The Impact of Household Traits and Parental Educational Attainment on Reading Habits in Qatar

Abstract

Qatar has rapidly expanded its education system, but outcomes are lower than comparable countries. This article explores factors outside of formal education that influence learning, namely parental educational attainment and household libraries. Evidence shows associations of these traits with positive reading habits, yet limited research is available for Qatar. We analyze data from a case study of a sub-population participating in a home reading program. Findings align with the literature on the positive role of educational attainment on reading habits of adults and children. We also show that effective interventions can reduce this influence, thereby reducing the gap between households with different levels of educational attainment. Home libraries were associated with higher educational attainment (and hence reading habits), but this association was not sustained after the intervention. We recommend scaling initiatives to include broader participant populations and diversifying tertiary educational programs to raise educational attainment over the longer term.

Keywords:

• reading
• home libraries
• educational attainment
• Qatar

1 Introduction

The pandemic caused many disruptions, with the education sector being one of the severely challenged, as schools closed for an average of 4.5 months globally.¹ The Economist impact assessment on the future of education suggests that personalized learning has been accelerated due to the pandemic.² While there remains a lack of clarity regarding what forms personalized learning will take, it is clear that to be successful learners, children will need specific skills, one of which may be the need for learners to take a greater role in leading their journey (student-led as opposed to teacher-led pedagogies). To be successful in this shift towards inquiry-based and problem-based learning that is driven by students, learners will be expected to increasingly have problem-solving and critical thinking skills, as well as the confidence to succeed in taking a lead role in their own education. The confidence aspect is important because this requires parallel development of social competencies as well as learning support in the foundational skills, such as in reading, writing, and mathematics. Formal education is critical in fostering learning environments, so too is the home environment. A transition to learner-led education will not fulfil their potential if they only exist within the walls of formal education, thus we view the household as a cornerstone of enabling the learner-led transition. This article presents research from Qatar on the impact of household traits on reading habits at home, based on a sample of participants in a home reading program from which we draw out recommendations for what can be done to support learner-led skills within the home.

The State of Qatar has undergone rapid development in the past two decades. In the education sector, there is a division between perceptions of quality and educational outcomes. With regard to how people assess the quality of primary education in their country, according to the World Economic Forum Competitiveness Report of 2018, Qatar ranks tenth in the world, with some sub-indicators ranking high, including quality of school management at seventh in the world and quality of the educational system at fifth in the world.³ However, the WEF data does not use standardized testing or measure educational quality using outcomes; instead, it is perception/opinion based. Looking at competency data of foundational skills from international rankings, Qatar does not perform as well, and specifically, when it comes to reading, the scores have been leveling out at a much lower plateau when compared to the OECD member states,⁴ which is discussed in more detail below. This article explores how Qatar can enhance the enabling conditions to transform the learning environment, in particular when it comes to reading practices and habits (as opposed to outcomes) in the home environment. To do this, we explore specific household traits that have been shown to improve the reading habits and culture of reading within a specific subset of the population participating in a reading program.

Unlike some countries in North Africa and the Middle East, such as in Egypt or Morocco, the development of the formal education system in Qatar is relatively recent. We explore this history so that the home reading program analyzed can be understood within the broader educational context of the country. In addition to situating the study, this aligns with the importance of localizing the study methodology and metrics and drawing conclusions based upon the institutional and home environments. We then review the literature on household traits and reading habits, allowing for indicators to be selected drawing on existing evidence, as well as to draw comparisons to where the evidence may converge or diverge with other settings. This evidence base is reviewed generally before moving to the specific traits of the study population, which are outlined in the fourth section on the methodology. Of note is that we do not draw upon a population level sample but rely upon data from a specific sub-population who are enrolled within a home reading program. This presents limitations in the results, which cannot be generalized to the population, but instead provide indications that will require further study using population level samples and/or control groups to further evaluate the potential for generalizations. The paper then moves to the findings, which focus on two household traits: parental educational attainment and having home libraries, which are assessed using a number of other indicators, including parental involvement with reading at home. The paper concludes with a discussion about the implications specifically for the reading initiative, as well as areas for further study.

2 Context

Qatar has been on a meteoric path of development and change over the past several decades. Since Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani came to power in 1995, the economy has expanded (in current US$) from $8 billion to $146 billion in 2020, with the 2000s experiencing extraordinarily high growth rates of GDP (2006 to 2011 had annual growth rates above 15%).⁵ During that same time period (1995–2020), rapid educational infrastructure development had to meet the demands of a population increase from 0.5 million to 2.8, which enabled primary school completion rates to increase from 59% to 96%.⁶ Due to its unique demographics, with a majority of the population being expatriates, data on educational attainment is problematic; however, recent data suggests approximately a fifth of the total adult population (25+, all residents and citizens) have obtained a bachelor’s degree or equivalent (as a cumulative % of the population).⁷ While the educational attainment figures are lower than countries with comparable levels of GDP per capita, the contextualization of this data is important, as the first university in Qatar was only established in 1973 (Qatar University), before which higher education required international travel to obtain.

The history of the broader education system in Qatar is often rooted in the post-WW II era, with the establishment of what are referred to as contemporary or ‘modern’ schools. Without contesting the accuracy of that history, this also frames education within a specific set of parameters and excludes other forms of education and learning. The suggestion might be that pre-WW II Qatar did not have any systems of learning and education. Indigenous systems of learning and teaching tend to be excluded when they fall outside of the Euro-Western model, for example, trade guilds or forms of vocational training or the extensive knowledge that people learned and shared about their environments, livestock, and livelihoods. Even when learning aimed to produce skills familiar to “modern” education, such as literacy and communication, these histories are often made invisible when writing about Qatar (with the implications thereof). As in much of the region, historically, the ability to communicate in poetic form was a highly valued skill for which specific structures and linguistic expertise were required. As a more recent example, the founder of Qatar, Jassim ibn Mohammed Al Thani (1825–1913), printed and distributed books, and himself was a poet.⁸ The value associated with this form of learning is often ignored as the schools and books that pre-dated WW II were primarily of a religious nature (in Qatar known as Kuttāb). However, one should be critical of such dismissals as excluding them suggests that valuing knowledge is a recent phenomenon, which it is not. What may differ is the type and form of knowledge, but we should be mindful of the value judgements being made when indigenous knowledge traditions are excluded from the conceptualization of education. Indeed, many of the earliest forms of “modern” education in Europe were explicitly religious in nature, and yet they are included as founding models. This is but one of many examples wherein the Euro-Western model is framed as being the origin and model, while dismissing or discrediting anything else.⁹

