Research is hugely important for us all. The purpose of research is ultimately to inform action. For education this can highlight what we should be focusing on and what we should stop doing and can lead to changes in methods or practices. I know that everyone is busy at the moment so I thought I would post some recent research papers that may be of interest to you. I hope you enjoy them.
Does anyone have anything they would like to share?
This report presents findings from a study of family literacy programmes in England carried out by the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC) at UCL Institute of Education (IOE) between July 2013 and May 2015. This mixed-methods study was funded by the Nuffield Foundation and explored: 1) the impact of school-based family literacy programmes on young children’s progress in reading and writing; and 2) how parents translate and implement what they learn in these classes into the home literacy environment. This study provides evidence that after attending family literacy sessions children improve their literacy skills and there are positive changes in the home literacy environment:
“All of the programmes featured in this publication by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning share valuable experiences and lessons. They reflect a view of effective learning families whereby each child is a member of a family, and within a learning family every member is a lifelong learner. Among disadvantaged families and communities in particular, a family literacy and learning approach is more likely to break the intergenerational cycle of low education and literacy skills..” (Elfert and Hanermann 2014)
Click to access learning-families.pdf
The Intergenerational Mobility Project (“The Intergen Project”), a collaborative effort between the Center on the Developing Child and EMPath*, has set out with a bold mission to disrupt the intergenerational transmission of poverty. By applying science to social service program design, the Intergen Project seeks to mitigate the effects of poverty and its associated stressors in order to support motivated low-income families as they work their way across the economic divide.
Susan Doherty, Education Scotland
#AdultLearnScot
Blog posts do not necessarily represent the views of the Strategic Forum for Adult Learning.
Family Learning in Scotland 
Really interesting detail supporting family literacy approaches and intergenerational approaches. Really useful for busy practitioners to get pointers to core research. Thank you.
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