The Snapshots

Family Literacy in Alberta

Alberta is one of the few provinces with a parent-child strategy. Created by the Ministry Advanced Education and Technology, this strategy supports approaches to literacy that “integrate adult literacy instruction and early oral language development for children from birth to age six.” In Alberta two literacy organizations play important roles in adult and family literacy. These are Literacy Alberta and Centre for Family Literacy.

How is family literacy funded in Alberta?

The provincial government’s parent-child literacy strategy (PCLS) recognizes the disadvantages that being poor can have on the development of literacy skills in children. The goals of the PCLS are to:

• enhance the oral language, early literacy and social interaction skills of children from birth to age six so they are better able to achieve success at home, school, and in the community
• strengthen and build the basic literacy skills of parents
• support and foster the involvement of parents in their children’s learning
• develop and enhance community-based partnerships that support the development of language and literacy skills of families. ^{Footnote 5}

A cross-ministerial approach (Alberta Advanced Education and Technology, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, Learning, Solicitor General and Health Canada) ensures that the strategy is clearly linked to both early childhood development initiatives and adult learning initiatives.

The PCLS forms the backbone of Advanced Education and Technology’s Family Literacy Initiative Fund (FLIF). Using a call for proposals approach to funding, FLIF provides a maximum of $40,000 per year. Projects can a have a one, two or three year funding cycle. Project proposals must “directly involve parents or caregivers of pre-school aged children in proven and commonly accepted activities aimed at supporting the literacy development of their families.”

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