With regard to the dominant form of primary and secondary education experienced today, with its roots in 1800s England and Wales, the first of those schools opened in Qatar in the late 1940s and 1950s, which taught English, Arabic, arithmetic, geography, history, and Islamic studies.¹⁰ The importance of education in contemporary Qatar is highlighted by the fact that the first ministry to be established in Qatar was the Ministry of Education, in 1957,¹¹ with the first Minister of Education being Khalifa bin Hamad Al-Thani.¹² Alkhater has detailed the history and reforms of the contemporary era, which are beyond the scope of this summary.¹³ However, what is notable is that as the education system expanded in the decades that followed, capacity and quality remained challenges, which were compounded by significant shifts of structure. These resulted in low levels of student performance on core subjects, with less than 5% “close to meeting the standards” in the 2010–11 academic year.¹⁴ This is important because learning (not schooling) has a positive association with economic growth.¹⁵

As of the 2019–20 school year, there were 327,841 students enrolled in 322 private schools and 207 public schools, with numbers of schools and students continuing to increase.¹⁶ Public schools primarily serve citizens (and residents of the Gulf Cooperation Council member states, as per entry requirements), while the private schools serve a more diverse population. Given the unique demographic situation of the country (with citizens being a minority of the population) and that 60% of schools are private and 62% of students attend private schools,¹⁷ that the OECD reports that more than 30% of the students who scored in the top quarter in reading in Qatar were “immigrant students” is in line with expectations based on demographic and enrolment data.¹⁸ However, in terms of the overall reading performance of Qatar’s students, according to the 2018 PISA, students scored lower than the OECD average, with 49% attaining Level 2 proficiency (see Figure 1).¹⁹

Figure 1: Snapshot of PISA 2018 results from Qatar and OECD averages.²²

From a longer-term perspective, students’ reading performance has improved over time (see Figure 2), with the share of low-achieving, below Level 2, decreasing and the share of top-performing students, Level 5 and 6, increasing. Female students outperformed male students in reading, and the gender gap between the two in terms of reading was higher than the average gap in OECD. Also, low-performing students in Qatar seemed to be clustered in certain schools, more so than the OECD average, and this was also the case with the high-performing students.²⁰ Additionally, in the 2019 PISA assessment linked to the divergence of outcomes were the shifts described by Alkhater,²¹ where the principle of school choice was adopted to guide quality within the educational system, which expected parents to shift into “good” schools and out of “bad” schools. What this paper seeks to explore in greater detail, and with specific reference to Qatar, is the role of parental educational attainment and the household environment as it relates to their influences on child reading habits, which occur within this broader educational context.

Figure 2: Trends in PISA performances in reading, mathematics, and science.²³

The home is a foundational space for learning and gaining skills and habits, and yet there is a gap in the self-led learning skills, or life-long learning skills, one proxy of which is the habit of leisure reading.²⁴ To address this, Qatar Foundation established a national reading campaign in 2016, which has since transformed into a multi-pronged program named “Qatar Reads”. The participants in this study are drawn from Qatar Reads’ Family Reading Program, which serves children aged 3 to 13 by providing them with monthly books and activity sheets, and also organizing community-based learning events focusing on the theme of the month. Qatar Reads is not oriented toward improving educational outcomes, or the scores children obtain in reading, but rather to instill a culture of reading and nurture a community of learners with the skills to lead their own journeys of obtaining, critically engaging with, and producing knowledge. Since the participants in this study are a sub-set of the population, with some specific traits (discussed in detail below), the results of this study are specific to this population; however, from this initiative, we draw insight about effective modalities and interventions.

The low educational outcomes in comparison to OECD member states should not only be considered within a historical context, but also viewed with an intergenerational lens. This is particularly suitable for a study such as this, as this research looks specifically at the impact of parental educational attainment and the role of the home environment in influencing reading habits. Many of the parents of children who were attending primary education during the 2021–22 school year were educated in the era during or before 2006, within which time educational outcomes were significantly lower than today (see Figure 2). This does not mean that schools were not providing important skills during the pre-2006 period; it might, however, suggest that the skills of the future differ. The skills for the future, as outlined at the outset of this article, have emerged alongside transformations in pedagogies of learning, whereby learners are increasingly expected to take a lead role, which requires a specific set of skills. It is not the objective of this article to survey all the required skills; we assert that one of the keys to successful student-led learning is a habit of reading. Based upon this, we explore this aspect (which we recognize as one of many aspects required to enable student-led learning) in relation to household traits, and the implications thereof. The following section reviews available evidence related to cultivating the habit of reading, generally, before moving to the specific population of study in this study, which is detailed in the Methodology section that follows.

3 Literature

The relationship between parents’ educational attainment and family reading habits has been long recognized and supported by research. Bracken and Fischel’s study findings indicated that parents with high educational attainment showed more interest in reading, and so did their children, and thus had a greater level of parent-child reading interactions.²⁵ Smith investigated factors that impact middle school students’ reading habits and interests in North Carolina, United States, which showed that parents’ educational level was correlated with children’s leisure reading habits.²⁶ The findings indicated that parents’ educational level was significantly associated with how often their children read, how often they were read to, how often children visited the library with parents growing up, how many books were owned by the family, and how many magazines the family subscribed to. The Smith study also found that parents with a high level of education valued leisure reading more, and so did their children.²⁷ To compare if these findings also exist in other socio-cultural contexts, similar conclusions were also identified in a study by Gökbulut and Yeniasir,²⁸ which highlighted that the children of parents with university or higher education read more books in comparison to children of parents with high school or lower education in North Cyprus. The results of the study showed that children in families with university or higher education are more aware of the importance of reading and are more willing to read.²⁹

