I was at teacher for years here in the UK and quit because of the state of education.
Since 2014, the curriculum has been very prescriptive. Mr. Gove *Spits on floor* decided that reading, writing and arithmetic were THE single most important things for a child to learn and put the bar for success so high, we now have record numbers of SEN children on role. Children, that a decade ago, would have been middle of the road and doing fine.
And so teachers find that they spend all their time teaching the children to pass a test. Test practice, test technique etc... and there's no time left in the timetable for art, music, drama, creative writing and reading for pleasure.
The most egregious example of this is the phonics screening test; where if a child can read but doesn't know their phonics sounds, they are deemed a failure and must repeat the phonics teaching until they pass it... even if they can read without it!
Which begs the question; what is the test for then? Phonic is designed to teach children to read, but if a child can read without it why do they need to pass it? no wonder there are droves of children with the love of reading beaten out of them.