The Home School Knowledge Exchange Project: linking home and school to improve children's literacy

Abstract

The Government is urging teachers to engage more closely with families and is promoting the concept of the ‘extended’ school. This article reports on the literacy strand of the Home School Knowledge Exchange (HSKE) project, directed by Professor Martin Hughes at the University of Bristol. A selection of literacy activities developed during this project is discussed – activities that enabled teachers and parents to share their knowledge about children in order to enhance their learning. These included ‘school‐to‐home’ activities where the direction of knowledge was primarily from teachers to families and ‘home‐to‐school’ activities where families' knowledge of children impacted on school learning. Practical aspects of planning and conducting home–school knowledge exchange activities are discussed, and challenges are explored. The approaches presented in this article provide examples that could be considered and adapted by schools interested in extending their provision for families. This article draws on the recently published Improving Primary Literacy: Linking Home and School (Feiler et al., 2007).

Exploring Assistant Principals’ Views on Parental Involvement in Bahraini Primary Education

“…There is still a need for more effective two-way communication and knowledge exchange (Feiler et al, 2008) between homes and schools. The findings suggest that home-school practices in the participants' schools may not be in line with the recommendation provided by DeMatthews (2018) which encourages schools to provide social or family services and utilize social capital from children's homes.…”

Teaching in a third space during national COVID-19 lockdowns: in loco magister?

“…Engaging with parents is a highly significant part of the provision of educative experiences for children (Feiler et al 2008), although the relationship between home and school has tended to be one-sided (Marsh 2003), with the privileging of school discourses. Third spaces have offered ways of unsettling separatist notions of home and school (Cook 2005) and of promoting the cultural capital of homes as important to school learning and to the identities of young learners.…”

Family-School Connections: Different Theoretical Perspectives and their Implications for Teacher Education

“…Their approach also focuses on how families develop social networks which can facilitate the development and exchange of resources including knowledge, skills and labor. In the UK, the Home School Knowledge Exchange project (Feiler et al, 2008) explored ways for enhancing primary literacy through exchanging ideas and skills between families and schools. The basic principles of the school program were: (a) All families possess important 'funds of knowledge' which can be drawn on to enhance children's learning at home.…”