Similar findings have also been observed in Qatar. Chiu explored the impact of several family attributes, including parental educational attainment, on children’s reading attitude and performance, which found a positive link between the variables and indicated that children of parents with high socioeconomic status (high educational attainment, job occupation, and financial status) read more often, had a better reading attitude, and had higher reading scores.³⁰ In the study by Chiu,³¹ parents’ education is associated with their socioeconomic status as well as their ability to provide their children with educational resources and create a learning environment for them. Notably, teacher attributes and teaching methods showed no significant link to reading test scores in the study in Qatar conducted by Chiu.³² In assessing the impact of a reading program in Qatar, Cochrane et al. highlighted the time parents spend reading with their children in relation to joining a reading program and suggested that parental educational attainment, due to responded biases, may not be a key differentiating factor for this sub-population, this study focuses upon on this question in detail to provide a more thorough answer regarding the potential role of educational attainment.³³

It is worth noting, however, that some studies do not find the connection between parental educational attainment and child reading habits to be as strong, or present at all. For example, Howard found that parents’ education level was not a significant factor for how often adolescents read in Nova Scotia, Canada, nor what type of books they preferred.³⁴ The study findings, however, did show that parents’ education level appeared to influence adolescents’ preferred sources for reading materials (borrowing books from public libraries versus purchasing books from bookstores). The research by Howard emphasizes the importance of the localized socio-cultural context and reiterates the usefulness of studies such as this (rather than assuming the dominant trend in the literature is generalizable globally).³⁵ Locally specific studies may emphasize unique cultural contexts regarding varied emphasis on extra-curricular activities and family involvement in reading, as well as identify other unique indicators that are specific to a time and place or sub-population, as found in the Canadian study, emphasizing the need for additional research in Qatar.

Within the household, some research has focused more specifically on mothers, such as her educational attainment and how often she reads to her child. This particular interest is motivated by the fact that, traditionally, mothers tend to be more involved in the early reading activities of the children.³⁶ This assumption needs to be validated for the Qatari context, where extended families may live together and may have the support of caregivers in the households. Qatar Reads also recognizes the important role of early childhood development and the role of mothers, and as such another of its programs (“Mommy to Be”) focuses specifically on this area, but is not covered in this research. Examples of studies that have taken this focus include that of Yarosz and Barnett,³⁷ who examined several family characteristics and whether they have any influence on parent-child reading activities among a sample of 7, 566 children in the United States. The results highlighted a strong positive effect of the mother’s educational attainment on reading to child frequency. For comparative purposes, in a study in Malaysia, Yusof found that mothers with high educational attainment contributed more to their children’s reading habits through their daily interactions with them.³⁸ To see if there are correlations without any link of causation, there is comparative evidence from Gavora, which compared mothers with high educational attainment to mothers with low educational attainment levels in terms of reading to their children.³⁹ The study results revealed that mothers with high educational attainment read to children to develop their cognitive development, read to children more frequently, their children have more books, and are more appreciative of the time they spent on reading with their children. These studies are in alignment with the broader research on parental educational attainment but focus more specifically on the role of the mother. Given the socio-cultural specificity of some of these studies, and the unique caregiving context of Qatar, we focus on parental educational attainment generally (a gender specific study on parental educational attainment could be the subject of future research).

In addition to parental educational attainment and parental reading habits, a second household trait identified in the literature influencing children’s reading habits is the presence of home libraries. Studies have investigated the number of books possessed by a family and the association this has with children’s reading habits. The assumption of this line of questioning is that the number of books in the house is a component of the family literacy environment and could motivate a culture where reading is perceived as valuable and desirable.⁴⁰ In a study by Bergen et al.,⁴¹ the findings revealed that children’s reading was positively impacted by the number of books they grew up with. The study suggested that the size of the home library could act as a proxy measure of how much reading is valued by the family. The study notes that the number of books has been shown to be related to how often parents read to their children and, consequently, children’s early reading skills development.⁴² Faltisco’s study was one of the earliest studies to reveal that home libraries could contribute to children’s reading achievement and success, and that they could influence children’s average reading, vocabulary, reading comprehension, spelling ability, and language usage.⁴³ A recent study done by O’Brien et al. has continued to identify this association; it identified the number of books at the household as one of the indicators of parents’ efforts to engage their children in home-based literacy activities (parent literacy involvement) and emphasized on the importance of home libraries for children’s language and reading development along with shared reading.⁴⁴

In terms of studies conducted in Qatar on the association between home libraries and reading, Chiu suggested a link between the number of books available at home and children’s reading scores.⁴⁵ This research suggests that in Qatar, children with more books at home read more frequently, had a better attitude towards reading, and had higher reading test scores. The findings, however, highlighted that despite the families’ high income, 16% of participant students had a small number of books at home (10 or fewer books). Also, based on research in Qatar, the lack of home libraries has been identified by Morsy as a possible explanation for adolescents’ low interest in reading.⁴⁶ This study explores the role of having books in the home environment as an influence on child reading habits. While these two studies provide insight, there is a general lack of evidence from Qatar on the role of parental educational attainment, parental reading habits, and home libraries, to which this research contributes. Of note from the literature on home libraries is that the measure of what a home library constitutes, in terms of quantity and content, is not consistent. For this study, we adopt a scale approach, as opposed to a binary option, to assess if the size of the home library results in a difference in association.

4 Methodology

Qatar Reads is a reading program developed in Qatar, run by Qatar Foundation, with the aim to enhance the culture of reading in the country. This program emerged out of the National Reading Campaign, which was started in 2016, with Qatar Reads (QR) beginning operations in 2019. Qatar Reads’ Family Reading Program serves children aged 3 to 13, with each participating household receiving books delivered to their home on a monthly basis, along with activity sheets developed by the Qatar Reads program. As there is no home postal delivery system, Qatar Reads provides and installs a mailbox for the monthly deliveries, the unique design of which promotes the program and signals to others the value placed upon reading. As of 2021, there are over 370 families who are participating in Qatar Reads, serving more than 900 children. Due to the unique demographic context of Qatar, where the majority of people living in the country are not citizens, this program sought to reach Qatari Nationals as a target audience, but was not exclusively for citizens (as of 2021, more than 85% of Qatar Reads participants were Qatari Nationals).

