Reading Plan, one of the major projects to increase academic results in Catalonia (2011-2014). Presentation in Study Visit Grup.No. 192 (Barcelona)

1. Languages in the Catalan Educational System
Subdirecció General de Llengua i Plurilingüisme
Ministry of Education of Catalonia

2. Languages in the Catalan Educational System
Schooling Language
Catalan (Occitan)
Curricular Languages Extra Curricular languages
(family language, complementary
lifelong learning)
Catalan (Occitan) Arabic
Spanish Chinese
Amazig
English Rumanian
French Ukrainian
German Portuguese
Italian Galician
(Latin/Old Greek) (Quitxua)

3. Diversity, an opportunity for education
 The Catalan plurilingual policy: a contribution for building a plural
Europe
 Inclusive approaches in education: promoting innovative teaching
methodologies
 Learning and teaching in plurilingualism: augmenting cognition
strategies, communication skills, information sources, critical thinking,
mutual aceptance and intercultural values.
“Future is for polyglots” David Crystal

4. Starting
The School On finishing
school: compulsory
provides every student schooling:
the linguistic skills
needed to become
competent and
engaged citizens
Speak
Catalan Know both
official
applying
second languages
Speak Catalan and
language (Catalan &
Spanish
methodologies Spanish) and
communicate,
Speak Spanish at least, in
one foreign
language
Speak neither Catalan nor Spanish,
But speak other languages

5. Fully endorsed implementation of second language education methodologies:
Applied elsewhere
Finland
Quebec
(Canadà) Wales
In some areas of the United Italy
States
.......
In Catalonia, since 1983, an action plan for bilingual education has been
implemented to increase learning achievement of both official
languages, Catalan and Spanish, as well as, at least, the learning of one
foreign language.

6. Language education in schools...
 Catalan is taught following a holistic approach.
 Life at school is conducted in Catalan, is only learnt when used.
 Students are taught Catalan, Spanish and, at least, one foreign language.
 Value is given to all languages and cultures of the families, because roots
are important and play a major role in enriching society and enhancing
social cohesion.

7. Language and social cohesion plan
Environmental educational plan
Inclusive school
Insertion class

9. Context and justification
Government Plan 2011-2014
reduction school drop outs by systematically
promoting reading throughout the schooling years
National Reading Plan
coordinates the efforts of different sectors and areas
of Catalan society to improve reading habits:
libraries, editors, etc.
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10. Reading competence
An essential ability to be developed in the academic
and social learning fields and to encourage lifelong learning.
It is part of the linguistic competence and, therefore, linked to
other components of the communicative competence: mastery
of oral and written skills.
Giving priority to the reading ability as a strategy to improve
the linguistic and communicative competence for the
acquisition and understanding of other subjects of the school
system.
Reading is the foundation of all learning
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11. Percentage of students in the different levels of the
reading scale
Levels <1 1 2 3 4 5 6
Catalunya 1 13 24 35 23 4 0
Spain 1 19 27 33 18 3 0
OECD 1 18 24 29 21 7 1
Few students located at higher levels, although the results are better
than the Spanish average.

12. Terminal levels of the
reading competence (end of secondary education)
Intermediate
Low level Upper level
level
PISA 2009 Catalunya 13,5% 82,7% 3,6%
PISA 2009 Espanya 19,6% 77,1% 3,3%
PISA 2009 OECD 18,8% 73,6% 7,6%
PISA 2009 Findand 8,1% 77,4% 14,5%
Target PISA Catalunya
≤ 15% ≈ 81% ≈ 4%
2012
Target PISA Catalunya
≤ 15% ≈ 79% ≈ 6%
2015
Target PISA Catalunya
≤ 15% ≈ 77% ≈ 8%
2018
Target European Union
≤ 15% - -
2020

13. Strategic Aim of the Education Departament
To promote reading in all the curriculum areas and
subjects as a learning tool and as systematic and cross
curricular strategy to improve school performance
and to promote the habit of reading and the reading for
pleasure.
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14. PISA 2009: aspects that guide the evaluation of the RC
. information retrieval
. forming a general understanding
. development of an interpretation
. reflection and evaluation of the contents of
a text
. reflection and evaluation of the shape of a
text

15. The three areas of the reading competence
 Learn to read
The learning of reading as the developing of the ability of reading,
understanding and interpreting texts.
 Read to learn
The use of reading for learning by developing the ability to read as
a tool to access information, to discover and expand knowledge.
 Enjoy reading
The reading habit fosters personal growth and lifelong learning
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16. What will make them competent readers?

17. can read
spelling-sound relationships
(kindergarten/first cycle primary
school)
word recognition
Can read to learn
dealing with sentences (middle and high cycle
primary/secondary)
(primary / secondary)
Ideas and relationship among
information literacy
ideas reading for studying
ways of reading (purposes)
structure of texts
comprehension strategies
Can read for pleasure

18. Specifics Aims
Students
 Incorporate different types of evaluation, especially
self-assessment as a learning strategy that allows
students to regulate their learning process.
 Increase of the amount of time devoted to reading
and the number of books read throughout the year.
 Incorporate reflection on what they have learned and
how they have learned it, explaining the reading
strategies used.
Working with a reading portfolio.

19. Specifics Aims
Teachers
 Plan didactic units, developing methodological
strategies according to the evolution of the learning
process of the students.
 Incorporate evaluation as a tool of the teaching /
learning process.
 Formulate the objectives of the activities based on
what students must prove they have learned.
Reading workshops. Mini lessons. Modeling.

20. Specific objectives
Schools
 Incorporate reading and reading comprehension
strategies in all subjects / areas.
 Establish an adequate strategy in the schools
according to the diagnosed needs after an internal
and external evaluation.
 Incorporate elements to measure the academic
progress of student performance in relation to the
previous year.
Educational project. School reading plan. Data

21. Specifics Aims
Families
 Find a while every day (10 to 20 minutes) to read with
their children or to read by their side to reinforce good
reading habits and empower autonomous reading.
 Understand the methodology used at school to learn
to read.
 Apply the guidelines of how they can contribute to
enhance their children’s good reading habits.
Guidelines. Reading Portfolio

22. Intervention lines
 Promote an evaluative culture in the schools,
defining follow up and evaluation indicators
related to the results of the different curricular
contents.
 Improve the professional skills of teachers
and directors, through advising and training.
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23. Main ideas
1. We learn to read by learning the strategies that need
to be applied.
2. The student must be an active participant in the
process.
The reading strategies should be made
explicit to the students so that they
become autonomous readers
and learn to apply them spontaneously.

24. Work phases at schools
1. Diagnosis: reflection on the results and the line of work
used
2. Define objectives, content and assessment criteria in
relation to the reading line of work and make suggestions
for improvement that are coherent with the results.
3. Working on the theoretical framework of the 3 axes (learn
to read, read to learn and reading for pleasure) and
design the required training in the didactics of reading.
4. Revise the didactic material and the teaching strategies for
the reading competence and model classroom activities.
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25. Planning: a school reading plan?
From the result of the diagnosis:
• Set goals of improvement by cycles or levels
• Initial learning of reading
• Agreements in methodology and evaluation
• Expand objectives, content and assessment criteria of the three
axes
• Families participation
• Participation of the environing society (public libraries and
associations)
• Training
• Evaluation, revision and proposals of improvement

26. to have autonomous students that can …
. achieve a general understanding of texts
. access and retrieve information
. integrate and interpret information
. reflect on and evaluate information (content and form)