CARDET recently participated in the Comenius Thematic Meeting on Literacy, Maths & Science "Together for Basic Skills" on the 6th and 7th of December 2012, which took place in Brussels. Dr. Charalambos Vrasidas, the Executive Director of CARDET and Associate Professor at the University of Nicosia, presented projects that the Center participates in, and shared experiences with European leaders and researchers.

This event brought together coordinators of Comenius centralised multilateral projects and networks, Comenius decentralised projects, coordinators of other LLP actions (Leonardo, Grundtvig, Erasmus) and projects of DG Research. It provided a forum to share experience and knowledge with other relevant actors in Literacy, Maths, and Science.

Our project LiRe (Lifelong Readers) was selected to be listed on the Literacy Website of the European Union. This is a great honor for our project and our work on literacy since it demonstrates the quality and importance of our work. As indicated on the EU site, given the high-tech 21st-century society in which we live, literacy has become more essential than ever before. This raises the importance and urgency of ensuring that Europeans acquire effective reading and writing skills from an early age. Despite the EU’s high standards of education, some young people fall through the literacy net for a diversity of complex reasons. The effects of this can be profound and will impact the rest of a young person’s life and have implications for his or her family and society as a whole.

This Research Promotion Foundation programme studies the reasons behind the low reading habits and negative stances towards reading that characterize the majority of Cypriot primary-school children. The programme proposes strategies and approaches to improve the situation, and supports schools, education leaders, and teachers in Cyprus in implementing these strategies, in accordance with the new Curriculum for Literature set in place by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

A Languages Key Activity 2 Project, which promotes the acquisition of multilingual awareness and language skills of pre-schoolers in various European countries, by developing, piloting, and implementing digital alphabet books and alphabet-related games and interactive activities. Targeted alphabets/languages include: English, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian. Bringing very young children into contact with foreign languages may result in faster language learning, improved mother tongue skills, and better performance in other areas.

Androulla Vassiliou, EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, launches the campaign "Europe Loves Reading". Reading is the gateway to all other learning to active participation in society and the economy.
As we move towards a knowledge economy, it will become an even more crucial skill, as information technologies play an increasingly important role in our professional, social and democratic lives...