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Using sport as a hook
General information on boys and reading
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Working
with Men
Working with Men is a not-for-profit
organisation that supports the development of work with men through
resources, publications, training, consultancy and advice. Amongst their
projects has been the DIY DADS community based project in Lewisham.
Pilot schemes of Father Reading Support Groups, offering support to
fathers who are concerned about their sons' reading, are also planned.
For more information and copies of The Ultimate Fatherhood Resources
List (which includes boys and reading posters) contact 020 8308 0709
or see www.workingwithmen.org
Playing
for Success
Nearly fifty football clubs and
LEAs are now committed to Playing for Success, the scheme supported
by the Standards Fund at the DfES which established study support centres
within Premier League and Nationwide League Division One clubs with
a focus on raising literacy, numeracy and ICT standards. Building on
this success, the scheme is now being extended to other football clubs
and other sports including rugby, cricket, basketball and hockey, with
another 25 sports clubs due to get involved from this autumn. Contact
Alison Lockwood on 0114 259 4753 or alison.lockwood@dfes.gov.uk
CEDC projects
involve men in supporting their children's learning
The CEDC (Community Education Development
Centre and now part of ContinYou) ran two projects geared to involving
men in supporting their children's learning. Nine local authorities
have taken up It's a man thing: Reading together, which includes training
for fathers or male carers in helping primary-aged children with reading
activities at home, linking with adult education and library services.
Active Dads ran as a pilot project in Luton and Medway sponsored by
the Home Office, and explored ways of encouraging fathers to be successful
role models. Contact 02476 588 440.
Ice
hockey and basketball as the link
Manchester Libraries continued
their links with Storm ice hockey team and the Giants basketball team
begun with a major poster campaign funded by the NYR. This led
to a themed reading game with Storm and a competition and second family
reading night with the Giants. Eight guest authors attended the
latter and prizes and 600 goody bags each containing at least one book
were distributed among a crowd of 5,000. Contact 0161 256 3845.
Kick
Off!
Kick Off!, the scheme piloted in
11 authorities by library development agency LaunchPad, publishers Random
House and Southern Arts and Yorkshire & Humberside Arts during the
National Year of Reading, was subsequently taken up by 36 further authorities,
some of whom ran a promotion in Autumn 2000. Kick Off! was designed
to reach male readers of all ages by linking reading with leisure pursuits,
with librarians using the scheme to take resources and expertise out
into the community and make some innovative partnerships with leisure
and sports services. Contact 0121 246 2777 or bookcomm@hotmail.com
for more information and news about the evaluation of Kick Off!
which was carried out by the University of Central England.
Dads
and lads events use sport as the link
Lancashire Libraries held a Dads
and Lads event at Skelmersdale sports centre to mark the culmination
of a six-week scheme, which encouraged dads into their children's nurseries.
Top Tots involved ten fathers in each of ten nurseries competing in
a sports and reading challenge with the top team being presented with
a trophy. Posters, leaflets and bookmarks were then produced for an
expansion of the scheme to KS1 boys.
'Howzat!', another innovative scheme
used cricket to 'hook' dads and lads into reading, with a range of materials
that helped boys and their fathers with their cricketing skills while
also encouraging them to read more widely and more confidently.
Endorsed by the England and Wales Test and County Cricket Board and
the Lancashire County Cricket Club, the scheme was aimed at Year 7 boys
who had to complete a cricket activity and a related literacy activity
each week, such as reading a cricket match report in the paper or surfing
the web for cricket information. The scheme culminated in a sportsman's
dinner for the participants with performance poets Paul Cookson and
David Harmer. 'They did lots of raps and all the dads and lads
were joining in - it was brilliant,' commented organiser Jean Wolstenholme.
Contact 01772 264040.
Using football as the hook.
