The profound effect of parental engagement in the Reading Seed Programme (RSP) on toddlers’ early literacy development

The Reading Seed Programme (RSP) by PUSTAKA Negeri Sarawak has the potential to be the core nationwide literacy programme, especially to instil a reading culture. For instance, the RSP was invented to foster parent engagement with their children in an early intervention of childhood literacy and reading programmes since the mother started the programme during pregnancy. Therefore, this study seeks to gather empirical data to measure the extent to which this RSP met its objective of enhancing parents’ engagement in toddlers’ reading journeys. Purposive sampling was employed to collect the data among the RSP participants (parents who enrolled in the RSP). 385 completed online questionnaires, which yielded a 92.33% response rate. This research demonstrates that the RSP significantly enhances parents' engagement with their toddlers, particularly in reading. However, the programme needs to address individual learning capabilities, incorporate updates or monitoring systems, strengthen the training, establish a strategic roadmap for the RSP outcomes, and clarify the programme's attitudinal components with respect to the targeted outcomes. The RSP needs to continuously empower programme implementation to become a global brand of early childhood reading programmes.