Family literacy in Malta : an empowering experience for both parents and children

Abstract

Family literacy is a relatively new phenomenon in Malta, with an eight-year history. It has, however, put down solid roots and is entering mainstream professional development, as well as teaching and learning. Its importance has grown in parallel with the increasing recognition of the centrality of parental involvement in education and school life. Indeed, parental involvement has been enshrined as one of the key principles of the new National Minimum Curriculum, published in 1999. The first experimental family literacy programme was organised by the Literacy Unit within the Faculty of Education of the University of Malta, in the wake of the National Survey of Reading Attainment, conducted in 1999 among children aged 6-7, that had highlighted literacy difficulties encountered by children from socioeconomically disadvantaged areas of the island. Family literacy provision in Malta, however, only really took off with the setting up, in 2001, of the Foundation for Educational Services (FES). This chapter looks at the family literacy programmes organised by FES that took place in Malta between 2001 and 2005, which highlighted the unique opportunity for parents and children from different cultural backgrounds to share their literacy experiences, while striving to find common learning points.