Approaches to Aboriginal Family and Community Literacy

Introduction

Learning Unit 1 examines the concept of family and community literacy in general terms and more specifically as it is understood in the context of Aboriginal teachings.  In so doing, this unit starts with the question, “What is literacy?” and continues by discussing literacy as an everyday part of family and community social practices. This unit introduces different models of family literacy in order to understand what beliefs about family literacy lie behind many popular programs. Lastly, Learning Unit 1 examines the idea of “best practices” in Aboriginal family literacy as a way of evaluating existing programs for the purposes of developing your own family literacy activities or initiatives in your programs and communities. Throughout the unit you are given opportunities to discuss and explore the ideas presented.

Objectives of the Unit

•   Understand general principles of family literacy.
• Incorporate Aboriginal approaches to learning into view of family and community literacy.
• Introduce three models of family literacy and recognize their features in existing “packaged” programs in Aboriginal family literacy contexts.
• To become familiar with the concept of “best practices” in Aboriginal family literacy as they align with the values, strengths, resources, and needs of your community.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this learning unit, you should:

• Understand how an Aboriginal approach to literacy fits with different ways literacy is understood (e.g. school-like reading and writing; Multiliteracies).
• Understand what is meant by the term “family literacy”.
• Identify different types of family literacy programs.
• Recognize the strengths of family literacy programs that use Multiliteracies and/or Social Change models (or framework) as well suited to an Aboriginal understanding of family and community literacy.