CE 057 484 AUTHOR - ERICDOCUMENT RESUME ED 335 443 CE 057 484 AUTHOR Bossort, Patty, Ed.; And Others TITLE Literacy 2000: Make the Next Ten Years Matter. Conference Summary (New Westminster,

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 335 443 CE 057 484

AUTHOR Bossort, Patty, Ed.; And OthersTITLE Literacy 2000: Make the Next Ten Years Matter.

Conference Summary (New Westminster, BritishColumbia, October 18-21, 1990).

INSTITUTION British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education,Training and Technology, Victoria.; Douglas Coll.,New Westminster (British Columbia).; NationalLiteracy Secretariat, Ottawa (Ontario).

REPORT NO ISBN-0-7718-8995-XPUB DATE Oct 90NOTE 184p.

PUB TYPE Collected Works - Conference Proceedings (021)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC08 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Adult Basic Education; Adult Literacy; *Community

Involvement; Community Services; Cultural Awareness;Demonstration Programs; Developed Nations; ForeignCountries; *Illiteracy; Industrial Education;*Literacy Education; Models; Multicultural Education;On the Job Training; *Outreach Programs; ProgramEffectiveness; Recruitment; Research Utilization;Teacher Certification; Teacher Education

IDENTIFIERS Canada; England; Wales; *Workplace Literacy

ABSTRACT _.

This conference summary contains 36 presentations.Participants' comments, taken from response cards, are quoted .

throughout. Presentations from the Opening Plenary include a keynoteaddress--"What Is Literacy?: Critical Issues for the Next Decade"(John Ryan) and four "Panzlist Presentations" (Francis Kazemek,Lorraine Fox, Joyce White, Robin Silverman). Papers in the section,"Evening with Fernando Cardenal," are "Background" (Evelyn Murialdo);"Introduction" (David Cadman); "Special Presentation" (FernandoCardenal); and "Closing Remarks" (Gillies Malnarich). Remainingpresentations are as follows: "Understanding Literacy as aDevelopmental Process" (Francis Kazemek); "Closing Gaps betweenResearch and Practice" (Pat Rigg); "Revealing Facts: StatisticsCanada's 190 Study" (Gilles Montigny, Stan Jones); "Learners SpeakOut" (Bram Fisher et al.); "Puente Project: Berkeley, California"(Mary Healy et al.); "Talking about Lives: Planning Programs forWomen" (Jennifer Horsman); "ALBSU's (Adult Literacy and Basic SkillsUnit) Student Accreditation Initiative" (Judith Banbury); "Breakingthe Stigma/Recruitment Strategies: Sweden" (Kjell Rubenson);"nead-Write: Kingston, Ontario" (Carynne Arnold); "Hackney LearningCentre: London, England" (Althea Williams); "Regina Library'sLiteracy Tutors: Saskatchewan" (r.orraine Hladik); "Combining Practiceand Theory in Community Literacy" (Elaine Gaber-Katz, Gladys Watson);"Applying Freire, Rethinking %;:mceptions: Quebec" (Pierre Simard);"Promoting Learner-Driven Programs" (Sally McBeth); "TakingMulticultural Issues into Account: Toronto" (Manuel Pinto, BrendaDuncombe); "Treating Learners as Experts: Halifax, Nova Scotia" (GaryMacDonald); "Snowdrift Chipewyan Project: Northwest Territories"(Joanne Barnaby, Eleanor Millard); "Exchanging Viewpoints:Pler"-.ifying Obstacles" (Tracy Defoe et al.); "BEST (Basic Educationior Skills Training) Project: Ontario Federation of Labour" (TamaraLevine); "Reading/Writing On-the-Job: British Columbia" (Emily Goetz,Ron Brown); "Vancouver City Hall Project: British Columbia" (Gary

Pharness); "Workbase: London, England" (Lucy Bonnerjea); "InstructorCertification Scheme: England and Wales" (Judith Banbury);"Legitimizing Practitioners' Skills and Worth" (Serge Wagner);"Moving On: From Learner to Teacher" (Elsa Auerbach); "Tracking theProcess: Tracking Report" (Richard Darville); "Summarizing theProcess" (Joyce Cameron et al.). Conference evaluations and afollow-up are appended. (YLB)

***********************************************************************

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom tte original document.

**********"************************************************************

re

LITERACY 2000:k

Literacy 2000:Makt the Next Ten Years Matter

an International Conference held atDouglas College

New Westminster, B.C.October 18 - 21, 1990

FROM READING AND WRITING FUNDAMENTALS TOVOCATIONAL AND COLLEGE ENTRY.

FROM CONFIDENT FUNCTIONING IN A CULTURE TOEFFECTIVE UNDERSTANDING AND USE OF INFORMATIONIN A MODERN WORLD.

Conference Planning Committee:

Conference Sponsors:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educatfonal Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

his document nes been reproduced atreceived from the person or organizationoriginating it

0 Minor changes nave been made to Improvereproduction duality

Points of view 0 opinions slated in this document do not necessarily represent officialOERI position or policy

Gillies MalnarichJoyce CameronCatherine Bissett

Province of British ColumbiaMinistry of Advanced Education,llaining and Technology

Multiculturalism and Citizenship Canada,National Literacy Secretariat

Douglas College

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISM ERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

" r 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication DataMain entry under title:Literacy 2000, conference summary

Cover title.Editors: Patty Bossort ... et al. Cf. p. iii.Conference sponsors: Province of British Columbia,

Ministry of Advanced Education, Training andTechn Aogy, Multiculturalism and Citizenship Canada,National Literacy Secretariat, and Douglas College.

ISBN 0-7718-8995-X

1. Literacy - Congresses. 2. Literacy - BritishColumbia - Congresses. 3. Literacy programs-Congresses. 4. Literacy programs - British Columbia -Congresses. I. Bossort, Patty. II. British Columbia.Ministry of Advanced Education, Training andTechnology. III. Canada. National LiteracySecretariat. IV. Douglas College. V. lltle: Literacy2000, make the next ten years matter.

LC149.L57 1991374.012 C91-092044-3

3

Well before LITERACY 2000: MAKE THE NEXT TEN YEPIIS MATTER happened, we described this

conference as a place where innovative reseatch, practise, and program models would be highlighted. We

wanted to organize a forum for the people behind many of the initiatives sparked (and funded) by the occasion

of UNESCO's International Literacy Yro. By directing our collective attention towald the next ten years, we

chose to see 1990 as a moment not ony for celebration but for change. This is why we wanted LITERACY 2000

to be issue-oriented ... an opportunity for promoting debate and discussion.

This same focus has been followed in preparing the conference report Workshop descriptions, which reflect

questions currently raised in the adult basic education field, are reproduced from the original conference

catalogue. Workshop facilitator' notes have been summarized. Presentations made at plenary sessions by the

key-note speaker, panelists, and tracker are also included. You will find that participants' comments, taken

from response cards filled out during LITERACY 2000, ate quoted throughout. But most of what you will read

are papers written by conference presenters bpecifically for this publication. These have been edited for length

and clarity.

Many of you wanted us to describe the conference design, particularly the tracking process, so a critique has

been included with recommendations for ways to improve this 'experiment'. As well, we report on inifiatives

which are a direct outcome of the conference. While we cannot trace the various changes in individuals' thinking

and practise which undoubtedly occur when people meet together at conferences, these changes are no less

significant than an organization's efforts.

That LITERACY 2000 has been a catalyst for future cooperative endeavors and the organization of working-

groups who are beginning to address issues in depth, pleases us greatly. This, after all, was our intent.

Any report of an event risks becoming an artefact, even before it is published. Despite this limitation, we hope

you will find the contents useful. Material has been organized by theme for easier reference.

Gil lies Malnarich

Joyce Cameron

Catherine Bissett

Editors: Patty BossortCathy MonnastesGillies Malnarich

Design and Production: Mainline Graphics

ADVISORY COMMIll ET

Patty Bossort

David Cadman

Jean Cockburn

Alister Cumming

Richard Darville

Lorraine Fox

Mia Gordon

Keith Gray

Marina Melnikoff

Brenda Pickard

Thomas Quigley

Donna Stevens

Linda Tosczak

Lee Weinstein

President,ABE Association, B.C.

National President,United Nations Association in Canada

Librarian,Douglas College

Assistant Professor,Faculty of Education, U.B.C.

Researrh Associate,Centre for Policy Studies in Education, U.B.C.

Literacy and Thtoring Centre Coordinator,Native Education Centre, Vancouver

Director, Student Services/Developmental Education,Douglas College

Vice-president, Govermnental Relations & Educational Services,Business Council of B.C.

Literacy Project Coordinator,B.C. Federation of Labour

Developmental Studies StudentDouglas College

Chair, Literacy Advisory Committee,Greater Vancouver Library Federation

Literacy Instructor,Okanagan College

Education Officer,B.C. Government Employees Union

Vice-principal,Invergarry Learning Centre, Surrey, B.C.

ADDITIONAL SPONSORS

United Nations Association in CanadaVancouver Foundation

5

TAHI I OF CoN ii H1`.-;

OPENING PLENARY

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

PANELIST PRESENTATIONS

PARTICIPANTS' RESPONSES

EVENING WITH FERNANDO CARDENAL

BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION

SPECIAL PRESENTATION

QUESTION PERIOD

CLOSING REMARKS

DEFINING LITERACY: CONCEPTION & STRATEGIES

John Ryan 3

Francis Kazemek 11

Lorraine Fox 13

Joyce White 15

Robin Silverman 17

19

Evelyn Murialdo 37

David Cadman 39

Fernando Cardenal 41

49

Gil lies Malnarich 51

UNDERSTANDING LITERACY AS A DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESS Francis Kazemek 55

CLOSING GAPS BETWEEN RESEARCH AND PRACTISE Pat Rigg 59

REVEALING FACTS: STATISTICS CANADA'S 1990 STUDY Gilles Montigny & Stan Jones 64

MUETING LEARNER NEEDS: PERSPECTIVES & DIRECTIONS

LEARNERS SPEAK OUT Bram Fisher, Agnes Barnes, Robin Silverman,

Jerry Lee Miller & Larry Loyie 69

PUENTE PROJECT: BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA Mary K. Healy, Felix Galaviz & Patricia McGrath 71

TALKING ABOUT LIVES: PLANNING PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN Jennifer Horsman 73

ALBSU'S STUDENT ACCREDITATION INITIATIVE Judith Banbury 78

REACHING OU11 LITERACY & ME COMMUNITY

BREAKING THE STIGMA/RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES: SWEDEN Kjell Rubenson 83

READ-WRITE: KINGSTON, ONTARIO Carynne Arnold

HACKNEY LEARNING CENTRE: LONDON, ENGLAND Althea Williams 92

REGINA LIBRARY'S LITERACY TUTORS: SASKATCHEWAN Lorraine Hladik 95

COMBINING PRACTICE & THEORY IN COMMUNITY LITERACY Elaine Caber-Katz

& Gladys Watson 100

Pierre Simard 104

PROMCTING LEARNER-DRIVEN PROGRAMS Sally Mc Beth 108

APPLYING FRIERE, RE-THINKING CONCEPTIONS: QUEBEC

INTERPRETING LITERACY: CULTURE & CONTEXT

TAKING MULTICULTURAL ISSUES INTO ACCOUNT: TORONTO

TREATING LEARNERS AS EXPERTS: HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA

SNOWDRIFT CHIPEWYAN PROJECT: NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

WORKING IT THROUGH: LITERACY & THE JOB SITE

EXCHANGING VIEWPOINTS: IDENTIFYING OBSTACLES

BEST PROJECT: ONTARIO FEDERATION OF LABOUR

READING/WRITING ON-THE-JOB: BRITISH COLUMBIA

VANCOUVER CITY HALL PROJECT: BRITISH COLUMBIA

WORKBASE: LONDON, ENGLAND

TRAINING INSTRUCTORS: EXPERIENCE & ACCREDITATION

V. Manuel Pinto

& Brenda Duncombe 115

Gary MacDonald 118

Joanne Barnaby

& Eleanor Millard 122

Tracy Defoe 129

Gary Johncox 131

Don Graham 132

Tamara Levine 133

Emily Goetz 137

Ron Brown 146

Gary Pharness 144

Lucy Bonnerjea 149

INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATION SCHEME: ENGLAND & WALES Judith Banbury 155

LEGITIMIaNG PRACTITIONERS' SKILLS AND WORTH Serge Wagner 158

MOVING ON: FROM LEARNER TO TEACHER Elsa Auerbach 164

TRACKING THE PROCESS: DESIGN, IDEAS, INTTIATIVES

TRACKING REPORT Richard Darville 173

SUMMARIZING THE PROCESS Joyce Cameron, Mlles Malnarich & Catherine Bissett 179

CONFERENCE EVALUAI IONS 181

FOLLOW-UP 187

WORKSHOP FACILITATORS 189

OPENING PLENARY

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

John RyanCoordinator, International Literacy Year Secretariat, UNESCO,

?aris, France

111PANELIST PRESENTATIONS

Francis KazemekProfessor, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WashingtonTutor and tutor trainerResearcher and writer in adult literacy

Lorraine FoxLiteracy and Tutoring Centre Coordinator, Native Education Centre,

11Vancouver

Joyce WhiteMember, International Task Force on Literacy

1111Robin SilvermanChair of Learners' Action Group of CanadaMovement for Canadian Literacy Board member

1111Former literacy student

PARTICIPANTS' RESPONSES

OPENING PLENARY

WITH INTERNATIONAL UTERACY YEAR DRAWING TO AN END, UTERACY ISSUES

HAVE BEEN PLACED HIGH ON ME AGENDA IN MANY COUNTRIES. WHAT DO WE

MEAN BY LITERACY AND WHAT ARE THE CRITICAL ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED IN

THE COMING DECADE? THESE QUESTIONS WERE DISCUSSED IN A KEYNOTE

SPEECH, PANEUST PRESENTATIONS, AND OPEN DEBATE AT THE BEGINNING OF

THE CONFERENCE.

John Ryan

What is Literacy?: Critical Issues for the Next Decade

This conference is most timely and addresses the question which isIn all of our minds: what next? In Canada, as in many countries around theworld, International Literacy Year has been put to good use. The year wasrecognized as an occasion to place literacy issues high on the nationalagenda and this opportunity has been seized with energy, skill andconviction. Nearly every day during my brief stay in Canada thenewspapers that miraculously appeared under hotel doors in the middleof the night brought report% comments and editorials on literacy. In anarticle which appeared yesterday in the Globe and Mail, Susan Kellmanspeaks of an "edge of desperation" concerning literacy and cites a StatisticsCanada report estimating that 38 percent of the Canadian population hasdifficulties, of greater or lesser degree, in reading printed materials encoun-tered in daily life. I will not seek to interpret this statistic. The debate onthat is already under way. But I will unhesitatingly interpret this story, andmany others like it which I have seen, as persuasive evidence that you aredoing your job well. Thanks to your efforts, literacy has 'come out of thecloset and is increasingly perceived as a problem which concerns thesodety as a whole not merely the illiterates and those relatively fewpeople who work with them. This is decisive progress! But it makes evenmore urgent the issue we are gathered here to discuss and debate. Wheredo we go from here? How can we make the next ten years count?

We, as educators, have insisted repeatedly and rightly that education isthe force of the future, the way of enabling societies to adjust to changesand transformation. If we are right and have been understood rightly,literacy and education should be perceived as rainy-weather gear, asprotection in inclement economic times. As the economic storm doudsgathering ominously on the horizon move overhead, governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector should all raise theirliteracy umbrellas for shelter. But will this happen or will education for themost vulnerable sectors of the popul, Aion be the first victim of austerity?We may not, alas, have long to wait before we learn the answer to thatquestion.

- 3

The precedents are not happy ones. The response to a persisting economiccrisis in the developing nations has been externally imposed cuts in socialexpenditures, affecting education with particular severity Societies inwhich millions of children are without teachers or schools have been toldto cut back their education budgets if they wish to receive additionalinternational loans. If the industrialized countries are going to prescribethe same medicine at home that they have recommended abroad, wecould find ourselves moving from mobilization to demobilization withonly a few indecisive scrimmages in between. But this is not a fatality - amatter utterly beyond our control - but rather an issue on which societymust make a decision. And our Conference is important precisely becauseit can have an influence on that &vision. It is our responsibility as literacyworkers and educators to provide compelling arguments as to whyliteracy is important which, put differently and more starkly, is reallyabout why the illiterate and the semi-literate are important and why theyneed and deserve educational services to make their lives easier, morefulfilling and more rewarding.

What is Literacy?

The organizers of Literacy 2000 have suggested I begin by confronting avery fundamental question: what is literacy? Is that the same question as:whs: do you mean by literacy? What we mean by literacy is evidentlyenormously diverse and becoming more so every day. There is simplegarden variety literacy. Then, there is a hybrid called functional literacy. Andthere ale also many rarer species such as computer literacy, social literacy,cultural literacy and xonomie literacy. As a consequence, there are alsoeconomic illiterates, an endearing term that politicians enjoy applying to oneanother. With the growing tragedy of AIDS, one hears more and moreabout sexual literates and, especially, sexual illiterates, the latter being ingreater peril these days than ever before. In short, literacy is very a la modeand, inevitably, with use has rome abuse and confusion.

Through a sort of Ciesham's law, literacy is driving out broader terms suchas education, socialization and ability to cope as well as narrower onesdescribing the component parts of literacy such as reading, writing andmastery of vocabulary. Nowadays, if we identify a problem, we almostinstantaneously identify a literacy to handle it. If our front yards, forexample, become chocked with crab-grass, before very long we may findourselves talidng about herbicide literacy. The danger in such loose usage isnot that concepts and terminology become corrupted or diluted, but thatwhat should clearly be our main concern people in need of basiceducational services - may be lost track of and neglected.

The UNESCO definition of literacy dates back to the 1950's although it hasbeen given a few minor retouches since. It is a sensible and intuitivedefinition:

"a person is literate who can with understanding read and writea short statement on his everyday life."

At the time this was adopted, it was considered quite a rigorous definition.It excluded, for example, thole who could merely sign their names themeasure of literacy used in the Common Law - as well as those who could'read' but were oblivious to what they were reading. Thus, people trained

- 4

and even expert in recitation, but not understanding, of holy scripture felloutside the literacy category. On the other hand, the definition was inclusivein that literacy could be achieved in any language or any orthography. In theoperationalization of this definition, both its rigour and its inclusivenesshave suffered. Census-takers usually measure literacy on a self-report basisin response, for example, to a question such as "Are you able to read?", or onthe basis of information provided by the head of the household or whoeverelse may be home when the enumerator visits. Or, in other cases, literacystatus is inferred from the number of years of schooling reported, on theassumption that X-years of schooling four, six, eight or more yearsdepending on the country no matter when, where or how undertaken,confers 'literacy'. There are obvious pitfalls in such approaches. Reportedliteracy may not conespond to actual literacy; years of schooling, even if wewere able to agree upon the needed dosage, are evidently a rubber yardstickas students derive very different values from their exposure to schooldepending upon preparation, family background, home langauge andcountless other factors.

The overall impact is probably to exaggerate the extenrof literacy andminimize that of illiteracy. Yet, in some countries there are factors that tend inthe opposite direction. Literacy, for example, may be operationally defined asability to read an official language. In a number of western African countries,the restriction is even more sevem in that the official language must be Indin the Latin script. People who read the 'wrong' language or even the 'right'language in the 'wrong' orthography usually the Arabic script - may findthemselves counted among the illiterate. There is also an interesting problemof non-alphabetic orthographies. The Chinese, for example, measure literacyas the ability to recognize 2000 characters if one lives in an urban area, and1500 if one resides in rural regions. As meaning in idiographic languages isembedded in the characters - in a way in which it is not in alphabets, whichare merely intermediaries - this seems a quite sensible definition.

Given the prevailing problems with both the definitton and measurement ofliteracy, the best advice to potential users of literacy statistics may be omitemptor, let the buyer beware. Some uses are, of course, more appropriate andless perilous than others. Statistics deriving from the same census can usuallybe compared with greater confidence than longitudinal data, as both thecollection procedures and the rigour with which they ate applied differ fromone time period to another. Cross-national comparisons are especiallyhazardous. One cannot be certain if reported diffciences reflect differingrealities or are artifacis of the definition applied or the procedures employed.Numerous initiatives have been taken in recent years to improve literacystatistics, but it will be some time before these bear fruit. One technique ofparticular interest is the household survey of a sample of the population.This not only provides a test of the reliability of census data, but also permitsa fuller picture of the realities of which literacy and illiteracy are a part.Through such surveys one can, for example, determine what is the homelanguage, the language (or languages) of literacy, how literacy skills wereacquired, and who in the household are the literates, the children or theadults? One can thus infer whether literacy is diffused from parents tochildren, as the advocates of intergenerational literacy strategies insist, orwhether it is something children carry home from school.

Definitions of literacy are numemus and could doubtless be discussea -inconclusively - until the end of this Conference to the exclusion of moreimportant matters. But that would be a most unwise allocation of our

-5- 1.1.

IIAre there other

ways of knowing,imaginhig, besidesliteracy? Kazemek, likeSmith and others,particularly thoseinvolved in writing,suggests that literacyallows people toimagine, create, etc.What does that sayabout culture andindividuals who do notrely on literacy? Doesemphasizing literacy(and literacy-shapedoral languageexchanges) limit ourways of knowing?

11'

from Participants' Response Cards

attention. The point to remember is, I think, 'Mt definitions are not rightor wrong; they are fruitful or fruitless or, nwe commonly, some place inbetween. Definition is not an end in itself, but a means for taking hold ofslippery realities in order to be able to use them for policy or researchpurposes. There are only two points I would wish to make on this subjectbefore passing on to address the issues that will confront us in the 1990's.First, it is evident that literacy in its classical sense an elementarymastery of two of the three R's, reading and writing is not the literacythat counts economically, socially or culturally. The literacy which iseconomically relevant, for example, is increasingly complex. It requires notonly the ability to read and understand standard text, but also to handlenumbers, graphics, visual information and much more. Even this may notsuffice, as success on most jobs is not determined mainly by cognitivefunctioning, but by commitment, ability to work with others and masteryof the sub-culture of a particular workplace.

UNESCO's definition of functional literacy, which dates from 1978, was anattempt to come to terms with the growing gap between so-called basicliteracy and the literacy that matters in complex living and workingenvironments encountered in industrialized countries and, increasingly, inthe developing world as well. Functional literacy is defined as the ability:

"to engage in all those activities in which lit !racy is required foreffective functioning of one's group and community and also forenabling one to use reading, writing and calculation for one'sown and the community's development".

This, as you will observe, is a higher, broader and relative definition ofliteracy. Under this definition, literacy is not measured in absolute terms,but in relationship to the exigencies of life in pa, e.^..:ular situations orsettings. Implicit in this definition is the notion that there are not onlymany degrees of literacy, but also many kinds of literacy: social literacies,cultural literacies and economic litaracies, to name but a few.

In fact, the fundamental conceptual difficulty at the root of the prob:ernof definition is that liWracy is a continuum which we have chosen tomeasure as a dichotomy. Literacy for an English-speaker, runs from zeroto Shakespeare. Hence, where to draw the frontiers between literacy andilliteracy is inherently arbitrary and problematic. In fact, as has been noted,the problem is even more complex because literacy is multifaceted ratherthan one-dimensional. One may, for example, be able to master acookbook with ease, but be unable to comprehend a statistics text or viceversa. It is for this reason that recent attempts to measure literacy,particularly in Canada and the United States, have focused not upondefining, but upon plotting or describing competencies: indicating, forexample, what part of the population can handle everyday reading andwriting tasks such as filling out postal forms or reading directions on apay telephone. Such measures provide a far more differentia:1d andinformative measurement of literacy skills than do efforts to draw adividing line between the literate and the illiterate. In addition, suchefforts link the island of literacy to the mainland of education byemphasizing the continuity of the educational process rather thanconstructing arbitrary classifications and artificial barriers.

Indeed, the insights deriving from more than a generation of research inpsychology show that literacy is and must be knowledge-driven. The formernotion of reading as passive decoding has given way to empirical findingsthat skillful reading is an active and multifaceted search for meaning ratherthan a mere deciphering of text. The good reader does nr ,. recognize thewords by their letters; he or she identifies or deduces them from theircontibution to the meaning of the passage. Fluent reading depends upon abackdrop of knowledge: the facts, figures, concepts and allusions that are thecurrency of discussion in society. Thus, the relationship between literacy andthe broader concept of education is reciprocal. Literacy is a means of gainingknowledge, but the knowledge gained through education and experience, inturn, empower reading. Consequently, definitions of literacy as anautonomous skill are mistaken and misleading. Knowledge of the 'mechanicsof reading' is only one of many skills used to wring meaning from a text. Thetruth of this assertion was impressed upon me some weeks ago when Ipurchased an inexpensive travel alarm made in the Orient and attempted toset it using the directions provided. 'lb my chagrin I discovered that, while Iknew all the words, I still did not possess alarm clock literacy: the knowledgeof what those words meant in a verygpticular operational context.

What are the implications of this discussion? First, I think that what we aresubsuming under the terms literacy and illiteracy are educational abilities ordeficiencies of a very extensive and complex nature. We may all understandthis, but the world of policy-makers am; politicians to whom we addressourselves may not. It is possible, if you are of an optimistic nature and notoverly informed, to believe that there may be a quick fix to the literacyproblem, but few people would suppose that there could be a fast or cheapsolution to a fundamental educational problem which is, in fact, what we areconfronting. Meaningful literacy requires not only knowledge of an alphabet,but also a wide array of other knowledge and skills. Hence, we must not givethe impression that quick and easy victories are to be expected and, if othersdo so, we should politely, but quickly, correct them.

