The home school knowledge exchange project: Linking home and school to improve children's literacy

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). © 2008 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2008 NASEN