The household data used in this research is drawn from a survey of Qatar Reads participant households. To support the development of the utilized survey, previous surveys were identified and reviewed to support the drafting of an initial survey. An extensive list of potential questions and metrics was compiled, from which a subset was identified (as per their relation to the program objectives, the program measurement framework, and the research evaluation goals). This data collection tool was developed in collaboration with the Qatar Reads and HBKU team, translated (designed in English and translated into Arabic), and then reviewed by the Institutional Review Board ethics committee. Following approval, the survey was piloted. Participant feedback from this process was used to clarify questions and metrics, and also to improve the survey design (done using Microsoft Forms). The survey was then distributed to Qatar Reads participant families for parents to complete on behalf of their child(ren) in the program. Of the participating parents, 65 completed the survey, on behalf of 106 children enrolled in the program (survey data was completed for the parent and each participating child). Of the children for which we have data, 50 were male, and 56 were female, with ages ranging from 2 to 13. Of the responded families, 58% were Qatari citizens, and 42% were non-citizen residents of Qatar.

This study is informed by secondary literature, available statistics, and survey data. For the secondary literature, three steps were undertaken to identify relevant evidence: (1) a search of Scopus and Google Scholar for evidence specific to Qatar on aspects related to children’s reading habits and household traits; (2) a search of Scopus and Google Scholar for evidence from the region, with an emphasis on member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council; and (3) a purposive sample selection of global evidence (respectively these searches identified 9, 23, 72 relevant publications). For available statistics, we referred to the Planning and Statistics Authority as well as the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. We analyzed the survey data using a combination of descriptive and inferential methods. Descriptive methods included numerical descriptions and measurements of the variables provided in Table A1 and A2 in the Appendix section, charts (bar graphs, pie charts, relationship mapping), and cross-tabulation tables. On the inferential side, apart from a pretest for model assumptions such as the normality test, we employed multiple association tests, including chi-squared and Spearman’s rho, noting that correlation does not necessarily indicate causation between the variables. Due to the small sample size, we could not employ more advanced multivariate analyses.

One of the key limitations of this study is that the data is based on a sub-population group, which has voluntarily joined a reading program (creating a self-selection bias amongst the respondent group). This means that the study population has particular traits that may not represent the general population. Due to this limitation (not being a representative sample of the population), we cannot generalize these findings beyond the study population. What we can draw are inferences and provide direction for further research. A second limitation of this research is the reliance on recall data (as opposed to baseline data at the time of entering the program). Using recall data allows us to analyze the associations before the influence of the Qatar Reads program.⁴⁷ The survey was administered in Arabic and English, which covers the language options within the Qatar Reads program but does not represent the high level of linguistic diversity within the country. Future research is needed to focus on other linguistic groups within Qatar. In this specific sample of respondents, in relation to the population enrolled in the Qatar Reads program, non-citizen residents of Qatar are over-represented (as 88% of participating families in Qatar Reads are citizens, however, 58% of the respondent sample are non-citizens). We provide some disaggregated analysis, but further study is needed to assess specific population groups, particularly the diverse non-citizen resident populations.

5 Findings

As identified in the literature, one of the key household traits influencing children’s reading habits is parental education. Of the respondents, the majority (91%) had a college or university degree (all non-citizen residents, 42% of the sample had this level of educational attainment, as well as 48% of the citizen respondent population; see Figure 3). Of the respondents that had a high school diploma as their highest educational attainment, 9% of the respondents were all citizens. There were no respondents that had not completed high school. Assessing if this sample aligns with broader educational attainment trends in Qatar is challenging due to the lack of disaggregated data by nationality. According to the World Bank,⁴⁸ which takes a population perspective, 41% of the population above the age of 25 have not completed post-secondary education. This appears to be inclusive of the large expatriate population in the country, which includes large groups of non-citizen residents who work in lower skill professions; however, data is not available to confirm this. Nonetheless, this further highlights how the Qatar Reads participant sample is a segment of the population, from which generalizations should not be drawn to the national level.

Figure 3: Status and educational attainment of parents participating in survey.

To assess the reading habits of parents in relation to educational attainment, the survey asked how much the parent reads in a typical week for their own pleasure. The term “reading” refers to physical book reading, as this is the reading culture that QR strives to achieve. As shown in Figure 4, for this specific sub-population, for those who held college or university degrees, 18% read 0–1 hour, 50% read 2–4 hours, 15% read 5–10 hours, and 6% read 10 hours or above per week. For those with high school diplomas as their highest level of educational attainment, 2% read up to one hour, while 10% read 2–4 hours per week. Only parents with a college or university degree (or greater) read more than five hours per week, highlighting the enabling role that higher educational attainment has on home reading habits. This aligns with the majority of findings in the literature regarding educational attainment and personal reading habits.⁴⁹

Figure 4: Parental educational attainment and reading habits.

It is not necessarily the case that parents’ own reading habits translate into similar reading habits with their children, specifically in how much time they spend reading with or to their children each week. To assess this, the survey asked about parents’ habit of reading to their children, using a similar hour-per-week scale as in the question about individual reading habits. Among college graduates, 21% report that they read up to one hour per week, 44% read 2–4 hours, 21% read 5–10 hours, and 3% read 10 hours and above. On the other hand, for those with high school diplomas, 4% read 0–1 hour while 8% read 2–4 hours per week to their children. Figure 6 shows the relationship of individual responses from Figure 4 (hours spent reading for own pleasure) and Figure 5 (reading to/with children), indicating a high degree of overlap between individual reading habits and time spent reading with children. The most notable category is the “2–4 hour” category, which shows that parents reading 2–4 hours for their own pleasure also spend a similar amount of time reading to their children. However, there are also notable outliers, such as parents who read a lot themselves but not to their children, as well as parents who read very little themselves but read a lot to their children. Future qualitative research can better understand the drivers of these outliers and further inform the results from this study.