Progress is certainly possible - and indeed, is being achieved - but it calls forpersistence and the investment of adequate resources over an extendedperiod of time. The mad to a literate society is a long and demanding one andwe must not deceive ourselves nor deceive anyone else regarding this brisktruth. There are no shortcuts. We must cease to imalOne that there is a frontiermarked 'Literacy' and that once we have shoved people beyond it we canforget them. Literacy is an ill-defined territory on the road of life-longeducation. Those at the start of the journey may encounter the greatestdifficulties and require the most help, but all along the mute, society has aduty and an interest to serve by offering a helping hand.

Issues for the 1990's

What are the issues that will confront us in the 90's? Evidently, they aremany, but I shall touch on only a very few. In the developing nations, afundamental question is: After literacy what?. What should be is set forthvery sucdnctly in the sub-title of this Conference.

"from reading and writing fundamentals to vocational and college entry;from confident fuictioning in a culture to effective understanding anduse of informatioi in a modem world".

1 3

How do wedistinguish literacywork from socialwork?

The reiteration by eachof the panelists of theparticular, genderreferenced, contextualnature of literacy leadsto concern over threeissues: the emphasis onworkplace literacy (ie.meeting corporeecapitalism's needs!),creeping misuse ofquick-fix computerprograms; anddevelopment of moreunderstanding ofwomen's ways ofknowing.


This may be a realistic aspiration in British Columbia but, sadly, it is a far-fetched dream for much of the debt-ridden and impoverished developingworld where there is likely to be little to read, especially in nationallanguages, and very little, if any, institutiond support to help in pursuingvocational or career goals. Yet, as the number of literate and semi-literateyouth rapidly expands, the need for follow-up materials - for newspapers,magazines and books of many kinds - grows accordingly. If anappropriate response is not forthcoming, past successes in making peopleliterate may begin to count against us. This issue is tugent. Indeed, themost important lesson I would draw from an examination of UNESCO'sexperience of more than 40 years of literacy work in the developingnations is that relatively less should be done to teach literacy and a gooddeal more done to make literacy a useful and rewarding skill to possess. Itis by working on the demand side of the equation that the best and leastcostly results will be obtained and the most serious disappointmentsavoided. Already, there is some evidence in the poorest countries that notonly is the 'Revision of education dropping, but demand for it is alsodeclining. Parents, living on the edge of survival, do not wish to sacrificethe benefits the family derives from the work of a child for the uncertaingains which may come from education gained in a tumble-down schoolwith few furnishings or learning material, where an ill-prepared andirregularly paid teacher copes with a class of sixty students or more. Thisis an alarm bell signalling a problem we must not ignore.

But that is only part of the problem. The more fundamental truth is that tomotivate adults to seek literacy - for themselves or their children - theymust be convinced that tomorrow will not be only another yesterday. lbcommit their time to education, they must believe that tomorrow willbring new opportunities and that literacy will help them to seize these.This, I suspect, is as true in Canada as it is in the developing world. Yourclients, I am certain, appreciate a well-conducted programme, but whatcounts most is not what happens in the classroom or tutoring centre, butwhat comes after and as a result of it in their lives. Does literacy maketheir lives fuller and more meaningful?

One answer to this problem - which one encounters constantly all acrossCanada and in many other countries as well - is torkplace literacy. Is it agood idea? Perhaps. UNESCO's experience with work-oriented functionalliteracy in the 19613's could be instructive here. In some instances, thisprogramme worked very well; in others, it failed miserably. But evenwhere it succeeded it often did so in unexpected ways and forunanticipated reasons. The theory of work-oriented literacy was simple:the trainee was to master a vocational skill in conjunction with literacyinstruction; this would enable him to increase his productivity; his incomewould rise; national output would increase and, by and by, there would bepie in the sky The reality was evidently far more complex. First, in mostceuntries, e majority of those expressing an interest in literacy trainingconsisted not of he's but of she's. Curiously, while these women workedtwelve or more hours a day, seven days per week, they were notconsidered part of the active labour force and consequently were notincluded in the initial target population. This was a discrepancy whichwas so glaring that it could not be overlooked. Hence, the programmeimplementers in most countries sought to mend this oversight with a fewsewing machines - the classic remedy until quite recently, even thoughwomen in most legions of the developing world often play a prominentrole in food production and commerce.

- 8 -IN I"

I 4

Yet, even for the target audience, men between the ages of 15 3nd 35 years,there were serious misconceptions and problems. An essential difficultywas an incompatibility of goals. The learners had one set of purposes, theprogramme organizers a second and the employers, in whose premises thecourses usually took place, a third. In countries with rapid economicgrowth, the aim of thode being trained in agriculture was to get out of thecountry-side and into the city. They wanted literacy and swallowed theagricultural training - which incidentally represented the major part of theprogramme cost - to get it. Increased agricultural pmductivity broughtfew benefits to rural youth without land. In the urban programmes theemployee's goal was often to move up in or, even more commonly, tomove out of the occupation in which he was being trained. The employer,on the other hand, assumed that the employee would continue to do thesame job, but perhaps do it a little better. In Canada, the situation isevidently different, but have you found ways to reconcile conflictingexpectations? Does literacy enable one to do a menial job better? And, ifthe employer's goal is to reduce turnover, which it often is, what is theemployee's? Progress? Escape? The assessment of the Experimental WorldLiteracy Programme and the work-oriented literacy it provided might besummed up in one Biblical phrase: "Not by bread alone does man live".Literacy must be functional to life, not merely to work. Workplace literacymay be an excellent idea in many settings, but it is not a panacea. It maywork well where literacy training is instrumental to performing newfunctions and where the incentives to perform such jobs are appealing tothe trainees. Where employers and employees have different or conflictingmotivations and expectations, time will expose these. Hence, two cheersfor workplace literacy. Such programmes may have great merit but itwould not be prudent to place all our eggs in the workplace literacybasket. Not all employees will wish to identify themselves more closelywith their menial jobs or to make a demeaning place of work their chosenpiace of learning. As educators, we have a duty and obligation to ensurethat literacy is not designed merely to fit individuals into jobs. Education,by any meaningful definition, must offer not only training in particularskills, but an opportunity to develop one's full human potential - one'sknowledge, values, talents and imagination.

Another key area where we must succeed in the 1990's is reducing thegender gap in education. In most developing counbies this is the crux ofthe literacy problem. Universal primary education - the most effectivemeans of preventing illiteracy - will, for example, be achieved by the year2000 in most Asian states for boys. But there will still be millions of girlswithout primary education. There are evidently complex socio-culturalreasons for this situation, but it needs to be corrected. Nearly two-thirds ofthe world's illiterates are women, yet, in most cultures women play thedecisive role in transmitting culture from one generation to another. Wemust recognize that a literate world will remain beyond our grasp until wemake decisive progress in closing the gender gap.

There is an urgent need for better understanding of a wide range oflanguage and cultural issues. In many developing countries, wherelinguistic research has been limited, there is a need for what one mightterm objective work - that is, for the study of linguistic structures, lexiconsand orthographies. Where this has been accomplished, we need moresubjective studies aimed at determining the affective orientation ofspeakers to their own and other languages. In much of the world literacycan proceed only slowly, if at all, until language decisions are made by

- 9 - 15

OM.

/IWe must not

allow literacy tobecome a non-issueafter this year.

Where are the peoplefrom Newfoundlandand. Nova Scotia?We're the winnersof the StatisticalIlliteracy Award withNewfoundland having44% functionalilliteracy. //

... from Participants' Response Cards

policy or settled in the court of popular usage. Literacy work can be donein many ways, but it cannot be done without a medium, rk language, andpreferably one of sufficiently wide usage to make the printing ofnewspapers und books economically feasible.

There are doubtless some habits we developed in the 1980's which wewould be well advised to change in the 1990's. We have tended, I think, toargue too strongly for literacy as a means for achieving something else andnot nearly enough for literacy as an end in itself. We speak of literacy as ameans for employment, empowerment, integration into the community,access, etc. These are good and correct arguments, but they put us in theposition of constantly having to prove our case in economic or socialterms. Can we really prove that an investment in literacy will yield ahigher rate of return than a new dam or a new mad? And, even if wecould, is that the argument we should be making? The ultimate argumentfor literacy is that it is a human right. We do not conduct literacyprogrammes because they are 'profitabie'; we conduct them because wecare about the well-being of our fellow citizens and wish them to enjoy, aswe ourselves do, the right to education guaranteed in the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights.Another issue we have to consider is the future of literacy in a world inwhich the audio-visual culture occupies a more and more central place.Are we to surrender and put our libraries into mothballs or can we re-kindle the love of reading? This, I think, will not prove as impossible as itmay sound if we put our imaginations to the task. Our libraries havevastly more to offer than do our monotonous television networks.Probably no task is as central for our civilization as to escape from thepoverty of mass culture and re-emphasize the role of the individual in allaspects of public and private life.

Lastly, we will have to remember that the progress of literacy will bedetermined, very largely, by the naturo and evolution of sodety. If literacygives access to meaningful social, cultural, economic, spiritual or personaldevelopment, it will be strongly sought. If it does not - because ofconstraints, poverty or other reasons - it will wither. The key to a literateworld is not to be found in the schoolhouse but in the conscience of oursocieties. Our schools and other institutions express our priorities andvalues; they tell the truth about us. If we don't like what we are hearing wecan always improve the schools, but we can do SQ only by transformingourselves and the value we place on education. For, in the final analysis,the most literate societies are those that love reading most and valueeducation most highly.

In conclusion, I should like, on behalf of UNESCO, to thank the organizersof this Conference for a splendid and timely contribution to the cause ofliteracy is, this International Literacy Year.

PANELIST PRESENTATION

Francis Kazemek

The great English poet, William Blake once observed, "Ib Generalizeis to be an Idiot. To Particularize is the Alone Distinction of Merit.General Know ledges rue those Know ledges that Idiots possess".

We may take exception to Blake's own over-generalization, but we cannotignore its underlying significance. Scholars from a wide range of disciplinesare acknowledging the importance of the particular, the contextual.Feminist researchers and authors such as Carol Gilligan, Nel Noddingsand Sara Ruddick, for example, have shown us how morality for manywomen is constructed in specific contexts and dependent upon particularrelationships and particular frames of reference. Maxine Greene, the notededucational philosopher, observes that "Human consciousness... is alwayssituated".

When we discuss definitions of literacy and illiteracy it is all too easy togeneralize and engage in the kind of abstractions and idiotic statementsthat we see and hear in the media, from politicians and from represen-tatives of the corporate world. It is much too easy to label people as beingreaders who can read only at some abstract and theoretically meanisigless3.5 or 2.0 'grade level'. Thus, it is vitally important that we always keepthe particular before us.

Literacy is a personal, social, cultural, contextual, gender-related 4ndconstructive process whereby a particular individual builds meaning witha particular text depending upon her particular purposes for reading andwriting. It is, first and foremost, an end in itself although it may also serveas a moans to other ends.

Literacy involves the use of print across a range of functions, from usinglanguage to enjoy ourselves, express our feelings and opinions, establishrelationships, explore ideas, satisfy our needs, convey information, andimagine alternative worlds. It is not, and I repeat, it is not merely some setof generalized, limited, and limiting 'basic skills' which will permit us toperform acceptably in some systematized world.

The ultimate value of literacy is that it offers us the opportunity to imagineand explore alternative perspectives, multiple interpretations, and differ-ent (hopefully better) selves and society as we engage in and share textswith others.

Definitions of literacy which ignore its complexity and particularityusually also ignore the complexity and, ultimately, dignity of adultsthemselves. Definitions which revolve primarily around functional skills

1 7

and workplace literacy skills are based on the assumption that adults haveno personal, emotional, imaginative, sodal and cultural lives of anyimport, as if they are little more than functionaries within the world ofcorporate capitalism.

And that, to me, is the crucial issue facing literacy educatior, for bothadults and children, during the next ten years. Will the current, anddramatic, clamour from government and the corporate world result in aliteracy education that is impoverished and restricted to performance witha narrow range of texts within a narrow range of situations? Will itamount to little more than training, not educating, adults to meet thevarying and changing demands of business and the marketplace, a pmcessof accommodation whereby adults are trained to advance the 'economiccompetitiveness' of their society?

Or will literacy education foster an exploration of the many differentfunctions and uses of language among adults? Will it seek to promote awider and more equitable distribution of knowledge? Will it nurturefreedom, as Maxine Greene contends, by contributing to the opening ofpersonal and social spaces and multiple perspectives? Will it recognize theprimary importance of the imagination and imaginative texts in theopening of such spaces?

Literacy for accommodation to the world as it is, or literacy for a myriadnumber of particular texts, purposes and situations - that is the issue wemust confront during the next decade.

PANELIST PRESENTATION

Lorraine Fox

Iam here representing a somewhat different community than a lot ofmy colleagues. I am involved in literacy work with native peopleand sometimes I feel quite overwhelmed with this job and this

responsibility In Vancouver my centre is one of the only centres whichoffers this kind of program to 100% population of native people. Of courseI am very happy to be doing my part to help our people but much morehas to be done, and it has to be done very soon.

I see that one of the most important points for our people is for them toreturn to school and stay in school. In Canada native people have thehighest rate of illiteracy in the counhy. This is manifested in highunemployment rates, socio-economic problems and all manner of otherproblems which are associated with illiteracy and under-educationApproximately two thirds of Canadian Indians over the age of 15 and outof school have less than a grade 9 education, which is 2.5 times higher thanthe national average. Statistics indicate that 83% of all native studentsleave school before reaching high school. In the next ten years I hope to beinvolved in putting together a national literacy plan for native people inCanada. As you know, many native people do not live in an open society,they live on reserves. Their needs are much different than the needs nflearners in urban areas. It is very important to me that we have a firm planof action, which accounts for this difference, for the government and theauthorities to follow in native education so that we can make some realstrides in the educating of our people.

In the past there has been plenty of talk and there have been plenty ofstudies but this does nothing to make an illiterate person literate. While Iam involved in developing a national literacy plan what has become ck.arto me and to many of my colleagues is that a great barrier to our programsis funding and the allocation of that funding. At present, funding is therebut it is distributed to all native peoples who live on reserves and in nativecommunities, and they are told what sort of programs they have to followin their communities and, of course, we all know that just doesn't work inevery community. You can't have a sort of blanket plan for everyone. So,we are asking in our aboriginal plan that funding allocations be directlyhandled by native people in individual communities to implementprograms that are relevant to their needs. We feel that literacy andeducation is not a privilege, but it is a right.

Another important factor in building native literacy programs is to havenative culture built into those programs and the curriculum - to use nativeculture in the contemporary sense and in the traditional sense. This should

13

1 9

be at the centre of all subjects. As well, we need more native personnelinvolved in these programs. We need guest speakers; we need directors ofIndian Bands; we most especially need more native teachers and aides.

Another part of my program is involving the community and volunteertutors and helpers. I get a very good response from the Vancouvercommunity to my needs for assistance. We try to,, or we would like tohave, native tutors in these situations but at present that just isn't possible.Of course, this relates back to the high rates of illiteracy for native peoplein our country. So I am just going to plug right now my volunteer tutorsfrom the community and thank them very much for their assistance.

A problem that I see is that so much of the work has now fallen on theshoulders of volunteer people because there aren't qualified peopleavailable. I think that another important part of moving ahead withliteracy is to have people specifically trained to work in literary programswhether with native people or non-native people.

As my colleagues have said, it is very difficult to give a definition ofliteracy. For my people it isn't strictly directed towards getting a jobbecause many people want to have literacy skills for simple everydayneeds such as reading to their children, reading the newspaper, or beingable to go to bingo and sit there and play with the rest of their friends.Things that we take for granted every single day are very difficult andvery depressing for these people. Native people who live in the urbanareas and are illiterate face a great sense of terror having to operate in anenvironment which is very foreign to them and without the skills to servetheir daily needs. So in the next ten years I will be working along with mynative colleagues across the country to establish definite and conciseprogramming for native people because as it is right now suchprogramming is lacking. I feel that is what we need in order to get a firmfooting for our native people and thereby benefit the rest of our fellowCanadians.

Joyce White

In discussion with our learners I've been given this definition ofliteracy: the ability to read and write well enough so they canaccess and use information encountered in work, at home and in

their community.

This parallels the definition in the latest Statistics Canada Survey ofLiteracy Skills Used in Daily Activities ("The information processing skillsnecessary to use the printed materials commonly encountered at work, athome and in the community"). According to the survey, 38% (6.9 million)between the ages of 16 and 69 cannot read or write or have so muchdifficulty coping with unfamiliar complex reading matter, they tend toavoid such situations.

There seems to be a strong relationship between levels of education andliteracy. According to the survey, high school completion is the key toeveryday reading skills. Given this correlation, one of the major tasks overthe next decade will be to address the needs of young people so that wecan convince them to stay in school. If we look at Ontario we see animprovement in high school completion (e.g. Ontario 1966 - 30% of 18year olds completed high school; 1986 74%). However, this should not beconfused with equality of opportunity. In reality, those at the head of thefield and who are part of a large core of people where performance iscontinuing to improve, are moving further and further ahead of a largeman of people who have dropped out of the school system or are likely todo so (1/3 of Ontario high school kids drop out before completion).

Frank Smith suggests that we are subtly operating a kind of literacy club.Some people are welcomed into that club and they become acceptablyliterate. But some people feel, almost from the point they enter school, thatthey are never going to be part of that club. Often these children are part ofa family who is experiencing some difficulty, economically, educationally,socially, and/or politically.

Having said that, I don't want to blame parents. We have to be careful notto feed into the current idea that there is a raging epidemic - theintergenerational cycle of illiteracy - and that this can only be cured byenlightened social intervention which fransforms parental behaviour,skills and attitudes (Elsa Auerbach, Making Meaning Making Change). Thedanger of such an analysis is that it will drive away the very people it isdesigned to support because they feel ashamed, victimized and isolateddue to the distorted image portrayed by the well intentioned mediacampaigns.

Most of the people classed as illiterate are possibly undereducated, butmost are in fact functioning in their families, communities and theiremployment. So, by making a conunitment to adult literacy programswhich allows adult members to work independently on their own literacy,we will be indirectly contributing to family literacy which in turn willhave a profound payoff in children's literacy achievement.

And so we must reaffirm in the next decade that the education of youthsand adults is truly a human right and a social responsibility. We welcomethe skills and commitment that the private sector, voluntary agencies andcommunity groups can contribute, however, leadership and majorfinancial commitment for ongoing program funding must come from bothlevels of government.

Literacy is often seen as a prerequisite for economic and socialdevelopment, however, we must not present literacy as a panacea. lbadvertise literacy programs to the disadvantaged as the cure-all tb theirsocial and economic isolation is false.

The reason more people are unemployed today isn't simply because theyhave literacy problems; it's because there aren't enough jobs to go around.

I began this presentation by stating that 38% of adults have difficulty withunfamiliar written material and tend to avoid these situations. Yet only 2%of potential learners attend programs. Why? Because there are situationalbarriers which confront adult learners across the spectrum of ABBeducation. If Canada truly believes that we need a literate populace, thenfree programming is not enough.

The next decade must be devoted to removing these barriers. To do thiswe will have to make a commitment:

to social and economic justice;to redistribution of wealth through taxes, guaranteed income, paideducational leave and progressive social programs;to creating family support programs, day care, and early childhoodeducation;to adequate community services and social networks.

Until our federal and provincial governments make such commitments,it will be nearly impossible for any of the 6.9 million adults who havedifficulty coping with leading and writing in our society today to takeadvantage of, or see any reason to take advantage of, literacy programs.

22

- 16 -

Robin Silverman

In 19871 saw the inside of a boardroom for my first time. I was at theToronto Board of Education and I met there with other learners fromBoard and community programs to begin work on a learners' con-

ference. That first night in the boardroom I looked for a way out aboutfifty times. I didn't want to be there. The only person I could relate to wasa woman who was serving the dinner to us. One of the workers came inand for the first time started talking about illiterate people and people whoare functionally illiterate. I had never heard these terms before. What shesaid about illiterate people was that they don't read and write at all. Isaidrl'hank god that's not me. Who are these poor people?" Then shedefined functionally illiterate people. She said they are people who readand write but don't do it to a grade nine level. I thought, "I'd better keepmy mouth shut or they'll find out." When I heard those 'abels I struggledfor about a year or a year and a half longer wondering if they really domean me.

I worked mostly in restaurants during my teen years and my earlytwenties but I could never spell the word 'restaurant'. I had a child andI was a single patent. We lived in poverty and isolation and I coPldn'tbreak out of it. But I could read and I could write but not well enough toget the jcbs that I needed to get to break through the poverty and throughthe isolation. So I defined functional illiteracy as not being able to do thethings that I wanted to do. And I want it defined by the individuals whostruggle with this issue in a way that they need to define it for themselves.I don't want a masa definition for the term illitenge. And in fact, I don'twant the terms illiterate or functional illiterate. They're very negative.

Through my wvek with the Movement for Canadian Literacy - my workand many other people's work in May in Saskatchewan we had anational event. It was a national training event for learners. Learners camefrom across this country Learners came from other parts of the world-from Africa, from St. Vincent and from the United States. When we heldthe training event we called it a 'training event' specifically so wewouldn't call it a 'conference' - it wasn't going to be another conference. Itwas going to be a training event - something that was geared to trainstudents in the skills that are usually denied to them and only given toworkers. Out of that came a Mission Statement that was given to theLearner Action Group of Canada, an MCL committee, by the students whowere there from across this country This is what they have mandated us todo. I am going to read it to you because I think this is what has to happenin the literary movement over the next dEtade.

- 17 -

Mission Statement of the Learner Action Group of Canada

This mission statement is intended to lay the foundation of strengtheningthe adult student/learner voice.

Within Canadian society:

that literacy as a right be stated in the Charter of Rights;

that there is a right to education for all;

that all student/learners should be consulted on how to improve theeducation of children;

that the term 'illiterate' not be used in reference to any citizen orgroup of citizens;

that the dignity of the adult student/learners be preserved.

Within the literacy movement:

that the current one-on-one partnership for adult student /learner (orformer learner) involvement be extended by 1995 to include aIl levelsof literacy organizations including programs, boards and networks

to ensure that we get the most out of what is available to help thelargest number of people. This is to include representation on exec-utive, personnel and finance committees, etc.;

that programs build in financial and moral support to adultstudent/learners who want to be involved;

that qualified adult student/learners be equally consideredwhen paid literacy positions become available;

that adult student/learners and literacy workers exchangeinformation about conferences and meetings;

that all literacy funding proposals allow for adult student/learnerinvolvement;

that dear language be used in funding proposals;

that adult student/learner rights concerning confidentiality berespected.

Now we know that some of this is already happening to some degree inprograms or in networks but we know that it's a long way before we arereally there. This is a peoples movement. The literacy movement is not amovement that belongs to people with an education. It is a movement thatis to be shared with people who are struggling to get one. We have laid outin our Statement that we want some of this tn happen by the year 1995so in fact we have half a decade to implement the wishes of the learners inthis country. Thank you.

- 18 -24

... FROM PARTICIPANTS RESPONSE CARDS

JOHN RYAN'S KEYNOTE ADDRESS AND THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY THE

PANELISTS LED TO DIVERSE COMMENTS ON MANY ISSUES FROM PARTICIPANTS. 1

iteracy as a Human Right :

Many noted how good it feels to talk of literacy as ahuman right, up front, out loud, no longer relegated tothe hidden agenda behind economic arguments.

I cannot envision how this can come about unless we become a'socialistic society' and this scares me somewhat! (LOTS!)

It is important - no, essential - for literacy to be a human right.

Must go beyond the 'media moment', beyond the economic payofftowards a human right - which may be too dangerous for both thedeveloped and developing countries to accept.

060

If literacy is a right, then the way we provide literacy programs mustreflect that by making them more available. I would like to see no feesfor adult upgrading to the grade 12 level. We must treat people asunique and must address their spiritual needs to become. People arenot just workers who function in a utilitarian way.

Literacy is an enabling right. Concentrating on it as a 'right' did not getthe movement very far. The links to the economic arguments helpedbring literacy to the Canadian agenda. Glad to see economic reasons forliteracy progams being challenged. Literacy as a human right must beempha-sized and is closely allied with the need for social and economicchange for justice.

Not everyone can/will become literate. What are our responsibilities toprovide better supports for non-literate people or those with lowliteracy skills?


Vluing Lifelong Learning ...

Participants generally agreed that education must beavailable to all to meet individual needs and desires asa part of everyday life. Our society must come to valueliteracy for its life enriching qt:alities.

IIHow can we reaffirm or establish a commitment to lifelong learning?

000

Society's value of educators must change. If society at large has littlerespect for educators, how will students feel?

What is the future of text and reading?...What is the value of reading?...OPPO

John Ryan is dead-on when he speculates that the success of thedevelopment of literacy over the next ten years will be closely tied tothe degree to which our society as a whole values reading.

040

Need to shift from seeing literacy as a programming or funding issue toan evolution in our society's valuing of an educated/literate population.

We are part of a rapidly evolving and changing context. Educationmust be available to all - at the time we want it - be a part of

1 everyday life. We must move away from the idea that the K-12 systemI is 'preventative' and adult education at that level is 'remedial'.

