Reading Badge of Slovenia Association

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Društvo Bralna značka Slovenije (ZPMS)

Miklošičeva 16, SI-1000 Ljubljana

http://www.bralnaznacka.si/

info@bralnaznacka.si

Phone386 (0) 1 430 0557, 386 (0) 41 313055

The Reading Badge of Slovenia concept was founded in the early 1960s as a means of tackling the deficiency of literature teaching in primary schools. Today, the movement joins 130,000 preschool, primary school, and (to a lesser extent) secondary school children in a common effort for better functional literacy and reading motivation. In 2019 the Reading Badge movement was included in the national register of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Slovenia.

History

Wanting to provide an alternative to the school compulsory reading, writer Leopold Suhodolčan and teacher Stanko Kotnik conceived the idea for the Reading Badge competition. Having read a certain number of books, children were awarded a badge, as collecting them was very popular with children in the late 1950s. The badges featured acclaimed Slovene poets and writers from the regions where certain badges were awarded.

Reading Badge Movement

Today's Reading Badge builds on the tradition of the original 36 Reading Badges, but has since become a modern movement for the promotion of reading. The Reading Badge of Slovenia Association seeks to enhance the reading culture, especially among young people. It encourages free-time reading and fosters better functional literacy. The association has developed various programmes that encourage family reading, for example, the Preschool Reading Badge, which stimulates parents to read to pre-school children and to children at the beginning of primary education. The Reading Badge movement now covers all of Slovenia and also its neighbouring countries with Slovenian-speaking children, including those of Slovene migrant workers.

The committee of the Reading Badge of Slovenia Association monitors its development by way of issuing motivational material for young readers, preparing education seminars, publishing material for mentors, and organising meetings with authors of children literature in schools and libraries. It collaborates with experts from the fields of children literature and literary didactics as well as public libraries, the Slovenian Association of Friends of Youth, Pionirska - Centre for Youth Literature and Librarianship, the Slovene Reading Association, the Slovene Writers’ Association, the Association of Slovene Publishers, Otrok in knjiga journal, the Slovene Section of IBBY, and a range of book clubs, publishing houses, bookstores, and other educational and cultural institutions.

See also

• Pionirska - Centre for Youth Literature and Librarianship

External links

• Reading Badge of Slovenia Association website (in Slovenian)
• Reading Badge of Slovenia Association information (in English)