This is the Executive Summary of the European Commission report “Family literacy in Europe: using parental support initiatives to enhance early literacy development”. As highlighted by evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Progress in International Reading Study (PIRLS), there is a clear link between poor literacy and factors such as socio-economic background and migrant status. While there are a wide range of school-based initiatives designed to reduce the impact of such factors on literacy acquisition, there is also a growing emphasis on programmes seeking to improve parents’ ability to support child literacy development. Such “family literacy” initiatives take a variety of forms, including shared parent-child book reading programmes and book gifting schemes.
This report provides an overview of research, strategies, policies, initiatives and programmes in the field of family literacy. In particular, it analyses the evidence on the effectiveness of a broad range of family literacy interventions,lacing special emphasis on those targeted at disadvantaged families. The report highlights good practice by providing case studies of unique and successful programmes throughout Europe.
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