The Government of Slovenia adopted in December 2019 the National Strategy for the Development of Reading Literacy for the period of 2019-2030. The strategy includes a framework for literacy development, quantitative targets for the next decade of literacy development, and foresees the foundation of a national Literacy Council.

The newly adopted strategy emphasizes that reading literacy is the cornerstone of other literacies. An important part of the reading literacy is the reading culture, which embraces reading as a value in itself and emphasizes the importance of the motivation to read. The vision of the strategy is to provide everybody with the necessary level of literacy to enable each individual in Slovenia to develop his/her ability to live and work actively. The development of reading literacy is a foundation for economic progress, sustainable development, and social cohesion. Furthermore, continuous development of reading literacy at all ages is a prerequisite of lifelong learning.

The strategic goals of the strategy are:

• Establishing an effective framework for the development of reading literacy that would take into account different needs of individuals at different life stages, and assuming different roles.
• Facilitating access to books and other reading materials.
• Devoting greater attention to specific age/target groups within the educational system.

In order to support achievement of the last goal, the strategy includes a framework of specific goals for different age/target groups and descriptions of levels of reading literacy for specific age groups.

The new strategy also sets ambitious quantitative targets, namely by 2030:

• at least 90% of 15-year olds should reach the basic level of literacy as measured by PISA and
• at least 10 % should attain the highest levels of reading literacy, the levels 5 and 6.

In the last PISA (2018) measurement, students’ average achievement in Slovenia surpassed the OECD average, but only 82.1 % of students achieved the basic literacy levels, while 8.8 % achieved the levels 5 and 6.

The Strategy puts the responsibility for the implementation of the strategy at the level of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. The government will be supported by a new body – a National Reading Literacy Council. The Council will consist of literacy experts from pre-school to old age—covering various aspects of literacy development—and representatives of government departments critical to literacy development. One of the key tasks of the said Council will be to monitor the implementation of the strategy.

The strategy will be further elaborated in an action plan. The competent ministries, in cooperation with the government, will provide the funding for its implementation based on proposals from the National Reading Literacy Council.

Source: Eurydice Slovenia Unit