Reading mentors in primary education. Lessons learned from piloting an intergenerational school model.

Abstract

Intergenerational Programs (IP) are increasingly present in all stages of formal education, mainly through intergenerational tutoring and mentoring IP. Improving reading skills has been one of the traditional purposes of IP. However, this study looks at something less frequent: a pilot IP around reading implemented as part of an intergenerational primary school model. After a multisite quasi-experimental control group design including 6–7 years old students (n=184) from three experimental and three control primary schools in Spain, and a group of community dwelling seniors (n=41) acting as voluntary mentors, no significant impact on children’s reading competence is identified. Reasons for this apparent failure are discussed, as well as recommendations for further studies on reading IP in intergenerational schools.