Everybody Knows Your Name: Women Participants in Family Literacy Programs
By Stacey Crooks
Why I didn’t do the homework Because the phone is ringing The door is noking The kid is yumping The food is burning Time runs fast
Rosa in Auerbach, 1989
To think about… What do mothers get out of our
programs? What assumptions/discourses
practitioners do we bring to family literacy practice?
(How) can research address such questions?
Me Feminist Adult Literacy and ESL Practitioner Graduate Student (Mother)
What is family literacy? The ways family members use literacy
in their daily lives
Programs that “recognize the influence of the family on the literacy development of family members, and (try) to have a positive effect on them”
Thomas, 2001
Origins of project Practical Experience Academic Research
What is a family literacy program? Who are family literacy programs for?
Literature: Participatory approaches The participatory model is based on the
idea that “for literacy to be relevant, what goes on inside the classroom must relate to students’ lives outside the classroom” (Auerbach, 1992, p. 22).
Literature: Critiques Deficit Discourses Adults in family literacy program Women and Family Literacy
Invisibility of women Discourses of mothering
Problem “What do family literacy programs
means to the women who participate in them?”
Purpose Better understanding of why women
participate and what the impact is. Recommendations for research and
practice Value the experience of women as a
source of knowledge
Research Questions Why do women participate in the family
literacy programs and what makes their participation worthwhile
Research Questions How has participating in family literacy
programs at the Neighbourhood Family Centre impacted women participants?
Research Questions How does the construction of the
participants as mothers within family literacy programs affect their experience of the program and the changes that result from their participation?
Methodology Phenomenology
Through dialogue and reflection the meaning of the lived experience of participants will be revealed
Feminism Women’s lives made visible Women as creators of knowledge and
theory
Methods Participants
Women participants in family literacy programs
2 years Data Collection/Analysis
2 interviews Themes
Context Neighbourhood Family Centre
Family resource centre Direct parent, direct child Low intensity but many programs Other services
Jennifer With children you kind of work your life
around them and I try not to be, if I’m going to work that day, then I don’t go out. You know, I stay home with them. We cook supper and we read stories or we go to the park or you know, so I find that my time isn’t my own.
Jennifer “I was just so happy to have somewhere
where I could meet other moms and just, you know, have those couple hours, even in the morning, just to relax a little bit”.
Melanie I wasn't too sure on what I was going to
encounter or who I was going to meet kind of thing. Like I almost had the feeling that it was going to be a lot of older people, like a lot of older moms, like there wasn't going to be a lot of teenage moms and everything like myself
Melanie It was like sitting around in somebody's house
having coffee kind of thing and that' how it's been ever since. You go in there and it’s like the movie Cheers -- everybody knows your name and you're just right at home.
You can sit down with the kids and pretend to be a kid or you can sit and have coffee and have adult conversations with the adults or you can do a little bit of both if you want.
Leslie I love being home. I love the advantage I
have to do things at my pace and not have to be out of the house at eight o'clock in the morning. I like that and I mean, to be home for your kids is just the ultimate. I don't know if they appreciate that right off the hop but they will.
Leslie I think us daycare ladies are pretty much the
mainstay there. And now if I stay home, it's like, what do I
do? You know I enjoy going out and going to the programs and taking the kids and the kids love it. They absolutely love going.
Themes Experiences
Feeling Comfortable Feeling Connected Feeling Supported Feeling Valued
Cycle of experience
Women come for the first time
The women feel connected
The women feel supported
The women feel valued
The women feel comfortable
The women re-enter the world
Cycle of experience
Women come for the first time
The women feel connected
The women feel supported
The women feel valued
The women feel comfortable
The women re-enter the world
Themes Impacts
Social Networks and Community Participation
Relationships with Children Sense of Self
Findings “The discussion…made the double-
edged nature of their positionality visible--as women and as mothers” Tisdell, 2001
Findings Women as mothers (and caregivers)
“You know I enjoy going out and going to the program and taking the kids and the kids love it. They absolutely love going” - Leslie
Findings Mothers as women
The people at the Centre “care about you as a human being” - Melanie
“Women are very resilient. I think it’s amazing what they can heap on themselves and just keep going” - Jennifer
Questions for Research What would a feminist family literacy
program look like? How do discourses of motherhood
shape our expectations?
Questions for Research Who participates/doesn’t participate?
Why? How is experience related to outcomes? What is the impact on the community? How does context affect program
success? What does participation/engagement
mean to participants?
Recommendations for Practice Consider Gender A trusting environment A participatory approach Women as mothers and as women Focus on experience Document outcomes
Feminism and Family Literacy “Answering the needs of women
seeking to change, expand, or escape their traditional roles may seem beyond the limit of family literacy programs, but … it may be critical for them to address these needs, especially if the broader program goal of participant self-sufficiency and autonomy is taken seriously” (Cuban & Hayes, 1996).
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