In Ireland, the first family literacy programmes were piloted in Co. Clare in 1994-1996. Short taster courses for parents were offered in rural locations in the county while in Ennis, a full parent and child education programme, Learning is Fun, was offered in the Adult and Community Education Centre. The experiences gained from these programmes and extensive research into family learning internationally enabled Clare Family Learning Project to publish in 2000 a Family Learning Resource Pack for facilitators

Facilitator's Resource Pack for Family Learning

This has been designed as a framework for practitioners who would like some tried and tested ideas based on research for parents of children from 0 - 7 and offers training.

The Pack includes:

The Facilitator's Resource Guide

The guide contains the basic framework for a programme designed to help parents maximise the potential of the home learning environment for literacy and numeracy development. Each session emphasises group activity and hands on learning
Session 1 - Introductory session which focuses on getting to know the group, and mutual planning of the course.
Session 2 - Parents' role as natural teachers and awareness of different learning styles.
Session 3 - Demonstrates the importance of oral language, helping children develop good conversational and listening skills.
Sessions 4 - Explores the possibilities for fostering phonological awareness through everyday activities involving rhymes, songs and poems.
Session 5 - Shows how familiarity and understanding of story structure, as in fairy tales, encourages the development of reading and writing skills at an early age.
Session 6 - Looks at activities that promote interaction with children around books and strategies for developing reading skills.
Session 7 - Examines the many opportunities for making the most of environmental print in the home and community.
Sessions 8 - Considers the skills involved in learning to write, the efforts children make to write before they start school and how these attempts can be supported.
Session 9 - Explores the development of children's early writing skills through activities at home and in the community.
Session 10 - Highlights the many ways children experience maths through everday language and using equipment in the home.
Session 11 - Focuses on the many practical and fun home activities and games which encourage early understanding of basic number concepts.
Session 12 - 'Making a book' is designed as a stand alone session to show how simple homemade books can incorporate many aspects of learning.
Sessions 13 - Emphasizes the links between all the learning strands, oral language, reading, writing, and maths, and encourages parents to review their experiences on the course
Session 14 - Focuses on encouraging parents to explore their own educational needs and interests and explore community resources for further learning, family support and community involvement.

The guide also includes relevant background reading and a list of suggested resources for further support in implementing family learning programmes.

The Photopak
The photopak is a set of 50 photographs depicting families participating in everyday activities at home and in the community. Each photograph contains a variety of family learning opportunities. The photopak is designed to be a supplementary resource for use with many of the session activities.

Parent Booklets (10 sets included with each pack)
Book A Getting started; Parents are natural teachers
Book B Talk, Rhymes, songs and poems; Storytelling
Book C Sharing books; Environmental Print
Book D Ready to write; Everyday writing
Book E Maths in action,; Fun with maths
Book F Putting it all together; Making connections
Jason's Day A storybook for children which incorporates some of the elements of family learning

Family Learning Poster
An A1, bright, colourful picture with lots of potential for encouraging interaction between parents and children.

Facilitator Training
Two days of training for two facilitators is offered to purchasers of the facilitators resource pack This is run over 2 days three times a year usually in Ennis but if participants (12) are available it can be arranged in other parts of the country .
This training helps facilitators become familiar with the different modules and activities, so they will be able to plan family learning programmes which meet the particular needs of their group.

The pack is also available in Irish with a choice of the Munster, Connaught or Ulster dialects in the parent booklets.

For further details of the pack and costs please contact the co-ordinator.

More Clare resources:
Original family learning booklet (1996)
International Rhymes (2003)
Video-International Parent and Toddler Group (rhymes, songs and play) 2003

Family Learning Training/Support Nationally
Family Learning Module
Nala have recently developed in conjunction with the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) a module on Family Learning which can be studied as part of the National Diploma in Literacy Studies or independantly.
For more information contact Literacy Development Centre, Department of Adult & Continuing Education, Waterford Institute of Technology, Cork Rroad, Waterford, Ireland. 051 302689, literacy@wit,ie

A Staff Handbook for Family Learning
County Dublin VEC (2003) have an informative handbook with information on setting up and running family learning programmes 'The story so far...'.
The County Co-ordinator of Literacy Services, Co.Dubin VEC, Main Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24, 01 4529600, e-mail infocodubvec.ie

If you know of other training research and resource materials helpful in planning and developing family learning programmes, please send us details for inclusion on this page.

For more details contact:
Janet Webb
Family Learning Coordinator
Clare Family Learning Project
Adult Education Centre
Clonroad Business Park
Ennis, Co. Clare
Ireland
Tel: +353 (0)65 6824819
Fax: +353 (0)65 6840515