‘Reading Holiday’ in Sweden

IFLA_Torbjorn-Nilsson

 

 

 

 

The result of the PISA survey 2012, published in 2013, was a real wake up call for Sweden, as it revealed that Swedish pupils performed significantly worse than students in other OECD countries in terms of literacy.  As a reaction to this negative result, a number of reading promotion projects started, focussing on children’s reading and reading comprehension ability.

The latest project, Läslov (Reading Holiday), was launched during the Gothenburg Book and Library Fair at the end of September this year, when the Minister for Culture, Alice Bah Kuhnke, as well as the Minister for Education, Gustaf Fridolin, participated.

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Läslov is about turning the autumn break, the old potato and harvest holiday, which occurs in week 44, October 26-30, each year, into a week of reading activities, where the output of the venture is, instead of rich potato and cereal harvests like in the old days, increased literacy and knowledge.

Läslov is run by the non-profit organisation Läsrörelsen, which has both individual and institutional members at all levels of society.
During Läslovet, school-aged children will be invited to take part in reading activities in the municipalities. The goal is to get Läslovet v44 added into the Swedish curriculum in 2016.