The Senglea family literacy programme

Abstract

The National Literacy Survey of the Reading Attainment of Year 2 Pupils carried out by the Literacy Unit in March 1999 (Mifsud, Milton, Brooks & Hutchison, 2000) highlighted many interesting findings. Amongst these was the difference in attainment on both the Maltese and English tests by pupils coming from families of different socio-economic backgrounds and different regions in Malta. Thus, to act upon recommendations posited in the light of such fin4ings, the Senglea Primary School and the Senglea School Council took the initiative of contacting the Literacy Unit of the University of Malta requesting it to implement a Family Literacy Programme. The Family Literacy Programme studied here was 'two-generation, two-pronged' instead of 'three-pronged' as the programme did not include adult basic education for the parents. The Programme offered literacy teaching for children while improving the parents' ability to help their children with literacy. Thus, the main focus was the children and their literacy. Since the Programme was relatively short it was not possible to focus on the parents' literacy as well.