Figure 5: Parental reading habits and reading to children.

Figure 6: Relationship mapping for parental reading habits as well as reading with children.

Figures 4 and 5 show that educational attainment is an important factor in adopting reading habits at home, most notably with college and university graduates being the only respondents with personal reading levels greater than 5 hours per week as well as practices of reading to their children greater than 5 hours per week. As a contributing factor to positive reading habits, educational attainment from this dataset aligns with the findings in much of the literature that greater levels of education support positive reading habits, and further than this has positive intergenerational impacts as those parents also spend more time reading with their children.

The Qatar Reads program includes several activities beyond the provision of books (e.g., providing activity sheets, creating monthly themes, and hosting associated events). Analyzing these other activities in relation to educational attainment provides interesting insight. While Figures 4 and 5 show positive impacts on greater personal reading habits as well as practices of parents reading with children, when it comes to children within the Qatar Reads program, educational attainment was associated with child reading habits and completing activity sheets, but not engaging with the content. What is notable here is that once enrolled in the Qatar Reads program, the influence of educational attainment reduces some of its significance, albeit for some variables.

The association between the educational attainment of parents and children’s reading habits is statistically significant as the corresponding P-values of Pearson and Likelihood tests are smaller than 0.05. The values Cramer’s V and Phi measure the strength and direction of the association in Chi-Squared test. A value of zero indicates no relationship, a value of 0.2 or low represents a weak relationship, 0.2–0.3 represents a moderate relationship, and 0.3 and above represents a strong relationship. The value of 0.48 shows that there is a strong and positive correlation between the education level of parents and children’s reading habits. Similarly, a statistically significant value of 0.38 suggests that there is a positive and strong association between family education level and children’s involvement in completing the activity sheet provided by Qatar Reads. On the contrary, the association between the educational attainment of parents and children’s involvement in asking questions and sharing thoughts is not significant. One explanation for this is that it has been found that participating in the Qatar Reads program increased the time children spend reading and the time parents spend reading with their children,⁵⁰ thereby reducing the gap between households with different levels of educational attainment. Another explanation is that the other two practices, namely reading all the books provided by QR and completing the activity sheets provided by QR, require individual effort on the part of the child as they read the book and complete activity sheets independently. In contrast, asking questions requires active engagement with parents and peers. This does not seem statistically significant implying the sampled students are reluctant for active learning.

These findings confirm the association between educational attainment and personal reading habits, as well as time parents spend reading with children. However, these results also suggest that with appropriately designed programs, services, and supports, household level traits that are challenging to change in the short term (as parental educational attainment is) may be addressed through other means. In other words, parents and children in households with lower levels of educational attainment may exhibit some similar habits and practices following a relatively short intervention period when compared to those with higher educational attainment.

The second variable we analyzed was the availability of books at home/home libraries and its correlation with other variables from the survey. For Qatar Reads, which is a program that provides books to participating children on a monthly basis, this variable is particularly important to assess as building home libraries is a direct component of its activities. Similar to questions regarding educational attainment, recall questions assessed the household situation before joining Qatar Reads. This was important because every household would have a home library following entry into the program (each month, children receive an average of two books, and most participants had been in the program for at least a year, meaning that through the program, each household would have at least 24 books).

In Figure 7, the availability of books within the household before joining Qatar Reads is disaggregated by citizens and expatriates/non-citizen residents. Of the households that had 0–10 and 10–20 books, there were no major differences between the populations; however, expatriates tended to report having more than 50 books before joining the program, while citizens were more likely to report having between 20 and 50 books in their home. Notably, in the aggregate, Qatar Reads is attracting households that already had home libraries when joining the program, the majority of whom report having had twenty books or greater before joining the program (68%). When it comes to educational attainment, those with higher levels of educational attainment were on the higher end of book holdings before joining Qatar Reads (in the “20–50” or “50+” categories), while amongst those with a high school diploma, the larger number of book holdings was in the 10–20 range. Table 2 presents the statistical analysis of this relationship. As noted above, this aligns with the association between positive reading habits and higher educational attainment.

Figure 7: Number of books in the home before joining Qatar Reads, by residency status & educational attainment.

As noted in the methodology section as a limitation of this study, these findings should be viewed in relation to the self-selection bias of the surveyed population, who expressed an inclination toward reading by joining Qatar Reads. As this is a paid subscription program, it attracts participants who also have the willingness and ability to pay for this service. The data, therefore, is not a representative sample of the population, but a limited subset of the population, which tends to be more educated than the average household, and via their enrollment in Qatar Reads expressing an interest to enhance the reading habits of the children within their households. Additional research is required to assess if these trends are reflective of the broader population.

In addition to residency status and educational attainment (see Figure 7, Table 1), the survey data also presented the opportunity to analyze the role of language since Qatar Reads offers the option to have Arabic-only, English-only, or Arabic and English books. Figure 8 presents the results, which show no major differences (when the numbers of each category are considered). Notably, however, was that the households that selected Arabic-only (albeit a small group of the participants), all had libraries greater than 50 books in their homes before joining Qatar Reads.

Figure 8: Number of books in the home before joining Qatar Reads, by language preference.