Walsall Libraries won a £20,000 grant from the DCMS/Wolfson Fund
for 2000-01 to run a reading promotion for reluctant readers using football
as the hook. Each Premier League football club linked with a particular
category of books and family teams of at least one adult and child read
one book from each of 20 categories and gave it a 'score' in order to
complete the challenge. Contact Paul Thompson on 01922685 812.
It's
a Man Thing
This promotion from the Society of Chief Librarians' three-year
training initiative, Branching Out, targeted male readers
with It's a Man Thing, a specially selected list
of contemporary fiction titles. The initiative featured
a dedicated website with suggestions for promoting the collection
and, more importantly, ideas to reach male readers who may
not have been using the library.. For more information on
this and other Branching Out projects, visit www.branching-out.net
Active Dads scheme - Norfolk
Fathers were offered £25
to spend time with their children. They could claim expenses for taking
their sons and daughters on "educational outings" outside
school hours. The controversial
Active Dads project was piloted in Norfolk in March 2003 and could be
extended nationwide if it is judged to be a success. The scheme, run
by the Learning and Skills Council, used a broad definition for "educational
outings" - anything the father thinks appropriate as long as it
has a learning aspect to it.
A spokesman said all fathers qualified
for handouts - they did not have to be hard-up or separated from their
children. The youngsters have to be aged between three and 16. Each
participant father can apply for a maximum of £150 in expenses
over six weeks. A tutor will help them create a list of activities and
keep a diary to record experiences shared with their children.
The idea for the Active Dads project
came from research which showed men spent less than 15 minutes a day
with their children due to work pressures and busy lifestyles. A
separate study found that a lack of contact could dramatically reduce
the welfare of children, as well as their fathers.
(Source: Daily Mail, 6 February
2003)
Storysacks
work with men and boys
Evaluation of Curiosity Kits, the version of storysacks
piloted by UKRA in conjunction with the University of Plymouth
and funded by the NYR, indicated that fathers and elder
brothers were particularly involved in sharing material
from the book bags designed for struggling boy readers.
Targeted at boys of eight and nine, kits on over 30 different
topics were put into sports bags and included a non-fiction
book, related activities and a magazine for adults. Several
schools and other organisations have now adapted the project
for their own purposes. Read
an article on Curiosity Kits from Literacy Today.
Dads Into Schools Day
Windsor & Maidenhead's Dads Into Schools Day is now
a well established scheme, with their most recent event
involving 26 schools. Primary, first and middle schools
all participated, with dads and grandads going into their
children's school to get involved in reading activities
during the day. Many of them attended a training session
at which they were given advice for reading with their children,
book lists and library information. One of the trainers
was Ewan Meek,
a National Reading Campaign Champion in 2000. Contact
01628 796908.
E-Pals scheme success
Business in the Community in the East Midlands had great success in
finding male volunteers for its E-Pals scheme, funded by North Nottinghamshire
TEC, which linked Ericsson employees with 11-year-olds in a Newark primary
school. Piloted during the summer term, the scheme required volunteers
to send emails once a week to children who were felt to need particular
help with communication skills. Exchanges included questions
and comments about favourite books. Contact 0115 911 6666.
Training male volunteers to act as role models for Caribbean boys
The Caribbean Volunteer Readers
and Performers Project, an National Year of Reading-funded pilot project
run by the Barbardos Youth Education and Culture Group trained around
30 male volunteers to act as role models for Caribbean boys with low
levels of achievement. Volunteers worked initially in seven schools
in Southwark and subsequently the work was extended to schools in Greenwich.
One of the National Reading Campaign's Champions in 2001, 'Natural
Mystic', was nominated for his work with the scheme. Contact
0207 639 8481.
Boys
Book Bonanza in Leeds
Boys Book Bonanza, launched in
Leeds on 22 March 2000, is supported by Leeds TEC. Aimed at reluctant
male readers at KS2 and KS3, this involved 14 primary and seven secondary
schools in Leeds. Having canvassed their peers, two boys from
each school visited Borders to buy books with support from bookshop
staff.
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