Learning to Fly: Family-oriented Literacy Education in Schools

This report is based on Hamburg’s award-winning Family Literacy project (FLY) (2010 winner of UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize). The report is developed by UIL and the Hamburg State Institute for Teacher and School Development. The report provides a background to the FLY project and its approaches for family learning. Of note, however is that the report identifies a greater emphasis on family involvement in school learning and less on the provision of by schools of education within the family setting (which would be more aligned to, e.g., the British model). The concept used in the FLY project was based on three main pillars – Involving parents in teaching, parents’ meetings, joint activities with parents and children. The paper identifies the success of the FLY approach within a family learning context and specific granular elements of the approach.