Ensuring early acquisition of literacy: study on parental support

The principal objectives of the research project are to:

• give an overview of programmes that aim to assist parents of disadvantaged families to support their children's reading literacy in the early years and to draw conclusions and recommendations based on the analysis of good practices;
• provide the European Commission, and decision makers in Member States, with practical information and analyses which can serve as a basis for future policy proposals and developments.

We are identifying initiatives across Europe that have interesting and diverse approaches to supporting the improvement of literacy and literacy support skills of parents with children at pre-primary or primary levels of education, as defined by the International Standard Classification of Education.   

Through visits and interviews, we will produce case studies of good policy and practice throughout Europe.

Working with NRDC, we will contribute to a comprehensive report that:

• analyses and compares the effectiveness of policy measures and approaches, and the conditions for their successful transfer into different contexts; 
• makes recommendations for the design of policies, programmes and other initiatives to support disadvantaged parents with a view to improving their children's reading literacy;
• recommends policy actions that can be taken at national or European level to improve the role of disadvantaged parents in the acquisition of literacy skills by their young children, and to improve the support given to such parents.

The project is for the European Commission and decision makers in Member States.  It will provide them with practical information and analyses which can serve as a basis for future policy proposals and developments.

This work will provide a comparative analysis of initiatives throughout Europe, which will help to raise the profile of the role of parents in helping with their children's literacy, and the most effective ways of achieving this.

Karen Fairfax-Cholmeley
karen.cholmeley@niace.org.uk
NIACE
21 De Montfort Street
Leicester
LE1 7GE