Special Reading Initiatives

In recent years, there have been many initiatives aimed at promoting reading. They have been implemented sporadically and are not the result of a unified government policy.

Students’ achievement results on national and international assessments and the correlation between their level of literacy and socioeconomic and demographic factors prompted the Bulgarian Ministry of Education to develop the National Strategy for Enhancement and Increasing Literacy (2014–2020).¹⁷ This strategic document aims to coordinate and consolidate the efforts of all stakeholders. Instruction still is focused more toward memorization and reproduction of information than on mastering metacognition strategies for learning and problem solving, and despite the inclusion of innovative methods and techniques in education, assessing students’ knowledge of learned facts rather than their acquired skills and competencies still is a priority. Policies for enhancing and increasing literacy include:

Expanding the inclusion of 5-year-old children in preschool education
Expanding the all-day organization of the learning process in more schools
Improving the state education content standards and curriculum by including key competencies for increasing literacy
Developing and providing additional materials for preschool education of children with a mother tongue other than Bulgarian
Providing extra instructional hours for students with reading difficulties and monitoring their progress
Facilitating access to books and other reading materials
Integrating Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in preschool and school education
Increasing learning motivation by making school more attractive and engaging
Conducting national competitions and other national initiatives for promoting literacy
Providing opportunities for teachers’ professional development and qualification in teaching students with reading difficulties and in teaching in a multicultural/multilingual setting
Assessing literacy by conducting external national assessments and participating in international studies such as PIRLS and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

The strategy identifies groups that are “at risk” (e.g., socioeconomically disadvantaged, bilingual, and Roma students) and focuses on closing literacy gaps and improving inclusion in education. Ensuring equal and inclusive participation in literacy learning should start from early childhood by supporting children who are at risk. To achieve this, following changes should come in place:

Identify students’ needs through language screening
Provide flexible language learning opportunities and individual support for students with reading difficulties
Place every child at the center of the learning process
Change the direction of pedagogical synergy from the language learned by the student to the student learning the language
Increase student motivation by including e-reading