Innovation: Read to Read
France
AAI Domain: Participation in society (inter-generational activity, voluntary activity)
Older people often have the time, resources and skills to act as role models for children while assisting the younger generation with their education and general socialisation. There are potential social and health and wellbeing benefits for both younger and older generations from this kind of process through structured social interactions and mutual understanding. Given the ageing population across Europe, there is a growing pool of older people with the talents to support the development of the younger generation as they pass through adolescence.
Read to Read is an inter-generational programme operated by Lire et faire lire, a voluntary organisation that receives funding from a wide variety of corporate and other sources, that is supported by the League of Education and the National Union of Family Associations and works in partnership with the Ministry of Education.
The concept originated in Brest in the mid-1980s when members of a local voluntary organisation for older and retired people were asked by a head teacher to assist with the work of the school library. It is based on older people, usually defined as being over the age of 50, reading and helping small groups of children to read in schools, libraries or community centres for 30 minutes at least once per week during the school year. Children who are struggling in school with their reading are particularly targeted for this additional support from older volunteers who are trained and vetted for suitability for working with children.
This is a national programme that is coordinated at departmental level by the League of Education or the National Union of Family Associations so that volunteers and schools can be appropriately matched at the local level. It grew significantly during the 1990s and there are now more than 14,000 older people reading on a regular basis with more than 550,000 young children in over 8,000 schools across France.
The initiative has been positively evaluated on several occasions as being beneficial to participants across the generations and demonstrates the potential benefits of an ageing population in supporting the educational and social development of children who face educational disadvantage due to poor reading skills.
In terms of active ageing, Read to Read provides scope for inter-generational and voluntary activity that has potentially profound and long-lasting social benefits for children and older people. The complementary goals of educational development and inter-generational exchange provide a synergy that is mutually beneficial for children and older adults as well as schools and wider society and is a good example of the possibilities of mobilising the potential of older people.