Literacy Home And School

This book provides a new way of thinking about parental involvement in the teaching of reading and writing. It relates the recent growth of involvement to broader considerations of the nature of literacy and historical exclusion of parents from the curriculum. The book describes key findings from research into pre-school literacy work with parents and parents hearing children read, and offers a framework to underpin practice. The book also provides a critique of evaluation methods in the field and suggests how parental involvement should be evaluated together with a view of research findings to date and issues needing further study.

Parental involvement in the teaching of reading and writing has often lagged behind practice, though schools in many countries now recognise the importance of parental involvement. The ideas presented in this book offer new ways of thinking about parental involvement and should interest both researchers and practitioners. It relates the recent growth of involvement to broader considerations of the nature of literacy and historical exclusion of parents from the curriculum. Descriptions are given of key findings from research into pre-school literacy work with parents and parents hearing children read, and a framework to underpin practice is offered. The author gives a critique of evaluation methods in the field and suggests how parental involvement should be evaluated together with a view of research findings to date and issues needing further study. The book concludes with an appraisal of what was learned from research and what needs further enquiry.