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| This article first appeared in the June 2004 issue
of Literacy Today
(issue no. 39). |
The YouthBOOX project engages disadvantaged young people
in reading, to improve their literacy skills and confidence.
Project manager Ruth Harrison reports on the latest aspect of
its work - referring youngsters on to suitable basic skills
provision.
YouthBOOX Moving On built on earlier YouthBoox programmes that
developed partnerships between youth workers and libraries to
engage socially excluded young people with reading. This time,
work was targeted specifically at young people (aged 12 to 16)
with literacy problems - to improve their reading in an informal,
supportive atmosphere in which tackling low reading levels leads
naturally from work already done.
The programme explored how to build sustainable local partnerships
between libraries, youth workers and basic skills providers.
Youth workers and librarians were trained to identify young
people with low reading levels (reading age of six to 12 years)
and help them through onward referral and long-term basic skills
support. Five local authority areas took part: Cramlington in
Northumberland, Essex, Kensington & Chelsea, Richmond and Shropshire.
Partners included youth and library services, schools and Youth
Offending Teams (YOTs).
In some of the projects young people were selected for their
low reading ability; in others reading levels were more mixed.
At the beginning of the project, many said that they didn't
read or didn't like reading, which could indicate a reluctance
to read or a literacy problem. Within many of the projects no
formal literacy assessments were available so workers used observational
techniques to ascertain attitudes towards texts. This involved
taking a non-intrusive approach, building on the interests of
the young people to develop self-confidence and self-esteem
in an environment where books are 'part of the furniture' and
therefore safe.
'Books' was interpreted widely to include magazines, newspapers
and websites. The aim was to validate all kinds of reading and
responses to it as well as breaking down conceptions of what
we mean by reading. The range of activities offered was also
wide, including cartoon/artist workshops, producing photo-stories,
lyric writing and picture book sessions.
Book buying proved an important tool for engaging young people
- it empowered them to talk about why they had chosen a particular
book. Project workers worked hard to source appropriate materials,
but finding relevant mainstream texts was often difficult: they
needed to be at an appropriate level, non-stigmatised and attractive
for young people. Books that worked well included picture books,
'small' books, poetry, and non-fiction relevant to young people's
interests (relationships, health, music).
Partnerships
Projects worked within two contexts: open access youth club/library
venues and 'closed' projects (YOTs, pupil referral units, schools).
For closed projects - in settings where literacy assessments
were available - the basic skills element was about ensuring
delivery mechanisms were in place to provide ongoing support
(from assessment through to tutoring).
For projects in an open access environment with potentially
no access to formal assessment data, the basic skills issues
related not only to ascertaining the level of literacy need
but also to getting the young people to recognise that they
may have a problem. They had to want to do something about it
and be confident enough to talk to someone. This model requires
greater clarity on the role of a basic skills provider; basic
skills knowledge built into the activities; and access to basic
skills support on an ongoing basis. Projects may be more about
building a safe environment for the young person whilst developing
the professional skills required and having access to basic
skills intervention when necessary.
All of the projects experienced difficulties in brokering a
basic skills partnership. The reasons for this were various:
the primary focus at the beginning of the project on creating
a good relationship/trust with the young people; issues around
the role of basic skills within a project about reading for
pleasure; a shortage of basic skills tutors; basic skills tutors
feeling that they do not have the right skills to work with
often challenging young people; the young people involved in
the project 'falling through' the provision that is on offer
(i.e. not old enough for adult provision but not on any other
scheme); apparent lack of follow-through to tackle literacy
needs where assessment has taken place; and a lack of funds
to 'buy in' support to the projects.
YouthBOOX has demonstrated that a reading for pleasure approach,
which engages with young people on their own terms, is a powerful
tool for moving young people on both with their reading and
life chances. It has also highlighted where there are gaps in
provision and support for young people with low literacy, and
where a more 'joined-up' approach would benefit both young people
as well as partners.
Case studies
'C' - girl aged 16
In the beginning.
'C' was excluded from mainstream education for behaviour and
low attendance. She comes from an abused background, has low
self-esteem and a negative body image and has, in the past,
self-harmed. She refused to take her cap off and constantly
wore a hooded top with the hood pulled up over the cap.
When I first met 'C' in December 2002 she was withdrawn and
uninterested in both the YouthBOOX project and the Vocational
Integration Programme (VIP) in which it was based. For the first
session, she sat well away from the main body of the group and
refused to join in activities. For the second session I read
some extracts from a teenage fiction book and, while the other
young people sat and listened, 'C' sat reading through the picture
books I had brought with me.
When the group dispersed and 'X' was the only young person left
I tried to engage her in conversation. I had a book called 'Poems
with attitude' with me and 'C' picked it up and started to talk
about the poetry she writes herself. We had quite a constructive
conversation about poetry and I felt we had made some headway
although she was still fairly withdrawn and reluctant to be
fully engaged.
