Report #4

4th Meeting of the QualiFLY Project

Rome, 13-15 November 2007

The 4th meeting of the QualiFLY project was organized by the Italian partner, the Università Popolare di Roma (UPTER). The following participants attended the meeting:

Ms Elizabeth Jarman, Akoya Ltd., UK
Ms Maria Angela Schembri Meli, Foundation for Educational Services, Malta
Ms Derya Akalin, Mother-Child Education Foundation (AÇEV), Turkey
Ms Canan Erman, Mother-Child Education Foundation (AÇEV), Turkey
Ms Jenny Derbyshire, National Adult Literacy Agency, Ireland
Dr. Gabriele Rabkin, State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development, Hamburg
Ms Brigitte Schönke, Kita Allermöhe, Germany
Ms Ilona Ozimek, Kita Allermöhe, Germany
Mr Farid Abu Gosh, The Trust of Programmes for Early Childhood, Family and Community Education, Jerusalem, Israel (Palestine)
Ms Maren Elfert, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning
Ms Carla Barozzi, Università Popolare di Roma (UPTER)
Mr Luciano Daina, Università LUISS di Roma, Italy

The following participated temporarily in the meeting:
Mr Francesco Florenzano, President of UPTER
Ms Carmela Lo Giudice, U.N.L.A. (National Union for the Fight Against Illiteracy)
Ms Raimonda Morani, Department of Research and Support of People, I.R.R.E. Lazio
Mr Claudio Rossi, Sociologist
Mr Massimo Ghirelli, Director of the Immigration Archives
Ms Vittoria Gallina, Professor, School of Philosophy, Università “La Sapienza”, Rome
Ms Valeria Caputo,UPTER

Educational context in Italy

According to the last census of the Italian population (2001), literacy in Italy forms a sort of pyramid: At the top, there are those who hold a university degree (7,5% of the population equivalent to nearly 4 million), those having a higher school degree (25,85%) and those at the base who have no title or a simple elementary school diploma (36,52% equivalent to 5.981.579 or 12 Italians out of 100) who have severe literacy needs. If the figures are analysed by region, the situation is even more dramatic: Nine (out of 20) regions have an illiteracy rate of 8%, all of those regions are in the South.Regions such as Basilicata, Calabria, Molise, Sicilia and Puglia are well above that rate.

Ms Carmela Lo Giudice of the “National Union for the Fight Against Literacy” (U.N.L.A.) (www.unla.it) presented the work of U.N.L.A. to the QualiFLY group on 15 November. Apart from the facts you can see above, she spoke about a survey U.N.L.A. has carried out about the relationship between illiteracy and criminality. People who have problems with reading and writing have difficulties to find a job and depend on the work they are being given by the criminal organizations (such as Mafia, Camorra etc.)

Public seminar on family literacy

Public seminar on family literacy in Rome

On 13 November, UPTER had organized a seminar with different speakers to which they had invited interested public to mobilise stakeholders for the issue of family literacy and family related work which is not common in Italy. A research done by Carla Barozzi, Director of the Italian Language Division at UPTER (and responsible for Italian language courses for migrants) showed that – apart from reading projects - there is very little experience with intergenerational learning and family literacy in Italy. UPTER seems to be very interested in the issue – this was also stressed by Francesco Florenzano, UPTER’s President – so that UPTER took the opportunity of the QualiFLY project meeting to do a real awareness raising campaign. About 200 communications have been sent out to schools and different stakeholders to draw their attention to the family literacy approach.

The seminar which was attended by approx. 30 participants was held in the premises of the Italian Commission for UNESCO. Daniele Biocato from the Commission greeted the participants on behalf of Giovanni Puglisi, the President of the Commission. Francesco Florenzano, the President of UPTER, gave an introduction in which he stressed the importance of lifelong learning, learning opportunities according to the changing needs and competencies of (especially young) people and also elaborated on the need for validation and accreditation of informal learning.

