Family Learning

Kingston upon Hull LEA

Scale of Basic Skills Need in Adults

7 million people in Britain have poor literacy skills and numeracy skills, including ½ million who struggle with English because it is not their first language.

Scale of Need - Adults

23% of adults in Britain have low literacy and /or numeracy skills, can’t write a letter to school, find a plumber in the Yellow Pages or check the change from £26% have very low skills40% of lone parents with children 5-16 have poor literacy or numeracy skills32% of unemployed have low literacy skills or numeracy skillsAlmost 75% of people whose first language is not English score below ‘survival level’

Scale of need in Hull- adults

In Hull 29.6% of adults have poor literacy skills31.7% of adults have poor numeracy skillsNoddle Hill has 43.2% of adults with poor literacy and 50.4% with poor numeracy

Scale of need- children KS2

88% of all 11 year olds achieved level 4 or above in numeracyHull 71%77% of all 11 year olds achieved level 4 or above in literacyHull 66%33% of 11 year olds achieve level 5 in literacy and numeracyBoys still fall behind girls

Scale of need –Children KS3

70% of all 14 year olds achieved level 5 or above in numeracyHull 55%68% of all 11 year olds achieved level 5 or above in literacyHull 57%42% of 11 year olds achieve level 6 in literacy and numeracyGender differences are less marked

Comparisons of need with Europe and Canada

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

SwedenGermanyCanadaBritain

People with poor basic skills are:-

Likely to have fallen behind with reading and maths by the age of 10More likely to be unemployedWill earn up to 11% less than othersMore likely to be in poor healthMore likely to be involved in crimeLess likely to be involved in public life

People with poor basic skills are:-

More likely to have played truant from schoolMore likely to have children who are struggling in schoolLess likely to go into their children’s schoolLess likely to have high expectations for their childrenLess likely to be confident that they can help their children with school work

Government’s Priority Groups

Unemployed people and benefit claimantsPrisoners and those supervised in the communityPublic sector employeesYoung adultsOther groups at risk of social exclusionParentsPeople who live in disadvantaged communities

What is needed

‘What is needed is communication between school and all parents with a flow of information in both directions, schools valuing the parents’ contribution, time (always a precious and limited resource) set aside for parents and training and support for teachers.’

Literacy goes to school Jo Weinberger 1996

Success through Difference

‘It is a model based on the belief that contrasting rather than similar home and school strategies and practices provide a larger treasure trove from which to draw for school learning’City Literacies- Eve Gregory and Ann Williams 2000

Range of Provision

Family LiteracyFamily NumeracyKeeping up with the ChildrenKeeping up with the Children+PacesetterEarly StartWider Family Learning

Aims of the Family Programmes

To involve families in learning opportunities togetherTo inform parents about the school curriculumTo build skills so that parents are more able to help their children with schools workTo provide a magnet for drawing adults into adult educationTo provide opportunities for progressionTo demonstrate that learning can be fun

Features of Family Literacy, Language and Numeracy Programmes

They have a specific basic skills contentThey have an integrated curriculum which involves working in teamsThe curriculum is mapped to the standardsThey build on home activitiesThey involve home activitiesThey involve an assessment of learners’ needsThey involve an evaluation and monitoring process