Early Literacy Intervention Through Partnerships: A Writer in Residence Project in an Urban Area of Socio-Economic Disadvantage in Scotland.

Author(s):

Andrew Hancock(presenting / submitting)Moira Leslie(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2011

Network:

14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

14 SES 08 B, Parents and Literacy Interventions

Paper Session

Time:

2011-09-15

08:30-10:00

Room:

K 25/11,G, 51

Chair:

Linda Mary Hargreaves

Contribution

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This paper reports on an evaluation of an Early Years Writer in Residence Project in an urban area of socio-economic disadvantage in Scotland. This project is the result of an inter-organisational partnership between Scottish Book Trust and Home-Start. Scottish Book Trust is a national organisation that aims to encourage parents and carers to enjoy books with children from birth. Home-Start offers support, friendship and practical help to parents with young children in local communities. The families Home-Start work with need support for many reasons including post-natal illness, disability, bereavement, the illness of a parent or child, or social isolation. The Early Years Writer in Residence project, funded by the Scottish Arts Council, was established to provide a residency with a picture book writer/illustrator in an urban area, with the aim of promoting parents’ confidence and a love of book sharing within the community.

The central theme of this project is the Residency involving the author working collaboratively with a Home-Start group of parents. The group, with the support of the author, are creating a picture book which will be published and distributed to young children across Scotland as part of a national book gifting programme. Furthermore, parents and children will also be invited to take part in a number of activities allowing them to explore literature and arts activities both within and beyond their local community. This multi-faceted project also involves work in local libraries and nursery schools and training opportunities for professionals and volunteers to promote the benefits of book sharing with young children. However, the focus of this paper explores the central theme of the project, namely, the impact of the collaboration between the participating parents and the author.

The aims of the research were

· To examine the perceptions of parents and other participants during the course of the one-year writer in residence project.

· To investigate the impact of the Writer in Residence Project on the parents and their children in terms of their involvement in literacy practices

· To identify significant features of the project and critically appraise the implementation of the initiative

The study is underpinned by a body of literature in the fields of early intervention, home literacy practices and emergent literacy. A major theme of early intervention projects worldwide has been the implementation of initiatives aimed at the development of literacy acquisition (Bus et al.,1995; Fraser et al., 2001; Moore and Wade, 2003). Parents are children’s first educators and a range of studies suggest that shared literacy practices in the home can contribute positively towards children’s later literacy learning (Weinberger, 1996; Sénéchal and LeFevre, 2002; Makin, 2006; Reese et al., 2010). Furthermore, in the Scottish context recent policy frameworks have emphasised interagency collaboration in conjunction with new approaches that supports building the capacity of individuals, families and communities (Scottish Government, 2008).

Method

This case study draws on a range of predominantly qualitative data sets to offer an in-depth exploration of the impact of the Writer in Residence Project with the aim of gathering, as Cresswell (1998:61) describes, ‘multiple sources of information rich in context.’ The data collection process is phased and includes the gathering of data pre-project, at the end of the initiative and during the different phases of the project development. The research tools used to gather data from the adult participants in the study are questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and observations. Children’s perceptions and experiences are gathered using conversations around drawings, an approach that has been used in previous studies (Clark, 2005; Einarsdottir, 2009). Evidence will also be drawn from reflective journals written by key professionals. Data was gathered from a range of the key participants and partners in the project: • 13 parents • 14 children (aged 5 years and under) • Writer in Residence • 6 Home-Start Workers and volunteers • Scottish Book Trust Children's Programme Manager • Scottish Book Trust Early Years Programme Assistant • Regional Consultant Home-start UK

Expected Outcomes

At the time of writing this proposal the research is entering its final phase with more data to collect. However, from the initial analysis several key findings have emerged. These findings suggest: • The parents involvement in activities, designed by the author, to support the book writing process gave parents a deeper understanding about how language is used to create texts and increased their capacity to learn about language in an informal environment. • New experiences such as regular participation in language games and deconstructing a book gave parents insights into sharing texts with their children, ideas for conversations about language and increased confidence to try out new literacy practices. • The parents reported an emotional involvement associated with the authorship and publication of the planned book. • The initiative highlighted the challenges faced by the professionals involved in the project in terms of taking account of the needs of individual parents, the group and the project as a whole. • The professionals and parents reported enhanced communication amongst the parents about literacy practices and activities.

References

Bus, A.G., Van Ijzendoorn, M.H. and Pellegrini, A.D. (1995) Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: A meta-analysis on Intergenerational Transmission of Literacy, Review of Educational Research, 65(1) 1-21. Clarke, A., Kjorholt, A.T Moss, P. (eds) (2005) Beyond Listening: Children’s Perspectives on Early Childhood Services, Bristol: Policy Press. Cresswell, J. (1998) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions, Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage Clark 2005 Einarsdottir, J., Dockett, S. and Perry, B. (2009) Making meaning: children’s perspectives expressed through drawings, Early Childhood Development and Care, 179 (2) 217-232. Fraser, H., Macdougall, A., Pirrie, A. and Croxford, L. (2001) National Evaluation of the Early Intervention Programme: Final Report, Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh. Makin, L., (2006) Literacy 8-12 months: what are babies learning? Early Years, 26 (3) 267-277. Moore, M. and Wade, B. (2003) Bookstart: A qualitative evaluation, Educational Review, 55 (1) 3-13. Reese, E., Sparks, A. and Leyva D. (2010) A review of parent interventions for preschool children’s language and emergent literacy, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 10 (1) 97-117. Sénéchal, M. and LeFevre, J. (2002) Parental involvement in the development of children’s reading skill: A five-year longitudinal study, Child Development 73 (2) 445-460. The Scottish Government (2008) Early Years and Early Intervention: A Joint Scottish Government and COSLA Policy Statement, Edinburgh: Scottish Government. Weinberger, J. (1996) A longitudinal study of children’s early literacy experiences at home and later literacy development at home and school, Journal of Research in Reading, 19 (1) 14-24.

Author Information

Andrew Hancock (presenting / submitting)

University of Edinburgh

Institute of Education, Teaching and Leadership

Edinburgh

Moira Leslie (presenting)

University Of Edinburgh