OOP

I was pleased to hear about the need for the development of languageand appreciation of language. This aspect is often overlooked by thesocial activist perspective - the need to make reading a valuable skill topossess, an end in itself. Must rekindle the joy of reading just as wemust rekindle the joy of learning.

Literacy is more complex than simply political enfranchisement.Literacy allows individuals and society to IMAGINE and explorealternatives to the status quo.

00$

We need more political/economic analysis of the forces that arewk king against a learned population.

11from Participants' Response Cards

- 20 - 26

Literacy and Social Justice ...

There was general agreement that literacy is not a'solution' isolated from addressing issues like poverty,housing, working conditions, racism, and sexism.

IILiteracy is integrally tied to social/economic justice. Literacy is

connected with issues like the right to meaningful work, income,housing, working conditions.

Illiteracy must be addressed by an attitude of strengthening our society- protecting all citizens especially the most vulnerable from the threatsof economic, personal and social dangers.

Must keep reasserting broad definitions anci get literacy embedded insocial justice issues. Build active coalitions with anti-poverty and othersocial justice movements.

00*

Job shortages are not due to illiteracy. Students who learn to read andwrite have a right to expect employment. What are we preparing themfor?

000

Racism has not been sufficiently addressed yet.

*II

Literacy is becoming institutionalized, bureaucratized. Its teeth arefalling out. Poverty is being ignored.

11


- 21 -

Cultural Context of Literacy ...

Many emphasized that curriculum and programformats should be developed to include and valuevarious cultural contexts. The definition and processfor developing literacy are culturally-based.

Must darify the needs, objectives and limitations of literacy in acultural context.

11.

Is literacy so much a product of economic, social and political issuesthat we're all in the wrong business?

Literacy is knowledge driven. However, the love of literacy or the loveof reading is very situational and a cultural phenomenon.

The consensus that literacy is individual and situational could beanother evasion. It certainly will not help us get the funding.


- 22 -28

Aboriginal Issues ...

Most participants supported Native groups in theirdrive to take control of their own programs anddevelop curriculum that values their cultures.

11Assisting Native Canadians to achieve self-government and

thus control over their own future. Cultural self-confidence will leadto need for better education.

i*.

Interesting comments on providing a supply of literature as well astraining people to be literate. We take literature for granted and ourgoals are maybe different from those in developing countries.

000

Racial aspects of Native problems need to be addressed in our culture.It needs to be admitted, since it is a real handicap in success rates frombeginning of students' schooling. They feel subtly segregated thoughit's not always openly expressed.

000

Funding should be allocated directly to Natives' groups to implementtheir own programs, relevant to their needs. Native culture must bebuilt into curriculum. Involve Native personnel. And move away fromdependency on volunteers.


- 23 -

r

II Learners must be involved in design and organization ofprograms to ensure that they contain what the learners REALLY needand that they support the learners' voice.

Must recognize learners as capable (not handicapped).O 00

How do we foster growth of the learners' movement without cooptingit?

O 00

Are the mobilized learners speaking for most illiterate people or arethey emulating the mobilized groups they have seen modelled forthem?

What to do when the learners involved are more traditional andaccepting of the status quo than the instructors and organizers of theprograms?

Despite some of our beliefs in learner-centred literacy education, we(program managers) are still often driven by the funder policies ratherthan by learner needs.

1111

The poverty, the emotion, the terror all need to be addressed.

Some students are obviously bright, many are angry. This moves thembeyond the place where any rogramcan be just laid on them. I believethey should have/take control over their learning. But many of mystudents/ learners have learned helplessness, some fall into a passivitywhich overwhelms them. They do not know it can be different, thatthere is such a thing as empowerment.

Must make it possible for those in need to access literacy trainingby: reaching and motivating learners to cnme to programs, makingprograms relevant, providing the necessary support for them to stayin the program.


Learner Involvement ...

A popular theme was the need and desire for moreinvolvement of learners in planning, designing, organizingand directing programs. How can this be done without co-opting learners? How can we be sure all learners'perspectives are represented? How do we respond tolearners' needs and not jeopardize program funding?

- 24 -30

anguage

Several people said that our vocabulary was toocomplex. We should use plain language in speakingabout literacy.

1.11=1.11.1ladillM.MMIMMIMMPISTOP using the terms literate and illiterate .

Robin Silverman's comments about the terms literacy and illiteracystrike a familiar bell. Learners in my experience don't see themselves asillitenite or functionally literate. They may need some 'upgrading' or theymay want to read better but they don't label themselves that way.

Must find a new word for literacylilliteracy. What do we use?

We have too many learners here to be using the kind of abstractlanguage we're all using.

Like Robin Silverman I see the term illiterate as demeaning to learners,as well as inaccurate. How can one describe literacy as something thatexists in specific contexts and on a continuum and then go on to speakof illiterates?

By using labels in the past we have started debate and helped initiateaction. To recognize the problem it has to be named.

Yes, illiterate and functional illiterate terms are negative. We must listento the learners and not get bogged down in institutional haggling.Funding must not get lost in administration but be directed to morelearner events nationally.

As the term literacy comes to dominate and edge out other works suchas education, socialization, and skills to cope with living, there's a dangerthat real educational needs get neglected. The term literacy seems to bebecoming so broad and far-reaching and to encompass so much (fromhumanities and education to therapy) that it becomes impossible todelineate specific pol; lies to meet all those needs and the term willbecome a fruitless cliche. I don't know what to do about it. The aims ofthis broad term literacy are wonderful but maybe they would be betterserved by calling them more particular terms rather than the umbrellaterm literacy.

// ... from Participants' Response Cards

- 25 -

31,

Linking of Literacy Education withEconomic Development ...

Many are worried about a workplace focus taking overin literacy programming and funding. The potentiallyconflicting goals and expectations between employers,labour groups and individual workers are of greatconcern. Several people pointed out that literacy is notnecessarily a means to other ends such as internationalcompetitiveness or increased productivity.

I/Will we ach:eve complementary types of literacy/learning

activities that can address students' life goals, work goals as well asopening them to beauties and pleasures of the printed language theymay not have known? Or will we be swallowed up by the 'training'definitions of the private sector?

0

I applaud exuberantly the questioning of a reductionist/workplacefocus to adult literacy. The warning about conflicting goals andexpectations is timely as many are jumping on the bandwagon ofworkplace literacy.

6

Workers must identify goals, rather than wait for employers to imposethem.

0*

We must 'tame this potential monster'. There are no quick fixes and wemust make this clear.

0 9 0

Literacy does include much more than basic reading and writing forprofit. Self-confidence and enjoyment of literature and the learningprocess are the most important.

- 26 -

32

11... from Participants' Response Cards

who encourage literacy are not so much theproblem as the other employees not involved in the literacy programwho may say, "What do we get? They get time off, but we don't?"

0 0 0

We are in the very decade where all these literacy changes are to befulfilled. I see the wheels of society turning away from valuing peopleas individuals and the very written word as becoming redundant. Thisshould be an interesting contrast and counter-force to the increaseddemands on each individual to decode and comprehend the increas-ingly complex forms and paperwork for everyday living as well as atthe job place.

Socio-economic development and increased levels of literacy do notnecessarily generate increased social opportunities.

Literacy is a life oriented process not simply a functional means tosurvival.

Someone needs to educate the politicians and funding sources toenable them to understand that literacy is not a panacea, that literacy isnot necessarily a means of achieving something else (ie. economicdevelopment).

Literacy must be valued for h., own sake and should not have tojustify itself in relation to the economy. That alienates the samegrlups it proposes to benefit.

Literacy as an end in itself...OK for people who are literate; not a greatincentive for those who aren't...rather like luxury for some.

The corporate agenda is to promote capitalism that is to have a moreproductive workfc, 'e.

... from Partidpants' Response Cards

- 27 -

33

Frst Language Literacy

The value of starting with developing literacy in one'sfirst language first was addressed. What if the firstlanguage is an oral language and there is littlepublished reading material? And what if learners arenot interested in learning it?

I/What about literacy in languages that may not be sufficiently

widespread to make publishing in them economical but they arecritical to cultural survival and political Justice (ie. aboriginallanguages in Canada)?

Need to integrate aboriginal or mother tongue literacy intoprogram.

In Toronto there are more than 150,000 non English/French peoplewith less than grade 9. The Literacy Movement must address thisissue because there are many people who are illiterate in their firstlanguage.


- 28 -

Volunteers ...

The appropriate use, training, support networks andfunding mechanisms for volunteer tutor programsremain contentious issues encompassing job security,quality of instruction, rapport with learners and thepolitics of women as unpaid workers.

Volunteers: their use, training, support networks, funding ofprograms?

060

If this issue is really so important, Ws time to remove this issue from thevolunteer agenda.

Should volunteers with little or no training be teaching illiteratestudents?

Too much responsibility is presently placed on volunteers.

O..

Must keep professionals in charge of education...good heart is notenough.

The reason why volunteers are used in literacy programs is notprimarily because of a lack of skilled adult teachers. The prime reasonis lack of funding.

/I

- 29 -

,s


1?ofessionalism and Accreditation ...

Alternate routes to accreditation of professionals areneeded which validate experience in adult education.Some consensus about the content and process for thismust be reached in the field to avoid the imposition ofinappropriate rulings.

I am an elementary/secondary teacher. There seems to be astigma against my teaching adults unless I receive further training(much of which seems redundant to my previous training).

Better trained ttachers who actually have the correct skills to reallyeducate students in the basics. Need higher expectations of the teachingprofession and results obtained. Why are the staff not lowering theproblem and not getting the billions of dollars flowing our way betterutilized?

Better training and professional development for instructors so that thequality of instruction improves.

How do we certify people who have extensive training in literacyinstruction but no B.C. teaching certificate? Must have alternate routesto certification involving training in adult education.

Will adult education continue to be a marginal occupation and activityor will it at last evolve into a profession attracting the best minds,resources and commitments?

11VI.


Women and Literacy ...

Many were impressed by the comment: "teach a manto read, you teach a man; teach a woman to read, youteach families for generations". Others cautioned thatwe must be clear that women have a right to an edu-cation to fulfil their own needs not just because thiLtyare parents.

I was particularly touched by Ryan's comment: teach a man toread, you teach a man; teach a woman to mad, you teach families forgenerations...

Women ... must be careful not'only educating women for the sake oftheir children rather than because of their own rights and needs.

More funding is needed to extend programming especially to womenand parents who may be home-bound.

IF

... from Parndpants' Response Cards

- 31 -

Ending, Funding, Funding ...

Overwhelmingly, people are concerned about funding.Who will provide funds? Who will receive funds?What kinds of programs will be fundable? When canwe expect continuous, secure funding? Those fromBritish Columbia called for implementation of theProvincial Literacy Advisory Committee's report andfor the province to make a financial commitment toliteracy/ABE programs through community colleges,school districts and community programs.

How will we be able to continue existing programs and expandto meet the increasing demand?

I expect that funding will continue to be a major issue there need tobe creative solutions. Employers need to accept some responsibility forfinancing of education and training. Individuals too need to recognizetheir responsibility for their education.

Cutbacks mean it is becoming increasingly difficult to remain employedin a particular area. The trend to contract, temporary and part timeemployment leads to a sense of fragmentation and dislocation forinstru.tors and students alike. The trend to reliance on the businesscommunity for funding instead of government is dangerous.

International Literacy Year has been a support to the development ofcurriculum materials and conferences. Not one cent has been spent toincrease delivery programs for those who need and want them.

Funding from both levels of governments. The way we want to betaught. The right to choose on what we want to learn and how.

..

Funding to conununity-based programs, not delivered throughcolleges, must improve. Must be critical of school board and collegeinvolvement in literacy.

Funding may well be the stumbling block in the next ten years.

- 32 - 38

//Fundingis a farce. There is no commitment from any

government in Canada. They have only lied to us. We talk and talk andtalk. Oh, it's fun for workers to get together and shoot the breeze but itdoes not educate people in ways they need access to.

Just a hope that after the hype there will be a continuing commitmentwhen literacy is no longer a sexy issue.

Funding is a key, but I fear the theme will be how to do more with less.The pressure for government to control costs will continue through the90's.

Provincial government must make a commitment to funding ongoingliteracy/ABE programs through a variety of delivery systems not justcommunity colleges, but community-based projects as well.

Continuous, ongoing functing from the Ministry of AdvancedEducation is absolutely necessary for basic skills upgrading and lifeskills programs.

MUST HAVE acceptance and implementation of the Provincial LiteracyAdvisory Committee's report.

Government must create and abide by a policy that ensures equalopportunity and access to education or opportunities to learn.

..

Important to ... fight to be sure that literacy is not first to be axed undereconomic austerity ... to not be totally swayed to workplace literacythat literacy must hold some value for people we try to convinceneed literacy.

Must get money and other resources to the people doing the actualwork in the trenches, who unlike the sophisticated professionals do nothave the time or training to go after the limited resources. It makes mesick to see well funded air conditioned 'learning centres' with staffsitting around, sometimes outnumbering the learners when my owncentre in a small hot stuffy space at times has 35-40 learners.

Is anyone with the power to make h difference listening?

/I... from Participants' Response Cards

- 33 -

Cimmunity and Institutional Programs ...

The interface between community and institutionalprograms is sometimes uncomfortable, sometimesopenly competitive, and sometimes an enrichingpartnership.

Yes to the understanding that literacy is not an institutionalevent. Those folk in the institutions need the front line workers; theworkers need recognition and 'functional' security to stay in thisprofession - outside institutions.

0

Must make maximum use of advantages of working under aninstitutional umbrella (ie. establish a profile and eliminate the moneyscramble experienced by grassroots programs). Must keep in touchwith the learners while meeting college requirements too.

Concentrate on pr vention within public schools - address the k-12system because it is the source of future adult learners.

Must re-vision the school system to be more flexible and practical.

Must make sure that students do not fall through the cracks at theprimary and secondary level.

11


344 0

EVENING WITH FERNANDO CARDENAL

BACKGROUND

Evelyn Muria ldoTreasurer, Movement for Canadian LiteracyCommunity Development Officer, North York

INTRODUCTION

David CadmanNational President, United Nations Association in Canada


Fernando CardenalDirector, Nicaraguan Institute for Popular Eclucation and ResearchFormer Sandinista Minister of Education, Nicaragua

Carmen RodriguezConference TranslatorNative Adult Education Resource CentreSimon Fraser University

QUESTION PERIOD

CLOSING REMARKSGullies MalnarichDevelopmental Studies Faculty, Douglas CollegeCo-Chair, Literacy 2000

4 1

1

e

'k

et. t

tt

BACKGROUND

REPORT ON LESSONS FROM THE

NICARAGUAN LITERACY CAMPAIGN BY

FORMER SANDINISTA MINISTER OF

EDUCATION.

CO-SPONSORED BY UNITED NATIONS

ASSOCIATION IN CANADA, CANADIAN

UNIVERSITY SERVICES OVERSEAS

(CUSO) AND TOOLS FOR PEACE.

Evelyn Murialdo

Iam happy to welcome you to this forum. This morning Fernando and Imet to plan this evening and we decided that the best way to start is toshare with you a few memories.

More than ten years ago the Canadian government did not feel that itcould support, financially or otherwise, a literacy campaign they knewlittle about. What little they knew through their fc rmal channels indicatedthat they really shouldn't support it. Fortunately they decided that theyneeded a person to go to Nicaragua to observe the efforts of Nicaraguansin launching and implementing their literacy campaign. This personwould then come back to Canada and make recommendations. So, inNovember 1979 I went.

Fernando at the time was the coordinator of the literacy crusade. He wasglad to senu me to see more than 120 literacy units across the country inless than four months, travelling by truck, by jeep, by horse and at timeswalldng. So, you cannot begin to imagine the enthusiasm but also thereservations and caution that a person like me felt in that context. I camefrom a very stiff, rigid academic background so the apprehension of mingthe thousands and thousands of young people (all of them ranging in agefrom 13 to 23) who were involved in the process of the literacy campaignas tutors, educators, outreach workers, teachers, etc. was immense.

That apprehension came to an end abruptly. And it came to an end inSomoto one day as I was observing a 15 year old woman tutoring a 65year old man - a man who had worked the land all his life from sunriseto sundown every day. The woman was becoming increasingly nervousas she tried to help Don Mariano, his name was, to acquire the motorcoordination to draw the circles that would become the letters in the nextfew weeks. But Don Mariano couldn't. I was getting nervous too. But all ofa sudden she stopped and she said, "Don Mariano, you know what, we aregoing to stop now and we are going to wait until the sun comes down thisevening. And as you see the sun coming down this evening,you will seethe perfect circle." And it was then, you see, when I understood whatpopular education is all about. And I also understood what skills populareducators bring with them.

In the fields close to the border with Honduras, where most of thefamilies of t' 2 members of the Guardia Nadonal - Somoza's army - lived,I saw the tremendous efforts of those same young people to change thecurriculum that they were using so that the mothers, widows,sisters,

- 37 -

brothers, sons and daughters of Somoza's army would learn to read andwrite, still feeling an integral part of the Nicaraguan family. Those youngpeople couldn't change history but they could accommodate thecurriculum. And then I learned about student-centred curriculum. Andwhen I saw tutors and learners build latrines and wells together as partof the literacy campaign, I understood that literacy is so much more thanreading and writing.

And finally, our last memory is when in the city of Leon I saw thousandsof peasants, homemakers, children, teachers, older Nicaraguans andothers coming together in the square to commemorate the massive killing

their Sandinista army headquarters the previous year. And theycommemorated that with so much strength and hope that I understoodthen the kind of hope and strength we need to change our world,whatever part of the world we live in. So, in Canada, in my own littleworld, I have endless energy, mostly based on memories such as those, toadvocate and work for social change and to advocate and work towardsan anti-racist, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and participatory education forall.

By the way, the result of that little trip to Nicaragua was that the Canadiangovernment supported, with more than a million dollars through theNGO's (non-governmental organizations) and matched by CIDA(Canadian International Development Agency) dollars, the very beginningof the Nicaraguan literacy campaign.

I would now like to invite David Cadman from the United NationsAssociation in Canada to introduce our friend, our compaitero andspeaker of tonight, Fernando Cardenal.

INTRODUCTION

David Cadman

When one speaks with the international adult education com-munity about successful literacy campaigns, about successfuladult education programs, there are two examples that always

come to mind and are recognized as being probably the most excellent: thefirst, of course, being the one carried out after the Cuban revolution in theearly 1960's; the second, the one carried out after the Nicaraguan revo-lution in the early 1980's. I think it is interesting to note that both of themwere among the first priorities of a popular revolutionary government.Both of them occurred in the face of enormaas economic hardship at a timewhen there were pressing demands for very scarce resources. Both of themoccurred in the face of American military aggression and blockade. Both ofthem mobilized the young people of their country to build a future byhelping others to master the tasks of claiming control of their lives throughthe literacy and learning process.

It is a great honour and privilege to have with us this weekend the formerMinister of Education of Nicaragua who is currently the director of theNicaraguan Institute for Popular Education and Research. I would ask youto give a very warm welcome to Fernando Cardenal.


Fernando Cardenal 'llanslation by Carmen Rodriguez

Good evening, friends. For me it is an honour to be hete with youtonight and to be able to communicate with strong simplicity.More than telling you about theories, I would like to narrate to

you some concrete facts and historical events that happened in Nicaragua.The most important thing about what we are going to tell you tonight isthat these are authentic facts, things that did happen and that, further-more, were successful.

And before telling you in words what our history was, I would like toinvite you to watch a video which is a summary of the literacy crusadein Nicaragua a video that was made in the early 1980's right after thecrusade and has been edited and summarized for you tonight here inVancouver. So let's watch the video now and then we will come backand talk to you about it.

(Video transcriptiond

The people of Nicaragua soon realized that the extraordinary task oflaunching a literacy crusade could only be achieved with everybodVsparticipation. Thus, encouraged by the newly acquired strength and vitalitythat Came from the recent triumph of the revolution, Nicaragua set out towork under the leadership of the revolutionary government for nationalreconstruction, and under the leadership of the Sandinista front for nationalliberation. All Nicaraguan popular organizations participated in the newlyformed National Committee for Literacy which had bninches in everydepartment, municipality, and village. In that way is was ensured thateverybody could participate in such a gigantic -altural project. The Ministryof Education became responsible for the organization and administration ofthe crusade. The Ministry set up a national coordinating executive bodywhich, through its twelve technical divisions, did the groundwork andplanned the crusade in a short period of time.

At the same time, other organizations were doing pertinent work. Witheverybody's cooperation, in only 30 days and at a cost of $30,000, thestatistics department was able to do a census which located all the peoplewho could not read or write and all those who could act as instructors.850,000 registered as learners and 266,590 offered themselves as instructors.

A national professional team worked intensely, designing and elaboratinga teaching method which would be appropriate to the country's care andhistorical process. This work resulted in a textbook that could be easily usedin the teaching of reading and writing. The textbook was structured around23 themes related to Nicaraguan national history, the revolutionary process,and the program for national reconstruction. Another element taken intoaccount was that in the literacy process the learner should be the subject andnot the object of his or her own learning. The instructor's manual was alsocarefully compiled including all necessary methodological explanations andpedagogical, political and organizational guidelines. Several pilot projectsconfirmed the efficiency and appropriateness of this method before launchingthe campaign itself.

Workshops for the instructors were set up by using a multiplying system:the progressive training of 80 people who would then train 700, these 700trained 12,000, which in turn trained 200,000 instructors. In order to notinterfere with production and the process of national reconstruction, twotypes of instructors were created: lipopular instructors who were urbanhousewives, professionals, government employees, and workers of all kindswho wanted to collaborate but only had a few available hours every day.This group was in charge of teaching in the cities and semi-urban areas. 2)the popular literacy army (EPA), made up of highschool and universitystudents who could leave the cities and teach full time in the countryside andthe mountain regions.

EPA was organized in six fronts with the same names and lecations as thosethat the Sandinista army had during the recent war of liberation. Thedepartmental committees were in charge of locating the learners, assigningthe instructors to their work areas, finding them places to stay and lookingafter their general safety. As well, a national radio network was set up,utilizing the Sandinista army radio and all state and commercial stations,This network served as a means of protection for the instructors and alsosupported their teaching by reviewing the pedagogical guidelines underlyingthe methodology in use.

Sunday, March the 23'4,1980 at the Plaza of the Revolution the authoritiesbid farewell to the army which was then initiating the most noble culturalbattle in the Americas. 80,000 Brigadistas were tacen to their points ofdestination using all means of transportation,

(People sang about the literacy crusaded

"The great literacy crusade has begun. It is never too late to learn.Nobody will be able to cheat us any more. To learn how to read is toerase the past and begin a new dawn."

"Here we are, the Sandinistas singing songs to the Brigadistas. After aday of work in the countryside we are ready to open our books and saygoodbye to ignorance. I am singing to the literacy crusade, Workersand peasants will always learn together in this our new country."

"All along the Atlantic coast, reading and writing, our textbook, ourcartillas, goes as a big travelling sun."

- 42 -

4 f)

In addition to teaching reading and writing, the Brigadistas shared the dailylife of the campesinos and joined them in their work. Thus they also becamelearners and obtained rich and integral education for themselves. In thiswayNicaraguans initiated a task that many had believed would be impossible.Worldwide attention was drawn to the literacy crusade and some weresceptical about its success. But when the people have an intelligent andsensitive leadership and trust their own capabilities such big efforts aredestined to end in victory.

The urban popular instructors also carried out their tasks successfully. Theycertainly played a key role in the over-all triumph of the crusade. Theyworked in factorial, schools, people's homes and many other places. Thecrusade also reached the blind. Special workshops designed for theirparticular needs were set up. The basic textbook used throughout thecampaign was converted into Braille and those who could already read andwrite in this system taught those who couldn't.

Not iong before, the beautiful Nicaraguan countryside and the mountainregions had been the scene of the war of liberation. The literacy crusade madeall of Nicaragua the protagonist of a new war, this time against decades ofinherited darkness and ignorance. The Brigadistas didn't take long to adaptto their new lifestyles. They knew they were immersed in a beautiful andextraordinary historical process part of the new destiny being forged by thewhole country. Even the most mundane experiences ibere felt as part of thisenormous but beautiful responsibility. Any task, when done collectively,leads towards unity and therefore strength.

On weekends the Brigadistas would meet in the closest town and engage inrecreational activities. Also, their parents would come from the city and visitthem. This contributed to bringing the city and the countryside togetherevenmore. The literacy crusade also brought about other important achievements.In addition to their teaching, the Brigadigas collected flora and fiunasamples; collaborated in the campaign to eradicate malaria; recordedimportant oral history, particularly related to the war of liberation; locatedand collected archaeological treasures which came to enrich the existingcollections in national museums; and recorded folk music and stories.

During the campaign, Nicaragua received the support ofmany friendlynations. International solidarity played an important part in thesuccess ofthe crusade.

July 22nd, a few weeks before the conclusion of the crusade, the final offensivewas launched. Both the popular instructors in the cities and the popularliteracy army in the countryside intensified their efforts and increasedtheir activities. This well-planned final offensfve shed fruitful results. One byone, villages, municipalities and departments declared victory over illiteracy.

August 15th, the popular literacy army began to demoVilize. The goals of thiscontingent of brave young men and women had been achieved. Their heartswere filled with a pride that a job well done brings. Also, they had succeededin bringing the city and the countryside closer together. The Brigadistas wereactually key in contributing to the unity of the Nicaraguan people as oneproductive community. Nicaragua has taken an important step forwardtowards cultural liberation and the making of the new person.

