European conference on parental involvement to be held next month

The Foundation for Educational Services (FES) is organising a two-day European conference on the theme of Lifelong Learning through Parental Involvement in Education.

The Conference will take place at the Coastline Hotel in Qawra on July 10 and 11. It will discuss issues related to parental involvement in education on the local and international stage and how such involvement is leading to the parents' own lifelong learning.

The conference will bring to a close the P.E.Fa.L. (Parent Empowerment for Family Literacy) project that was led by the FES in Malta in collaboration with the participating partner countries, namely Belgium, England, Italy, Lithuania, and Romania, with the support of the European Commission in the Grundtvig 1 strand of the Socrates programme.

Through the P.E.Fa.L. Project, organisations from the participating countries have set up innovative and successful family literacy programmes that are breaking new ground in the application of strategies that enhance parental participation in their children's educational development and lead to parents' own development both as parents and as learning adults.

Throughout the academic year 2003-2004, the FES actively worked in partnership with a number of primary state schools in Malta and Gozo. Staff engaged within the FES Parent Learning Support Programme involved parents in educational sessions of Id f'Id and Id f'Id f'Hilti after school as well as during the day.

During these sessions parents not only learnt skills necessary to support their children's learning process but also identified their needs as parents and adult learners within the wider scope of their local school community. Consequently, a majority of parents expressed their wish for further adult-focused training which could lead to their more active and meaningful participation in their children's education and within their schools.

FES professionally trained programme animators collaborated with interested schools and parents to create the Parents in Education Project. The programme animators trained 72 'parent leaders' who then worked with the teachers to plan, design and deliver short courses according to specific educational topics. The parents themselves chose these topics on the basis of their identified needs and strengths as well as formal and informal learning experiences.

These 72 'parent leaders' will be involved in the upcoming conference. They will be joined by parents from the other partner countries. Together they will share and present their experiences regarding their own journey of self-discovery and lifelong learning achieved as a result of involvement in their child's educational development and school-life gained during their respective family literacy programmes.

Concurrently, a training seminar for all Maltese and European 'parent leaders' will be held during the conference. The seminar will aim to:

a) celebrate the achievements of the families that participated in the family literacy programmes run by the P.E.Fa.L. partner institutions;

b) disseminate the experiences, expertise and findings of both P.E.Fa.L. partner institutions as well as those of other institutions around Europe;

c) include the P.E.Fa.L. experience in the wider European debate on the role of family literacy programmes in stimulating parental lifelong learning processes and socio-cultural integration.

d) support the setting up of Europe-wide information-transfer and support networks both of organisations involved in family literacy and parental involvement initiatives, as well as those of parents and groups of parents involved in such initiatives.

Local and international academics, researchers, policy makers and practitioners in the field of lifelong learning and parental involvement in education will address a number of workshops and fora focusing on three main strands, namely:

¤ Parental participation in educational assessment;

¤ Home-school links for enhanced lifelong learning processes;

¤ Family literacy.

These workshops will also involve the input of those parents who have participated in family literacy programmes in Malta and overseas.

The main themes of the conference will be addressed in two keynote speeches by Prof. Sheila Wolfendale from the University of East London and Ms Pat Collard, executive director for regional development within the Basic Skills Agency in Britain.

This conference should be of particular interest to educational administrators, educators working in the field of lifelong learning and parental involvement in education, and parents, particularly those who have already participated in FES programmes or who are interested in learning more and would like to participate in similar programmes in the future.

The highlight of the conference will be the European Family Festival that will take place on the evening of Saturday, July 10, between 7 and 10 p.m. on the open-air terrace of the hotel.

The festival will be an opportunity to celebrate all the educational achievements of FES and P.E.Fa.L. programmes. An 'educational market' featuring stands and exhibits of local and European family literacy programmes will be set up.

All those who attend the festival will be able to visit these stands where fun learning activities for all the family can be carried out and little tokens presented to all.

Food stalls will also be set up in the area. This event will be open to the general public and entrance is free.

Further information about the European Family Festival and Conference may be obtained by visiting the website www.pefalmalta.org.mt, or by contacting Marie Claire Mifsud at the Foundation for Educational Services on 2145 5600/7 ext.121 or by email to marie-claire.mifsud@gov.mt