Estonian Reading Association

NGO Eesti Lugemisühing (Estonian Reading Association) was founded in 1992 and was one of the first NGOs established in post-Soviet Estonia.  It is an inclusive community of practitioners and scholars, who all share the mission to advance literacy in Estonia. Most members are practitioners in the field with everyday hands-on experience as they work at schools or post-secondary institutions. 

The association’s main activities are related to working with kids and youth. The association has brought innovative research-based methodologies to classrooms and several projects and activities have received international recognition (“Reading Nest”, “Making the Most of the Magic of Reading”, “Reading Games” etc to name a few).  Several Estonian Reading Association members are regarded as opinion leaders in the field of literacy and reading difficulties in Estonia. 

Since 2004 the association has had a dyslexia department and the topic of reading difficulties has been high up on the agenda.  During this time, the association has offered training, organized information days and conferences, and collected, created, and published methodological and didactical materials on the topic of reading difficulties.  Every year in October, in conjunction with international dyslexia awareness month, the association organizes dyslexia awareness events.  

The Estonian Reading Association has experience leading projects with multiple partners, often in an international setting.  For example, the association has organized several major international conferences: in 2003 the 13th European Reading Conference “Reading, Writing, Thinking” and in 2020 the 4th Baltic Sea Conference on Literacy “Searching for a Common Language”.  In October 2022, the association organized the “Reading Difficulties: from Beliefs to Support” conference in cooperation with Tallinn University. 

Over the years, the Reading Association has authored several guides, handbooks, and study materials, it also offers training to teachers. The Estonian Ministry of Education commissioned the Association to create a remediation program for students with dyslexia, which was completed in the first half of 2024.

Since its formation, the association has been an active member of the International Literacy Association and the Federation of European Literacy Associations.

Estonian Reading Association’s main homepage can be found HERE.

Want to hear more or have a project idea for cooperation? Please contact us: dysleksia@lugemisyhing.ee.