Christchurch City Libraries‘Ready For Reading’

Librarians and Teachers working together to strengthen literacy opportunities for a group

of marginalised preschoolers

Philippa Buckley, Brad Meek, & Pat Street

Diversity Challenge Resilience: School Libraries in Action - The 12th Biennial School Library Association of Queensland, the 39th International Association of School Librarianship Annual Conference, incorporating the 14th International

Forum on Research in School Librarianship,

Brisbane, QLD Australia, 7 September – 1 October 2010.

Overview

•Share one strand of the journey of the R4R project

•Set the context and partnership of library and education

•Project Background What we did…and why we did it

•Our discoveries while working with marginalised groups

•Strengths of the partnership

•Where to next?

Introducing Christchurch….

In 2006

• 348,435 people

• 41% male

Christchurch

• 41% male

• 70% have some formal

educational qualification

• 47,196 people aged over 65 (14 %)

University of Canterbury

College of Education

Teacher Education

CCL - partner

Christchurch City Libraries

CCC Strategic Directions from LTCCP

Increase involvement in lifelong learning, by:•providing resources and information through

Strong Communities

•providing resources and information through libraries and websites•provide learning facilities, programmes and activities•advocating for high quality education and training•encouraging people of all ages to take advantage of learning opportunities.

Promote participation in democratic processes by:•making it easy for people to understand and take

part in Council decision-making processes.

Also links to Healthy Environment and Prosperous Economy

Christchurch City Libraries

Informing

Inspiring

Empowering

Inclusive

Entertaining

Social Inclusion

CCL Life Long Learning Strategy

Commitment to Life Long Learning

“Our learning opportunities help us participate in the community and the economy. Quality education is available for people of all ages”

Christchurch City Council

“Public libraries engage, inspire and inform citizens and help build strong communities”

Kia āwhina te hunga ora, ki te hāngaia o rātou ake āo

Public Libraries of NZ Strategic Framework

Underachieving tail has a disproportionate representation of children from marginalised lower socio-economic groups

Crooks and Flockton

Christchurch City Libraries

Pre-school years

• Developing ‘habits of mind’

• Family focus

Love of readingLove of reading

Numeracy

Simple location

Learning together

Fun

• Supporting parents and caregivers

Christchurch City Libraries

Pre-school Programmes

• Baby time Wā Pēpi

• Story time Wā Kōrero

• Pre-school Outreach

• Ready Steady Click

• Other services

Books for Babies

Ready 4 Reading

Project Ready for Reading

� Ready for Reading launched in 2008

� Evolved as a literacy package

� Compliment the work of Books for Babies

Gift from the City to all four year olds� Gift from the City to all four year olds

� Family pre-school outreach team deliver

� Question of on-going sustainability

� How do we know it is making a difference?

The Ready for Reading Kit - R4R

The R4R Kit contains:

* Puzzle

* Book suitable for shared reading* Book suitable for shared reading

(one line captions)

* Parent Information Card

Also included are a birthday card, library enrolment and programme details, together with a survey seeking feedback about the kit.

The New Zealand Context

Literacy Education

The development of literacy is a key priority within New Zealand education.(Ministry of Education, 2009)

New Zealand provides effective literacy instruction practises that meet the needs of most children, however particular cohorts of children make slower progress than others. (Mullis, Martin, Kennedy, & Foy, 2007; Chamberlain, 2007)

New Zealand’s underachieving ‘tail’ is made up mainly of children from marginalised and lower socio-economic groups. (Crooks and Flockton, 2005; McNaughton, 2002)

The New Zealand Context

Literacy Education

Particular knowledge, skills, and attitudes support the transition to school. These include rich oral language foundation, the ability to write your name, awareness of concepts about print (CAP), and the some alphabet knowledge. (Ministry of Education, 2010)knowledge. (Ministry of Education, 2010)

Concepts About Print (CAP) are developed through experiences with text

�Directionality

�One-to-one correspondence

�Return sweep

�Identification of a ‘word’ and a ‘letter’

�Development of phonological understandings

The New Zealand Context

Literacy Education

Many NZ educators hold a socio-cultural view of education with an underlying belief that “much that is relevant to the development of literacy occurs before a child first passes through the schoolhouse door” (Pressley, 2006, p96).

