This short film was produced by UIL and the Hamburg State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development (LI) to mark the 10th Anniversary of Hamburg’s Family Literacy Project (FLY). Since 2004, when FLY was launched by both institutions, it has helped thousands of children and parents, many of them with a migrant background, learn to read and write, and, ultimately, succeed in their further education.
Based primarily on the testimonies of FLY participants, the film presents the main components of the project. Teachers, parents and children explain through their own experience why FLY has been such a success.
FLY was awarded UNESCO’s international King Sejong Literacy Prize in 2010 and the Hamburg Education Prize in 2011 for its outstanding and innovative work. Today, there are 260 FLY learning groups at 67 schools in Hamburg, involving 500 facilitators, 1,000 parents and around 600 children. This is a very positive example of how literacy can be integrated into educational strategies that aim to create a more equal society.