Family Literacy is an intergenerational program that brings parents and preschool- or elementary-age children to school together. It can provide a depth in education that allows learning opportunities for children and the adults in their lives. As relationships are built, learning becomes circular between parents, children, and teachers. This…

The Pasifika Early Literacy Project supports teachers to make space for the languages and cultures of Pacific children and families in early childhood settings in Aotearoa New Zealand. Dual-language books in five Pacific languages and English validate Pacific children's languages, literacies, and identities. We highlight teacher practices…

Natural disasters are disruptive to families and communities, particularly when cascading effects continue over time. Such events, and ensuing disruptions to family life, present risks to young children's development, including oral language. Recognition of this potential vulnerability has led to calls for early childhood programming to support…

Straddling conventional education system boundaries between adult learners and children, and between employment-related and social benefits, family literacy programmes are not well recognised or supported in New Zealand's policy and funding environment. In this article, I reflect on my personal experience of redesigning the Whanau Ara Mua…

Existing literature acknowledges the potential variances between home and school in the values, priorities, aspirations, and practices surrounding literacy. Some researchers have approached this dilemma by offering programs to educate parents in ways of the school. Other researchers suggest that schools need to be more inclusive of home practices…

Taking a social practice view of literacy, this study examines and describes the everyday literacy practices of a recently arrived Syrian refugee to Aotearoa New Zealand. It highlights the individual, home and community literacy competencies that are often overlooked in adult literacy education. Data was collected from interviews with the…

Within a learning family, every member is a lifelong learner. A family literacy and learning approach is more likely to break the intergenerational cycle of low education and inadequate literacy skills, particularly among disadvantaged families and communities. The selection of case studies presented in this compilation show that for an…

This compilation includes programmes which promote language and culture as resources and see them as an added value rather than a challenge for literacy teaching and learning. It also includes programmes designed to support migrants and refugees by equipping them for integration into mainstream society while strengthening their literacy skills in…

Samoan school children living in New Zealand were given disposable cameras and asked to photograph examples of the uses of reading and writing outside the school. Interviewed later, they explained their photographs including information about literacy in church and family. Rote learning and oral presentation of biblical texts that were read and…

Following the results of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) in 1996, there has been an upsurge of interest in adult literacy in New Zealand. This interest is reflected in a national adult literacy strategy with foundation learning as one of the government's six priorities for the postschool sector. One result of this policy change has…

This bibliography was compiled for The Centre for Literacy's 2007 Summer Institute--"Libraries and Literacy: Making It Work." The literature represented here includes research studies, descriptive articles, guides and manuals. Selections address the principles, "best practices" and assessment of library involvement in literacy…

This report covers a summative evaluation of a family literacy project in Auckland, New Zealand. The evaluation covered 70 adults and their children over a two year period. Outcomes for the program included literacy skill gains for both adults and children, increased levels of self-confidence and self-efficacy, greater parental involvement in…

A comprehensive overview of important contemporary issues in the field of reading research, this book presents 47 essays that examine literacy through a variety of lenses--some permitting microscopic views and others panoramic views. Essays in the book cover current methodology as well as cumulative research-based knowledge. Essays in Part I…

This comprehensive review of the international research literature looks at the research evidence on the effective teaching of literacy, numeracy and second language skills to adults. It contains an extensive discussion of the literature and full references. The purpose of this literature review is to provide a critical evaluation of the available…

This conference proceedings contains 65 presentations and 3 colloquiums from a conference that dealt with knowledge at work and knowledge that works and with how education can be successfully integrated into work and work into education. The papers are "Reading the Contexts of Complex Incidents of Adult Education Practice" (Apte);…