International Literacy Research Projects at Kecskemét College Teacher Training Faculty, Hungary

Abstract

Reading and understanding texts of all kinds form a basic competence for participating in social and cultural life and for being successful on a job. Although most European adolescents have adequate reading competences at their disposal by the end of school, about a quarter of them cannot meet the minimal standards. The urgency of this societal problem has induced the European Commission to invite tenders to find reasons for this phenomenon and give ideas how to handle and solve the problem. Kecskemét College Teacher Training Faculty entered the first international project in the field in 2006 (ADORE) looking for good school practices all over Europe. It was followed by designing and implementing an in-service teacher training course (BaCuLit), of which follow-up is an international association to promote this knowledge among PhD-students (ISIT). At the moment we are in the process of writing a proposal of European Literacy Network (EuLit).