The lack of experience with language and writing in pre-school education is regarded as one of the most significant risk factors for the written language skills acquisition. Everyday use of writing in a family considerably supports children in realizing the function and the utility value of writing. It is a fundamental prerequisite for the prevention of functional illiteracy.

The QualiFLY Project

UIL coordinates a European project on family literacy called “QualiFLY” (with partners from Bulgaria, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Turkey) . The project which is supported by the European Union under the Socrates/Grundtvig programme aims at improving the quality of the family literacy provisions of the partners and helping some of the partners to set up family literacy programmes.

Contact:
m.elfert@unesco.org

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"Family Literacy" (FLY) - A pilot project supporting the literacy skills of parents of migrant background and their children

As a result of the broad public debate on education in Germany which followed the publication of the PISA results, public awareness for the relevance of basic education and "literacy" has increased. It is necessary to develop new concepts, especially concepts improving the cooperation between schools and parents of migrant background.

Long-standing projects in other countries (England, Israel, the Netherlands, Turkey, USA) offer valuable orientation possibilities for developing corresponding innovative concepts in Germany. Up to now in Germany there is still little experience with such concepts.

In 2004, the then UNESCO Institute for Education started a family literacy pilot project (the “FLY” project) in Hamburg together with the Institute for Teacher Training and Curriculum Development (hier Link zur LI-Website) of the Hamburg Ministry for Education. The project is supported by the “Bund-Länder-Commission for Educational Planning and Research Promotion” in the framework of the programme “Promotion of children and young people with migrant backgrounds” (FörMig) (hier FörMig-Logo und Link zur FörMig-Website) for a period of five years. The project runs at eight schools and a kindergarden in socially disadvantaged districts of Hamburg. In the practical implementation the "Family Literacy" concept is based on three pillars: Parents are integrated into the “normal” lessons; sessions with parents alone; sessions with parents and children together (outside school). This pilot which will be supported until 2009. It aims at enhancing the literacy skills of both parents and children of migrant backgrounds. The focus is on supporting parents with regard to their basic competence in the field of education, especially their ability to support the written language skills acquisition of their children at home. An additional objective of the project is to provide training to teachers and educators in their work with children with poor reading and writing skills. The overall aim here is to intensify the co-operation between the home and the school or kindergarden. The project will also lead to the development of teacher-training modules and materials to promote the qualification of teachers and educators in the prevention of illiteracy. The project will be evaluated by the Department for Quality Assurance of the Institute for Teacher Training and School Development. For the first two years, the Basic Skills Agency, London, (Link zur Website der BSA) was a consultant to the project. In the context of this initiative, UIL is editing and co-publishing with the Ernst Klett Sprachen publishing house the first book on family literacy in German language. The book which will appear in March 2007, includes a chapter on the Hamburg pilot project but also covers projects from England, Malta, Turkey and South Africa as other national and international intervention programmes. The book is intended to assist pioneers of family literacy in Germany, where such programmes are in their earliest infancy (see book announcement).

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Text book announcement:

Gemeinsam in der Sprache baden: Family Literacy. Internationale Konzepte zur familienorientierten Schriftsprachförderung
Eds.: Elfert, Maren; Rabkin, Gabriele
Ernst Klett Sprachen, 2007 – 140 pp. – ISBN 3-12-555111-0
€ 14,80

Contact

Maren Elfert
Unesco Institute for Lifelong Learning
Feldbrunnstrasse 58
20148 Hambourg
Tel:  +49 40 448 04 17
Fax: +49 40 410 77 23
Mail: m.elfert@unesco.org

Institute for Teacher Training and Curriculum Development
(Landesinstitut für Lehrerbildung und Schulentwicklung)
Dr. Gabriele Rabkin
Felix-Dahn-Str. 3
20357 Hamburg
Feldbrunnstrasse 58
20148 Hambourg
Tel:  +49 40 428 01 23 04
Fax: +49 40 428 01 27 99
Mail: gabriele.rabkin@li-hamburg.de

Programmträger FÖRMIG:
Universität Hamburg
Institut für International und Interkulturell Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft
Binderstraße 22
20146 Hamburg
BLK-Programm Förmig
Von-Melle-Park 8
20146 Hamburg
Mail: foermig@erzwiss.uni-hamburg.de
www.blk-foermig.uni-hamburg.de

Further informations:

Flyer on FörMig projects in Hamburg (covering the „Family Literacy“ project) Project Documentation (in English and German)

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