Maren Elfert, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, presented an overview of the QualiFLY project. (QualiFLY-Project, PowerPoint)

Professor Vittoria Gallina, an Italian literacy expert, spoke about “Literacy and Illiteracy in the Global World”. She referred to the IALS and ALL studies and to the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA V) which in her view was a turning point when it comes to the awareness of the industrialized countries with regard to literacy, not only recognizing it as a problem, but also looking at the issue with a different “cultural mentality”.

Professor Gallina presented the most recent UNESCO illiteracy statistics and was surprised about the fact that many data were missing especially from industrialized countries such as Germany and France. She also referred to the definitions of literacy given on the UNESCO website and said that all have a broader, not a mere functional understanding of literacy. In China’s definition of literacy people who are being defined as “literate” have to know 500 words more if they live in the cities than those living in rural areas. She also spoke about the issue of preserving the mother tongue while it is also necessary to learn the language of the host country. This was an issue in many of the presentations as Italy is a country with a high proportion of migration.

Other speakers from Italy were:

Raimonda Morani who presented a reading project in Rome (“Spazio Lettura”). (see PowerPoint Presentation)

The sociologist Claudio Rossi who talked about the profile of the migrants in Rome. He gave a very positive report of migration in Italy.The vast majority of the migrants have work and invest in Italy.They invest with their money (e.g. many of them buy apartments because it is difficult to rent in Italy), they invest by raising their children in Italy, and the state should invest in them, and one of the main elements of this investment should be education and learning opportunities.

Massimo Ghirelli, Director of the Immigration Archives, talked about the image of migrants in the mass media. He elaborated on the tendency of the media to simplify to bring their message across, and one means of simplying is using stereotypes. Therefore, the migrants in Italy are always presented with a certain type of images: They always arrive by boat (and never with an airplane) although in reality, only 30.000 out of approx. 300.000 immigrants each year arrive by boat. He advocated to make “media literacy” a basic competency as he thinks it is essential to know how the media work and how to use them.

A family and community education programme from Palestine

A “special guest” of the meeting was Mr Farid Abu Gosh, Chairman of “The Trust of Programs for Early Childhood, Family and Community Education” (www.trust-programs.org), an NGO founded in 1983. The Trust offers a range of inter-linked community service programs that together offer an holistic and integrated service to the communities which live under very difficult circumstances in a region stressed by violence and unstability. The Trust currently offers the following programs:

• Mother-to-Mother Program
• Women Empowerment Program
• Learn-by-Play Program
• Combating Domestic Violence Program
• Young Women’s Program
• Prevention of Early Mariage Program
• Pre-School Teachers’ Training Program.

(see PowerPoint presentation)

In the discussions of the group with Mr Abu Gosh we focused on the Mother-to-Mother Program. This program supports and strengthens the parenting skills of young mothers (and fathers) and empowers the parents both individually and as a group. It also trains mothers as paraprofessionals so that they can work with and support mothers with very young children. Mr Abu Gosh explained to us that one programme developed out of the other. When they carried out the Mother-to-Mother Program they realized that it was possible to explain to the mothers that they should speak more to their children and not beat them etc., but the fathers were an obstacle. So they started the couple’s program and involved the fathers, too. Then they realized that domestic violence is a huge problem in many of the families and they started the Domestic Violence Program. One programme led to the other.

The mothers who are trained (they receive a training for a period of three month) to become paraprofessionals and work in the Mother-to-Mother Program are paid and get a certificate (although they earn much less than a professional).

New developments from the (associated) partners of the QualiFLY project

QualiFLY meeting in Rome

AÇEV (The Mother Child Education Foundation) from Turkey has restructured their working areas as follows:

1. Early Childhood Education
2. Family Education
3. Functional Literacy
4. Advocacy

Regarding item 1) Early Childhood Education, there are the following developments:

