Creating cycles of writing and reading in a resource-poor school community in Kenya: Could one literacy event lead to ongoing literacy practices?

Strong correlations between high levels of poverty and low education outcomes have prompted interventions aimed at raising literacy levels in communities characterised by poverty within Kenya, as in other countries. However, interventions aimed at improving literacy only in the languages of instruction (LOI) may not be the best option for students who speak mother tongues (MT) different from the school's LOI. The Capability Approach framework is used to examine the potential of parent-produced MT materials to be low-cost entry points into early-grade literacy for one resource-poor Kenyan school. It demonstrates that factors related to poverty strongly impact that potential.

► I examine the real possibilities for parental impact on school literacy in Kenya.
► The research is set within poverty and minority language contexts.
► Capability Approach underpins this study of parents creating mother tongue texts.
► Findings show that possibilities are constrained by poverty-related circumstances.
► This has implications for agencies seeking to raise literacy levels in such contexts.