August 23rd, all the contingents of urban instructors and Brigadistasmarched from different parts of Managua and converged at the Plaza of theRevolution. They were joined by an excited ctvwd that cheered with them;we have fulfilled our duty, we have achieved our goal.

The theme tonight is the lessons that we can draw from the literacycampaign in Nicaragua. The first one that I would like to mention isthe hnportance of motivation - the importance of motivating

everybody so that they can contribute and be part of such a great initiative- first of all, motivating the peasants so that they would want to learn howto read and write, then motivating the students so that they would want togo and live for five months in the countryside or the mountain region toteach the peasants how to read and write. Before the actual launching ofthe campaign there was a previous campaign which was directed towanismotivating everybody in the country into partidpation. All parts ofgovernment and all popular organizations participated in this hugecampaign prior to the actual literacy crusade.

The second lesson that we can draw from our crusade is that it is funda-mental to be commited to popular participation in an event like this. Thatis to say, the people have to take on the problem of illiteracy as their own,instead of thinking about it as a problem of, let's say, the Ministry ofEducation. The people have to realize that it's their own problem and thenact on it on as if it was theirs.

In 1980, after the end of the campaign, UNESCO awarded Nicaragua itsgold medal for literacy This medal was not awarded because of the greatnumbers of people, absolute numbers of people, we were able to teachhow to read and write, but actually because of the great participation ofall the people in Nicaragua in the campaign. That same year, severalcountries in Africa had taught reading and writing to several millionpeople. However, according to the director of UNESCO, he had never seena literacy campaign which had integrated as many people in one country.For example, the prior steps to the campaign - the census that we had todo at the beginning when there was no financing, when we didn't reallyknow which direction we were going to take in terms of the literacycampaign - was already a great effort. We had prepared the census form tobe taken out into the countryside and the mountain regions. We got all thepopular organizations together - the youth, the peasant organizations, theworkers' organizations. We didn't have a penny but all these peoplevoluntarily left the city and went into every corner of the country andcame back, one or two weeks later, with completed forms and havinglocated every illiterate person in the country The peasants offered theirown homes and shared their poor amount of food with the Brigadistasduring the five mourhs that the campaign took place.

A great third lesson that we learned from this campaign was that theyouth was not only capable of having fought against the Somocistadictatorship but also that they could be great teachers. 60,000 youngpeople became teachers, true teachers, and with great dedication madesure that each one of their students was able to learn how to read andwrite.

44 4 8

Later on, when 2000 Cuban teachers went back to Cuba we were veryafraid that these 2000 spots were going to be empty and we wouldn't haveany teachers to replace them. So we made a call to the youth again, and2000 of those Brigadistas that had participated in the campaign in 1980offered their service. They left their sf 'dies and went to teach in thecountryside for two years. And again last year, when we initiated a secondcampaign, again it was the youth that came up and offered themselves asvolunteers to again teach reading and writing to the people, this time notoutside of their cities but in the surrounding areas.

Another big lesson that we learned was that the same peasant who waslearning how to read and write could become a peat teacher. When theliteracy campaign finished there was a deficit of teachers in Nicaragua. Weneeded more teachers. There were more than 400,000 people that had justfinished learning how to read and write and they were ready to go on intoother studies but we didn't have enough teachers. So it was this hugeproblem and at one point we thought that we didn't know how to solve it.

So, what happened was that those people that had just learned became theteachers of those that knew less. So the ones that knew a little more becamethe popular educators that were able to teach those who knew a little less.It was a bold, audacious and courageous measure which came really out ofthe pressure of not knowing at that point exactly what to do. But we putour trust in the people and the extraordinary result was that it wasincredibly successful and most of these people became very good teachers.So, this gave birth not only to the new popular educator, but to the wholeconcept of popular education in Nicaragua. In the first six months after theend of the crusade more than 18,000 popular educators were working. Iwant to clarify that these 18,000 people were people who had just finishedlearning during the crusade, or they were peasants who had the equivalentof a 4th, 5th or 6th grade education and after some training then began toteach those who knew less than them. In the second half of that year wewere able to integrate more than 24,000 popular educators. In the nextsemester then, we reached the figure of 25,000.

If you had gone to Nicaragua in those days, you would haveencountered something like this: In one small town Luis Gomez, 13years old, teaches ten adults how to read and write. Popular educators

teach from 3 until 5 in the afternoon, and then later in the evening theybecome students in their own programs. A peasant woman, the mother offive, teaches seven other adults how to read and write from 3 until 5 in theafternoon, at the same time feeding her baby; then between 6 and 8 shegoes to her own classes in the evening. Thirty year-old Garcia, hi hiswheelchair, teaches forty people how to read and write. Petrono Porta whois 60 teaches another woman who is 40 how to read and write and they sittogether for three hours every day because they want to make up for all thetime that has been lost. Felix Galiano, who is 61 years old and who learnedhow to read and write during the crusade, dedicates himself to visiting theadult literacy classes every day so as to be an example to the youngerpeople; he tells them "Look, I learned ... why couldn't you learn?" A girlwho is 13 leads a collective of people; she is teaching some people how t3read and write at the very basic level while at the same time she is teachingmath at a higher level to other people. She is also visiting them at home tokeep them motivated and at the same time she has taught her mother howto read and write.

- 45 -" 4

In spite of all the difficulties, in spite of the poverty and the hard work inthe sun all day, thousands of these peasant people integrated themselvesinto the literacy programs. Close to 150,000 people registered to study thefirst levels of literacy in the first 6 months. Then at the higher level over160,000 registered. At the third level 180,000 registered.

I would like to read a quote from a book by Rosa Maria Torres, anEcquidorian educator, which very clearly summarizes what I have beentrying to communicate here tonight. It's called Towards a New Concept ofPopular Education.

"Perhaps one of the most important, genuinely revolutionaryachievements of the Nicaraguan crusade has been the creation of whatis called the 'popular educator'. By making a worker or a peasant intoan educator of other workers and peasants, Nicaragua has set the basisfor a model of popular self-education, defined and legitimized becauseall of the popular sectors are the recipients of this education and at thesame time they are the educators of their own people -by ming thosethat know a little more in order to teach those that know a little lessand by putting them together in a common experience in which bothlearn and teach. By doing this Nicaragua broke with all the traditionalroles assigned to the figure and the status of the teacher. Theinsecurity, the inexperience, the lack of professionalism, even thepresence of a coordi-nator, embody the negation of the traditionalteacher and, instead, put forward the creation of a new concept of theteacher - one who is part of the students, who is one more studentbecause he belongs to the same group.

There is one concept of popular education that is somewhatrevolutionary. That is the concept of liberating education which isaware of the importance of bringing about a process of awareness inthe people. How-ever, this approach is still limited by the verytraditional model of the teacher because there is not an equalrelationship between the student and the teacher. The only model thatwould allow for that inequality to actually be broken is this newconcept of the 'popular educator' in which the relationship betweenteacher and student is radically changed because the student and theteacher are actually one and the same. Theyall belong to the same group. They have all experienced the sameerperiences. And finally, this brings multiple repercussions, not onlyto) the educational process, but to society as a whole. Therefore it is anintegral and revolutionary creation."

We also learned that all true education must end up with the organizationof those who are studying. Another lesson that we learned was thateducation is not just a process which ultimately is going to lead anindividual into further achievements in terms of more studies or work.What is most important is that that person becomes aware o: his or hercapacity to change the world around them and that they will be able to dothis only if they get together in an organized way with those that are at thesame level.

- 46 -

By working in the crusade and then in the years after the crusade, wehave come to the conclusion, and we are convinced of the fact, thatthere is no neutral education. All education is political. The only

thing, is that each educator has to choose what kind of politics he or she isgoing to instill into his form of education. But historically there has neverbean neutral education.

A person from India that was visiting Nicaragua prior to the beginning ofthe revolution told me that this campaign was actually too political. "Whydid you have to start", he asked, "with the word revolution? Why didn'tyou start with the word water?" First of all, I had to point out to him thatwe had not chosen those wonds, that actually what had happened was wehad gone out into the mountains, into the countryside, and throughdialogue with the peasants and the workers, we had discovered whichwere the themes that they were interested in going through and that thosewords were their words.

We told this Indian technician that what we were interested in wasfollowing the Paulo Freire kind of pedagogy in whirl through dialogue,people become aware of what it is that is around thew that they have towork on in order to change - to change their own lives and their place insociety. I also told him that what he was proposing was highly politicalas well because in choosing words like water - we could even choosethings like cloud or something even highei up - we would be covering upthe real issues or the real problems that people needed to talk about andlearn about.

We also learned that money is quite important particularly when you wantto do big things like this literacy crusade. But what we discovered evenmore was the key role of human resources. When a people assumes aproblem, takes on a problem and makes it it's own, then there isno way tostop. This is something basic that we &covered. And it has influenced notonly education but many other areas in the life of the country We'reconvinced that if people begin to look at their own problems let's say,their problems in health, their problems in living conditions - and becomeaware of the history behind them and get to know thenl thoroughly thenthey will be able to come up with the'solutions to solve those problems.

The Spanish writer, Ignacio Gonzales, in his book about a trip that he tookin Central America, compares the Nicaraguan literacy crusade to thebuilding of the Egyptian pyramids and the Great Wall of China. I wouldlike to communicate to all of you adult educators here is that what wehave in our hands, what we have to work with, is a human resource whichis capable of wonderful things - that all it takes is faith and confidence inpeople's ability to succeed, and then we will all grow together.

We drew lessons from the literacy crusade which were applied to thewhole educational system in Nicaragua. The crusade became somewhat alab in which we experimented and in which we came up with new modelsto be applied in the entire educational system. First, the reality of thepeople, the true reality, and the history of the people themselves had to bethe content of the curriculum - an education directed towards theformation of a critical individual, an individual who would be ready toobserve and decide for himself or herself, not simply swallow everythingthat was put in front of him - and also an iadividual who would be readyto work with others in order to change things.

- 47 -,

We also broke with the model of the teacher as the one who is 'up there'and is the one who knows, giving knowledge to those 'down there' andwho don't know. The model that we adopted was a dialogical model inwhich both teachers and students would switch roles and become thesame in the classroom an educational model that would always belooking toward change, into the future, into actively changing the futurefor a better purpose - looking always at the creativity and the solutions forour own problems, solutions that come from the people themselves - aneducation that could integrate manual work with intellectual work. Thenational goal was that there shouldn't be one student who didn't work norone worker who couldn't study, thus bringing together the countrysideand the city.

I would like to summarize in these few words: The lessons we learnedfrom the literacy campaign of 1980 became the guidelines to transform thewhole educational system of Nicaragua up until last April (when therewas a change of government).

Befom going on to the question period I would like to mention what is for

me the most dramatic lesson of this campaign. The hardest and mostpainful lesson came from the fact that 59 young people, Brigadistas, diedduring this campaign and seven of them were killed by Contra forces thatwere trying to prevent the crusade from happening. However, the rest ofthe Brigadistas continued to work until the end, and that showed us howheroic our youth has been. Today in the main room of the museum ofliteracy in Managua there are pictures and some personal things of these59 young Brigadistas as a show of our appreciation for this youth - forhow hard they worked and how they were reaey to give their lives forsuch an important task.

It is with great emotion, thinking of these young people who gave theirlives for this task, that I will end my presentation tonight by saying thatthe crusade in Nicaragua taught us many lessons as I have related. And Ionly hope that I have been able to communicate some of my thoughtsclearly enough so that you adult educators can also draw some lessonsfrom this epic that we were a part of. Thank you very much. Feel free toask any questions. I will respond to the best of my ability.

QUESTION PERIOD

Question: I know that in Nicaragua, Spanish is the main language. Thereare also other languages, two at least I know about - the English inBluefields and the language of the Mskitos up in the north. I wonder ifthis was taken into account in the literacy campaign.

Response: The campaign, besides being done in Spanish which is the mainlanguage, the majority language, was also done in four other languageswhich represent four basic ethnic groups in the country - in English, inMiskito, in Suma, and in Rama. The Sumas and the Ramas are groups of8000 people, so you can appreciate how much respect was shown forsmall groups of people. The whole project was adapted to their ownneeds instead of trying to teach them how to read and write in Spanishwhich for them was a second language. The goal for them was to firstlearn how to read and write in their own language and then learnSpanish later as a second language.

Question: You said that all education must end up with the organizationof the people who are studying. In Canada that statement has beendebated quite heavily - whether or not the people who are the literacystudents have the right and the abilities to then participate in the literacymovement as they progress through their learning. Could you expandon that and give me some of your thoughts?

Response: Not only in Nicaragua, but in many places in Latin America,we are convinced that popular education must come up from thepopular organizations themselves and then return those people to thosepopular organizations in order to strengthen them and to continue thesocial action that is needed to bring about change. If we start with thevery basic concept of popular education which is to begin with thereality of a person, then that person, in the process of learning how toread and write, will begin to know about that reality - will begin tounderstand the injustice and the inequality to which heor she has beensubjected. And by doing that he will also begin to articulate thosechanges that need to take place in order to change the situation overall.So that person will begin through this knowledge to organize with otherpeople in ord- r to achieve social action and to furthermore achievechange.

I was talking to a popular educator from the United States not too longago and she was telling me that at the centre where she was workingthe black people would go there to learn how to read and write sothey could vote and they could do something in their own community

- 49 -

in order to change their situation. So in this case, for example, there is

a political intention behind the desire to know how tu lead and write.If you have hurdles in your life because of your lack of skills inreading and writing then you learn how to read and write in order tbgo over those hurdles and then achieve the political goals that youhave set out for yourself. I am not giving lessons for Vancouver orCanada but I can say for sure that this is a clear concept in LatinAmerica and I'm sure that all popular educators there practice it.

It is inconceivable to us that a person can be marginalized and kept inignorance - and probably the person also suffers from poverty. It isinconceivable to us that that person will learn something other thanabout her own reality, that she will be learningabout something 'up inthe clouds'. In the middle ages it was said that illiterate people werestronger and tamer for work. Now, to me it is not clear whether thatperson is actually stronger, but that he or she is subdued. It is true -ignorance makes people accept the injustice and inequality that is

imposed on them.

And in Latin America, most governments don't launch literacycampaigns because what they are interested in is cheap labour. It is notby chance that only two countries in history have had such a majorliteracy campaign. Many of the other countries have a lot moreresources, a lot more money, than Cuba and Nicaragua have. Whyhaven't they done literacy campaigns? So it is clear that ignorance hasbeen an instrument of the oppressors to keep people subdued and thateducation can become the tool of liberation for those people.

Question: When you were speaking You were not only talking aboutpeople's access to literacy, but the democratization of the teachingprocess. Most of the popular educators that I know in Canada haveBachelor's or Master's degrees and they are 'popular educators'. Thestruggle which I feel is part of the problem is the scarcity of resources for

teaching in Canada - and we don't have the Brigadistas. I've been tomany conferences were practitioners, literacy teachers, speak aboutsolving the problem. Our voice is almost worn out. I am almost at thepoint where I feel some mass movement is the only way that anythingwill gci done in this country because practitioners are few in numberand they are worn out. And I welcome some kind of mass movement ona different level than the educated practitioner level.

Response: I am sure that this is an issue that you will be able to discusswith your colleagues a lot better than you would with me. I only arrivedin Vancouver yesterday and I am not very aware of the reality here but Iam sure that among you you will be able to Jolve it. kod I think thatyour comment is quite important in terms of that being something youneed to discuss with other colleagues.

CI.OSING REMARKS

Gil lies Malnarich

Thank you for this evening, Fernando. The organizing committee forLiteracy 2000 wants you to know that our institution, Douglas College,will be working in the next days and weeks to build an affiliation withthe Nicaraguan Institute for Popular Education and Research. Thisgives us great pleasure and for us is one of the most positive outcomesof the conference.

Fernando Cardenal responds

Something that I have just thought about is that I don't think thesekinds of governments (like the present govermnent in Nicaragua)discuss these issues very much. Actually they have been very clear;they know that education can be a tool of liberation so as soon as theyget in office they begin to attack education and that is where all thecutbacks first take place. And that's why we who are aware of theimportance of education have to continue our efforts in whatever waywe can and that's why I am so greatful about the initiative thatDouglas College is doing in terms of supporting this work that wearegoing to continue through the Institute in Nicaragua.

And it would be beautiful if Canada which supported the literacycrusade in so many ways ten years ago could support this newinitiative that we are beginning - with a lot more difficulty and witha lot more hurdles to go over but with the same confidence and thesame love for our people.

Thank you very much for your presence, and for your interest in theNicaraguan education issue, and for your support.

DEFINING LITERACY:11 CONCEPTION & STRATEGIES

UNDERSTANDING LITERACY AS A DEVELOPM AL PROCESS

Francis KazemekProfessor, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, Wa onTutor and tutor trainerResearcher and writer in adult literacy

111

im CLOSING GAPS BETWEEN RESEARCH AND PRACTISE

Pat RiggConsultant, American Language and Literacy, ilicson, Arizona'frainer, teachers and teacher-educatorsFirst and second language literacy teacher

111Designer and evaluator of literacy programs and institutes

REVEALNG FACTS: STATISTICS CANADA'S 1990 STUDY

Gilles MontignyProject Manager, Special Surveys Branch, Statistics Canada

Stan JonesProfessor, Applied Linguistic Department, Carleton University

1111

-

a

THIS WORKSHOP WAS AN intense and lively one. Th,..1 over 50 participants expressed

great enthusiasm for Kazemek's delivery style and message and for the most part were

happy to have him say "out loud" what they believe literacy to be.

Kazemek began by outlining the two malor streams in literacy instruction. The first defines

literacy as the acquisition of some set of functional and/or workplace skills. The second sees

literacy as a comprehensive and lifelong developmental process. Clearly supporting the

second definition, Kazemek proceeded to delineate the false and inaccurate assumptions on

which the first definition is built. 1W such assumptions are that literacy equals jobs and that

literacy training is a relatively short term process (i.e. acquisition of generalizable basic

skills). Such simplistic thinking may be in response to 'crisis" statistics like the Southam

report.

There are underlying beliefs and assumptirAs that form the basis of the setond definition of

literacy: literacy as a personal, social, contextual, transactive and constructive process. This

definition assumes that literacy education is a long term process incorporating the range of

language functions and is a means of transforming a.' broadening one's perspective. Adult

learners are more than consumers and functionaries.

Kazemek then concluded his workshop by discussing the implications of working from the

developmental oefinition of literacy. The context and form of literacy education must reflect

the social and political nature of language and literacy. The content of literacy education must

highlight language functions and the plurality of literacy. The imaginative function of language

is a key. There are no quick fixes. Literacy is a practice not a commodty.

UNDERSTANDING LITERACY

AS A DEVELOPMENTAL

PROCESS

IS LITERACY SIMPLY THE ACQUISITION

OF A SET OF SKILLS? ARE THERE EASY

SOLUTIONS AND QUICK FIXES?

ANALYZE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS

VIEW AND A CONTRARY ONE WHICH

HAS WIDESPREAD IMPLICATIONS FOR

LITERACY PROGRAM STRUCTURING,

FUNDING AND TEACHING.

from the Facilitator's Report

Francis Kazemek

The great English poet, William Blake, once observed, "ToGeneralize is to be an Idiot. To Particularize is the AloneDistinction of Merit. General Know ledges are those

Know ledges that Idiots possess" (Blake 1966,451). We may takeexception to Blake's own over-generalization, but we cannot ignoreits underlying significance. Scholars from a wide range of disciplinesare acknowledging the importance of the particular, the contextual(for example, see Green 1988).

When we explore literacy and illiteracy, it is all too easy to generalize andengage in the kind of abstractions and idiotic statements that we see andhear in the media, from politicians and from representatives of thecorporate world. Thus, it is vitally important that we always keep theparticular before us. Literacy is a personal, social, cultural, contextual,gender-related and constructive process whereby a particular individualbuilds meaning with a particular text depending upon her particularpurposes for reading and writing. It is, first and foremost, an end in itself,although it may also serve as a means to other ends (Schole 1989).

The particular view of literacy is quite different from abstract notions thatare being promulgated by various governmental agencies, corporate

- 55 -

57

nEveryone

appredated Kazemek'sdiscussion about using"rich" text (imagina-tive, poetic) along withthe whole languageapproach. Thisprovides a method tointegrate the creativewith what society,learners, and fundersdemand. Literacy is ameans of shiftingperspectives. Readingand writing should beused to relate to life'sother written andunwritten texts.

To be able to getadults to read andwrite with pleasure,is to implement moreof a personal andexpressive approach.


leaders and even some educators.Abstra1 views of literacy typicallyemphasize functional and worOlaceskills which ultimately are designedto help individuals fit into thestatus quo and become consumersand functionarietwithin the worldof corporate capitalism. Literacytraining is restricted to performancewith a narrow range of texts withina narrow range of situations; itbecomes a process whereby adultsare trained to advance the'economic competitiveness' of theirsociety.

I want to explore briefly thedifferences between these twoviews and some of their possibleimplications. Thus, I first examineliteracy from an abstract andfunctional perspective and contendthat this is a limited and dangerousview within a democracy. Second,I discuss literacy from a particularpe. ipective and maintain that it isa comprehensive and lifelongdevelopmental process. Third, Ipresent some of the programmaticand instructional implicationsthat follow from this morecomprehensive and developmentalperspective.

Literacy as Abstract and Functional

The growing emphasis today uponliteracy as some set of functionalor workplace skills (for example,see Chisman, 1989) reflects what Iwant to call abstract notions ofliteracy. These views are abstractbecause they narrow what it meansto be literate and then generalizethe resultant limited range of skillsto the wider world. The AdultPerformance Level (APL) Project isprobably the most well-known ofsuch an orientation (Northcutt1975). Levels of competency weredetermined on the basis of years ofschooling, occupation, and income- clearly measures of class - andthen generalized to the adultpopulation as a whole. The resultis that adults are statistically

- 56 -

categorized according to theirrelative command of abstract andcontext-free skills and knowledges,for example, being able to read busand train schedules.

Such narrow and partial views ofliteracy are based on questionableassumptions and research, reflectsimplistic thinking and foster anideology of domestication. Thebelief that there is some universalset of literacy skills which transcendsculture, context, text, purpose, andmotivations simply has not beensupported in theory, research orpractice (Hunter & Harman 1979;Venezky, Wagner, & Ciliberti1990). This belief reflects a'commonsensical' and non-criticalunderstanding of the reading andwriting processes. Moreover, such arather simplistic understanding isoften used to neutralize the potentialpower that is inherent in literacy(Freire 1970). These abstract andsimplistic notions fuel the 'crisis'statistics that regularly appear inthe media and likewise place theonus of illiteracy squarely on theshoulders of the adults themselves.Complexity is sacrificed forsimplicity, and the wide range ofpossible contributory factors, forexample, the socio-economic, isignored. Let's look more closely atsome specific features of thisabstract and functional perspective.

In addition to its realization in theform of various sets of generalizablebasic skills, literacy from an abstractperspective today often manifestsitself in the form of basic skillslimited to a restricted range oftexts, contexts and purposes, forexample, reading and writing tofunction at a specific job. Whileseemingly particular, such literacytraining is nevertheless abstractbecause of its severe restriction anddistortion of language function;the multitudinous forms and usesof reading and writing areeffectively ignored in favour ofsome workplace literacy sidlls.

Since these basic skills, whethergeneral or job-specific, already havebeen identified by different experts,literacy is further viewed assomething to be given to or done toadults. It is s.!mething to be"banked" into adults by others(Freire 1973). As such, it seldomfosters personal, social andeconomic empowerment of anexpansive kind. Rather, it givesindividuals a deceptive orsuperficial sense of control overtheir world while at the same timeguaranteeing that they remainconsumers of other people'spurposes sr,: ideas.

Furthermore, this bankable skillsorientation usually results inliteracy training of a relatively shortduration. It doesn't take long totrain individuals to perform literacytasks typically limited to whatHalliday (1973) calls the"informative" function of language,that is, language to report andinform. Scholars and practitionerstoo often contribute to thismistaken orientation by fosteringthe notion that one can becomeliterate in a short period of time,say, 100 hours or 8 weeks.

Literacy as Particular,Comprehensive, and a LifelongDevelopmental Process

Literacy involv:Is more than 100hours of trail g. It is more thanbeing able to do what someone elseexpects us to do on the job orelsewhere. As discussed earlier,literacy is a personal, sochl,contextual, transactive, gender-related, and constructive processwhereby we rewrite "the texts thatwe read in the texts of our lives,and keep on rewriting our lives inthe light of those texts" (Scholes1989, 155). It is a transformativeprocess whereby we have thepotential to shape our lives andeffect change in our world(Mezirow 1978).

Accordingly, literacy education, asopposed to literacy training, is along-term process which incorpo-rates the whole range of languagefunctions and not simply theinformative. It involves usingreading and writing to request andpersuade, to control the behaviourof others, to establish and maintainsocial relationships, to express one'sfeelings and opinions, to imagineand create worlds, to inquire andexplore, and to use language toreflect and turn on language itself(Halliday & Hasan 1989; Bruner1986). As such, educators andadults are constantly exploring thetension that exists among thesespecific language functions, specifictexts, specific contexts, and specificreaders and writers. This takes time.

Thus, literacy education seen fromthis particular and potentiallytransformative perspective recog-nizes the adult as a whole personand not simply as a consumer,worker or functionary. Its ultimategoal is to help individuals seethemselves and the world in amulti-perspectival manner: "Aneducation for freedom must movebeyond function, beyond thesubordination of persons to externalends" (Greene 1988,133).