• The Preschool-Parent Child Program is now being handled differently. It is now being “sold” to parents (at a very low prize, but it is not free anymore).
• The Summer Preschool Program had been expanded in cooperation with the National Ministry of Education, but AÇEV was not happy with the quality of the program. That’s why they decided to retake the ownership of the program. Currently they provide it only in a few provinces, but with a better quality.
• The working materials of the Mother Child Education Program will be redesigned.
• ACEV will develop a new program for children from 0-3 years old. This is a completely new area to them, and also a highly neglected field in Turkey. In partnership with the Ministry of Health they will pilot a 0-3 program at the end of 2007.
• In the context of their “Father Support Program”, a new TV program has been developed which raises the interest of fathers, and also raises interest in fatherhood. It was shown on NTV Turkey and was moderated by famous fathers.
• Another new programme is a mother programme for women living in rural areas, targeting illiterate mothers.
• AÇEV has increased Human Rights education as part of the functional literacy programme.
• AÇEV is about to develop a new advocacy programme. A new website (only in Turkish) has been developed (www.7istoolate.org; Turkish: www.7cokgec.org)

Elizabeth Jarman reported on some new developments in the field of family literacy in the UK. In 2005, about 95.000 families were engaged in family literacy programmes.
Broader “family learning” programmes are also very common; they are sometimes a first step to get involved in literacy programmes.
A new national coordinator for family learning has been appointed (at NIACE).
Nine regional family learning coordinators have been appointed.
Also for “Step into Learning” nine regional coordinators have been appointed. “Step into Learning” is a training programme for teachers and practitioners to learn how to handle parents with literacy needs and how to implement family literacy programmes.
Health (healthy eating and living etc.) is a new issue which has been introduced in many family learning programmes. Also Turkey, Malta and the “Trust” project reported that health issues are becoming a stronger element in their programmes.

The Basic Skills Agency is conducting a research on the impact of grandparents in the literacy development of their grandchildren. In this respect, new resources on family literacy with grandparents have been developed. Also Teacher TV has developed new resources on this issue.

Ireland:

1. The publication Supporting Family Literacy: ideas and tips for tutors will be published by NALA in January 2007.

2. A Family Health Literacy Pilot Project has been carried out and has been evaluated. The evaluation can be found on www.nala.ie. A handbook for tutors will be available on www.nala.ie in January 2007

3. The Department of Education and Science is to fund 6 demonstration Family Literacy projects during 2007. These will be based on partnership between primary schools based in disadvantaged areas, NALA, adult literacy services and other agencies. The funding will be extended during 2008 and 2009. This is an important development in government recognition and support for family literacy work based on partnership between schools and adult literacy services.

4. Family Literacy is included in a NALA project to develop a student-centred curriculum framework for adult literacy work.

5. The TV series Really Useful Guide to Words and Numbers (RUG) includes some sessions relating to family literacy. It is available on www.rug.ie.

6. Clare Family Learning Project is setting up a national family learning network.

7. Storysacks and Numeracy grants to local family literacy projects are supporting development.

8. Starbucks is funding 6 family literacy days based in family resource centres and adult education centres in Dublin.

Malta has started a new programme: A pre-primary project targeting children in the kindergarten sector during school time. (see PowerPoint presentation) The “classical” Maltese family literacy programme Hilti is an after-school programme for school children (age 5-6). The new programme targets younger children (3-4) and takes place during school time.

The German FLY project presented a film of a family literacy activity in the “Kindergarten Allermöhe”, one of the locations of the project in Hamburg. Gabriele Rabkin presented new materials being produced in the framework of the project: Small books (in a small format which is often used for baby and toddler’s books) with family stories which have been written and illustrated with family photos by the parents in the course of the family literacy programme. These stories are typical for the everyday life of families with a migrant background in Germany and very attractive to read by migrant families. The books are being produced in a bilingual version (native language of the family who wrote the story and German). The other planned materials are story-telling-CDs containing well-known stories from other countries, read in the native language of migrant families in Germany as well as in German language.
In addition, a practical handbook for family literacy facilitators is being produced containing copy-ready ideas for activities (this book will also be produced in English language).

Organizational matters

The next meeting of the QualiFLY meeting will take place from 19-22 February in Hamburg. The focus of that meeting is monitoring and evaluation of family literacy programmes.

The Final Meeting of the QualiFLY project will take place from 22 to 25 May, 2007 in Istanbul.