QUALITY STORYTENTS
A resource for family, early childhood and community literacy workers
The Quality Storytent program emerged from the context of "family literacy" programming.
"Family literacy" refers to the symbolic literacy or literacies developed and used in and by families (Taylor, 1983). The phrase includes a broad spectrum, and is essentially functionalist. Family literacy activities are purposeful, sometimes spontaneous, and typically ordinary. Shopping for groceries, talking about a television program or roadside sign, and sharing a family story are all part of family literacy.
"Family literacy" is distinct from "school literacy" in three major ways. First, it relates immediately to an individual family's culture. Second, it tends toward the ordinary or the everyday. Third, success in this kind of literacy appears as successful family communication and interaction, rather than in certification or promotion.
In and of itself, family literacy is an essentially private matter. It requires little social or political comment. It has no need of programs or interventions. However, in the past thirty years, family literacy has come into public view as a result of two expressed concerns. One concern has to do with how a family's lack of literacy skills can limit their economic, social and mental or physical well being. It is the dominant view that limited skills limit a family's choices and quality of life. The other concern has to do with the impact home life, especially in the early years, has in terms of how successful people are as students, workers and citizens. It is commonly perceived that children and adults suffer when there is a mismatch between a family's "literacy" and the literacy valued in the school or workplace.