Some Programmatic andInstructional Implications

Literacy as a particular anddevelopmental process has specificimplications for educators. Let mebriefly present the ones that I thinkare most important.

First, the context and form ofliteracy education must reflect thesocial, dialogic and political natureof language and literacy. This meansthat social and collaborative efforts,for example, learning circles, wouldtake precedence over one-on-one

iring and individual computeruse. Such social interaction andexploration of pertinent topics andtexts allow adults to question their

- r- 57 -

IIAn issue of con-

cern was the negativeimplications of work-place and functionalliteracy programs whichnarrow our perspectiverather than broaden ourconceptions. Literacy isa comprehensive,developmental processthat exists on acontinuum in whichwe are all involvedthroughout our lives.Literacy cannot benarrowed down to 'just'a set of particular skills.Our students want/deserve the same kindof literacy we enjoy.

Concern was raisedabout how to imple-ment such programsgiven the guidelinesfrom funders andlimited resources. Thepolitical and economicclimate effects how wework and designprograms.

.. from Parddpantil Response Cards

own and other's (including theinstructor's) ideas in a manner thatone-on-one tutoring typically doesnot encourage; it lessens the chancefor banking by the tutor. Moreover,it encourages a sense of communityamong adults in which such thingsas computers and software may beused as tools to explore texts andexpress ideas.

Second, the content of literacyeducation must highlight, not ignoreor downplay, all of the languagefunctions; it must recognize theplurality of literacies and theplurality of motives among adults(Beder and Valentine 1990). Morespecifically, literacy educationneeds to stress the importance ofthe imaginative function of lan-guage. A wide range of researchfrom various disciplines has shownus how central narrative ways ofknowing are to humankind (Bruner1986). Narratives in one form oranother would seem to be thenatural basis for literacy educationand perspective transformation.The imaginative function of lan-guage as manifest in storytelling,story reading and writing oralhistories, group LEA texts, journalsand diaries, and poetry/song lyricreading and writing should occupycenter stage in any literacy program.

Third, educators need to be openand honest with adults concerningthe developmental nature of literacy.There are no quick fixes; one does notsuddenly become literate in 100hours. We must let adults knowthat such quick fixes result in asurface control of print and not inthe ability to use literacy for one'sown purposes and possible em-powerment. Unless we are candidwith adults, and ourselves, we willface the possibility of discouragingadults (who won't be able to readHemingway after 100 hours ofinstruction) and deluding ourselvesabout the gains of our students(Diekoff 1988).

Moreover, we need to stress withadults that literacy simply won'tjust happen without effort on theirpart. Literacy is a practice (Gee 1986)that requires regular practice inorder for one to become proficient.Concomitantly, we as educatorsneed to be advocates for the wholerange of literacy functions bymodelling and offering adultspossibilities for different Wilds ofreading and writing. As Mezirow(1989) contends, adults with limitedliteracy abilities quite often do notknow the literacy possibilities thatwould be available to them if theywere more proficient.

Fourth and lastly, literacy from adevelopmental and lifelongperspective mandates that adultshave possibilities to usepurposefully their growing abilities

References

in a wide variety of situations.Initial literacy programs mustbe tied to such on-going andexpansive literacy contexts ascommunity action groups,workplace issue groups, writingworkshops, book sharing circles,cross-generational reading andwriting groups, interest groups,and so on.

Literacy, like any complexphenomenon, can be simplified ina reductive manner only to the perilof literacy itself. Simplification ofliteracy results in such distortionsas skills hierarchies, basic skills,'grade levels', forms of assessmentthat delimit instead of empower,and so forth. Our responsibilityas adult literacy educators is torecognize, honour and promulgatecomplexity

Beder, H.W. & Valentine, T. 1990. Motivational profiles of adult basic education students. AdultEducation Quarterly, 40, 78-94.

Blake, W. 1966. Blake: Complete Writings Edited by G. Keynes London: Oxford UniversityPress.

Bruner, J. 1986. Actual Minds, Possible Worlds Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Chisman, P.P. 1989. Jump Start: The Federal Role in Adult Literacy Washington, B.C.: SouthportInstitute for Policy Analysis.

Diekhoff, G.M. 1988. An appraisal of adult literacy programs Reading between the lines Journal ofReading, 31, 624-630.

Freire, P. 1973. Education far Critical Consciousness New York: Seabury Press.

Freire, P. 1973. Pedagogy of the Oppressed New York: Seabury Press.

Gee, J.P. 1986. Orality and literacy: From The Savage Mind to Ways with Words TESOL Quarterly,

20, 719-746.

Greene, M. 1988. The Dialectic of Freedom New York Teachers College Press.

Halliday, M.A.K. 1973. Explorations in the Functions of language London: Edward Arnold.

Halliday, M.A.K. 1989. language, Context and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-SemioticPerspective Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hunter, C. & Harman, D. 1979. Adult Illiteracy in the United States: A report to the FordFoundation Now Yortt: McGraw-Hill.

Mezirow, J. 1978. Perspective Transformation. Adult Education, 28,100-110.

Mezirow, J. 1989. Ttansformation Theory and Social Action: A response To Collard and law AdultEducation Quarterly, 39-169-175.

Northcutt, N. 1975. Adult functional wmpetency: A Summary Austin: University of Texas.

Scholes, T. 1989. Protocols of Reading New Haven CE: Yale University Press.

Venezky, R.L., Wagner, D.A. & Ciliberti, BS., Eds. Toward Defining Literacy Newark, DE:International Reading Association.

- 58 -

PAT R1GG OPENED THE WORKSHOP by outlining the four areas in which gaps exist

between research and practise: oomposition, gender, first language literacy, and participatory

CUIliCUK1111. Rigg provided a brief overview of the nature of these gaps then (bided the group

to brainstorm on the issues raised.

In the are of composition, practice is ahead of research. We have compilations of what

students write; we recognize the value of compositions drawn from personal experiences;

and we have guesses about why and how they write. We embrace these concepts In our

practise but there is little resewch to demonstrate our conclusions.

There is not much research concerning gender and our practise does not indicate much

specializing of curriculum and program design to recognize gender difference.

The validity of teaching English literacy only In ESL settings was discussed. More research

is needed to address the degree to which success in learning a second language is related

to level of literacy in one's first language.

Researeh in the area of participatory curriculum indicates that knowledge and learning we

sosially constructed events. This has Imp lkations for our practise as wwesolve such issues

as reconciling student expectations with accountability to funding agendes, assessment and

evaluation, use of volunteers as tutors, and pedagogically sorrect approaches.

These highlights from the workshop serve to note the areas which deserve further research,

Participants were Interested in the notion of conducting authentic research In their con

programs and having this wort circulated among the Adult Basic Education community in

accessible formats and newsletters not academic journals! lastly, many were Intrigued with

the idea of Increased student participation in the formulation of a research project through a

participatory network As one participant stated, "I have heard what I need to know to be

reminded to start with the learner."

CLOSING GAPS BETWEEN

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

WHAT ARE THE CURRENT

DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN RESEARCH

AND PRACTiCE IN THE LITERACY

FIELD AND WHAT IS THEIR IMPACT ON

LEARNERS? FIND OUT WHICH ISSUES

WE OUGHT TO HIGHLIGHT IN THE

COMING DECADE AND WHY.


Pat Rigg

What is the role of writing in current, typical adult literacyprograms? Let's look first at current guidelines and practices

- - in adult literacy education, and then at current research oncomposing, especially as it applies to adults becoming literate. Finally,let's see how this current research could be incorporated into adultliteracy classes.

Current Guidelines and Practices

In adult education composing is usually seen as a skill or set of skillsseparate from reading. klthough there are some exceptions (see, forexample, Elsasser & John-Steiner 1977), the emphasis in most adultliteracy programs is on the functional or survival writing skills, such asfilling out forms, completing applications, writing business letters, andso on. If on^ looks at some of the most commonly used textbooks andapproaches to literacy instruOion for adults, one gets an idea of the kindsof writing activities that are being recommended and used by literacyinstructors. The Adult Performance Level (APL) project (Northcutt 1975)is probably today's most influential research study of adult literacy(Cranney 1983). The instructional materials and approaches to instruction

- 59 -

G

advocated by APL authors arewidely used. A brief look at theAPL Scope and Sequence Charts(1976) is revealing. These chartsdescribe "enabling objectives" forthe various APL knowledge areas(Occupational ConsumerEconomics, Health, CommunityResources, Govermnent and Law)and APL skill areas (reading,writing, speaking/listening,computing, problem solving,interpersonal relations). A typicalenabling objective fromOccupational Knowledge is:

The adult learner writes a list ofwords and abbreviations found injob-related ads.

After adults master such enablingobjectives, they are then ready tofill out practice employmentapplication forms. Similarly, adultlearners are asked to practicewriting a job resume and letterof application for a job. In theConsumer Economics section,typical writing activities includeusing vocabulary items in writtensentences after reading a pre-specified list of words dealing withmoney management. Adultstudents are also asked to list thedifferent types of restaurants intheir areas, such as Chinese, Italian,carry-out and so on.

The writing activities su ested bythe Literacy Volunteers of America(LVA), one of the two largestvolunteer literacy organizations inthe USA, reflect an approach towriting instruction that in severalways is similar to that of APL. TheLVA Tutor handbook (Colvin &Root 1976) suggests that the tutorbegin writing activities by havingthe student practice the alphabet. Afollowing activity has the tutor usea list of words for the student firstto recognize, then to write as thetutor dictates them. The tutor thencorrects any mistakes the studenthas made ani asks the student tofocus on correct spelling. Finally,

the handbook says the tutor shouldallow the adult to move ahead inreading, but should continue topractice writing by using wordsand sentences from earlbr lessonsand from sight word lists.

Teaching Reading in Adu!:Education (Bowren Zintz 1577) isa textbook on thr.: methodology ofadult literacy education. Thesection on writing is very limited.Writing instruction, according toBowren & Zintz, should focus ontwo areas:

1)writing skills, in which adultspractice filling in forms andwriting down what the teacherdictates;

2)handwriting experience, in whichwriting exercises are built around220 words from the Dolch BasicSight Word list.

The emphasis is upon filling outforms correctly and extending theadult's sight vocabulary by havingthe adult write 'easy' sentencescontaining 'service' words fromdictation (Bowren & Zintz 1977,198).

Finally, Newman's Adult BasicEducation: Reading (1980) providesexamples of adult students' writtenwork, but offers very little specificpedagogical information on writinginstruction. Newman's text dealswith reading; there is an implica-tion that writing is a separatesubject and should be dealt withaccordingly.

The purposes of writing for adulteducation students seem to be:

1) reinforcing reading skills;

2) filling in forms;

3) practising the forms of suchfunctional prose as lettersapplying for a job or for welfarebenefits.

60r)

This view of writing and thecurrent practices which gmw fromit reflect a lack of awareness or adismissal of current research oncomposing. Specialists inpublishi tg adult educationmaterials (such as Steck-Vaughn ofAustin, TX), APL researchers andprogram designers, and manyteachers seem unaware of recentresearch into composing, bothbeginning and more advanced. Wewill here summarize briefly some ofthe recent research on composingthat is most pertinent to adulteducation, and will then suggestsome specific applications thatincorporate this research.

Current Research on Composing

The names of some writingrenarchers are well known toteachers of reading and composingat both public schools and univer-sities; most of us recognize thenames of James Britton, Marie Clay,Donald Graves, Martha King, andJames Moffett. Their work withchildren and their insights into thewriting process have been incorpo-rated by some publishers into theirmaterials, by some programplanners into their curricula, and bysome teachers into their classrooms.But all this research has been almostexclusively in elementary andsecondary schools.

There has been some research intothe writing of adults, much of itwith adults of college age who wereenroled in composition courses. In1977 Mina Shaughnessy publishedher important Errors andExpectations, a research study of thecompositions of college basic skillsstudents. Shaughnessy's researchmethod was, basically, to examinethe students' compositions in anattempt to discover what thewriters had tried to say and todiscover how they had failed toaccomplish their intentions. Thisanalysis of errors in the writers'products was important; both

further research and classroompractices have been stronglyaffected. For researchers,Shaughnessy's work meant lookingbeyond and, in a sense, behind thepage; it meant looking at thewriter's intentions as these could beperceived by a study of the writtenproduct, and attempting to deter-mine what psychological andlinguistic processes had affectedthose intentions so as to garble themessage. Shaughnessy focused onwhat the writer was trying to doand what had happened in thatattempt, rather than focusing onhow the writer deviated from someabstract norm of standard, correctexpository prose. It was natural forresearchers after Shaughnessy tofocus even more on the processesby which writers attempted toexpress their meaning, and thisfocus meant studying the processrather than the product.

Emig (1971) had already tried to do, this with her case study in which

she asked a young writer to reflecton and to discuss aloud theprocesses she was going throughwhile composing. Several research-ers after Shaughnessy used bothinterviews with writers andobrervations of writers as theywrote. Flower and Hayes (1981)used Emies think aloud researchtechnique as they studied whatthey called "writer-based" and"reader-based" prose. Pianko's(1979) research with college fresh-men, Perl's (1980) with skilled andunskilled writers, and Zamels'(1983) with writers using Englishas their new language, all usedintrospection, reflection, anddiscussion with the rusearcher-observers. Probably the mostimportant conclusion of all thisresearch is that composing is nota linear process of encoding whatthe writer means; it is not a matterof getting one's ideas down onpaper, but is rather a process ofcreating and discovering thoseideas.

Flower and Hayes (1981) callcomposing "a cognitive process"and emphasize its recursive nature;we write something, read it, scratchout parts, scribble in others, rereadit, write more, reread, go back tothe first and rearrange, and so on.We use what we've written not onlyto write more, but to discover whatwe mean. Writing is, as Moffett(1981) calls it, a process of"composing the mind". DonMurray's benchmark article, Teachwriting as process, not product (1972)was one of the first to use the term"process" and his article still dearlystates the implications for processteaching. Briefly, those implicationsare:

1. The text for the class is thestudents' own writing;

2. The students find their ownsubjects, and use their ownlanguage;

3. Students write all the drafts theyfeel are necessary;

4. Any form is encouraged;

5. Mechanics come last.

Murray's implications alter theview of adult new readers andwriters; suddenly they are notshameful or lazy students,dummies or criminals. They arenew writers; their texts are theirwriting; their subjects are theirproperty and responsibility; theirgoals, purposes, language are theirown. What they choose to learn,read, write about is their decision.These implications are certainly notnew in composition programsaround the country, but they arealmost unheard of in adult literacyprograms. Two programs which putthese implications in practice areBoston's Adult Literacy ResourceInstitute, which publishes Tell MeMore, a collection of adult studentwriting, and the Invergarry

- 611 j

III may have found

a methodologicalstrategy to collect datadealing with selfconcept/literacy, genderand accountability

it was noted that weare doing research inour classrooms but wearen't recording it.Practitioners areresearchers and are, inmany areas, ahead ofresearchers. Many leftexcited to startrecording theirpractise. Areas ofparticular interest tofocus research on were:gender, composition,participatory educationand accountability.

Many will bereassessing theirclassroom style andcurriculum to increaselearner centredness.

from Participants' Reapowe Cards

111M111111111111111111111111111111111111111'

/ISome discussion

centred around theimportance of devel-oping first languageliteracy first.

I am concerned aboutfirst language literacy.What does this meanfor individuals, forgroups, for fundingpriorities? What arethe social and culturalimplications?

As much as possible,the students must: bepermitted to deteeminethe content.anddirection of their study.BUT we must not losesight of traditionalviews many cultureshave of teachers. Thischange of perspectivecannot occur overnight.

Many people seem tobe doing thingsresearch has yet toconsider.

1/... from Participants' Response Cards

Learning Centre outside Vancouver,B.C. which publishes Voices, NewWriters for New Readers (reviewed inRigg 1990).

In 1982, ten years after Murray'sarticle, Maxine Hairston suggestedthat composition instruction wasshifting to a process paradigm. Herdiscussion of the principle featureof the new paradigm includedattendon to intervention and dis-covery; concerns with audience,purpose, and occasion; evaluationwith the writer's intention andaud-ience in mind; the assumption thatwriting is a holistic, recursive andcreative activity; and an emphasison writing as a mode of learning aswell as a communication skill.

More recent research into compo-sition has focused on the social andcultural contexts in which thecomposition occurs. Edelsky'sWriting in a Bilingual Program:Habia una vez (1986) points out thatunless the writers compose for theirown purposes to audiences theythemselves select, the writingis inauthentic. Rose's work onwriter's block (1984) and his award-winning, Lives on the Boundary(1989), speak dearly to the import-ance of one's sense of self as belongingto a group a subculture withinAmerica and how to identity withthat subculture can affect one's lit-eracy, both composing and reading.

Some of the most exciting recentresearch on composition focuses oncollaboration; Bruffee (1983) haswritten about composing andreading as social acts and about thecollaborative nature of learning andof knowledge (1984, 1986). Ede andLunsford (1990) and Odell andGoswami (1990) recently inves-tigated the uses of writing by non-academics, noting especially howgreat a role collaboration plays inreal-life composing. Odell andGoswami also noted the role ofelectronic media. In business andat home, the personal computer is

- 62 -G

used in composing and throughFAX, mail, and other computernetworks, collaboration is the orderof the day.

A. New Agenda for Research:Adults as New Writers

Some options for research into thecomposing processes of new writem:

1. Ethnography. What environmentsdo adult new writers read andwrite in? What goes on at theAdult Basic Education Centers, involunteer literacy classes, atcommunity colleges, in familiesand in social organizations? Wecan examine the assumptionsabout writing processes that theseenvironments suggest. Fingeret'sSoLial Networks: A MAU perspectiveon independence and adult literates(1983) is a forerunner of this sortof research.

2.Case studies. We can examinethe writing processes of one ormore individual new writersand readers in any of theseenvironments by collectingsamples, interviewing writerri,and asking them to keep andshare journals or progress logson their writing. Here we mightask new writers about theirassumptions about writing andreading, their goals, the'ir senseof progress as writers.

3.Descriptive studies. We cansurvey large numbers of newwriters .md readers and attemptto qtwitify some of the variablesinvolved in writing processes. Wecan compare the composingprocess of different writers, asPianko (1979) and Ped (1980) didwith college students. Pianko's(1979) comparison of skilled andunskilled writers shows that onemajor difference between the twois the willingness of the skilledwriters to live with uncertaintyand with errors as they write.Skilled writers are more willinr, to

keep going, not sure where theirwriting is taking them and theyare more willing to put up witherrors. The skilled writers tendnot to be uncomfortade with anawkward phrase or misspelledword or vague lexical item; theyknow that they will fix thesesurface matters later, and that theimportant and difficult thing is toget as much as possible on paperwhile the generative juices areflowing. The unskilled writerstend to block at each surfaceproblem, refusing to go on untilsomeone spells a word for them,or abandoning the wholecomposition because they cannotget the first sentence just right.This sort of iesearch needs to becarried out with adult newwriters.

4.Experimental and quasi-experimental studies. With largeenough populations of adultliteracy students, it is possible toset up random samples, set upcontrol and treatment groups,and test the effect of differentteaching .,,qategies and materials.Clifford's 0981) :uok atcollaborative pedagogy is anexample of this approach. Inquasi-experiments, instead ofrandomizing the participants, welook for relationships they haveto each other. Given the nature ofmany adult literacy classes andthe harried schedule of manyadult new writers and readers,the quasi- experiment wouldprobably be a more effectiveapproach than the experimental.Fox's (1980) look at writingapprehension is an example ofthis approach.

References

Bowren,Fay R. & Zintz,Miles. 1977 necking Reading in Adult Basic Education. Dubuque, Iowa:William C. Brown.

Bruffee,Kenneth A. 1983. Writing and reading as collaborative or social acts. In The writer's mind:Writing as a mode of thinking. Janice Hayes, Phyllis Roth, Jon R. Ramsey, Robert D. Foulke(Eds.). Urbana, IL: NCTE

BruffeeXenneth A. 1984. Collaborative learning and "the conversation of mankind." CollegeEnglish 46: 635-52.

Bruffee,Kenneth A. 1986. Social construction, language, and the authority of knowledge: Abibliographic essay. College English 48: 773-90.

Clifford,J. 1981. Composing in stages: The effects of collaboration pedagogy. Research in theThaching of English 15: 37-44.

Colvin,Ruth J. & Rootjane FL 1976 LVA nitor: Techniques Used in the Thaching of Readtng, rev.ed. Syracusern: Literacy Volunteers of Amerka,

Cranney,Garr. 1983. nuo decades of adult reading programs: Growth, problems, and prospects.Journal of Reading 26: 416-22.

Ede,Lisa & Lunsford,Andrea. 1990. Singular textslplural authors;Perspective on collaborative writing, Carbondale,IL:Southern Illinois Press.

Edelsky,Carole. 1986. Writing In a Bilingual Program: Haiti una vez. Norwood,NJ: Ablex.

Elasser,Nan &John-Steiner,Vers. 1977. An interactionist approach to adult literacy. HarvardEducational Review S1 (May):355- 69.

Emig,Janet. 1971. The composing proem of twelfth graders. Urbana,IL: NCTE.

Fingeret,Arlene. 1983. Social networks: A new perspective on independence and adult literates.Adult Education Quarterly 33: 365-87.

Flower,Linde & Hayes,J.R. 1981. A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition andCommunication 32: 365-87.

Fox,R. 1980. Theatment of writing apprehension and its effects on composition. Research in thenothing of English 14: 39-49.

Hairston,Maxine. 1982. The winds of change: Thomas Kuhn and the revolution in the teaching ofwriting. College Composition and Communkation 33: 76-88.

Kazemek,Francis. 1989. Whole language and adult literacy aucationinformatim Update 6 (2)3-7.

Moffett,James. 1981. Active voice. Montclair,NJ: Boynton/Cook PubL Inc.

Murray,Donald M. 1972. Teach writing as prxess, not product. The Leaflet (Nm. 1972): 11-14,

Newman,Anabel. 1980. Adult Basic Education: Readrag. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Northcutt,Norvell. 1975. Adult Functional Competency: A Summary. Austin,DC University ofTexas.

Northcutt,Norvell. 1976. APL Srope & Sequence Charts. Austin,TX University of Texas.

Odell,Lee & Goswami,Dixie. 1990. Writing in non-academic settings. NY & London: Guilford.

Perl,Sondra. 1979. The composing processes of unskilled e, lege writers. Research in the Teaching ofEnglish 13: 317-36.

Pianko,Sharon. 1979. A description of the composing processes of college freshmen. Research in theTeaching of English 13: 5- 72.

Rigg,Pat. 1990. Whole language in adult ESL programs. ERICICLL Bulletin 13(2):1-7.

Rose,Mike. 1984. Writer's Block: The Cognitive Dimension. Carbondale,IL: Southern IllinoisUniversity Press.

Rose,Mike. 1989. Lives on the Boundary. NY: The Free Press.

Shaughnessy,Mina. 1977. Errors and Expectations. NY: Oxford University Press.

Zamel,Vivian. 1983. The composing process of advanced ESL students: Six case studies. TESOLQuarterly 17(2): 165-87.

STATISTICS CANADA WAS unable to providu an authorized written report on the data for

this Conference.

REVEALING FACTS:

STATISTICS CANADA'S

1990 STUDY

WHAT DOES RECENT RESEARCH ON

EDUCATION LEVELS IN CANADA IMPLY

FOR UTERACY WORK? JOIN A

STATISTICS CANADA RESEARCHER, IN A

WORKSHOP ORGANIZED BY THE

MOVEMENT FOR CANADIAN LITERACY,

TO ANALYZE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF

DATA FROM THE SURVEY OF LITERACY

SKILLS USED IN DAILY ACTIVITIES

RELEASED IN MAY 1990.

presentation by Gilles Montigny and Stan Jones

... from the Facilitator's Report

copies of the 1990 research titled Survey of Literacy Skills Used in Daily

Activities, discussed by Stan Jones and Gilles Montigny are availablefrom Statistics Canada. Funding for this reseazth was provided by

the National Literacy Secretariat. The survey was designed to assessdirectly the functional reading, writing and numeracy skills of Canada'sadult population.

Only a sample of adults was surveyed, therefore there is no way to sayexactly how many Canadians are in each category. So it must be kept inmind that the results of the survey provide an indication only. Statisticallyspeaking the sample is a good one - it is random and representsaccurately a cross section of the adult population. However, it did notinclude the Northwest Territories, Indian reservations, prison inmates orpersons over age 69.

Literacy was defined as the ability to gain information from print; therewas no attempt to measure reading for pleasure. The survey measuredreading skills, not interest or motivation. It measured more than simply the

- 64 -

IIIIrI0

IIIII

II

II

r

I

1

I

I

ability to decode by measuring a continuum from decoding to integradonof information. Testing included not only the text but also a meaningfultask (ie. the ability to read an employee benefit eligibility chart or to findthe best food price a newspaper ad).

The researchers created a typology of four levels; then tests were created tomeasure the typology. In each category they attempted to identify typicalkinds of texts people would encounter. The four levels are:

Level 1: Canadians at this level have difficulty dealing with printedmaterials. They most likely identify themselves as people who cannot read(7% of Canadians).

Level 2: Canadians at this level can use printed materials only for limitedpurposes such as finding a familiar word in a simple text. They wouldlikely recognize themselves as having difficulties with common zeadingmaterials (9% of Canadians).

Level 3: Canadians M this level can use reading materials in a variety ofsituations provided the material is simple, dearly laid out, and the tasksinvolved are not too complex. While these people generally do not seethemselves as having major reading difficulties, they tend to avoidsituations requiring reading (22% of Canadians.)

