With all the talk of "partnership", Growth and Partnership (GAP), a new programme that looks at the role of parents in their children's development within the family and at school, is in tune with the zeitgeist.
It was designed by Anne Ryan, a school principal and Larry Mulligan, a parish priest and community worker, in association with the City of Galway VEC. It was developed for use by all parents, but with specific focus on parents with low literacy skills or experiencing educational disadvantage.
GAP is a hands-on programme with parents working to identify for themselves children's developmental milestones, and then experiencing the sense of difficulty and achievement their children feel with each new challenge. The accompanying video shows parents involved in a variety of situations designed to parallel children's experience: trying to close a blouse with tiny buttons while wearing thick rubber gloves, or trying to decipher coded texts accompanied by an impatient adult who gets increasingly irritated by their struggles. Parents not only get some idea of what their children learn at school, but how they learn it and what we can do to encourage them.
The GAP pack provides parents with ample scope for great crack and a chance to develop insight into children's lives. It is avilable through the City of Galway VEC, Island House, Cathedral Square, Galway (tel: (091) 567194). It costs £45, including postage and packaging.
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