What is the initiative and where is it implemented (city or country)?
Family Literacy (FLY) is a project designed to support active parenting in the context of language education. The project promotes literacy skills among parents to better support children’s language learning at home. The inclusive approach provides a bridge between family and education that supports the development of the child. The special focus of the project is families of migrant and socially disadvantaged backgrounds
How was the initiative established? How was it implemented?
The project began in 2004 and now operates in more than 69 schools in low-income areas of Hamburg. The project started as an initiative to support written and spoken language acquisition among families from socially disadvantaged and migrant backgrounds.
The State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development of the Ministry of Education in Hamburg has developed a pilot project targeted at school pupils aged three to seven with the lowest language and literacy skills. The UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning (UIL) supported the conceptualization and implementation of the project in its initial state.
One of the project objectives was to highlight the strong connection between school and home-based learning and equip low-income and migrant parents with the necessary skills to sustain this connection. The research has shown that parental involvement in literacy activities resulted in improved educational experiences for children, therefore the programme was designed to promote parents’ active participation. The parents were also involved in planning and implementation of the programme activities through parent-teacher cooperation, joint activities and weekly sessions with language development specialists.
The piloting of the project was funded by Bund-Länder-Commission for Educational Planning and Research Promotion (BLK) and the City-State of Hamburg.
In 2010, the Ministry of Education allocated funding to expand the programme as a part of a language development initiative to include children with severe literacy needs in primary and secondary schools.
Which stakeholders are involved in the design and/or implementation of the initiative? Which sectors do they represent?
The project seeks to promote strong linkages between the kindergarten or school and home-based learning processes by:
- supporting parents to increase literacy activities at home and enabling them to help with their children’s schoolwork;
- training schoolteachers how to deal with and instruct children from diverse cultural backgrounds;
- encouraging and supporting strong interaction and cooperation between parents and kindergarten or schoolteachers to enhance children’s learning capacities.
The project was first piloted in collaboration with seven schools and two kindergartens located in the deprived and mostly migrant-populated districts of Hamburg. However, due to increased demand from other schools, the project has since been introduced into 25 other schools. The expansion of the project was also facilitated by effective networking with other organizations such as adult education centres with similar or related mandates.
The FLY curriculum, which is primarily produced by the facilitators on an ongoing basis, emphasizes the following themes:
- language development;
- listening and comprehension (e.g. through storytelling);
- reading, writing and comprehension (reading aloud and discussions);
- letters and phonological awareness (initial sounds, rhymes, working with syllables);
- cultural awareness
(Hanneman, 2017) .
What are the impacts of the initiative in terms of facilitating lifelong learning? Who does it benefit and how?
The programme was designed to apply a holistic approach to language learning involving teachers, parents and children on an equal basis. Systematic training of teachers and educators enhances the effectiveness of the schools and kindergartens. Improving the literacy skills of parents and promoting early interventions in children’s literacy and language skills development aids the cooperation between home and school-based learning. Moreover, the project improves awareness and acceptance of multilingualism, which, in turn, fosters the integration of migrant communities
Adult participants benefit from improved communication skills, self-esteem and potential for greater social interaction with people from other ethnic or cultural groups, as well as from a smoother integration into German society in general. Hence, the programme has been a key instrument for networking among adults and families from different socio-cultural backgrounds and between schools and communities.
Since its inception, the programme has benefited about 1000 parents and 1000 children annually. It has fostered strong relationships between schools and parents and as a result, many schools have established family literacy rooms where parents meet each time they visit the school.
Parental involvement in their children’s education has strengthened family relationships as well as improved children’s literacy skills.
Given that many teachers had no experience in teaching learners from different cultural backgrounds, the programme provided them with these opportunities which, in turn, improved their intercultural teaching skills. Most critically, the programme empowered teachers to understand, appreciate and better handle the dynamics relating to the cultural diversity that exists among children in their classes
References:
European Literacy Policy Network (ELINET). 2015. Learning to FLY - family literacy in Hamburg. [online] Available at: http://www.eli-net.eu/good-practice/examples-of-good-practice/detail/project/learning-to-fly-family-literacy-in-hamburg [Accessed 2 September 2020].
Hanneman, U. 2017. Family Literacy Project (FLY), Germany. [online] Available at: https://uil.unesco.org/case-study/effective-practices-database-litbase-0/family-literacy-project-fly-germany [Accessed 2 September 2020].
State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development. n.d. Family Literacy (FLY). [online]
Available at: https://li.hamburg.de/family-literacy/4552940/artikel-family-literacy/ [Accessed 2 September 2020].