Children from lower socio-economic families are less likely to be immersed in supportive Children from lower socio-economic families are less likely to be immersed in supportive oral interactions that promote dialogue and encourage thinking. (Hart and Risley,1995)

Children in low SES groups and cultural minority groups are less likely to have exposure to quality storybook reading (Hammer, 1999, 2001; van Kleeck, 2004)

The CCL team was clear that whilst the R4R resource

had been developed for all families, the particular

focus was on children of families that did not have an

ongoing connection with the library.

R4R Project

Ready for Reading – Teen Mothers

Target Group: Teen Mothers

Located from: Library Outreach and Social Agency contacts

Intervention: Two Workshops The focus was explaination and elaboration on the contents of the kit, in The focus was explaination and elaboration on the contents of the kit, in

particular ‘unlocking’ the ideas contained within the Parent Information Card

Social Agency feedback unanimously positive

‘…so enthusiastic…’

‘…fabulous idea…’

‘...encouraging...’

R4R Project

Challenge One - Recruitment

Teen reaction unanimously negative

What’s in it for ME?

Reading seen as ‘difficult’ or ‘boring’ rather than pleasurable

Text selection – limited exposure to engaging picture books

Level of commitment suggested

R4R Project

Teen Mothers @ Kimihia

Teen Parenting unit at Linwood College, Christchurch

Teen mothers wishing to return to secondary school study

Mothers (from age 14) with children (babies through to approx 3 years old)

Kimihia Staff very supportive of R4R including workshops as part of English NCEA Programme

1. Two R4R workshops

2. Preparation of an enlarged text

3. Whanau time – reading opportunities

Kimihia mothers were representative of a

‘hard to reach’ cohort

R4R Project

Challenge Two – Locating NZ’s four year olds

Finding New Zealand’s ‘hard to reach’ is challenging – as early childhood education is non-compulsory...

…however recently introduced government policy

‘20 hours free’ (for children over 3) provides potential for accessing children from marginalised cohorts

R4R Project

Challenge Two – The Intervention

Our VisionWarm positive tone

Motivated & Engaged

Language Rich

Issue 1: ‘Capturing’ the audience

Use of Baby Times and Story Times model

Themes: song, rhyme, hooking children’s interest, having fun

Issue 2: Clear communication of the KEY message – ‘Sharing a Text’

‘Reaching’ teen mums thorough a text

‘Handy hints for starting school’

** A knowledge of the process of print acquisition underpins the ability to plan and implement a strategy that models, describes and discuss the key features of literacy development.

Language Rich

R4R Project

Implications for Interventions

Engage parents via their children. This acts as a model but also relies on a strong ‘performance’ element from a skilled leader

If the intervention includes ‘content’ for parents then the children need to If the intervention includes ‘content’ for parents then the children need to be withdrawn

Further engage parents thorough support footage (DVD) and conversation to ‘unpack’ examples

Careful selection of the person to lead the intervention

� Communicate ease and confidence working with marginalised parents

� Social ‘connectedness’ – language use, age, dress

� Strong understanding of the stages of print literacy acquisition

R4R Project

Strengths of the CCL / UC Partnership

Collaboration around initial resource development (in particular the Parent Information Booklet)

� Affirmation of existing library preschool programmes

� Springboard off known strengths (Performance, Outreach)

� Strong Outreach connections

� Literacy positioned within a ‘next step’ education context

� Outreach model directly connected to a NZ educational imperative

� Enrichment of understanding of the Reading Process

� Research awareness

R4R Project

Where to Next?