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Twenty-five parents in Manukau will start going to school during the next few weeks as part of the pilot Manukau Family Literacy Programme.

Each day student parents at Rowandale and Bairds Schools can visit their child's classroom or adjacent kindergarten to support their child's developing literacy, as well as gaining education credits of their own.

The four-part programme recognises the significance of the adult/parent in children's learning and the need for parents to feel confident about their own learning if they want to help their children.

Both children and parents have opportunities in the programme to develop their literacy and other skills through shared conversation, reading, writing, and computer literacy. Each day in Pactt (Parent and child time together) parents practise reading and listening to their child and in the evenings the whole family gets involved.

The programme, which is integrated through tertiary, school and early childhood partners, is supported through Comet (City of Manukau Education Trust) with funding from the Tertiary Education Commission and Ministry of Education. Local publishers have provided books for both children and adults for the family literacy classrooms.

Further information at www.comet.org.nz or email the regional coordinator: robin.h@xtra.co.nz

- Robin Houlker