The topic of our study is relevant. Just recently the European Union unveiled the report of the EU high-level group of experts on literacy, which stated that we need to find new, more effective methods to enhance the literacy skills of its citizens. Though Finland has done well at PISA, we have to look to the future to keep the cognitive skills as up-graded as they are now or even better. That means we have to have effective methods in teaching reading and writing at the early stages of education.

The objectives of the study were 1) to explore what kind of attitudes boys and girls have towards reading during their first two school years 2) how well young pupils are able to assess their reading competence 3) how the self-esteem and reading attitudes correlate among young pupils.

The study is a part of the project JEKKU (Flexible start in early years of education) in which six municipalities in South-Western Finland built a network to ease children’s transfer from kindergarten to school environment. The study was conducted during the years 2010 – 2012. Young children are usually eager to start the school and learn to read and write. The first school years are an important phase in a child’s life and have a far-reaching effect in his or her education. Several studies have shown that gender differences in literacy skills are strongly associated with boys’ and girls’ different self-esteem and reading attitudes. For instance Mata (2011) found that although kindergarten-aged children in average have high motivation in reading, girls are significantly more motivated than boys. Home has a crucial role in the development of children’s positive reading attitudes. (See Bråten, Lie & Andereassen 1997; Neuman, Koh & Dweyr 2008.)

It is also important that young children are nurtured in a healthy environment where they are cared and loved. In this kind of atmosphere they get a good start for healthy self-esteem. The teachers who took part into the project mentioned above, were introduced to the five-stage self-esteem model based on Michele Borba’s (1989, 1994) and Robert Reasoner’s (1992, 2010) ideas. The five stages are the sense of security, the sense of selfhood, the sense of affiliation, the sense of mission, and the sense of competence. The first school years and the experiences children have then shape their view of themselves as learners. In addition, the development of children’s strong self-esteem is built on these experiences and the feedback we adults give them. Constant negative feedback may cause negative attitudes towards learning and lessen a pupils’ motivation. (Oxford, 2001.)

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