Their development was influenced by earlier initiatives that tended to focus on either the parents' needs, for example through adult literacy programmes and parenting courses, or the children's needs through initiatives to involve parents in their children's reading development, through pre-school programmes such as Headstart and other playschools or play groups set up in areas of socio - economic disadvantage.

If you are interested in reading about earlier initiatives to address educational disadvantage and their influence on family literacy you might like to read:

• Family Involvement in Literacy (1996) Sheila Wolfendale & Kenneth Topping (ed.), London: Cassell Education.
  
• Literacy, Home and School (1995) Peter Hannon, London: The Falmer Press
  
• Viewpoints 15: Family Literacy (1993) London: Basic Skills Agency.

Also significant to the design and content of family literacy and family learning programmes was research into how children learn to read and how parents support this process, which has led to advances in literacy theory. Information on research findings can be found in:

• Family Literacy: Young Children Learning to Read and Write (1990) Denny Taylor, New Hampshire: Heinemann.
• Learning To Be Literate (1998) Alison Garton & Chris Pratt, London:Blackwell.
• Literacy Goes To School (1996) Jo Weinberger, London: Paul Chapman Publishing,Ltd.
• On Being Literate (1991) Margaret Meek, London: The Bodley Head.
• The Emergence of Literacy (1987) Nigel Hall, London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Other important contributions to family literacy have come from the Sheffield University research team led by Prof. Peter Hannon PhD. Dr. Hannon and his colleagues have researched and written extensively on parents' involvement in children's literacy development.

Through the work in the REAL (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) Project, the Sheffield researchers there developed and piloted a framework for parental involvement in literacy across four strands - environmental print, books, writing and oral language skills. The framework emphasises the parents' role as natural teachers in providing:

• Opportunities for their children's learning,
  
• Recognition of their children's efforts,
  
• Interaction in support of these efforts,
  
• Modelling to encourage imitation of literacy skills.

The Sheffield REAL Project team have produced an excellent manual and video with lots of ideas on how children can learn about literacy from their families, and how schools and nursery centres can work with parents to promote children's early literacy development.

For more information and details on how to order these resources please contact:
Julia Lewis
Sheffield University Television
5 Favell Road
Sheffield S3 7QX
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 114 222 0400
Fax: +44 (0) 114 276 2106.

The Parent and Child Education (PACE) programmes piloted in Kentucky in 1986 are recognised as being the first "family literacy" programmes. The basic core of these programmes included:

• Literacy education for parents,
  
• A quality pre-school programme,
  
• Parenting education and support,
  
• Joint Parent and child activities.

The PACE Programme model evolved into the Kenan Trust Family Literacy Project and has since been replicated throughout the US under the auspices of the National Centre for Family Literacy. The US Department of Education is also funding Even Start programmes across the country which provide services to families with children from birth to age seven.

You will find more information on family literacy programmes in the US in: Bridges to Literacy (1994) David Dickinson, Oxford: Blackwell.

In 1993, the Basic Skills Agency in England funded four major family literacy demonstration programmes in England plus a small grants programme to encourage local initiatives in family literacy. These initiatives were aimed at:

• Parents improving their own basic skills,
• Children gaining support in their literacy and language development,
• Parents identifying ways of supporting their children's literacy development.

A series of publications produced by the Basic Skills Agency in conjunction with NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research) provide detailed descriptions of the initiatives and programme evaluations. These include:

• Assessing Young Children's Writing (1996),
  
• Family Literacy Lasts (1997),
  
• Family Literacy: Practice in Local Programmes (1998),
  
• Family Numeracy Adds Up (1998).
  Family Literacy 2001 -2002
• Family Numeracy 2001 -2002
• Early Start 2001 - 2002
• Family Literacy Language and Numeracy 2003 -2004
• Family Literacy 2003 - 2004
• Keeping up with the children 2003 - 2004
  

The Basic Skills Agency has also recently provided funding for a pilot programme in family numeracy. As a complement to family literacy the aim of the numeracy pilot programme was to investigate the most effective methods of:

• raising the level of home support for numeracy,
• offering a quick start and immediate gains in numeracy for 3-5 year old children at risk of under attainment,
• offering a re-start for their parents' numeracy learning and an impact on their numeracy level.

Resource packs for family literacy and family numeracy programmes are also available.

For more information on these family literacy and family numeracy publications and materials contact:

The Basic Skills Agency
Commonwealth House
1-19 New Oxford St.
London WC1A 1NU
England
Tel: +44 (0)171 405 4017
Fax: +44 (0)171 440 6626
Email:enquiries@basic-skills.co.uk.