Bookstart Around the World 1
Bookstart Around the World The results from the e
valuation showed that the programme has had a positive effect in several areas. Participating parents showed increased awareness and knowledge about reading aloud, as well as for their role in the language development of their children. Institutions beyond the education sector also showed an increase with regards to taking responsibility for language development in children. Even more importantly, the results showed that parents had also changed their behaviour and were reading more with their children. Additionally, the results indicated that participation in the programme promoted collaboration between various different institutions and interested parties, which can contribute to and simplify efforts to promote reading (Ehmig, 2020). Some other interesting aspects that were highlighted in the evaluation involve the roles of child healthcare services and libraries. Child healthcare services have proven to be very important in the German model, and the evaluation shows that the programme is widely accepted amongst paediatricians in Germany. Of special interest is the fact that parents who stated that they had had individual qualitative conversations with the healthcare workers who supplied the book gifts often made greater use of the material than those who were only given the books without any specific comments being made (Ehmig, 2020). With regards to libraries, the evaluation showed that most parents who collected their free books were already familiar with the library. Libraries found that many families in need of additional support continued to be a challenge for them. However, awareness of Lesestart has meant that many libraries have found new ways of reaching out to families by working together with preschools or by arranging activities for families with children (Ehmig, 2020). 3.7 Japan In Japan, Bookstart was initiated in 2000 following a pilot study in Tokyo (Bookstart Japan, 2020). Bookstart Japan is a nonprofit organisation that administers the country’s bookgifting programme. On the national level, the organisation’s primary role is to support the local Bookstart programmes. This is mainly done by providing books to local Bookstart initiatives, and by sharing knowledge and information. Local Bookstart municipalities can request books at a reduced price and then receive support and advice on implementing Bookstart (Interview 4). The participating municipalities do this on a voluntary basis, and there are currently approximately 60 percent of municipalities doing so (Bookstart Japan, 2020). When a local Bookstart programme is initiated, they are asked by the central organisation to put together a steering committee as well as to plan and prepare a budget for Bookstart. It is primarily libraries that are responsible for funding, with support from social and healthcare administrations (Satou, 2019). 3.7.1 Model The most common model used in Japan is for libraries – which are the core of the programme – to work together with child healthcare centres to organise a Bookstart corner where parents can meet with Bookstart practitioners during their child’s first medical checkup (within its first year) and receive a their free books. The health centre is also visited by a Bookstart representative, which is often a volunteer or library worker. The Bookstart representative provides information to families and reads aloud together with them, as well as giving them a gift containing one to three books (EURead, 2019c). Volunteers are trained by the local programmes before they meet with families. In several cases, volunteers constitute a relatively large part of the programmes (Satou, 2019). There are also some local programmes that make invitations to followup meetings, which often take the form of group meetings for reading aloud, singing and dancing etc (Interview 4; Sauto, 2019, EU Read, 2019c). Something highlighted in the interview is that there are differences between how Bookstart is implemented. Depending on local circumstances, there may be variations in the number of books that are given and the interested parties that are involved, etc. One difference involves the budgetary leeway for this. Since the central Bookstart organisation does not provide financial support for the local pro19/52