Table 1: Association between parents’ education attainment and children’s reading practices

CHI-SQUARE TESTS: EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT	READING ALL THE BOOKS PROVIDED BY QR	COMPLETING THE ACTIVITY SHEETS PROVIDED BY QR	ASKING QUESTIONS OR SHARING THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BOOKS
Phi	0.48***	0.38**	0.31
Cramer’s V	0.48***	0.38**	0.31
Pearson Chi-Square	0.007	0.033	0.11
Likelihood Ratio	0.046	0.042	0.069
Linear-by-Linear Association	0.102	0.073	0.426
N of Valid Cases	62	62	62

** represents 5% significance level, and *** represents 1 % significance level.

Table 2: Statistical analysis of higher educational attainment and likelihood to have more books at home

CHI-SQUARE TESTS: HAVING BOOKS AT HOME	EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Phi	0.378**
Cramer’s V	0.378**
Pearson Chi-Square	0.027
Likelihood Ratio	0.037
Linear-by-Linear Association	0.005
N of Valid Cases	64

** represents 5% significance level

Earlier studies that focus on reading and literacy in Qatar have examined the role of gender, particularly given the gendered differences in educational attainment (as noted above). Some interventions, as in that of Ihmeideh and Al-Maadadi assessing impacts at the kindergarten level, found no gendered differences.⁵¹ However, Cheema found gendered differences in the way reading was undertaken (particularly regarding the use of technology).⁵² In another study of Qatar Reads, some gendered differences were identified.⁵³ Using the data from this study, when we assess the availability of books within households based on the gender of the child enrolled in the program, no significant differences were found (see Figure 9). Our statistical analysis supports this finding (see Table 3); the p-value is greater than 0.05, which suggests that there is no statistically significant association between gender and having books/a home library. This is noteworthy in that the broader enrolment trends within Qatar Reads were nearly at parity (53% female children, 47% male), and we do not see any major differences when disaggregated by gender.

Figure 9: Number of books in home before joining Qatar Reads, by gender of child.

Table 3: Association tests on gendered impact of availability of books at home

HAVING BOOKS AT HOME	GENDER
Spearman’s rho	0.09
Pearson Chi-Square	0.027
Likelihood Ratio	0.037
Linear-by-Linear Association	0.005
N of Valid Cases	64

As was done with educational attainment, we also analyzed the association between having home libraries, time parents spend reading with their children, as well as outcomes related to Qatar Reads (reading all the books provided, completing activity sheets, and engaging with content). For these indicators, there was no significant relationship between the size of home libraries before joining Qatar Reads, with children reading all the books provided, completing all the activity sheets, engaging with the content, and time parents spent reading with children. In this regard, we show that while there were sustained differences between low and high educational attainment households after a year in the Qatar Reads program, there was no sustained difference between households based on the size of the home library at the time of joining the program. In other words, engagement with the program, for an average of a one-year period, the influence of home libraries was reduced such that no significant difference exists (see Table 4).

Table 4: Association between home libraries at time of joining Qatar Reads with activity indicators one year after participation in program

CHI-SQUARE TESTS: HAVING BOOKS AT HOME	READING ALL THE BOOKS PROVIDED BY QR	COMPLETING THE ACTIVITY SHEETS PROVIDED BY QR	ASKING QUESTIONS OR SHARING THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BOOKS	READING TO CHILDREN
Phi	0.50	0.47	0.46	0.234
Cramer’s V	0.29	0.27	0.27	0.135
Spearman’s rho	0.12	0.96	0.65	0.24
Pearson Chi-Square	0.223	0.139	0.15	0.94
Likelihood Ratio	0.204	0.126	0.077	0.92
Linear-by-Linear Association	0.14	0.01	0.018	0.88
N of Valid Cases	64	64	64	64

6 Discussion

We identify three areas for reflection based on these results while considering the limitations associated with being a case study approach that is not based on a population level sample. The three broad themes relate to (1) opportunities to reduce the gap that exists between different levels of educational attainment in the household, (2) the need for greater inclusion, and particularly for those households that are not already inclined toward leisure reading, and (3) while programs like Qatar Reads can reduce the gaps identified between households with lower and higher educational attainment, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education can invest in tailored tertiary educational programs to raise educational attainment at the population level over the longer term. We address these points in the following three paragraphs. These points are, we reiterate, insights drawn from a specific intervention and scaling programs in the ways discussed below require careful baseline assessments and monitoring to ensure appropriate and suitable design as well as consistency in expected outcomes.

Higher educational attainment, as the available evidence from other research has shown, is associated with more positive reading habits. This is also the case in Qatar, both at the individual level as well as in time spent reading with children. However, after spending an average of one year in the Qatar Reads program, the divergence on some reading practice indicators was no longer significant, and for other indicators, it was reduced. As noted in another study, it has been shown that after participation in Qatar Reads, the time children spend reading increases (for the majority of children, 81%) and the time parents spend reading increases (for the majority of parents, 71%).⁵⁴ The combination of these findings emphasizes the important role that well-designed interventions can play in improving reading habits and in supporting the adoption of positive reading habits for those who started without such habits (e.g., improving reading habits for parents and households with lower levels of educational attainment such that their habits are similar to those with higher educational attainment). Notably, this study finds no gendered differences in parental provision of books before joining Qatar Reads, and earlier research also finds no gendered differences in the program impacts.⁵⁵ Similarly, there were no major language differences, despite some outlier data points that require further research to better understand. As a result of these positive outcomes, services like Qatar Reads should be invested in and scaled to reach more households (in so doing, monitoring systems should be in place to see if the impacts differ as the services reach populations with different household traits than those involved in this survey).

Qatar Reads is reaching a population that is interested in reading (as shown in their voluntarily joining a subscription-based program), have a higher than average educational attainment level, and many of whom had home libraries at the time of starting the program. Available evidence suggests that Qatar Reads has a positive impact on reading habits of children and parents;⁵⁶ however, more effort is needed to expand the program to reach populations that may not be seeking out such a program, but who could benefit by participating in it. One example that Qatar Reads could consider is seeking sponsorship (via Qatar Foundation or through the private sector) to provide access to the program on a targeted basis. For example, this could target children in public schools who are underperforming in reading, particularly in the 3–13 age group of the Qatar Reads program. Working with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education for this targeting could also support expanding the program geographically and demographically. Based on educational outcome data held by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, such a process might identify a need in another area of the country (which could be used as a pilot for geographic expansion, given the costs of the monthly distribution of books). Developing this partnership with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education may also support other institutional shifts, such as a greater ability to raise awareness within public schools regarding the Qatar Reads program.