Level 4: Canadians at this level meet most everyday reading demands.This is a large and diverse group which exhibits a wide range of readingskills (62% of Canadians).

The research produced some interesting observations:

Level 1 respondents were mainly non-English or French speakers; thatis they were immigrants (7% of Canadians);

Levels 1 and 2 combined indicate very limited reading abilities (16% ofCanadians);

Levels 1, 2 and 3 are combined to arrive at the 38% of Canadians withliteracy problems which was referred to by John Ryan in the keynoteaddress;

Education level completed and reading ability are generally inter-zelated. Seventy percent of those who completed highschool are atlevel 4. On the other hand, it must be kept in mind that 12% of thosewith elementary or no schooling at all were at level 4.

Literacy levels are higher in the Western provinces. Reading skillprofiles are the same for men and women. Younger Canadiansdemonstrate higher reading ability than older. Level of reading abilitycorrelates with level of income. Medium sized urban areas had thehighest reading levels because of a concentration of younger familiesand smaller numbers of immigrants.

Regardless of assessed reading ability most respondents indicated theywere satisfied with their reading ability.

- 65e,k1 4

II... surprised that92% of people readingat level 2 and 3 felttheir reading skill wasadequate ... low levelof perceived need ...

maybe those withlower skill levels aren'tas anxious to receiveupgrading as wewould think.

...tendency ofgovernments to putworkplace and otherliteracy programsonly where theythink its worthwhileinvestment-wise -tendency to 'write off'segments of thepopulation sinisterimplications of writingoff subcultures as notrequiring literacy.

...concern about theexcluded population ofprisons, Yukon, elderly,natives .6. //


MEETING LEARNER NEEDS:PERSPECTIVES & DIRECTIONS

LEARNERS SPEAK OUT

Brarn FisherCoordinator, Outreach Regional Literacy for Eastern OntarioSecretary, Movement for Canadian Literacy Board member

Agnes BarnesCoordinates literacy program in Dartmouth, Nova ScotiaBoard member, Movement for Canadian Literacy

Robin SilvermanChair of Learners' Action Group of CanadaBoard member, Movement for Canadian Literacy

Jerry Lee MillerLearners' Action Group of CanadaOutieach worker, Toronto Board of EducationBoard member, Movement for Canadian Literacy

Larry LoyieCarnegie Centre, VancouverBoard member,, Literacy B.C.Learners' Action Group of Canada

PUENTE PROJECT: BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA

Mary K. HealyResearch and training director, Puente ProjectCo-editor, English Education, National Council of Teachers of English

Felix GalavizCo-director, Puente Project

Patricia McGrathCcodirector, Puente Project

TALKING ABOUT LIVES: PLANNING PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN

Jennifer HormanConsultant, Spiral Community Research Group, ibrontoEducator and researcher for women literacy learners, Participatory Research GroupWomen's group facilitator, Parkdale Project ReadLiteracy work in Canada, England, West Africa

ALBSU'S STUDENT ACCREDITATION INITIATIVE

Judith BanburyAssistant Director, Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit, Fingland and WalesResponsible for staff development training, Yorkshire,)

a411

a

111

IN THIS SESSION the woricshcp began with the video on the National Learners' Training

Event from Candle Lake, Saskatchewan, followed by an explanation of the development of

the 'mission statement. The video was enthusiastically received by the participants as a tool

for encouraging discussion on learner participation with both students and practitioners. The

topics discussed were:

1) The relationship between the tutor and student in a oneto-one tutoring situation:

Agnes Barnes spoke on the need for a balance between allowing time for personal matters

while still maintaining a focus on the teaching/teaming of reading and writing, a central issue

for the health of tutor-student work. Jeny Lee Miler spoke on the need for tubrs to address

issues of concern for students without trying to rectify situations In the students' lives.

2) The conference as a negative example of learner participation: Some participantsexpressed their agreement with the workshop presenters that the conference should have

included 50% learners.

3) The need to provide training so that learners' participation Is not tokenism: Theexample was given of inviting learners to be on boards but failing to provide support by

explaining how boards work.

4) The use of the word "Illiterate" suggests that one cannot read or wits anything:Some suggested that the term *not literate* be used instead.

5) Funding: Welfare does not provide enough financial support for learners by limiting

financial assistance to six months. This time period onty provides a band-aid solution to a

lifetime of problems. The welfare system does not provide enough incentives for adults to go

back to school or get a job. Some suggested looking to the business community to get

involved In the cause of literacy instaad of going to the government for fundng; this out of the

fear of more educational cutbacks. However, no concrete ideas came about on how to

approach this matter.

LEARNERS SPEAK OUT

HOW DO LEARNERS DEFINE THEIR OWN

NEEDS? HEAR WHAT LEARNERS WANT

FROM UTERACY PROGRAMS NOW AND

IN THE FUTURE.

... from the Far:Altar's Repod

Bram Fisher, Agnes Barnes, Robin Silverman, Jerry Lee Miller, Larry Loyie

In May 1990, over 70 learners from across Canada gathered in CandleLake, Saskatchewan for a national training event. It was an excitingtime where participants attended a variety of workshops and got to

meet learners from across the nadon. As well, there were four internationalstudents in attendance.

One of the outcomes of this event was the making of the document belowknown as the Mission Statement of the Learner Action Group of Canada. Thisstatement is dedicated to increasing the adult student/learner voice inCanadian society and the literacy movement.

It was endorsed by the majority of adult student/learners in attendance atCandle Lake. There is no doubt that much discussion and debate has tooccur in order to implement many of the ideas found in the MissionStatement. As more people read it and have input, there may have to bechanges.

However, we have a solid starting point for discussion - a point whichcaptures the spirit of increased participation. As learnr rs look into thenineties, they can do so with a blueprint that broadens action toinclude them.

- 69 -

Mission Statement of the Learner Action Group of Canada

This mission statement is intended to lay the foundation of strengtheningthe adult student/learner voice.

Within Canadian society:

that literacy as a right be stated in the Charter of Rights;

that there is a right to education for all;

that all student/learners should be consulted on how to improve theeducation of children;

that the term 'illiterate' not be used in reference to any citizen or groupof citizens;

that the dignity of the adult student/learners be preserved.

Within the literacy movement:

that the current one-on-one partnership for adult student /learner (orformer learner) involvement be extended by 1995 to include all levelsof literacy organizations including programs, boards and networks

to ensure that we get the most out of what is available to help thelargest number of people. This is to include representation on exec-utive, personnel and finance committees, etc.;

that programs build in financial and moral support to adultstudent/learners who want to be involved;

that qualified adult student/learners be equally consideredwhen paid literacy positions become available;

that adult student/learners and literacy workers exchange informationabout conferences and meetings;

that all literacy funding proposals allow for adult student/learnerinvolvement;

that clear language be used in funding proposals;

that adult student/learner rights concerning confidentiality berespected.

- 70 -

'7

"Conferences suchas this should includelearners as plannersand participants.Registration should befree for learners.

Students don't neces-sarily want to 'tell theirstory'. They want tolearn how to getinvolved in what'sgoing on around them... how to change it ifthey don't like it. It's aquestion of becomingpeople who are in con-trol rather than peoplewho are controlled.

More effort should bemade to establish50/50 learnerpartnerships withinstructors, admin-istrators, and schooland college boards.Practitioners mustlisten to learners at allstages of planning andpractise.

Learners need tobe/want to beinvolved.

... from Partkipante Response Cards

THERE IS no detailed article from the Puente Project available to include In this publication.

For more Information about the project you may contact the Puente Project, University of

California, 300 Lakeside Dr., Oakland, CA, 94612-3550.

PUENTE PROJECT:

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA

ARE DOCUMENTED 'BARRIERS TO

SUCCESS' AND DROPOUT PATTERNS

AN UNFORTUNATE FACT OF COLLEGE

LIFE FOR A SIZEABLE MINORITY OF

STUDENTS? WOULD SOMETHING ',IKE

THE PUENTE PROJECT, A ONE YEAR

INTENSIVE COUNSELLING/MENTORING/

WRITING PROGRAM FOR MEXICAN

AMERICAN STUDENTS IN ACADEMIC

DIFFICULTY, WORK AT YOUR COLLEGE?

USE THIS EXPERIENCE TO DEVELOP A

LEARNER-CENTRED INTERDISCIPLINARY

APPROACH WHICH CAN HELP STUDENTS

TURN FAILURE INTO SUCCESS,

presentation by Mary K. Healy, Felix Galaviz and Patricia McGrath

... from the Facllitator's Report

ir, his workshop conducted by Mary K. Healy described the PuenteProject. This is a student retention project aimed at MexicanAmerican students in the California Community College ,Tstem.

The program was founded in 1981. The goal of Puente, which meansbridge in Spanish, is to increase the number of Mexican American/Latinocommunity college students transferring to four-year colleges and univer-sities. Funding is provided by several foundations and corporations incooperation with the University of California and California CommunityColleges.

The program involves three components: a respected instructor from theCollege English department; a Mexican American counsellor from theCollege Counselling Department who has an established network in theMexican American community; Mexican American mentors who areestablished business people or workt:s within the community to serveas role models. The mentors donate 16 hours a year to each student.

All are involved in an extensive training session before starting the program.The English instructor and counsellor are especially important to train.

- 71 -

71

Mexican American students apply to enter the program. They may bereferred by a counsellor, friend, relative or themselves. They enrol in twocoutbes in consecutive semesters a college preparatory writing courseand a first year college writing course. In these courses they use lifewriting to develop writing (and reading) skills and self-confidence.

Participants in the workshop were interested in many program details.The program emphasizes writing as the vehicle to build English skills,develop self-confidence and promote success in other courses. All wrifingin the Prep course is self-generated based on students' own experiencesand interest. Small groups give positive feedback and ask questions aboutthe content which should be answered in the next draft. At no time doesan instructor 'correct' the work during the various draft stages.

Another area of interest was the team/cooperative approach to tacklingthe problem. The counsellor is involved in the writing classes. The teacherand counsellor model writing and participate in the small group process.

The teacher/counsellor teams participate in extensive, residential trainingcourses where they practise what they will teach. They are provided withongoing support and workshops.

Especially interesting to all was the personal followup through telephonecontact and possible home visits. An attempt is made to foster familysupport for student success. The counsellor is available to follow up andhelp students deal with problems.

Participants wondered how transferrable this project would be to B.C. fornative students. In many ways natives share the same sense of community,disenfranchisement, and cultural isolation when they enter colleges here.

People also wondered how much of the success of this project is due to thecareful screening of participants. Does this lead to elitism? What is therefor the others?

Some questioned the timing of this program. Would it not be more usefulto address the drop-out rate in high school?

- 72 -

II I'm excited byhow the self-correctingpositive feedbackoffered in small groupsdevelops writing skilland leads to furtherwriting.

People are capable ofself-improvement withencouragement.

How humane! To meetthe learner where he isin his learning andhelp him grow as aresult of caring for himand having him workwith real information.

... can we relate Puenteproject drop-out ratesto drop-out rates inABE or the collegesystem in general?

We need to examinethe high drop-outrates in high schools,colleges, ABE programs.

... from Participants' Response: Cards

THIS WORKSHOP GENERATED a lot of participant discussion - especially about the

unrealistic promises made by literacy programs and the oppressive trend to linking literacy

education and job training.

Jennifer Horsman broke us into small groups to discuss three questions. Before posing eat

question she read stories from her research - quoting women who had previously been

asked the same questions. What makes you feel stupid? What was the key or barrier to you

getting educated? What are the possibilities and problems for the women in your programs?

Most of the group seemed to more or less agree with and recognize the answers of other

group members. Many participants clearly felt affirmed and even excited by what was said.

The general theme was that the context and content of women's lives are also the context

and content of their relationships to literacy possibilities. Women's experiences of physical

violence, gender roles, and economic and emotional violence; women's ways of knowing,

doing and relating; daycare and transportation; not being taken seriously; economic realities;

time constraints; racism; ethnic and cultural limits; and health issues all must be

acknowledge() and incorporated into the design and delivery of literacy programs.

The participants discussed some possibilities for women in programs, notably provision of

daycare and women only classes. The Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for

Women (CCLOW) has undertaken two projects of note recently: a book reviewing lituacy

materials, Good Canadian Materials for Women Leming to Read, and a research project

concsming barriers to women's participation. Many members of the group expressed an

interest in networking among themselves.

TALKING ABOUT LIVES:

PLANNING PROGRAMS FOR

WOMEN

WHAT IS WOMEN'S EXPERIENCE OF

'LITERACY' AND HOW DOES IT DIFFER

FROM MEN'S? HOW DO WOMEN TALK

ABOUT THEIR NEEDS? DRAW ON

RESEARCH DATA FROM INTERVIEWS

WITH WOMEN LEARNERS IN THE

MARITIMES AS WELL AS WORKSHOP

PARTICIPANTS' EXPERIENCE TO LOOK

AT WAYS LITERACY PROGRAMS M1GH f

DEVELOP SO WOMEN'S LIVES,

PERCEIVED LITERACY SKILLS AND

CONCERNS CAN BE RE3PONDED TO

MORE FULLY.


Jennifer Horsman

- t is not because of the statistics - the number of women that areilliterate - that we need to focus on women and literacy We need tobe cor_rerned about women and literacy because of the nature of

women's lives. We need to look at the type of training women are usuallyoffered, in light of what they are seeking, when they participate in literacyprograms. As women, and as feminists, we need to ask ourselves criticalquestions about our literacy practice.

I will be drawing on my experiences as a literacy worker in Toronto,Ontario, and from my research with women in rural Nova Scotia. Toillustrate the issues I will relate stories told by white (and oneblack/native) working class women who were interviewed in rural NovaScotia in 1986. They are as distorted as all extracts are when taken fromtheir context, but they speak directly of these rural women's experiences.

"I'm Just Another Dumb Housewife": Stories fivm Nova Scotia

Many women with limited literacy skills spoke of the feeling of being toldin one way or another that they were 'stupid' or 'just another dumbhousewife'. Although both men and women learners often feel judged, I

- 73 -

7 t A

think women experience it in aparticular way. One woman said:

"You feel so stupid, you let onyou're reading it."

I think we often interpret that as ifthe problem is being stupid or notbeing able to read rather than otherpeoples' views.

"It makes you feel like adummy. Reading and writing isan important thing in life. Ifyou don't have it you'reclassified as a dummy. You getthe feeling pe-"le know thatyou're uneducated. They treatyou that way. So there's abarrier there - oh well she's noteducated, she can't. I may bejudged. She's unable to carry ona conversation. Maybe what'shappening in the world orsociety. She's too stupid."

Those women are not saying "I amstupid", but "I know that this causesme to be judged in a certain wayand then treated in a certain way."An example of this treatment camefrom one of the programs. Theinstructor said:

"Now, there's low functioningpeople - they can't read arecipe. I sent them to the storeto get ham. They knew hamwas a kind of pinkish colour sothey came back with meat andonion loaf, kind of looked likeham. Well it was fine, I couldget away with t),e meat andonion loaf but depending onwhat they want, sometimes youcould send them for a porkchop and they'd come backwith a T-bone steak. They can'tread; sending them to thegrocery stole, everything isforeign to them."

This may sound surprising, but ittypifies the judgements the womenknow people make. But the women

do shop, and knowing the differencebetween a pork chop and a T-bonesteak is not a matter of reading.Probably those women were notfamiliar with pork chops or T-bonesteaks. But cultural or classdifferences are treated as if they areissues of literacy.

Jose spoke of the impact of ateacher's judgement:

"There's one teacher she's gotthere. She said to me, mydaughter wrote a project andsome of the words shemisspelled and some of thewords she forgot to dot her i sothey looked like e. Well, shemust have had a hard day.When I came in she said: Wellcouldn't you help yourdaughter with her projects?Didn't you read it to make sureall the words were correct? Ijust looked at her coz in anotherway she's saying: Are you adummy or what?"

She had a very strong sense ofherself, so she could say:

"I'm not stupid. I tell them, 'Ifyou think I'm stupid I'm not.' Isay 'I can think.' I say 'Iunderstand."

Perhaps she would feel less confi-dent to challenge the way the schoolis treating her children because thediscourse of the school tells her thatshe is the one who is in the wrong.This then alters how she willinteract with the school.

The schools assume a middle classform of parenting and resources. Ifyou don't have those resources at thattime, if you are a single mother or ablack mother, you know that you arealways in the wrong. You can partici-pate in the school only on their terms.

Barb felt that the program itself wastelling her she was stupid. At age

- 74 -

eleven she left school to look afterher siblings. As there was a task tobe done at home, her father sawthat as more essential than school-ing. When, knowing she waspregnant, the tutor tried to makethe iessons relevant by bringing inmaterial on pregnancy Barb feltinsulted:

"If she hadn't found out I waspregnant I don't think she'dhave brought information onpregnancy in. But I had ayounger trother; I looked afterhim since the day he was bornand I told her that. But shefigured because I didn't havethat much of a grade in school Ididn't know anything abouthow to look after an infant, ababy or anything else like that. Itold her that I'd looked afterPeter the day he came homefrom hospital. I admit I can'tread very good, I can read butthere are some words that Ican't figure out what they are.But I know she thinks I shouldread these pamphlets onchildcare, I should have to readthese but I don't have to readanything to look after a child."

Programs often try to make thematerial appropriate to women interms of stereotyped women's rolesof caring for children. These areasthat women have devoted time toand are able to do well may evenbe why they are illiterate. Offeringsuch material confirms that childrearing is women's responsibilityalone and that they should feelguilty if they fail to do itadequately. Women both hearthemselves being called stupid andsee that same message in thecurriculum content chosen to berelevant to women's lives.

It is important that women thinkthey are being treated as stupidbecause that in itself has an effect.Many women, even with higher

education levels, can think ofsituations where we werg assumedto be stupid or were unable to dosomething right, and know howthat judgment alters how we act inthat situation. If we experienceprejudice because of racism, ablism,homophobia as well as sexism, thisexperience may be even more acute.Women with limited literacy skillshave the experience compounded.

Could've Went Back to School":Stories from Nova Scotia

Our experience as women tells usthat the image that women do notget to programs because they arenot motivated is inadequate. It doesnot reflect the reality of our lives.Although women's families areseen as central to the curriculum forwomen, they are ignored when wetalk about why women are not inthe programs. There is a languageabout people not getting toprograms or dropping out, basedon motivation which we need toquestion often. Even the womenthemselves often speak into thatlanguage.

Dorothy had eight children, one ofwhom had had a serious illness,and she worked twelve hour nightshifts at a factory as well as tookcare of the children in the day. Butshe said:

"I could've went back to schooland took some kind of anupgrading, I could've. Ithought about it, but then thechildren were all :mall and Inever did get around to it, but Iusually say you shouldn't usethat for an excuse. Therecould've been somebody tolook after them, it's no excuseat all really."

She suggests that If she had justtried hard enough she could havemanaged one more thing! But Irecognize the material

circumstances that would havemade it hard:

"Well I had three small onesright after the other; they werejust like steps and stairs. I'msorry now I didn't go to school.I often wish that I could goback, but you can't turn theyears back."

Women's lives are rarely organizedaround their own needs. Insteadthey are 'disorganized' aroundeverybody else's needs theirchildren and the demands of theschool, their spouse, anJ thedemands of their workplaces.

Men often make it hard for womento go to class. Jill explained:

"Being married you're there tocook and clean, look after thekids if you have them, lookafter the housework, but Ialways thought you'd get outtoo, you'd do things together.Like I don't believe a wifeshould go out, like a lot of themwill go out to bars; I wouldnever do anything like that. Butwe didn't have any life at all ...I never got through with it...justthe studying ... nobody wouldleave me alone long enough tostudy, between my daughterand my husband. He didn'treally think that was such a hotidea either. I think he wasafraid that I would get a higherincome than him ... Once Iwent out and worked and itlasted a week. I had notransportation and he justwouldn't let me do it ... I hadto go in with him in themorning and after a week hedidn't like it, so I quit."

Many of the women talked aboutmen's influence which stoppedthem taking a course, both in termsof time and emotional pressure.Many of the stories were

--,75 -7 ;..).

111 Literacy teachingas social work - I swearI spend 80% of my timeas a social worker (nota complaint, a reality ofthe work). We need tolook at all the facets ofthis job ... blah! blah!.Sorry - it's veryexhausting.

Many expressedconcern that literacyeducation, whentagged to job trainingand prescribed, oftenshort, periods offinancial support fromCEC and MSSH,necessarily leads totraining women for themost easily accessiblejobs ie. pink collar, lowwage, little upwardmobility

$

A wonderful group. Somuch work to be done.A lot of peopleworking together withthe same goals andconcerns. Wonderfullyreassuring.


I am discouragedby the state of thesocial/economiccontext in which wework as women, asfeminists. How can wesupport poor women,ethnic women,ourselves aspractitioners in thepolitical scene in B.C.Lots of anger andfrustration surfacedduring this 'safe'workshop.

The more we deal withfemale literacy themore we find thatprimary in women's(especially disadvan-taged women's)educational needs isthe sexual, physicaland emotional abusewhich they haveexperienced ... Untilwe deal with socialproblems we cannot domore than skate on thesurface of women'sliteracy. fir

... from N. dclpants' Response Cards

experiences of direct violence.Having left her husband, Jill said:

"If I'd have stayed, even now ifI was to come back, I think I'dend up in a nut house becauseyou can't just live with nosocial life, no communication,you just can't do it."

The media images about illiteracyare always about 'death-in-life',peopled 'chained' or 'imprisoned'or 'disabled'. Jill perhaps wouldhave said death-in-life was theperfect description of her life beforeshe left her husband, but literacy orilliteracy is by no means the onlycause of her problems. Yet illiteracyis often offered as if it is theproblem and the suggestion isthat if women can only work attheir literacy, their lives will betransformed. Obviously for someit is a way out, yet in itself it iscertainly not going to change manyof the circumstances in women'slives.

Another aspect of many women'slives, which affects their possibilityof pursuing their education, is thechildren. Women are assumed to betotally responsible, whether singleparents or not. Judy's husband wassupportive:

"Well, I'm really lucky. Evenlike at nights when I can't bebothered even with my ownkids, which happens, he putsthem into bed and says, 'letyour mother alone, let herstudy' which I find is reallygood ... and for tutoring andstuff hell even babysit."

It is not usual for a mother to bespoken about as babysitting - thatlanguage indicates that the man istaking over the woman's job whileshe is not available.

The support of friends can help awoman get to a program. Women

- 76 -

might sham the cost of petrol orsimply offer support. If you havebeen told you are stupid all yourlife, a friend's encouragement canbe crucial. When one woman dropsout, then probably the others willtoo. Both will be judged as notmotivated - not serious students.

Problems and Possibilities: Storiesfrom Nova Scotia and Ontario

We often think of illiteracy as thecause of women's problems - theirisolation, lack of a job, or lack ofadequate income. But it's importantto question the societal choices weoften take for granted. If illiteracy isnot the problem in the way it is oftevassumed to be, then literacy prob-ably is not going to fulfil its promiseeither. But if women are experi-encing many problems and literacyis offered as the passport to achanged life, then many will seek it.

Susan was quite clear why she wasin the literacy program:

"I'd like to have a career that Ireally want to do, not some-thing you have to do becauseyou need to live. And ... furthermyself and some day be thepresident or be the owner of acompany, instead of alwayssitting down there being $4.50,$5.00 an hour. And I feel if youhave a good job your life has alittle more meaning to it, Ireally do, instead of this I don'tknow what I'm doing. My lifehas no meaning, other thangetting up, going to school,looking after her, but if I hadsomething to get up to in themorning, dress nice for, go outand meet the world, meet the... everyday kind of life ... thethings that go on in life that youneed to handle. This way theleast little thing gets you downbecause you don't go nowhere,you don't do nothing. If I had a

good job I could have a nicelittle home and do things thatmost parents do ... Where canyou go if you're here onmother's assistance? ... But if Ifurthered myself and got to dosomething that I'd like to doand worked hard enough at it... I think its going to pay off inthe long run. "

Programs not only did not fulfilmany of those promises, insteadthey often reinserted women intothe status quo. They preparedwomen for exactly the sort of jobswomen traditionally carry out.These programs do offer a coursethat might increase a woman'schance of getting a job but they alsofit them into their traditionalgender roles.

Instead of being helped to free them-selves from traditional expectationsof femininity which can contributeto trapping women in the home,confirming the importance of anevaluation of their worth based onappearance and limiting the jobswhich it seems appropriate forwomen to do, training programsfrequently reinforce these values.Women are taught anger manage-ment and success is described interms of appearance. Concern withappearance and attitude may seemappropriate because such thingscan help the trainees get jobs.However, this stress can reinforcetraditional values and encouragewomen to accept gender roles andconsequent limitations.

The promise of literacy for many ofthe women is that taking part in aprogram will lead to qualificationswi;ich will enable them to get workand lcuive the house regularly. But,literacy students are often excludedfrom upgrading and basic trainingprograms. The minimum demandthat many wcmen have, to get outof the house, to reduce their isola-tion, and to share their experiences

with other women, is not metwhen literacy programs offer onlyindividual tutoring at home. Thismay seem to address the practicalproblems women often have inattending classes. However, this"solution" leaves the social organ-ization of women's lives not onlyunchanged but also unchallenged.Unless opportunities to interactwith other participants are struc-tured into programs, women aredenied even the minimal promiseof literacy - to get out of the houseand make some social contact.

