Society, the EU and other communities place multiple developmental tasks on the educational system. For the present project, the following developmental tasks will be focused upon: advancement and consolidation of reading literacy, advancement of participation in society through reading literacy and advancement of readiness for life-long learning.Through these developmental tasks, it will be possible to advance children individually according to their strengths and weaknesses and make room for inclusion. Reading performs a key function in regard to this because existing potential can be fully utilized and new potential can be generated. Only through adequate reading literacy can the level of participation in society required by the OECD be reached and thus make a self-determined life for every individual possible. The European Commission refers to reading as a basic skill in the document "Key Competences for Life-Long Learning: A European Reference Framework". In three of the eight total key competences, the skill of being able to read is an essential factor (native language competence, foreign language competence and learning competence).The advancement of reading literacy, as well as the reading support and quality development in reading instruction connected with it, have been recognized not only on a national level, but also on a European level. The President of the Hungarian Reading Association, Nagy, gets to the heart of the issue: "We need to plan and create a turning point in the cultural institutions, and in the economy and business" (Elinet, 2015). The quote shows that the quality of reading instruction, or rather, reading advancement, lies not only in the area of responsibility of educational institutions, but also must go further so that all children achieve reading literacy.For this reason, the present project is attempting to build bridges between practical experience, teaching methodology and research in which an empirically unverified reading initiative of an evidence-based approach will be supplied and brought back into praxis by pedagogues. Through this cooperative teacher training, teaching staff can deepen their knowledge and professional competence, as well as pass on their knowledge as disseminators of pedagogical information. Furthermore, they contribute to the professionalization of the teaching profession because their knowledge is not limited to professional routines, but rather they juxtapose developmental tasks and plan, implement and evaluate corresponding new programs. The first successful cornerstone for the achievement of the goal "Competence enhancement and expansion of competences of teaching staff was laid in the KA1 project. On the basis of the positive results, the KA2 project has been organized so that teaching staff become researchers themselves who systematically plan, implement and evaluate their measures to promote reading based on their own observations and diagnostic findings in order to further develop their teaching abilities. The action research is an easy and manageable tool in daily teaching and advancement. Upon closer examination of past as well as current projects or research projects regarding the topic of reading, it can be seen that there are a variety of initiatives focusing on successful literacy. Nonetheless, their effect cannot be clearly proven in pre- and post-assessment results. From a scientific perspective, it is notable that there are valuable measures, however, their efficacy has not been verified. Consequently, the present project emphasizes an evidence-based verification of the effectiveness of the existing literacy advancement programs in praxis. As a result, the present project ties into the European Commission's "General and Vocational Education 2020" (ET 2020), which, in its strategic framework for European cooperation in the fields of general and vocational education, suggests examining and distributing existing successful practices and research results regarding students' reading performance. Transnational cooperation facilitates collaborative work on educational justice and, furthermore, opens a door for heterogeneity and inclusion in European schools. The literacy campaign's effectiveness is being measured at schools using standardized testing methods. So-called pre- and post-tests make possible the identification of longitudinal shifts in literacy as well as county-specific comparisons. Each measurements' results are collected, analyzed and discussed in transnational committe Due to the concentrated expertise from various European institutions the effectiveness of literacy improvement measures can be reflected at a meta-level and another step is taken towards sustainable literacy advancement in primary schools. Transnational cooperation allows for joint work on educational justice and heterogeneity and inclusion in European schools. The long term vision is to decrease the rate of early school dropouts.
There is no doubt that literacy is regarded as a fundamental competence, without this participation in society hardly seems possible. It is precisely for this reason that studies such as those of the OECD point to the key role that reading literacy plays in later educational and career opportunities. Križan (2014) complains that there is a lack of reliable knowledge, especially in German-speaking countries, which funding measures are successful. The ELiS project - Evidence-based reading promotion in schools - attempts to counteract this criticism by implementing two reading promotion measures in primary schools and by examining their effectiveness in comparison with conventional reading instruction. In terms of content, the project follows on from the Erasmus+ mobility project "In the footsteps of Archduke Johann - Innovative practices of general and subject-specific reading in a European comparison". The first project objective, an improvement of basic reading skills through innovative methods, was achieved through the development and effectiveness testing of subject-integrated reading training. The project thus ties in with the "Education and Training 2020" of the European Commission, which calls for the investigation of existing reading promotion measures. The second project objective was to strengthen the teaching profession, which, according to the European document "Rethinking Education", is the key to improving pupils' learning outcomes. In order to enable teachers to deepen their knowledge, the project created high quality offers for knowledge enhancement. The third project objective was to minimise poor reading performance through sustainable and efficient education and training. Through European cooperation between colleges of education, universities and school authorities, it was possible to guarantee further training courses which focus on equal opportunities for all. A total of six educational institutions from four European countries participated in the project. It was headed by KPH Graz, which offers innovative and value-oriented training and further education for teachers and whose profile is characterised by a discourse between pedagogy, theology and other sciences. The second project partner was PH Steiermark, a renowned institution in teacher education. The Styrian Department of Education was also a project partner, which is responsible for the administration of the state schools and attaches great importance to autonomous freedom of action. The fourth project partner was the department of the German Directorate of Education of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, which is responsible for the administration, advice and coordination of schools. The Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu is the fifth project partner to offer a course of study for primary school teachers with a focus on inclusion, and is endeavouring to establish international cooperation. The sixth project partner was the University of Regensburg, whose Chair for Didactics of the German Language and Literature deals with the optimisation of competence-oriented teaching and learning processes. Its profile is characterised by the review of existing teaching methods with regard to specific German didactic competences. There were four main activities in the project, the first being an analysis of current reading promotion measures in primary schools and an analysis of needs of teachers. The second activity was the development of a subject-integrated reading training and an evalutation of its effectiveness. The existing reading course "Lesen. Das Training" was also implemented and evaluated. After carrying out the reading competence measurements, the third activity was the analysis of the implemented innovations. Statistical calculations were used to find out which training improves the reading competence of the children to a greater extent. The last activity was the compilation of a compendium on current reading promotion in the participating European countries. The project results show that children with reading difficulties in reading fluency benefit most from the „Filius/Filia“ intervention. Children with good reading abilities also benefit most from the „Filius/Filia“ intervention, both in terms of reading fluency development and meaning-enhancing reading. Students of third grade with a strong reading ability, on the other hand, are not as well supported by the intervention "Lesen. Das Training" in their development. Instead, this training contributes to reading comprehension in children with reading difficulties. The innovative nature of the material has already made the project sustainable. In South Tyrol, for example, „Filius/Filia“ will be available to each child free of charge. Throughout Bavaria, „Filius/Filia“ has already been developed into „Filby“ and tested by over 50,000 children.