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The ROWA! model of family learning encompasses a range of
ways of working with parents and children to improve their
literacy skills and foster an enjoyment in learning. 'Parents'
include foster parents, carers, grandparents and siblings
to involve families in their widest sense. ROWA!'s joined-up
approach means that in partner schools, libraries and in community
settings, parents' learning is supported through its coordinators
for family learning (basic skills), books for babies and Storysacks,
who liaise with schools and the ROWA! area coordinators to
arrange courses that meet parents' needs and interests.
Parents and children work together, and separately, on their
literacy and numeracy skills. Parents can work towards a range
of qualifications and are encouraged to continue studying
once the course has finished. A crèche means that even parents
with very young children can take part in these courses.
Hard-to-reach parents are often initially reluctant to come
along to a course. Because ROWA! puts on more than one course
in each school, the most confident parents come forward first,
and then encourage less confident parents to join up for subsequent
courses. Schools understand that parents can get the support
they need to boost their skills while the schools themselves
benefit from having more confident, supportive parents, some
of whom go on to become trained ROWA! volunteers who help
others improve their literacy. In this way, a circle of involvement
and support is created at local level which directly impacts
on the literacy skills of both children and adults. Several
parents have gone on to become parent governors or have become
involved in school Parent-Teacher Associations.
ROWA! operates in schools and communities to increase the
'demand for learning', a key objective of the national Skills
for Life strategy and national and local policies on lifelong
learning. Once an interest in learning is established among
a group of adults (the majority have not studied at all since
leaving school), ROWA! keeps that interest alive by liaising
with the most appropriate post 16 providers to get a course
off the ground and tutors recruited.
This is one of ROWA!'s courses for parents or carers and pre-school
or reception aged children. It runs as a series of workshops
enabling adults to engage in conversational reading with their
children, using books and accompanying art materials which
children can take home in a small backpack. It is designed
to encourage creativity, and to encourage parents to enjoy
literacy, numeracy and oracy activities at home with their
children. The course was devised by ROWA!, using a model from
the United States.
Brampton
Primary School, Chesterfield
With funding available to support children who are English
speakers with other languages, the headteacher of Brampton
Primary School was keen to use the opportunity to involve
their parents too. After taking advice from the ROWA! coordinator,
the school decided to put on a broad-based family literacy
project. The children work alongside their parents and other
volunteers from the Muslim Association. They have their own
room at the school and this has displays of their work. The
children receive additional support three mornings a week
from a teacher. The parents come into school one afternoon
a week and have help with their English and then the children
join them and they work together. The school is delighted
to bring into school parents who had not previously been involved
and to welcome other members of the Muslim community who,
when they heard about the family literacy classes, volunteered
to come along to help support the children and to receive
help themselves.
Bracken
House Family Support Centre
Most families who attend the Bracken House Family Support
Centre, which is run by Derbyshire County Council Social Services,
do so because they are struggling with the responsibilities
of parenthood. Some are on the child protection register.
After a couple of exploratory visits by other members of the
ROWA! team, the local ROWA! coordinator met with the Unit
Manager to see whether the centre was interested in developing
a family literacy project based around Storysacks.
This was felt to be a non-threatening way to get the parents
talking about reading and to build on their own skills of
designing, sewing and craft making.
There was an enthusiastic response and a member of staff
was allocated to support the project and be responsible for
recruiting parents. It was agreed that the centre staff would
visit parents at home to tell them about the course and encourage
them to participate. The ROWA! coordinator liaised with the
Council's Lifelong Learning team to find a course tutor and
continued help towards the smooth running of the project.
Each parent completed a Storysack especially for their child
and has started work on a portfolio, based on their storysacks
work, which will lead to an accreditation through the Open
College Network. Parents' confidence has increased and one
parent even decided to 'sign herself off' from the centre
after six years of getting support there. Networks are now
developing between ROWA! and other family centres to encourage
parents to try out ROWA! courses in their own area.
Running the Storysacks project helped the family centre develop
closer links with the local adult learning service. Staff
also had the satisfaction that they were providing 'hard to
reach' groups of parents with the opportunity to work on their
literacy skills as well as make Storysacks for their children
to use and enjoy.
The Bracken House project is an example of an intensively
staffed and funded family literacy project. A standard, intensive
family literacy course of 72 hours is more than twice the
length of the Bracken House course (30 hours) and would produce
a larger number of accreditations as it would involve more
students. However, many of the hard-to-reach parents who attended
the Bracken House course would not have managed to sustain
the commitment needed for the intensive course. Bracken House
is in a semi-rural area with isolated villages and infrequent
transport. The Centre works on the basis of taxi fares being
paid for clients to attend, to provide an incentive and support.
Financial support was obtained in matched funding from other
partners to ensure the smooth running of the course.
For more information visit www.rowa.org.uk
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