Activities and techniques
The real breakthrough came when I started to visit her art GCSE
lessons. There, the group was smaller consisting of usually
only two or three young people, which gave me a chance to have
one-to-one conversations with 'C' and find out more about her
interests and her attitudes to reading and books.
'C' claimed to hate reading, but she wrote poetry and expressed
herself in it very well. She wrote out one of her poems for
me to keep, and we talked a lot about the fact that her poetry
was so sad and dark. She asked me if I could find her some happier
poems for next week's lesson. It became the norm for me to bring
in poetry books each week and we often sat together and read
poems aloud to each other and sometimes even read them to other
young people in the group.
'C' decided that, as part of her art GCSE, she would illustrate
some poems with her artwork. She particularly liked 'Poems with
attitude' and decided to illustrate a poem called 'What my mother
said'. I took a photograph of her illustration of the poem and
sent it to the poet Andrew Fusek-Peters, who sent a letter and
a signed copy of his latest poetry collection for teenagers,
saying he was impressed. 'C' was delighted and touched. She
showed everyone in the group and we sat together and read through
the poems there and then. Later, when she took it home, she
read some of them aloud to her mother and sister. At another
art lesson 'C' decided to illustrate a poem about a book worm,
and we enlarged words from the poem and she used individual
words to great effect in her artwork. This lead on to discussions
with the whole group about the importance of words and language
in our everyday lives.
'C' related well to the professional cartoonist in the project,
who engaged with the young people for several sessions - teaching
them the techniques of cartooning and illustration. Generally,
her attitude towards men was distrustful and apprehensive, but
towards the end of the project she was a lot more open generally
and made some good connections with the workers, men and women
alike.
Indicators
By the end of May - a period of just six months on the programme
- 'C' had become more open, happier, and more engaged with all
aspects of the project. Whenever I asked for her opinion or
help with something she became actively involved. She was happy
to read out loud to me, and with me, often laughing at the poetry
and sharing little facts from books such as 'XY Tool kit for
life'. We often read picture books together as she particularly
enjoyed them, especially amusing ones such as 'The story of
the little mole' or 'The cheese and tomato spider'.
At the end of the project in May, she told me that she'd had
great fun and wanted to keep up her poetry writing as it helped
her to express herself. The change in her manner and appearance
was remarkable and all the workers told her how proud they were
of the progress she had made.
'B' - boy aged 13
In the beginning.
'B' had a complete aversion to even talking about books and
print of any kind. His literacy skills were very limited. Playing
snooker was a popular diversionary activity any time reading
was mentioned. 'B' was fiercely self-critical and had huge self-esteem
issues. In one 'getting to know each other' activity, for example,
he said, "I'm not good at anything". Initially 'B'
had to be cajoled and coerced into every activity, but the rest
of the group were very supportive and made an effort to include
him.
Activities and techniques
'B' is hypersensitive and will not accept even constructive
criticism or any efforts to help him. This made his relationship
with the visiting cartoonist very tricky as he refused to follow
her instructions and insisted on drawing his own way. However
he was interested in the collection of graphic novels she brought
in to exemplify different styles and spent some considerable
time looking through them and talking to her about them which
proved to be a breakthrough.
As school librarian I have had the advantage of being able to
support 'B' in reading lessons delivered in small groups in
the library. Through informal chatting in a supportive and reading
rich environment I was able to introduce him to texts from Barrington
Stoke, which were clearly accessible and carried no stigma since
everyone was reading them and, in fact, carried some kudos as
'B' was able to act as manuscript consultant for the company.
'B' is hugely knowledgeable about books because his mother reads
aloud to him each night and we were able to use the Amazon web
site to engage in lengthy and detailed talk about the plots
and characters of his all-time favourite titles and suggest
a few more linked to his favourite genres but slightly more
"grown-up and contemporary".
'B' was coerced into attending the Jacqueline Wilson author
talk and, despite being determined to leave after 10 minutes,
he stayed, enjoyed it - and went away with a book, which he
has since read at home with some support. By linking reading
to 'B's other leisure interests (e.g. Warhammer), we have been
able to introduce him to White Dwarf magazine, moving from flicking
and looking at pictures to spotting numbers, discussing armies
and reading captures and features before moving on to the White
Dwarf website.
During a recent project held in the library, I was able to observe
'B's interests and guide him to relevant magazines and background/How-to
books, in a way which would not have been possible without the
skills I have acquired through YouthBOOX and the trust built
up with him through the project. That build-up of trust has
been vital.
Indicators
Although B dropped out of the YouthBOOX project (as the only
boy he found it quite difficult to cope with the girls' tantrums),
he has since joined another library-based group (Warhammer)
and is able to talk with the librarian about his interests and
share his experiences. The message that libraries are safe,
supportive and helpful places with caring, interested and knowledgeable
staff will hopefully influence his progress in the future.
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