REAL Year 2
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Building on the foundation and learning from Year 1, the REAL
teams in Oldham and Sheffield have worked with another 128 families
and children. The children’s confidence, involvement and interest
levels have risen dramatically, as has the regularity of engagement
with books, rhymes, environmental print and mark making. As in
Year 1, all children received up to four home visits and were
invited to four special events. Read a
summary of some of the positive outcomes observed.
The emphasis in REAL is on meaningful literacy: on what makes
sense for young children in the context of their lives at home, and
in their community.
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Families are encouraged to share and enjoy books and storytelling
regularly, and to talk with their children about what they think
and feel about the content. Connections are made to other strands
of literacy, encouraging children to notice the print all around
them, to make their own early marks and writing and give them
meaning, and to develop their phonological awareness through rhyme
and song. This approach sees literacy primarily as meaningful
activity, through which more discrete skills (e.g.: knowing
individual sounds and letters) gradually develop.
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Parents’ confidence as educators of their own
children is built in genuine partnership with their REAL
practitioner. Families enjoy the personal relationships they
develop with practitioners and each other and have stayed with the
project. This strategy has a distinct advantage over a
‘workshop-only’ approach to family learning, and has enabled the
inclusion of many families who were not previously confident in
participating.
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Children and families on an environmental print hunt in
Oldham
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Some parents have even moved forward enough to begin working as
volunteers to support practitioners in future delivery:
read parents’ views of REAL’s impact.
What is special about
REAL?
At the evaluation day this year practitioners
were asked to describe the elements of REAL that are essential to
its success: read some of the main
conclusions here.
More on Year 2:
The third year of the project
begins with practitioner training in September/October, and with
both local authorities adapting and spreading the approach to more
centres and schools.
For more information about
REAL contact Helen Wheeler at hwheeler@ncb.org.uk
You can read more about the development and
effectiveness of REAL in Nutbrown, C, Hannon, P and Morgan, A
(2005) Early Literacy Work
with Families, Sage Publications and on the Real
Website.