice of required reading books, opening space for more flexible positions on readings and reading materials. It is important in the context of this debate not to lose sight of the main objective: the promotion of reading and the increase in reading practices", write the authors of the study, coordinated by João Trocado da Mata and José Soares Neves. In the 10th year, the list of works and texts for "literary education" includes troubadour poetry, Fernão Lopes (1380-1460), Gil Vicente (1465-1536) and Luís de Camões (1524-1580), while in the following year the list goes from Father António Vieira (1608-1697) to Cesário Verde (1855-1886), passing through Almeida Garrett (1799-1854), Eça de Queirós (1845-1900) and Antero de Quental (1842-1891), among others. In the 12th year, the study covers Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935), short stories by authors such as Manuel da Fonseca (1911-1993), Maria Judite de Carvalho (1921-1998) and Mário de Carvalho, and a novel by José Saramago ("Memorial do Convento" or "O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis"), in addition to several names in 20th century poetry such as Miguel Torga, Alexandre O'Neill, António Ramos Rosa, Herberto Helder or Ana Luísa Amaral, among others. The study recalls the phrase by sociologist João Teixeira Lopes, according to which there is a "curious paradox: apparently school kills reading". According to the study, the percentage of students who say they have their own books at home exceeds 90% in all levels of education, with a gradual decrease as the level increases. In the 1st cycle, 97% of students say they have books at home, practically the same as in the 2nd cycle, falling to 93.5% in the 3rd cycle and to 90.3% in secondary school. The taste for reading also decreases as the level of education progresses: according to the study, Portuguese students say they like to read from 73.3% in the 1st cycle to 35.4% in secondary school. "The results point to the importance of cultural capital and family dynamics in the association with reading practices among non-higher education students. The presence of books at home and the family relationship with reading are the factors most strongly associated with students' reading, surpassing the parents' education level, whose strength of correlation is not as expressive as that of the other variables", the document reads.

The aim of the study was to "build a system for regularly collecting information on the evolution of reading practices among non-higher education students, responding to a need long diagnosed by the main entities responsible for promoting reading in Portugal".

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