Studies demonstrate that reading aloud to small children will help them to become better readers. Within disadvantaged families, parents might read less, possess fewer books and might not see the many benefits of reading. These sociocultural differences in early literacy practices impairs school achievement, however kindergartens don’t manage to fill this gab. Therefor it is of great importance to educate professionals in early childhood education, as well as parents, to engage in reading aloud to children in order to reduce the literacy gap among children from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
How to increase literacy motivation and engagement? How to raise the visibility and the availability of rich reading material in order to improve the quality of the literate environment of day care centres? What do professionals need to learn and how can the family be involved?
These are the first important questions and themes that characterized the Kick off Meeting of a new Erasmus + KA2 project – strategic partnerships |School, named “Making the Most of the Magic of Reading” – 3MR. The meeting was held on the 11th and 12th of October in Liege, Belgium.
The project, coordinated by the University of Liege, aims to increase children’s early literacy skills, especially from culturally less advantaged backgrounds, development by preparing professionals involved in early childhood education and parents to engage in reading aloud to children and in books sharing practices in order to reduce the literacy gap among children from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. This will be done through a curriculum and training for professionals, testing of the materials in the class room and the development of Online Education Resources for professionals and parents.
Other partners in the project are:
- Asociatia LASGC Romania
- Estonian Reading Association
- Centro per lo Sviluppo Danio Dolci
During the Kick off Meeting in Liege, all partners had the chance to know each other (better) and go through the main points of the project, both technical and administrative. Above all, the meeting allowed for the partners to talk about the main issues and first steps of the project such as the definition of “Reading Aloud”, how to raise awareness, the definition of the target groups in the different countries and the content of the different outputs that are foreseen for the upcoming 3 years.
In more detail, the project will last from 01/09/2018 to 31/08/2021 and will have the upcoming activities:2026
- The second transnational meeting, March 2019 in Palermo.
- Development of a curriculum for the training of professionals to develop their specific competences to read aloud to young children.
- Training for educators in July 2019 in Liege, Belgium.
- Training for professionals in early childhood education.
- Implementation of activities in the classroom during the next academic year.
- Online toolkits for professionals and parents, foreseen for 2021.
For more information about the project, please contact Vidjaya Thelen: vidjaya.thelen@danilodolci.org