FAMILY LITERACY LANGUAGE NUMERACY

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FAMILY LITERACY/ LANGUAGE/ NUMERACY

Vancouver January 2004 Beryl
Bateson Head of Family Learning, Birmingham
City Council beryl_bateson_at_birmin
gham.gov.uk
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WHY?
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FAMILY LITERACY/LANGUAGE
NUMERACY

• Scale of Need - Children
• English Level 4 above end KS2
• Birmingham 70 National 75
• Birmingham Target 83 by 2004
• Maths Level 4 above end KS2
• Birmingham 69 National 73
• Birmingham Target 83 by 2004

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FAMILY LITERACY/LANGUAGE
NUMERACY

• Scale of Need - Adults
• Around 20 of adults in Birmingham have
• difficulty with everyday literacy tasks.
• 3 have very low skills
• These include 40 of lone parents
• 32 of unemployed
• 74 of people whose first
  language is not English

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Context for Development -
Schools

• Ofsted (Inspection of Schools)
• National Literacy and Numeracy strategies -
  schools
• Birmingham Core Skills Development Partnership
• National Primary Strategy (2003)
• HomeSchool Agreements
• SEN Code of Practice
• Successful Models

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Context for Development

• - Adults
• National Adult Literacy and Numeracy strategy
  Skills for Life
• - Families/Parents
• SureStart (0-4 years)
• DfES Parents Project
• (ref. Charles Desforges Report 2003)

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FAMILY LITERACY/LANGUAGE
NUMERACY

• AIMS
• To raise attainment of children
• To raise attainment of adults
• To increase parents support for childrens
  learning
• To strengthen home school partnerships
• To facilitate further learning by the parents
• To increase family use of libraries

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DOES IT WORK?
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Family Literacy- Parents Outcomes PARENTS
Attitude to Being Involved

• Quotes from 2 schools
• 1) Group profile 7 parents female 6 white, 1
  black
• 2) Group Profile 11 parents female Arabic
  speaking
• Initially parents were hesitant and unsure
• A real insight into the world of teaching and
  skills and
• dedication demanded of teachers
• Parents have now taken a very positive role in
  supporting
• their children and the class teacher
• Showed signs of genuinely valuing each
  others contribution

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Family Literacy- Parents Outcomes

• JOINT ACTIVITY
• Parents involvement at home has tangibly
  increased
• Homework for other areas of the curriculum has
  improved in frequency and quality
• Altogether a turn around in parental support
• Parents now enjoy sharing time with children
• and feel more confident to do so

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• FAMILY LITERACY OUTCOMES
• CHILDRENS ATTAINMENT
• SECONDARY SCHOOL 1 SECONDARY SCHOOL 2
• Reading Age Reading
  Age
• September December September
  December
• Child 1. 7 yrs 9 yrs 8.10
  9yrs
• Child 2. 8yrs 8.3
  7.02 7.09
• Child 3. 6.5 7.6 9.07
  11.06
• Child 4. 7yrs 8.9
  8.04 8.10
• Child 5 7.6 8.6 7.04
  8.01
• Child 6 6.3 7.9 10.08
  11.06
• Child 7 8.6 11.6 9.0
  9.11
• Child 8 6.0 6.0
  8.07 8.10
• Reading Ages were generally raised by 3
  months to 3 years

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Family Literacy- Parents Outcomes

• PARENTS ACHIEVEMENT
• Measurable progress in their literacy skills
  many
• have become involved in writing poetry.
• All are far more confident about expressing
  themselves and have responded well to the
  informal atmosphere created by the tutor and
  teacher
• From little to no spoken English to holding
  conversations
• Huge increase in confidence and self-esteem
• Greater participation in school life
• Applying phonetic awareness to independent
  writing

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Family Literacy- Parents Outcomes

PARENTS ATTAINMENT 100 Parents made progress
in literacy or numeracy 20 achieved national
accreditation
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Family Literacy- Parents Outcomes

• CONTINUATION
• English using Computers 10 week course at the
  school
• Course could lead to accreditation
• Parents now attend ICT child/parent workshops
• Parents involved in Parents Association

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Family Literacy/Language Numeracy
Outcomes 60 courses

• Number recruited 480
• male 14
• Minority Ethnic groups 45
• Adults with no or few qualifications 47
• New Learners 48
• attendance 81
• retention 90
• parents achieving accreditation 20
• parents interested in further learning
  68

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What makes it work?

• Proven model, allowing flexibility
• Whole city approach, applied locally
• Central strategic management
• Effective partnership of different professionals
• Schools-led approach
• Targeting disadvantaged
• All barriers addressed
• High expectations of teachers and tutors