Learning Together is a resource to help family workers and other practitioners devise and lead literacy-rich activities for children and families. The resource has been developed as a collaborative project by Professor Sue Ellis and Dr Vivienne Smith working with staff from Barnardos and community workers who seek to make a difference to children’s literacy in a variety of school-based and community-based situations. The team has extensive knowledge and expertise of working with children and developing innovative approaches to literacy development in schools and communities.
Resource for practitioners
Our initial work involved finding ways to engage effectively with voluntary sector staff and Community Learning Development (CLD) teams. Working with Barnardo’s staff and two CLD teams we supported the development of literacy in targeted local communities. The aim of this work was an in in-depth understanding of each community and of the best way to progress the aims of the project. In particular we aimed to find ways to engage and support community- based teams and school staff.
The course continues to be modified and used as a resource to support community- led groups in developing reading projects and training materials for reading mentors in ‘Help a Child Learn to Read‘