Browsing by Subject "läsfrämjande"

Previous study shows that reading motivation among Finnish children and youth has diminished. Recreational reading is known to be an essential factor in literacy development. With support of the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, new ways of promoting reading are being developed. In Sweden, the municipalities formulate plans of reading promotion with the collaboration of various operators. In Finland, there is no similar system. There are no previous studies or reports to be found on the topic in Finland or in Sweden. This study examined the methods of reading promotion presented in the plans and their justification. The study aimed at considering whether there is something to be learned from the Swedish system in Finland. Plans of reading promotion of 17 Swedish municipalities were chosen as the data of this study. The method chosen was inductive content analysis. The actions of reading promotion described in the plans could be portrayed as efforts between four factors: the professionals, the parents, the children and the material. The professionals aim at both having an impact directly on the children, using methods that take place in children's groups, and indirectly by informing and supporting the parents. They try to improve the achievability of the material by bringing the library close to the children and by offering reading that is suitable by its contents and suitably easy for each reader. The professionals also aim at improving their own actions and cooperation. The viewpoint of the librarians stands out in the plans. Cooperation with the educationalists does not seem to be widely used in planning, purchasing material or agreeing on the distribution of work. The methods are usually adult-centered. The methods, where the child becomes a subject instead of being an object, stood out clearly: the children were given an opportunity of either collaborating in purchasing the material and making it achievable or influencing each other by developing the library environment and by networking. Significant qualitative variation was found in the plans. This report offers ideas of reading promotion for an elementary school teacher and can be helpful in formulating plans of cooperation of school and library. Comparing the reading interest of Finnish and Swedish children and finding out the effects of planning on reading motivation would further contribute to the findings of this study. That information would make it more possible to evaluate if the Swedish system is worth introducing in Finland.