ABSTRACT
Whilst the influence of home is widely recognised as a significant feature in the development of children's literacy and learning (Heath, 1983; Nutbrown et al., 2005), research suggests that the traffic between home and school is traditionally one-way, and that the emphasis on parental involvement in schooling is often at the expense of developing better home-school relations (Feiler et al., 2006; Hughes and Kwok, 2007). Such relations, shaped by historically set roles and positions of unequal power can disadvantage certain families and communities (Lareau, 2000). Furthermore, despite wide recognition of the impact of new technologies (e.g. with the work of the New London Group [Street, 1984]), institutional conceptions of literacy arguably remain somewhat print-oriented and book-bound; teachers' practices continue to foreground traditional notions of reading and writing (Hasset, 2006; Marsh, 2003a; Yeo, 2007). Such conceptualisations may sideline children's out-of-school experiences, their home literacy learning and the involvement of their families and communities.
