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The Letterbox Club: the impact on looked‐after children and their carers of a national project aimed at raising achievements in literacy for children aged 7 to 11 in foster care
Author(s) -
Dymoke Sue,
Griffiths Rose
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of research in special educational needs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.543
H-Index - 27
ISSN - 1471-3802
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-3802.2009.01143.x
Subject(s) - club , context (archaeology) , reading (process) , literacy , foster care , psychology , work (physics) , preference , early childhood education , developmental psychology , residential care , medical education , pedagogy , gerontology , medicine , political science , nursing , engineering , paleontology , mechanical engineering , anatomy , law , economics , biology , microeconomics
This paper considers the initial impact of a national project funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families which provides books, number activities and stationery items (once a month over a 6‐month period) directly to children aged 7–11 in their foster homes. The context of the project, established against a background of low attainment in literacy among looked‐after children in foster care in the UK, is explored. This paper focuses explicitly on the impact of the reading materials on the children who received them and on other people within the children's foster care environment. Particular reference is made to issues of ownership, textual preference and use of or engagement with the reading books, together with the implications that these findings may have for future work in this field both nationally and internationally.