I-READ-2022-2025

It is no secret that European pupils in vocational education lack reading skills and don’t experience reading pleasure. This has been proven by the provisional Pisa-results 2018 (Universiteit Gent, n.d.). As the 3 countries involved in iRead in VET participated in PISA, PISA will be used as a reference in this KA2. The lowering score on reading comprehension is a worldwide challenge. Taking this data POV (BE), HOWEST (BE), Kethna Vocational Education centre (EE) and Conlan
School (IRL) express their mutual concern and want to challenge these vocational readers by using the methodology of close Reading and a game based learning platform for reading. 10 countries worldwide score higher on reading than Flanders (Estonia & Ireland). 11 countries achieved a score comparable with Flanders and other European countries are
doing less well. These results in combination with (international) expertise is an opportunity to create a KA2-project, with partners chosen on their expertise and identity. As a project leader POV will coordinate the project. The main idea of this project is to offer teachers and school leaders in VET schools support and professionalize them education in reading skills. Research shows that stronger readers are more motivated and experience more reading pleasure (Guthrie, 2008).
Consequently, pupils will function better in their school, work and in society. They will experience better learning outcomes. As outlined above, the indirect (but most important) target group are the pupils as they will benefit from this project. That is why the results of the pupils will be monitored. Gathered data will be analyzed throughout the entire project. Beside this group iRead in VET has 4 direct target groups for which we create outputs. On teachers’ level iRead in VET will organize professionalization activities. The iRead in VET-team will support the school(leader) by
implementation in the school policy. Concerning the partnership, the partners will invest in further professionalization and strengthen the partnership to exchange good practices and experiences on Close Reading. This project will run from November 2021 until November 2024. In order to carry out the activities, iRead in VET organizes 6 transnational meetings and online moments of consultation. These meetings are important for the follow up of the draft tools, the progress of the project and the different steps to be taken. The developed outputs will be situated on different levels. A set of texts that pupils like (creation of reading pleasure) will be gathered on the level of the pupil (Reutzel, Fawson, & Smith, 2008) and an online game based learning platform will be developed. On the level of the teacher and the school a professionalization will be offered combined with tools, a forum and an implementation plan to embed an effective reading
culture. Result on the level of the partnership will be that partners will produce and test the different tools and take responsibility for the dissemination. Secondly, it will offer possibilities to share good practices and learn from each other during the project. Each partner will contribute and assure the dissemination of the developed materials and will involve schools for the testing of the developed tools. The developed online community will also make further dissemination possible. The iRead in VET-project is relevant because good reading skills have an impact on social, cultural and working
life. The longer term benefits for pupils involved in iRead in VET are enormous. Besides, professionalization of teachers and school leaders is the best way to achieve long term benefits for a lot of pupils. Teachers and school leaders will use the projects outputs in future. That is why, after finishing the professionalization, it will be turned into a KA1 course. The more teachers and school leaders will learn about this project, the methods and tools, the more pupils will reach a good
level of reading comprehension.