Practices

Chapter 1: Literacy
In the modern 21st-century society in which we live, literacy has become
more essential than ever before. This raises the importance and urgency of
ensuring that Europeans acquire effective reading and writing skills from an
early age. Despite the EU’s high standards of education, some young people
fall through the literacy net for a diversity of complex reasons.
There is no single cause of poor literacy and, hence, no magic pill or cure for it. Given
the complexity and interrelatedness of the challenges involved, effectively addressing
illiteracy and poor literacy requires the commitment and active engagement of a wide
range of actors.
Member States have a shared interest in improving literacy standards and improving
reading literacy. As this was one of the first objectives of the Commission's 'Education
and Training' work programme, launched in 2002, it was re-confirmed as a priority for
2010-2020. Member States have committed to reduce the ratio of low-achieving 15year-olds
in reading literacy to 15% at most by 2020.
In 2011 the European Commission established a High Level Group of Experts in the
field of literacy (HLG). This group examined how to support literacy throughout
lifelong learning, identified common success factors of literacy programmes and policy
initiatives and came up with proposals for improving literacy. The HLG concluded its
work and published its final report in September 2012. The report states that literacy
is a fundamental requirement for citizens of all ages in modern Europe. Changes in
the nature of work, the economy, and society more generally are making good
literacy skills even more important. Achieving real improvement in literacy requires
political ownership and cooperation across the policy spectrum and beyond. The
group's report seeks to raise awareness of the literacy crisis affecting all Member
States and provides recommendations on how to solve it.
Schools, teachers and parents have a crucial role to play in nurturing the literacy of
children and young people, while other key players, such as local authorities, training
institutions, libraries play important supporting roles. Therefore, close coordination,
co-operation and partnerships promoted by the Comenius programme are essential if
initiatives to develop literacy skills in children and young people are to succeed.
In the following pages, there are several good examples of Comenius projects that
contribute to the improvement the literacy skills in young people; they are very varied
in terms of focus and types of authorities but they all implement strategies and
measures that lead to concrete results and impacts. Many of them address teacher's
competencies and teaching strategies; other focus on the learning processes of
children particularly those with low reading and writing skills.
Most of the projects profit from the possibilities offered by ICT as a teaching and
learning tool and as an effective way of motivating pupils and teachers as well as a
means to sustain their outcomes and results.
The project also highlights the relevance of the involvement of teacher training
institutions, parents and other organizations as libraries involvement in the
partnerships can contribute to a comprehensible approach to improve literacy.
To learn more:
http://ec.europa.eu/education/literacy/index_en.htm
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