Women seek a changed life. Oftenthey look for meaning through theliteracy program, the challenge tothink of something other than theirdaily life. But this dream is notfulfilled when programs preparewomen to fulfil their roles better andembed them mote firmly in theireveryday world. Women are offered"functional" skills for the life theylead: to write their shopping lists,cheques, letters to family. Somewomen wanted to learn thesethings but many were asking formeaning in their lives but wereoffered how to write a cheque.

Although women hoped thatprograms would fulfill the promiseof a changed life, they knew thatthe chances that literacy wouldfulfill this promise were slim, butfelt that at least it was better thandoing nothing.

Although the picture may lookbleak, I think as feminists we havealso tried to make some changes toprograms. We have been trying tohave more discussion groups sothat programs can be a place wherewomen can talk critically abouttheir lives. As feminists in commu-nity literacy programs we haveespoused the importance ofacknowledgirg women's strengthsand recognizing the complexity ofwomen's lives. We have not startedfrom a deficit model about literacy

- 7777

learners, a notion that they arestupid or failed to read becausethey lacked motivation. We havesought to respond to the conditionsof women's lives with flexibleprogramming.

We have begun to focus on the needfor supports such as childcare, butour funding constraints havefrequently limited our attempts toput this in place. I think we havetried to provide a place thatsupports challenging the status quo- a place for discussion rather thanreinserting women.

"I'm reinforced inmy perception that theprocesses in learningthe support, etc. aremore critical than thecontent.

I I

The need for literacyworkers themselves tospeak out politically ...because the obstaclesto literacy learners andtheir expectations canonly be met by majorsocial changes.

How much can theliteracy worker takeon? We need to behonest with what acourse can do for ourstudents ...

... from Participants' ResponseCards

BANBURY PRESENTED A HISTORY of the development of the student accreditation

certificate called Wordpower currently being used In England and Wales. The four certificate

levels are valued by both students and employers as credits towards higher certification and

a national certifying board.

The certificates are offered by local adult education programs or by individual tutors if they

are died with a reo3gnized program. The certification program includes aspects of written

language, reading, and oral competence.

The record of competencies Is kept by the tutor/teacher and the student can choose when

sibe Is ready to have the work assessed. There is no particular order to the tasks and the

student can take as much time as is needed to complete ttxr certificate. The curriculum is not

fixed and can be adjusted for the interests of the studeni During the time the student is

working towards this certlicate an outside assessor (not linked to the institution) visits the

program to determine whether the guidelines are being appropriately foamed.

Once the record of wort is completed, the certifying board determines whether the student

will receive the certificate.

It was apparent that the British system of education is so different from the Canadian one,

that many participants were having difficulty relating to the concept of certification. For

example, the British educational system Is historically entirely responsible for certification.

These examining bodies are not part of the educational institubons or the govemmmt.

Banbury had to go into some detail about this system in order for partiCoants to understand

how and why this certification process might have meaning for the learners.

It seemed the audience was interested in the accreditation but had problems trying to

conceive how this model might woric in Canadian settings. More work about the concept of

student accreditation needs to be developed in literacy programs. This model of usino a

non-test related ce4ification system seems particularly appealing.

... from the Fadlitators Report

ALBSU'S STUDENT

ACCREDITATION INITIATIVEJudith Banbury

DO LEARNERS BENEFIT FROM

STUDENT ACCREDITATION OR WOULD

A PUBLICALLY RECOGNIZED BASIC

SKILLS CERTIFICATE BECOME ONE

MORE HOOP TO JUMP FOR LEARNERS

AND INSTRUCTORS? COMPARE

CURRENT ARTICULATION CONCEPTIONS

AND PRACTISES TO ALBSUS BASIC

SKILLS ACCREDITATION INITIATIVE

WHERE CORE LEARNING MATERIALS TO

SUPPORT THE LEARNER CERTIFICATE

AS WELL AS INSTRUCTOR TRAINING

ARE PROVIDED BY ALBSU THROUGH-

OUT ENGLAND AND WALES.

The Basic Skills Accreditation Initiative is a joint venture bringingtogether the BBC, the Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit (ALBSU)with the Department of Education and Science, and tiv 'Fraining

Agency. The overeaching aim of the Initiative is to improve communi-cation skills and numeracy of an estimated six million people in theadult population whose basic skills let them down either at work or inlife generally.

The Initiative's main components are: to develop and publicize newqualifications which will be nationally recognised; to encourage peopleto learn through BBC television and radio programmes and throughspecially commissioned print material; the creation of a referral serviceputting people in touch with local learning opportunifies including 60new Open Learning Centres; to assist tutors and trainers by providingresource material.

The Accreditation Framework: City and Guilds Wordpower Certificate

What is it?

The new City and Guilds Certificate in Communication Skills is based on

- 78 -

individual units, each of which ismade up of a number of elementswith associated performancecriteria. These performance criteriaprovide statements of what some-one has to do to demonstrate anaccepted degree of competence ineach reading, writing, listening ortalking activity; although in real lifethings are not so clear cut. Commu-nication is a pervasive and fluidprocess. In carrying through aparticular activity you will oftenfind yourself involved in processeswhich included a number ofdifferent units. For example, youmight be making a telephone callthat requires you to relay infor-mation from e previously read textwhich requires you to make a noteof the content of the call and followup the call with a letter.

Each unit is made up of a numberof elements with performancecriteria: describes the use of a set ofskills in action; seeks to define thestandard for performance; describeswhole actions, not parts.

A unit is not a description of theskills of reading, writing, listeningand talking. The units describewhat the skills do, not what theyare. It therefore complements ratherthan replaces a skills approach.

What subject matter can be used?

The Wordpower Certificate providesa framwork for accreditation. It isnot a course with a fixed syllabusThe learner can choose the contextwithin which competence is demon-strated. That context could be avocational one or one concernedwith home-based activity, or couldbe the process of studying for acourse. The guidelines to thecertificate will give examples ofcontexts but these examples willnot I e inclusive. What level is thecertificate aimed at?

The certificate will be at fourdifferent levels. Initially, guidelines

for assessment and exemplarmaterial will only be available for aFoundation and Stage 1 certificate.The levels will be differentiated bythe relative complexity of thematerials and the situations wherethe performance criteria have to bedemonstrated. Guidelines for Stage2 and Stage 3 will be available soon.

Do you have to gain credit in allthe units before being awarded acertificate?

There are 13 separate units withinthe accreditation framework. Notall of these are represented in thefoundation level of the certificate.Candidates can also be issued witha Record of Achievement for anyindividual unit. It will be possiblefor someone to be awarded a fullcertificate at foundation level with aRecord of Achievement that theyhave reached other attainmentlevels in some units.

How can you register for thecertificate?

Any organization wishing to offerthe new City and Guilds certificatehas to be approved as a centre byCity and Guilds.

The following organizations willneed to obtain approval:

a) All organizations without a Cityand Guilds centre number;

b) All organizations with a centrenumber for other City and Guildsqualifications unless they comedirectly under Local EducationAuthority control.

How is the certificate assessed?

The certificate will be assessed bythe 1Larner's tutor or trainer andmoderated by a City and Guildspanel of external assessors. Thepurpose of the assessment is to en-sure that the learner has met theperformance criteria required for a

79 - 7rd

unit. Assessment can take place inthe workplace or in the centre. Theassessment schedule, which will beavailable in the guidelines, is appliedin exactly the same way no matterwhere the assessment takes place.

Why has the certificate has beendeveloped in this form?

The nature and language ofqualifications is changing and thisnew certificate has been developedto reflect some of those changes. Itresults from a series of investi-gations and consultations over thelast year undertaken by the AdultLiteracy and Basic Skills Unit andthe 'fraining Agency to eatablish thekind of qualification which seemsmost useful for learners in educationor training. It seeks to provide aqualification which can be pursuedin either vocational or non-vocational settings and which canbe transferable from one to the other.

The new certificate partly reflectsdevelopments in primary andsecondary education where the newNational Curriculum providesexplicit learning outcomes.

It partly reflects changes in the worldof vocational qualifications wherethe National Council for VocationalQualifications has set itself the taskof rationalizing the many qualifica-tions which relate to performance atwork. These qualifications are beingredesigned or newly developed toexpress the concept of competencein employment to credit whatsomeone is able to do and measuresomeone's performance accordingto predetermined standards. Aqualification in communicationskills cannot be a vocational qualif-ication in itself. Communicationskills relate to a myriad of activities.The research that has been under-taken to arrive at this certificate hasinvolved identifyirg the key commu-nication processes which contributeto people's ability to perform bothlife and work roles adequately.

BBC Programmes 1989-90

The aims of the programmes are: tohelp people improve their basicskills; to encourage people to thinkabout how they use communicationand numeracy, to pursue learningopportunities, and to seek accredi-tation for their skills; to refer peopleto learning opportunities; and toprovide resources for tutors andtrainers.

Television

a) Stepping Up is a wries of eightmotivational programmes to beshown on BBC-1 on Sundayevenings. These programmes areintended to be of interest to a gen-eral audience of between five andeleven million. They aim toencourage people to think aboutcommunication sIdlls and toattract potential learners to otherparts of the Initiative.

b) Step Up to Wordpower is a seriesof twenty programmes which willfirst be shown on BBC-1 onSunday mornings. An audienceof between one and two millioncan be anticipated. These pro-grammes look in detail at aspectsof writing, reading, talking andlistening, and aim to developstrategies to enable the Initiative'starget audience to become moreskilful communicators.

Radio

Using Your Wordpower is a series fortutors and trainers which is designedto show good practice in develop-ing reading. writing, listening andtalking skills with learners. It alsoaims to provide guidance onappropriate methods for assessinglearning outcomes linked to thenew accreditation framework.

Wordpawer Stories (provisional title)is a series of six programmes withinwhich stories developed for new orhesitant adult readers will be read.

Each programme will also suggestways these stories could be used asteaching material with learners, aswell as looking at other kinds ofwriting. It is hoped that some ofthese stories will be written by theInitiative's target group.

Local radio will run short promo-tional programmes which are beingproduced as core material to bedistributed to all BBC local radiostations. Local radio stations willthen supplement this material togive it a local dimension.

Support Materials

A sixteen page leaflet: Stepping upto Wordpower will be sent out toany prospective learner whocontacts the referral service. Copieswill also be made available to thoseproviding learning opportunities.

Study material to accompany thetelevision programmes has beenproduced in two formats:

1) A BBC workbook, Step Up to

Wordpower is available throughbookshops.

2) An ALBSU workpack in looseleaf form with ring binders givesadditional guidance to those whowish to enrol for the City andGuilds certificate.

Notes for tutors and trainers will beavailable which accompany theradio series Using Your Wordpower.

Wordpower Stories will be availableas books and on cassette.

Guidelines for the City and Guildscertificate are being published,

Publicity

Posters are being produced whichwill be distfibuted to basic skillsproviders as well as to publicinformation points such as librariesand job centres. Other publicity is

- 80 -

being sought through the pressand through the BBC's ownbroadcasting output.

Referral

A free telephone number came intooperation in September 1989. Thenumber is publicised during theStepping Llp programmes and at theend of each programme. It is alsopublicised through the Step Up ToWordpower programmes andthrough other broadcast publicity.This telephone service is staffedcontinuously 24 hours a day, sevendays a week. The service isavailable over the entire period thatthe television series are broadcast.

Each caller will be sent a copy ofthe 16 page leaflet Stepping Up To

Wordpower and a letter giving localinformation on where to get help,where to follow up the certificateand on communication skillscourses,

Local Learning Opportunities

The Initiative has sent out a proforma requesting information onlocal learning opportunities so thatdetails can be included in the database being built up for the referralservice.

I liked thatcourses are gearedtowards interest ratherthan literacy ...recogniz-ing literacy as a part ofa bigger agenda.

iv students canhave a role in settingthe goals of theassessment.


REACHING OUT:LITERACY & THE COMMUNITY

BREAKING THE STIGMA/RECRU ENT STRATEGIES: SWEDEN

Kjell RubensonDirector, Centre for Policy Studies in Education, University of British Columbia

1111Expert in international policy on literacy arid Swedish educationConsultant, Canada/Sweden

READ-WRITE: KINGSTON, ONT 0Carynne ArnoldCoordinator, Kingston LiteracyCommunity literacy worker since 1978

HACKNEY LEARNING CENTRE: LONDON, ENGLAND

Althea WilliamsCoordinator, Hackney Adult Education InstituteLiteracy trainer and support worker for teachers and volunteers

REGINA LIBRARY'S LITERACY TUTORS: SASKATCHEWAN

Lorraine HladikHead of Adult Services at Regina Public LibraryResponsible for literacy programming, Regina Public Library

COMBINING PRACTICE & THEORY IN COMMUNITY LITERACY

Elaine Gaber-Katz and Gladys WatsonEducators, researchers and writers on literacyAuthors of Community-based Literacy: An Emerging Practise and Theory

APPLYING FREIRE, RE-THINK1NG CONCEPTIONS: QUEBEC

Pierre SimardLiteracy workerActivist, Regroupement des Groupes Populaires d'Alphabetisation

PROMOTING LEARNER-DRIVEN PROGRAMS

Sally McBethCoordinator, East End LiteracyEducator/writer on literacy issues

RUBENSON BEGAN BY PROVIDING a comparlun between the Swedish experience and

the Canadian from an historical perspective. In Sweden the notion is that the state has the

responsibility of providing an equal standard of living for all through social policies.

In Sweden the level of ambition and oommitme..i was high to create a demand for literacy

education. The choice of who carded out the activity and where it occurred was also importint.

Finally, the 'Support for coordination between the agents was provided.

In Sweden the union movement is much more powerful than here and the unions were

involved from the outset

Furthermore, in Sweden obstacles to students wanting to return to school were identified

and ad:kessed by a Royal Commission. The findings of this commission served as the basis

for the structure of ABE programs. Institutional obstacles (amess, content, admission rules,

and finance), situational obstacles (time, job commitments, child care) and psychological

obstacles (attitudes to study and self-esteem) were all confronted.

Fuming was provided for the initial studies and all levels of programming. Diverse groups

worked together, collectively conducting the research and applying for funding.

Rubenson had several suf jestions for Canada. We must build °political links* and work more

collaboratively in petition; tg for funding and programs. We must develop a cohesive strategy

for ABE, locally, provindally, and nationally. Target the collective rather than the individual.

The ensuing discussion centred on Rubonon's suggestions for collaborative approaches

and the need to identify and arkiress the obstacles that potential students encounter.

BREAKING THE

STIGMA/RECRUITMENT

STRATEGIES: SWEDEN

ARE MASS MEDIA CAMPAIGNS THE ONLY

WAY TO HEIGHTEN PUBLIC AWARENESS

OF ILUTERACY OR ARE THERE OTHER

WAYS TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR ADULTS

TO ADMIT THEY CAN'T READ?

INVESTIGATE SWEDISH ADULT

EDUCATION RECRUITMENT 'OUTREACH'

FfRATEGIES, FIRST DEVELOPED IN THE

1970'S, WHICH USE VOLUNTEER

ORGANIZATIONS LIKE LOCAL UNIONS

AND CHURCHES TO ACT AS 'LINKS'

BETWEEN POTENTiAL LEARNERS AND

EXiSTING PROGRAMS.


Kjell Rubenson

In the Swedish government's ambitious attempts to achieve greaterequality of standaxls of living, adult education came to be viewed asakey instrument and was awarded a prominent position in public

policy during the seventies.

The Ideological Roots of the Outreach Program

The radical adult education policy of the 1970's was an outcome of theLabour movement's struggle for a den.ocratization of the Swedish societyand grew out of the general radicalization of the trade union movement atthe en-I of the 1960's, The Labour movement did not simply focus oneconomic conditions but also took into account its members' social andcultural situations, The goal was to achieve a democratization of politicaland cultural life that paralleled changes in working life. The crucial issuefor adult educators and policy makers was how to come to terms withexisting bias in the recruitment to adult education and increaseparticipation of those from disadvantaged groups, e.g. adult illiterates. Inthe reform package that was introduced a comprehensive program foroutreach ari4vities was one of the cornerstones. The purpose of thispresentation is to provide some understanding of the Swedish strategy Iwill start by providing a short background to the overall reform in adult

education as wc. .ne themajor component .. the strategy.With this as a base I will examinethe outnach program, discussunderlying assumptions, and pointto the strengths and weaknesses inthe Swedish model.

In official letters to the governmentABF (The Workers EducationalAssociation) and LO (The SwedishConfederation of Trade Unions)demanded two things regardingadult education: first, that thegovernment set up a committee tocarry on experimental study aimedat trying various outreach modelsto increase participation in adulteducation of the under-educated;and second, that the then sittingcommittee on adult study financebe given additional instructions toact for those with less than nineyears of education.

The government reacted promptlyto the demands from LO and ABF.In Government Bill 1970:35 achange of action was announced:the Bill stated that in further reformsof adult education one of the moreimportant issues to be addressedwould be how to reach those whohad little or insufficient education.The state's altered ways of actingin adult education matters can,using Korpi's theory on power-mobilization, be seen as a reflectionof the increasing political power ofthe trade-union. According to thistheory the measures taken by thestate can be viewed as a manifesta-tion of the distribution of powerresources bet Neen the most impor-ant collectives or classes in society.

Government strategy was to addressthe bias in recruitment through acomprehensive package of meas-ures that covered several sectors ofsociety. In addition to powerfulreinforcement of the generalresources for adult education, thispolicy included social benefits foradult student, the introduction ofsubsidies for outreach activities and

a law on the right to study leave.Later followed a law on adult basiceducation, making it obligatory forlocal authorities to provide thisform of education as well as devel-oping strategies for reaching theilliterates. The policy was based onprevious measures which had shownthat to increase the participation togroups of limited means it is neces-sary to support recruitment as wellas to offer new forms of education.Support need not be financial alone;it can be any form of compensatoryaction aimed at helping thedisadvantaged to overcome theirpsychological and situationalobstacles to study Ultimately, re-cruitment was and remains an issueof creating demand for educationamong groups traditionallydisinclined to study. The outreachactivities were intended to serve asan instrument to bring about thedesired change of attitudes in thetarget population. If success wereachieved, study assistance wouldthen guarantee the trrget group thevery real possibility of continaingtheir education.

Experimenting with OutreachActivities

The decision to introduce speciallyearmarked funding for outreachactivities was based on an extensiveresearch and development program.As the experiences from these exper-iments provide a good insight intowhat it takes to create a successfuloutreach program a short summaryof the main results will be provided.

Few, if any, Nordic adult educa-tional experiments have aroused asmuch attention internationally asthe experimental programmeFOVUX pursued with outreachingactivity. Trying to interest people inadult education through personalcontact is, of course, not new; onthe contrary, it has a long history inNordic popular adult education.The new feature which arrived withFOVUX is that the outreaching

84eTh

. Li

activity if; given a more establishedform and organization on the basisof earmarked state funds to act as arecruitment model. During threeyears FOVUX conducted controlledexperiments to test whether out-reaching activities at the workplacewould result in a significant increasein participation of disadvantagedgroups. The results were astonish-ing and showed that 40 percent ofthose contacted actually started acourse and further that 2 out of 3that started had never participatedin any form of adult education.

The enormous success of theFOVUX activity resulted in agigantic experimental activity notonly in Sweden but also in the otherNordic countries. To provide anidea of the multitude of projectsA' thich must have been carried out,the Swedish National Board ofEducation's research programme inhousing areas '76-'78 included noless that 136 local projects. Table 1(see over page) summarizes theresults from some Swedishexperiments.

It is evident from Table 1 thatFOVUX ha3 been considerablymore successful than all otherexperiments. The differences insuccess rate can be understood interms of: level of ambition; wherethe activity is carried out; and thecoordination between differentstudy agents.

Level of Ambition

The fundamental dividing line goesbetween outreaching activity as ashort-term tool for recruitmem andas a long-term instrument for givingthe individual as fair a chance aspossible of judging whether he/shesnould commence some form ofstudies. In some cases, e.g. experi-ment 3 in Table 1, the allocatedtime available is so short that the

Table 1: Experiences from a few Swedish experiments with outreaching activities

Proportion Proportionthe study interestedagenttalked to

Proportion Time per Cost per Cost per. Educationbeginning visit contact conver- for thea course (Sw sation study

X mins, crowns) agent,days

FOVUX (total)(study circlesin priority subjects,average result peryear)

4000 _1) 50 40 45 20 40 5

The Kronoberg project(study circles,municipal adulteducation and highereducation)

1600 38

NBE 1973 compre-hensive schmlstudies in munici-pal adult education &priority circles

33 14 7 7 10 30 1/2

SAMVUX (no coursesoffered directly) 2400 73 20 24 40 55 5

NBE research prog-ramme in housingareas (studycircles)

year 2 40000 18 13 21

1/2-3

year 3 60000 23 18 31

procedure could be regarded as 'averbalized brochure method'. Thosethat can profit from it are peoplewho already have some inclinationto study and many of them wouldregister anyway. The procedure pro-vides no opportunity to deal withpychological obstacles that keepilliterates away from education.

The experience from Sweden isthat the strategy should not be torecruit as many as possible in theshort term, as this results in acampaign model where the most

disadvantaged will be left out.Instead it is crucial that a long-termstrategy be developed where a trustis being gradually establishedbetween the one doing the out-reach and those being contacted.This means a departure from theshort-term campaign with its stresson information to a long-termmodel built on a communicativeprocess. This change has majorconsequences for the training ofstudy organizers. The success ofFOVUX is a consequence of a highlevel of ambition, i.e. abundant

- 85 - 84

time, well-educated studyorganizers, etc.

Different Forms of OutreachingActivity

It is usual to distinguisl, betweenoutreaching activity in housingareas and at workplaces.Outreaching activities at work-places are possible in Swedenwhere labour market legislationgives the trade unions the possibilityof pursuing the activity duringworking hours. In the Kmnoberg

project (no.2 in Tablel ) as well as inFOVUX, the main part of theactivity was conducted at work-places. Judging from the numberrecruited it is obvious that thegreatest success has been achievedat workplaces. Several interactingfactors contribute to this.

In housing areas the study organ-izers quite simply do not get holdof everyone. Another reason is thatthe groups who are outside thelabour market are often the reallydisadvantaged and hard-to-recruitgroups. (Labour market participa-tion in Sweden is as high as around82 perceat both among women andmen). Particularly exposed groupsare people on early retirementpensions and the long-termunemployed. Other groups areimmigrants, the handicapped andthose working in the home.

A fundamental difference is thatthe contact within housing areas is

directed at the individual while con-tact at the workplace is collective.The working group functions as acrucial member group among man-ual workers. The success of FOVUXdepends partly on the fact that theoutreaching activity has includedthe overwhelming majority of thework group thus affecting not onlythe individual but also one of his/her most significant member-groups.

For obvious reasons, it is moredifficult to build on the targetgroup's member and referencegroups where outreaching activityin the housing areas is concerned.However, this is possible to someextent. As a result of the experiencesfrom the R&D that was conducted,funding is now being provideddirectly to organizations of immi-grants and handicaps in orderfor these to conduct outreach work.This has proven to be particularlysuccessful in recruiting illiteratesand the municipalities responsible

for adult basic education increasing-ly rely on member Drganizationsfor identifying and rezuiting thetarget group. It should also bementioned that in order to reachthe illiterates the municipalities intheir strategy have set up a systemwhereby those most likely to comeinto contact with illiterates, e.g.employment exchanges, police,nurses and the mailman, havethe responsibility to inform themabout the opportunities for adultbasic education.

Coordination

As more educational institutions,voluntary groups and others gotinvolved in maching the targetgroups an increasing number ofproblems surfaced with co-operation in outreaching activities.The experience as far as co-operation is concerned is not toogood. Further, when providersand/or unions do their own

Figure 1: Campaign model

Voluntary education Outreaching discussion possibleorganization activity to study registration

target group organizer for a coursealternatively with a certain persontrade union provision contacted

Figure 2: Feedback model for outreaching activities

Voluntary educationorganization

alternativelytrade union

outreachingactivity witha particularprovision

discussionstudyorganizerpersoncontacted

possibleregistrationfor a course

- 86 -CL.

organizedfeed-back Newof the in- Contactsformationto the or-ganization

possiblechanges con-cerning pro-visions andother cir-cumstances

outreaching they tend to promotetheir own offerings and do notmention the alternatives which areavailable to the target group.

A Critical Reflection

Despite the good results achievedin the Swedish model of outreach-ing activities there is reason to assertthat so far the advantage of themodel has not been fully exploited.My criticism is that too often thestrategy develops into a campaignmodel instead of a feedback model.It has become very evident that theambition of outreaching work at thelocal level is dependent on how thegoals of the educational policies, asthey were formulated byParliament and Government, areinterpreted. Various studies haveshown that the goals have not beenanalyzed sufficiently at the locallevel. The design of the subsidysystem is probably the strongesttool of directing the level ofambition and connects the latter tothe goals. A general character ofsubsidy makes it difficult fororganizations to reach the equalitygoal. As they cannot compensatefor the increased costs involved inrecruiting the underprivileged, theywill be forced to concentrate onother groups. Consequently, theresources for outreaching activitieshave been made available to unionsand/or educational institutionsonly after they have submitted anapproved plan indicating targetgroups and training of studyorganizers.

11 Who is doing what to build communitystrength, working together, putting differencesaside in order to get organized and political? We

I need a cohesive stategy so duplication stops.

The aspects of this model which most interestedpeople were: the creation of outreach programswith a built-in feedback mechanism; the financialcommitment of government to development andprogramming; that students are paid to go toschool.

The consensus was that we need funding.

... the importance of bringing the players togetheraround the same political agenda and developinga more collaborative approach to lobbyinggovernment.