Available evidence affirms the role that higher educational attainment is associated with positive reading habits for children. This research also found this to be the case, and while it is promising that gaps can be reduced through a program like Qatar Reads, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education can also develop parallel efforts to increase the educational attainment at the population level over the long term. In many ways, the government has committed to doing this, such as by providing scholarships to citizens, residents, and international students to enter tertiary education. The State of Qatar also provides scholarships for citizens to study abroad at more than 650 approved institutions in more than 25 countries.⁵⁷ The country has invested in higher education, including being home to Education City, which has satellite campuses of eight international universities. For some, the entry requirements (English language, Grade Point Average) present barriers to entry. Providing means for continued education and upskilling will not only require streams to be inclusive of those who might not be attracted to, or eligible to join, universities but also effort to change the perception of some professions that might not be viewed as prestigious from a socio-cultural context. Celebrating these diverse streams will enable more people to access tertiary education and continue their life-long learning journey. This, in the long run and at the population level, will have positive intergenerational impacts on learning as well as on economic growth.⁵⁸

7 Conclusion

Since the 1990s, the State of Qatar has experienced rapid economic growth and a significant expansion of its population. Resultingly, there has been pressure to swiftly expand the education system. While major investments have been made in the formal education sector, outcomes remain lower than countries with comparable GDP per capita. We situated these outcomes in socio-cultural and historical contexts in order to outline the complex contributors to these outcomes. This research focused on factors beyond the formal education system, and particularly with an interest to explore skills and habits beyond outcomes. We suggest that this is particularly important for an effective learning environment within and beyond formal education, as the country strives to foster a country of lifelong learners and schools that utilize personalized, learner-led pedagogies.

Evidence has shown the positive role that household traits can have on reading habits, including educational attainment and having home libraries. At the same time, however, the significance of these traits is influenced by context, and limited evidence is available about their significance in Qatar. This study takes a case study approach, using a sub-population involved in a home reading program to contribute contextualized evidence. However, this sub-population creates some limitations regarding the generalizability of the findings, as the population tends to have higher educational attainment and are seeking out participation in a reading program. This creates some positive bias in the sample; however, for a context where little evidence is available, this research contributes to an under-researched area and allows for new research directions to be identified.

We assess the evidence regarding the enabling conditions beyond the formal education system to transform the learning environment, with a specific focus on the role of household traits (e.g., parental educational attainment, home libraries). The findings are in alignment with the literature on the positive role of educational attainment regarding the reading habits of adults and children. The results also show that effective interventions can reduce this influence, and thereby the gap between households with different levels of educational attainment. Home libraries were positively associated with higher educational attainment (and hence reading habits), but this association was not sustained after the intervention. No linguistic differences between households were identified (participants had the option for English-only, Arabic-only, or both), nor were any gendered differences between enrolled children identified. Three areas of recommendations were made for enhancing the enabling conditions for transforming the learning environment. First, based on the finding that effective and tailored interventions can enhance reading habits in households with lower educational attainment, reducing the gap between households with varied educational attainment, these initiatives should be scaled. Second, the current modality attracts certain types of participants; there is a need to broaden inclusion and participation in interventions, which will allow for an assessment of the effects on a broader population level. If found effective, scaling should focus on reaching populations that may not be seeking out such a program, but who could benefit by participating in it. Last, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education should explore options for expanding and diversifying opportunities for tailored tertiary educational programs to raise educational attainment at the population level over the longer term, which also involves shifting perceptions about some types of tertiary programs.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Logan Cochrane

Logan Cochrane (corresponding author) is Associate Professor, College of Public Policy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Education City, Doha, Qatar, [email protected];

Ozcan Ozturk

Ozcan Ozturk is Assistant Professor, College of Public Policy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar;

Reem Al-Hababi

Reem Al-Hababi is a PhD student in the Gulf Studies Program, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar;

Hanieh Khataee

Hanieh Khataee is Director of Strategy and Impact at Qatar Foundation;

Fatema Al-Malki

Fatema Al-Malki is Project Manager at Qatar National Library;

Hisham Nourin

Hisham Nourin is Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives and Programs at Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar.

Notes

1 UNESCO, “UNESCO Warns 117 Million Students Around the World Are Still Out of School”, 16 September 2021.

2 Economist Impact, Getting Personal: The Future of Education Post COVID-19 (2021).

3 Schwab (ed.), The Global Competitiveness Report 2017–2018 (2017).

4 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), “Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) Results from PISA 2018” (2018).

5 The World Bank, “Data Bank: Qatar” (2021).

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Al-Ejli, Sheikh Jassim Al-Thani, Founder of Qatar: A Historical Study of a Nineteenth Century Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula (2015); Althani, Jassim the Leader: Founder of Qatar (2012).

9 Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Epistemic Freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and Decolonization (2018); Said, Orientalism (1978); Woldeyes, Native Colonialism: Education and the Economy of Violence Against Traditions in Ethiopia (2017).

10 Alkhater, “Qatar’s Borrowed K-12 Education Reform in Context”, in Tok, Alkhater, and Palgrave (eds), Policy Making in a Transformative State: The Case of Qatar (2016).

11 Eggeling, Nation Branding in Practice: The Politics of Promoting Sports, Cities and Universities in Kazakhstan and Qatar (2020); Supreme Education Council, Education for All: Country Report 2000–2015 (2014).

12 Amiri Diwan, “Sheikh Khalifa Ibn Hamad Al-Thani” (2021).

13 Alkhater, “Qatar’s Borrowed K-12 Education Reform in Context”.

14 Ibid.

15 Glawe and Wagner, “Is Schooling the Same as Learning? The Impact of the Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling on Growth in a Dynamic Panel Data Framework”, World Development 151 (March 2022).

16 Govt of Qatar, Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Annual Statistics of Education in the State of Qatar 2020–2019 (2020).

17 Ibid.

18 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) Results from PISA 2018”.

19 Ibid. PISA assessments are available in 90 languages, Qatar is listed as administering the assessment in Arabic and English; as far as we are aware, disaggregated language results from Qatar are not available.

22 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) Results from PISA 2018”.

20 Ibid.

21 Alkhater, “Qatar’s Borrowed K-12 Education Reform in Context”.

23 Ibid.

24 Ghriss et al., Arab Reading Index 2016 (2016).

25 Bracken and Fischel, “Family Reading Behaviour and Early Literacy Skills in Preschool Children from Low-Income Backgrounds”, Early Education and Development 19.1 (2008), pp. 45–67.

