The first section of this manual is an overview of Get Set Learn. This section includes:
This section is designed to give you the background knowledge necessary to determine if Get Set Learn is the family literacy program that would best suit the needs of your clients.
Get Set Learn is a family literacy program that focuses on both parents and their children. Three Key Messages are stressed in this program:
Get Set Learn (GSL) consists of an 8-week session featuring two classes per week. Each class lasts 2 hours and is divided into a family part as well as a parents only and children only part. Each session of GSL has a total of 32 hours.
Get Set Learn was developed in 2003 to give parents with low literacy skills on Ontario Works (OW), tools and strategies to enable them to help their children succeed in school. This program was and is still sponsored by the municipal government (Region of Waterloo, Income Supports Division). Caseworkers from the Region of Waterloo, Income Supports Division found that parents on OW had many barriers to attending a literacy class, the least of which was child care so they sponsored GSL in hopes of getting these parents out of their homes and into a program. The caseworkers hoped that not only would the OW parents be given tools and strategies to help their children be successful in school, but also that these parents would either attend another literacy program following GSL, or have the confifidence and skill to become employed.