26 Smith, “Reading Habits and Attitudes of Adults at Different Levels of Education and Occupation”, Literacy Research and Instruction 30.1 (1990), pp. 50–58.

27 Ibid.

28 Gökbulut and Yeniasir, “Analysis of Children’s Interest in Books and Their Reading Levels Depending on the Education Status of Family”, Quality & Quantity 52.S1 (2018), pp. 235–245.

29 Ibid.

30 Chiu, “Qatar Family, School, and Child Effects on Reading”, International Journal of Comparative Education and Development 20.2 (2018), pp. 113–127.

31 Ibid.

32 Ibid.

33 Cochrane et al., “Fostering a Reading Culture in Qatar: Evidence from Qatar Reads” (2022).

34 Howard, “Teens and Pleasure Reading: A Critical Assessment from Nova Scotia”, Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS / Actes Du congrès Annuel De l’ACSI (2013).

35 Ibid.

36 Kirby and Hogan, “Family Literacy Environment and Early Literacy Development”, Exceptionality Education International 18.3 (2008), pp. 112–130.

37 Yarosz and Barnett, “Who Reads to Young Children? Identifying Predictors of Family Reading Activities”, Reading Psychology 22.1 (2001), pp. 67–81.

38 Yusof, “Influence of Family Factors on Reading Habits and Interest Among Level 2 Pupils in National Primary Schools in Malaysia”, Procedia: Social and Behavioral Sciences 5 (2010), pp. 1160–1165.

39 Gavora, “Czech Mothers Read Books to Their Young Children: Association with Mothers’ Education”, Journal of Language and Cultural Education 8.1 (2020), pp. 1–14.

40 Kirby and Hogan, “Family Literacy Environment and Early Literacy Development”.

41 van Bergen et al., “Why Are Home Literacy Environment and Children’s Reading Skills Associated? What Parental Skills Reveal”, Reading Research Quarterly 52.2 (2016), pp. 147–160.

42 Ibid.

43 Faltisco, A Study of the Intelligence, Achievement, Reading Habits, and Parental Occupations of Twenty Children in Orchard Park in Relation to the Home Library, PhD diss. (1952).

44 O’Brien, Chin Ng, and Arshad, “The Structure of Home Literacy Environment and Its Relation to Emergent English Literacy Skills in the Multilingual Context of Singapore”, Early Childhood Research Quarterly 53 (2020), pp. 441–452.

45 Chiu, “Qatar Family, School, and Child Effects on Reading”.

46 Morsy, The Reading Interests of EFL High School Students in Qatar, MA thesis (2016).

47 For additional information on that program, see Cochrane et al., “Fostering a Reading Culture in Qatar: Evidence from Qatar Reads”.

48 The World Bank, “Data Bank: Qatar”.

49 For example, as found in: Fernandez-Blanco, Prieto-Rodriguez, and Suarez-Pandiello, “A Quantitative Analysis of Reading Habits in Spain”, International Journal of Arts Management 19.3 (2017) pp. 19–32; Miller, Purcell, and Rainie, “Reading Habits in Different Communities”, Pew Research Center (2012); Smith, A Study of Middle Grades Students’ Reading Interests, Habits, and Achievement, PhD diss. (2010).

50 Cochrane et al., “Fostering a Reading Culture in Qatar: Evidence from Qatar Reads”.

51 Ihmeideh and Al-Maadadi, “The Effect of Family Literacy Programs on the Development of Children’s Early Literacy in Kindergarten Settings”, Children and Youth Services Review (2020), p. 118.

52 Cheema, “Prevalence of Online Reading Among High School Students in Qatar: Evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2009”, International Journal of Education and Development Using Information and Communication Technology 10.1 (2014), pp. 41–54.

53 Cochrane et al., “Fostering a Reading Culture in Qatar: Evidence from Qatar Reads”.

54 Cochrane et al., “Fostering a Reading Culture in Qatar: Evidence from Qatar Reads”.

55 Ibid.

56 Ibid.

57 Govt of Qatar, Ministry of Education and Higher Education, “Scholarships” (2021).

58 Glawe and Wagner, “Is Schooling the Same as Learning? The Impact of the Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling on Growth in a Dynamic Panel Data Framework”.

Appendix

Table A1: Codings of the variables used for analyses

Your level of education:	1. College or University degree
	2. High school diploma
Before joining Qatar Reads, how many children’s books did you have in the house?
	1. 0–10
	2. 10–20
	3. 20–50
	4. 50+
Gender of the child this survey is about:
	1. Male
	2. Female
How much do you read in a typical week for your own pleasure?
	1. 0–1 hours
	2. 2–4 hours
	3. 5–10 hours
	4. 10+ hours
How often do you read to your children each week?
	1. 0–1 hours
	2. 2–4 hours
	3. 5–10 hours
	4. 10+ hours
My child reads all the books provided by Qatar Reads each month:
	1. Never
	2. Sometimes
	3. Most of the time
	4. Always
	5. Not applicable
My child completes the activity sheets provided by Qatar Reads each month:
	1. Never
	2. Sometimes
	3. Most of the time
	4. Always
	5. Not applicable
My child asks questions or shares thoughts about the books provided by Qatar Reads:
	1. Never
	2. Sometimes
	3. Most of the time
	4. Always
	5. Not applicable

Table A2: Descriptive statistics

	N	MIN.	MAX.	MEAN	STD. DEVIATION
Your level of education:	119	1	2	1.12	0.324
Before joining Qatar Reads, how many children’s books did you have in the house?	119	1	4	2.88	0.845
How much do you read in a typical week for your own pleasure?	119	1	4	2.08	0.761
How often do you read to your children each week?	119	1	4	2.01	0.753
Gender of the child this survey is about:	115	1	2	1.51	0.502
My child reads all the books provided by Qatar Reads each month:	114	1	5	3.21	0.857
My child completes the activity sheets provided by Qatar Reads each month:	114	1	4	2.49	0.962
My child asks questions or shares thoughts about the books provided by Qatar Reads:	114	1	4	2.68	0.945