The outreach methods being more collective thanindividual, because that way the demand becomesstronger.

0

Building political links among groups thatrepresent (or purport to represent) constituentswho need literacy education. A strong coalition ofliteracy practitioners, learners and constituencies... could have tremendous political force indemanding funding to support literacy effortsand in shaping a progressive perspective onliteracy education.

...the Swedish strategy for bringing all the playersinvolved together around the same politicalagenda. //

... from Participants' Response Canis

A GREAT DEAL OF DISCUSSION went on during this interactive workshop. Conversations

revolved around the following points:

Intergenerational language experience programs and tollovoups: Discussions and idea

sharing was a major part of the conversation. Examples of ideas generated were: learner

written books, videos, plays, themes, display materials and methods of reaching out to

parents by supplying easy reading materials to low-income homes.

Community resources: The question of how one can access them was discussed. The

use of public libraries, for instance, neonssitates that the library co-sponsor the program;

howevor, this does not necessarily mean that the library is charging for the room or has any

Input Into the programs. In addition to libraries, community groups and local businesses are

good community resources; they could be asked to supply donations of various materials

or expertise. For example, cable TV companies cnuld send a volunteer camera person to

video a production. Another example is that local businesses or newspapers could supply

inexpensive or free binding of books, cash donations or donations of advertising space.

Volunteer tutors versus paid staff: Discussion was centred around trained and untrained

volunteers. The value of both we largely accepted; however, most participants agreed that

some sort of training or mentor system should be set up in order to maintain quality tutoring.

Funding possibilities: The ciscussions compared B.C. and Ontario government funding

systems. Everyone was in agreement when one participant suggested that the present B.C.

government policies do not supply enough funding for literacy programs. There is a definite

need for monies; the possibilities for programs in B.C. are endless but there Is simply no

money allocated.

READ-WRITE: KINGSTON,

ONTARIO

CAN LITERACY PROGRAMMING EXTEND

BEYOND TvPICAL SETTINGS AND

THEMES? CHALLENGE TRADITIONAL

VIEWS WITH ONE OF CANADA'S 1989

EXEMPLARY PROGIIAMS, READ-WRITE,

WHICH WORKS WITH PRE-SCHOOLERS

AND PARENTS IN HOUSING

COMPLEXES, WITH LEARNERS WHO

WRITE AND PERFORM THEIR OWN

DRAMA, AND WITH SPECIAL-INTEREST

READING INSTRUCTION GROUPS LIKE

THE °COUNTRY AND WESTERN SIGHT

WORDS° ONE.


Carynne Arnold

Group Activities in a One-to-One Tittoring Program

Kingston Literacy is a non-profit community organization which has beenproviding literacy tutoring since 1977. The foundation of the program is astrong volunteer one-to-one tutoring program. It served over 215 adults in1989-90. In our search for new ways to meet student needs, we have set upseveral small group artivities which have been very successful. We hopethat our experiences will be useful to other literary programs developingnew activities.

Meeting the Needs of Beginning Readers

A major goal for the past four years was to identify better ways to meet theneeds of beginning readers. We found that one-to-one tutoring was notproviding enough class time for many of our beginning readers. For thesestudents, tutor turnover was high. This meant that staff time for studentassessment, individual program design and aiding volunteers was neededfor tutoring and rematching long-term students. It was important to find anew approach for beginning readers learning at a slow pace. Many of these

- 88 -

students had never gone to a'regular school' and said that theywould enjoy trying a group. Wehoped that the new group activitieswould replace the one-to-onetutoring for some of these students.Over the past three years, we haveadded two new group activities toour program based on a wholelanguage approach.

Sight Words Country Style

Bram Fisher was the first to meetthis challenge. He discovered thatmost of these students enjoyedCountry music. An examination ofmany songs showed that a highpercentage of the 300 most commonwords occurred frequently. Thegroup started with three membersand three more joined during thefirst year. The design of this group'sactivities is simple and effective.The students bring in songs thatthey enjoy to the session. Afterlistening to siveral songs, the groupdecides which ones they want tolearn. The song is written in largeprint on chart paper and typed soeach student has a copy of themusic and words for use at home.In Session 1 the students sing thesong several times and later readthe song from the chart. In Session 2the group reviews the song thenconcentrates on identifying sightwords in the song. Using their listof the three hundred most commonwords (in alphabetical order), theyidentify the words from the songthat are on that list. The studentsidentify and underline these wordson the chart and make word cards.In Session 3 the group leader printsthe song on chart paper leavingblanks where the sight words be-long. The students identify which ofthe missing words 'Its in the blanks.As each sentenc ° if completed, thestudents read it ot.., loud.

Periodically, the group makessentences using the words andwrites a story incorporating all the

words. They also enjoy games suchas Wheel of Fortune. When the stu-dents have shown that they canread the words in context and spellthe words they receive a certificate.We have found that spelling thewords is a barrier for manystudents who are very anxious toget their certificate.

As the group starts its third yearand its thirty first song, three of theoriginal group members are stillcoming. Recognizing how muchmany of our students seem to enjoysinging, we plan to incorporatesinging in more activifies, graduallybuilding up a program repertoire offavourite songs.

The Tuesday Troop

Many of our beginning readers alsohave a very limited knowledge ofthe world around them. We knowthat information we bring to thetext plays a critical role in under-standing what we read. Thus,providing opportunities for studentsto gain a better understanding ofthe world is important. In 1989Donna Stoness developed a classthat uses the language experienceapproach to increase vocabularyand word recognition while expand-ing the group's knowledge of ourenvironment. The c;evelopment oftwo language experience storiesincreases practise on the words.

In Session 1 the group leader bringsin a collection of books andmaterials on the topic selected bythe students. She reads severalselec' 'ons to them. The groupdiscusses new vocabulary andconcepts. Often a trip follows thisintroductory meeting. In Session 2the students review the informationand identify the points they want toinclude in their experience story.The teacher makes notes and recordspoints that arise in the discussion.Then the group develops theirexperience story. As each sentence

- 89 -

o

is added the developing story isread by the group and read againby several individuals. The groupmembers read it several more timeswhen the story is completed. In thissession or the following one, thegroup decides what illustrationsand pictures they want to include intheir book. In Session 3 eachstudent gets a typed copy of theirexperience story. The group reviewskey words and plays word gameswith these words and others thatthey have learned before. They alsocomplete a simple reading andwriting exercise using the newvocabulary. In Session 4 the groupdiscusses the pictures chosen earlierand develops a sentence or two thatcorresponds with each one. Theleader writes these below theenlarged pictures, Then the groupand individuals in the group readit. As a final step, the groupidentifies the words that they feelrequire extra work and make aword list. The group reviews thesewords in game type activities. /nSession 5 the students remive thebook made from the pictures andstory they wrote the previous week.In addition to reviewing the specialword list at the end of the book,they have a chance to read the bookseveral times. They also discussplans for the following weeks.

Donna started the gmup with threemembers. As she identified morestudents who could benefit fromthese activities, she suggested theyjoin the group. However, Donnaasked permission from the groupas each new member was addedsince a strong group bond had devel-oped. This group is now beginningits second year with nine members.To s discussed to date includedinosaurs, earthquakes, the bluebox program and the newspaper.

Although both the Country Groupand the Tuesday lloop uses asimple format so the students knowwhat to expect, they provideenough fun and variety to maintain

/IIenjoy what you

are doing for theliteracy programs tohelp them out. I reallydon't know what elseto say because I am astudent.

0

... especially liked thelearners writings beingused as "readings" andproduced into books,reading evenings,family literacyactivities, studentsupport groups.

How can we getfunding in B.C. forthese kinds ofprograms?

Listening to studentsis very importantly,


a high level of interest. Both theseclasses also provide the studentswith opportunities to participate inthe selection of the topics or mater-ial. They also enjoy celebratingseveral special days. Individuals inthe group help one another whendifficulties arise. Students take pridein demonstrating their readingskills. "Before I used to get stuckwith every single word ....readingwas hard....now that I know someof the words it is much easier".

Activities For All Students

1. Discussion Groups

Over the past six years disct.ssiongroups have provided our studentswith an opportunity to develop abetter understanding of manycontemporary issues. These groupshave explored and developeddifferent topics over a 6 to 12 weekperiod. Topics chosen with inputfrom the students included capitalpunishment, free trade, literacy andpolitics, and the law. All these groupdiscussions incorporated videos,films and guest speakers. Studentsgathered information from primarysources. Students were presentedwith different perspectives and hadthe opportunity to express theirviewpoint and to question attitudesand opinions. The highlights ofdiscussions and arguments pre-pared by the students on capitalpunishment and free trade werestudent debates moderated by highprofile members of the community.The issues raised in the debate oncapital punishment were illustratedin the publication Lets Hear Itdedicated to the issue.

Last year for the first time, adiscussion group was lead by avolunteer, a law student in her finalyear. Topics included in thesesessions were poverty, landlord andtenant problems, and the court. Itled one of the participants to write aletter to the editor of our localpaper on disability pensions.

- 90 -

Recognizing the value of these dis-cussion groups, we hope to makethem an integral part of our program.

2. The Drama Group

The idea of creating a play camefrom a discussion group memberand immediately generated a lot ofinterest and ideas. The studentsdecicied to do a series of skitsrepresenting everyday situationsthat someone with reading diffi-culty has trouble facing. Beforeacting out their skits, the studentsparticipate in a series of warm-upexercises to develop memory, trustand concentration. Other exercisesstress group dynamics, body aware-ness and geeater sAf-confidence.Some of these activities begin eachdrama session. Volunteers from theUniversity who are taking theirteacher's training in drama lead thegroup through these activities atdifferent times. In developing theplay, students generate ideas whichthey record on charts, discuss andthen act out. The skits are constantlyrevised as the groups add newideas and delete others. To date,three skits have been developed.One shows the problems faced by aparent who cannot read to herchild. The second illustrates thedifficulty travelling by plane whenyou cannot read the signs. The thirdone shows how difficult it is gettinga job when you cannot read or writevery well. Students enjoy theopportunity to put on their playsfor other students, for literacygroups at conferences, and foroutreach in the community.

3. Reading Evenings

Reading Evenings are a wonderfuloutlet for supporting student writ-ing in our program. After learningabout Reading Evenings held in theUnited Kingdom, we adapted theconcept for our program. For threeyears, the Reading Evenings haveprovided the focus for our pub-lication of student writing.

It doesn't look like the literacycentre tonight. Gone are thefamiliar partitions which dividethe area into one-to-onetutoring cubicles. The candledtables are covered by checkeredcloths. The room has addedwarmth. People are coming inhelping themselves to coffee.Conversations start. There is anervous expectancy in the air.Tonight people have gatheredto share their stories...

Usually about 20 students read,with a few limericks by staff, a fewstories from tutors and a specialpresentation by one of our groups.The two hour evening is broken bya refreshment break. The lastreading evening was held in achurch hall and included a dinner.

The most touching kspect of theevent is the very supportiveatmosphere for the readers. Evenour beginning readers beam whentheir stories receive enthusiasticapplause from the audience. Duringthe months preceding the event, weencourage tutors to help theirstudents prepare a story. There is nopressure put on the students toread, but we have found that whensomeone attends one readingevening they usually want to readat the next one.

4. Students for Students

The Students For Students groupprovides a valuable social outlet formany of our students. There are 10to 15 students who participate on areplar basis. This group provides aforum for student interests andconcerns about the program. It alsoprovides the opportunity forstudents to gain organizationalexperience. The group organizessocial events for students such astrips and dances, and raises fundsto support these activities. Theyalso keep a list of students whowould like to receive cards on theirbirthday. They print cards on the

computer and send them to thestudents. Students For Studentsselect a voting and a non-votingmember to be on the Board ofKingston Literacy.

Summary

Our experiences with groupactivities have been very positive.However, when students come atdifferent times, night and day, it issometimes difficult to get a groupstarted. We have fr und that we canstart with a group as small as twoor three and gradually add newmembers. We believe there is a needto provide more opportunities forstudents to share experiences and tointeract socially. In addition to devel-oping thinking and communicationskills these groups also provideimportant social support. Many ofour students are on disability pen-sions and often lack social supportfrom other sources. As a result, theyseek this sapport from their literacyprogram whze they feel they belong.By meeting this need, literacygroups can play an important rolein promoting a healthy community.

The Future

The theme that has reoccurred atthis conference is the importance ofinvolving students in the develop-ment and management of ourprograms. In addition, communitybased programs must include oppor-tunities for volunteers to participatein new ways in new initiatives.Over the next three years, KingstonL iteracy will work with both thesegroups to investigate ways toincrease involvement of volunteersand students as volunteers in allaspects of our program.

Partnership will remain the keyexpectation of government duringthe 908. As resources for socialservices are squeezed over the nextdecade, agencies will be requited toprove that there is broad communitysupport for their services. Greater

- 91 -

trn

emphasis on prevention will lead toincreased support for familyliteracy initiatives and programs fordisadvantaged youth. Services fordisadvantaged adults may be neg-lected in this change of emphasis.

Thus three challenges face us.Community literacy groups willhave to decide what their role is intackling social issues such as pover-ty We will need to look outward tothe community and develop newprograms cooperatively with otheragencies. Perhaps the greatestchallenge will be to assess in arealistic manner where we canmake the greatest contribution toour communities.

How arediscussion groupsorganized? What is theratio of paid staff tovolunteers?

Were the beginningliteracy classes forpeople with mentalhandicaps? Was it amixed class?Obviously, if it was, itworked. My experiencewith this was that thehigher functioningadults did not want tobe classified in thesame class as the lowerfunctioning.

from Participants' Response Gude

THE MAIN FOCUS OF THIS WORKSHOP was the seleclion and training of volunteers for

literacy work. The Hackney Learning Centre Is In an area of London characterized by poverhA

high population density, and many different ethnic groups. Volunteers come from the

community, and understand the community context.

A full time volunteer coordinator interviews interesteii Individuals, assessing the person's

appropriateness for literacy work. The coordinator explores the person's attitudes. Are they

condescending towards people with limited literacy skills? Do they think they are going to

%aye* someone? Are they Interested in the learning process? Do they Just want to help out

but are not realty interested In education?

The Hackney Tutor Training Program gives volunteers several choices. A volunteer can be

involved minimally or take advantage of several training opportunities to work bard takingover.a class and potentially a job as a paid tutor. Williams stressed the pdnciple of equal

opportunity. Volunteers who were in the program were not necessarily favoured over other

more qualified people who might be applying for a teaching position.

The volunteer is provided with skill oriented tralningit is reasonable for them to aim at paid

teaching as an end result of the tutor training. Throughout the year more training sessions

are offered from the local adult education authority in addition to the Hackney program, thus

enabling them to slowly build up their knowledge and credentials on a part time basis.

At Hackney one-to-one tutoring Is seen as the most difficult setting in which to tutor. Only

paid tuba teach in one-to-one situations. This challenges the common notion of 'each one

teach one' that is integral to many of the programs here. A volunteer begins by meeting hls

or her kdor and works with him or her In a classroom situation. In this way the volunteer

learns from an experienced teacher and observes the group dynamic and hav to work with

sub groups. Certainly it is often a huge step to get a tutor to go from a one-to-one setting to a

group.

HACKNEY LEARNING

CENTRE: LONDON,

ENGLAND

WHAT PLACE SHOULD VOLUNTEER

TUTORS HAVE IN ADULT LITEMCY

PROGRAMS? EXAMINE ALL ASPECTS OF

THIS CENTRE, ESPECIALLY THE

HACKNEY PHILOSOPHY REGARDING

VOLUNTEEI .3 AND THE PRACTICAL

IMPLICATIONS THIS HAS FOR THE

SELECTION AND TRAINING OF TUTORS.

... from the Fa:glebes Report

Althea Williams

AVolunteer's Dip Through the System

Volunteers in Adult Basic Education classes in Hackney:the philosophy and practical implications for the selectionand iTaining of volunteer tutors.

An enquiry about becoming an Adult Literacy volunteer may either comethrough the Access and Return to Learning Department or direct to theVolunteer Coordinator. Such enquiries are sometimes a direct responsefrom advertisements but more usually are from word of mouth.

An informal interview is set up between the Coordinator and applicant atone of our centres. As most applicants are not aware of the published mater-ials used in the teaching of adults in basic education, the interview is bestarranged in the department resourctm room. The interview lasts about three-quarters of an hour. The questions are standardised so as to give eachperson the same chance. They are set out to enable the Coordinator toassess whether the applicant is aware of the issues and has some under-standing of adults as learners. Our aim is to professionalize our use of

- 92

t)

volunteers. This interview isrecorded for later feedback ifneeded and as an aid to assessment.If the arlicant demonstrates aninterest ir other areas of adulteducation they are directedelsewhere in the Institute, to theEnglish as a Second Language orthe Special Needs Departments.

At the interview we give *_...brma-tion on the Adult EducationInstitute and the Department, abrief description of a literacy/numeracy group and the range ofstudent ability one may find, andinformation on the volunteertraining scheme and other in-service training. Each volunteer isgiven a pack with a book list,volunteer progression route, acontact name and number, and adiagram of A volunteer's tripthrough the training system.

This interview is a most importantprocess as it enables the Coord-inator to 3elect and recruit onlythose who show a genuine interestin adults as learners, are sympa-thetic to learners' needs, andpatiently respect studentz., as equals.

If these requirements are met thevolunteer is offered a place in oneof our literacy/nurneracy groups inthe borough. A volunteer contract isthen given and explained to thevolunteer, outlining the expecta-tions (one year's commitment oftwo hours per week in the group,attending in-service training,setting aside time before and afterthe sessions to discuss and planwork with the tutor). Thtors arepaid and are equivalent to'instructors' by North Americanjargon. A contract is also sent tothe tutor outlining her/hisresponsibility as a tutor *orkingwith,. training and supporting avolunteer. Bothtutor and volunteerwould receive a diagram showingvolunteer progression within thegroup, fmm the minimum (very

restricted work at the tutor' srequest) to co-teaching andeventually teaching a whole twohour session. Through this mutesome volunteers may go on toapproval as a paid literacy tutor.

If there is not an available group,the volunteer is placed on avolunteer waiting list which isreviewed as soon as a group needsa volunteer. It is important that theplacement is within walkingdistance if possible or easy access topublic transport. A great deal ofthought and consideration goes intothe placing of a volunteer with theright tutor. This makes for a goodworking relationship and volunteerprogression. We try to achieve abalance of lace and gender.Volunteers _ generally givenplaces in a literacy/numeracygroup, but if a volunteer hasformer training or experience wemay offer work as a one to onevolunteer with a student in thestudent' s own home.

There are several reasons for theuse of volunteers in literacy groupsin Hackney. We do not want to havea hierarchy of tutor and studentwhere the ttor is the one whoknows everything. If we can drawin people from the community whoare not teachers but who have arange of skills to offer, the studentgroup can see this and the volun-teer may be a role model. Some ofour volunteers may at one timehave bean students in our classes.The group does not focus onlyon the tutor as the source ofknowledge but instead everyone(students, volunteers and tutor) iscontributing and learning fromeach other. On a practical basis, it isquite difficult to give each studentthe needed time and attention insuch large groups.

Some volunteers have jobs and sosee this as a way of contributing tothe community. Others may find

- 93 -clt 4.4

"This waswonderful, wonderful!Worth the entireconference! This is avery inspiring model.The use of volunteersworking closely withmore experiencedtutors in small groupsettings was interesting.

It was exciting to seehow volunteers have aclear progressiontoward paid work astutors in the future.Orderly tutor selection,training and involve-ment is a methodwhich is respectful andencouraging of thetutors' sense ofcommitment.

Equal opportunityNew lean ters are not

P new thinkers. Thankyou! I would love tosee something like thistake off in Canada. if


this is a way into teaching withoutprevious academic qualifications.Still others use volunteering as ataster enabling them to choose acareer. Literacy is one of the fewareas where this is possible.Volunteers open up a wider rangefor the intake of tutors so peoplefrom within the community may bedrawn in. In an area like Hackneywith such high unemployment itopens up some possibility foremployment not only in teachingbut as the basis for other work.

The training course for volunteersis a way of professionalising theirwork as we continue to point outthat teaching an adult to read ar.dwrite requires professional akills; itdoes not just happen. The trainingof volunteers is an absolutenecessity and has a high priority inour Department. It is essential thatvolunteers receive the best trainingfrom the start. When placed in agroup, the volunteer begins to betrained by the tutor of the class. Thetutor will support the volunteer anddirect the work s/he does with anindividual student, a small groupwho are using word games, etc.Learning and teaching is a two wayprocess and, given the wealth ofexperience each student brings tothe classroom, we encouragevolunteers to learn from studentsby discussing with them the workthey have been doing. As thevolunteers gain experience they aregiven more responsibility and maycontribute resource material, preparepart of the session, and eventuallyteach a whole two hour session.

Such practical experience isessential as it equips the volunteerwith knowledge and personalinsight with which to approach thetheoretical aspects of the VolunteerTraining Course. It provides acontext in which to study the theoryof adult learning. The Volunteer'fraining Course is a four weekcourse of two hours per week.

All new volunteers are contractedto attend.

Session One

The volunteer group membersexamine their own past learningexperiences, positive and negative.What does respect for adult learnersmean in practical terms? How canthe diversity of language and cul-ture in the inner city classroom bean advantage and a resource.Group dynamics and resourcesare discussed.

Session Two

What is reading? Hearing a studentread, how to support and encouragestudents in their reading, the lang-uage experience approach, how tostart teaching an absolute beginner.

Session Three

Developing writing and compre-hension, Equal Opportunities as anunderpinning to all our work andparticularly in the preparation ofworksheets, evaluation of studentprogress, the teaching of spellingincluding analysis of errors andstrategies for effective learning.

Session Four

Working with students withlearning difficulties. Practicalapproaches to the integration ofstudents into a group.

Volunteer trainees are expected toread: Each One Strengthens EachOne by ALBSU, Working withWords by Jane Mace, Pedagogy of the()pressed by Paulo Freire, CaribbeanUnguage and Literacy by RoxyHarris, Language and Power byILEA, and Versions by the CentralManchester Caribbean EnglishProgramme.

At the end of the training we hopethe volunteer will be able to use the

- 94 -

practical skills gained in the class-room and the theoretical insightgained in the course to meet theneeds of the students in their group.

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank all the tutors in theAccess and Return to LearningDepartment of Hackney AEI,Hackney AEI for granting me leaveto attend the Literacy 2000conference, Chris Thylor for herencouragement and support and jolemple whose diagram and outlinewere used in the workshop.

//Manyfound the

idea that volunteers areprimarily used in theclassroom rather thanin one to one situationsinteresting. Volunteersare used in supportingroles rather than havingfull responsibility. Theidea is that one-to-onetutoring is often themost challenging ofte.-dting situations andthi aefore requires more

dalized training.

How do we actuallycreate an equal rela-tionship betweenvolunteers andlearners?

from Pardedpante Response Cards

93

THE WORKSHOP WAS A PRACTICAL DESCRIPTION of the Literacy program at the

Regina Public Library and its cooperative relationship with other community groups and

educational kislitutions. The audience was most interested in the nuts and bolts aspects of

the program - operation, evaluation, fit with other programs, and stabty of fuming. People

were knpressed with the commitment enthusiasm and resourcefulness of the RPL

As libraries have always been thought of as the poor man's university (come in and improve

yourself), It follows naturally that opportunities to improve one's literacy skills be made

available there. Libraries have always been advocates of lifelong learning. The Regina Public

Library has, therefore, included education in its mandate and mission statement Libraries

are accessible to all ages, charge no registration tees, and are open seven days a week, day

and night, all year round. As well as being eminently accessible, libraries need readers to

exist; therefore, it is in the library's self-interest to provide programs like this.

It makes sense economically to run literacy programs in libraries because with a volunteer

base, the only new costs are administrative. Furthermore, salaries in librarianship are less

than those in the field of education.

Clearly the Regina Public Library has been a leader in literacy initiatives in Saskatchewan.

Thkly percent of ail literacy wort in Saskatchewan is done at the RPL and its branches. The

program includes Fundamental ABE, ESL and Aboriginal components. Bemuse the Board

has made this project an integral part of the ilbrarys mandate, If grants and special funding

dry up, regular fundng would be able to absorb the program. It would undoubted; be

smaller, but the program would remain whole.

REGINA LIBRARY'S

LITERACY TUTORS:

SASKATCHEWAN

CAN PUBLIC LIBRARIES SPEAR-HEAD

COMMUNITY UTERACY INITIATIVES? DO

JOINT VENTURES BETWEEN UTERACY

PRACTITIONERS AND LIBRARIANS

WORK? EXAMINE HOW REGINA PUBLIC

UBRARY'S 1973 INVOLVEMENT IN

LITERACY TRAINING HAS LED TO A

PROGRAM WHERE 360 TUTOR/STUDENT

PAIRS MEET REGULARLY, MAKING THIS

UBRARY A MODEL FOR TUTOR

TRAINING PROGRAMS IN NORTH

AMERICA.

... from the Facilitatoes Report

Lorrair.e Hladik

n 1973, the Regina Public Library recognized the need for adultliteracy instruction and developed the Learning Centre as a unit inthe Adult Services Department.

At the beginning, small classes were taught by a teacher using thetraditional teaching model. This did nt,t prove to be entirely satisfactoryand other models were examined. The model used by the LiteracyVolunteers of America seemed to be the best for our learners and in 1977we became affiliated with the LVA program.

We continue to use the LVA model, supplemented by Access Alberta'sJourneyworker Series, as it has proven to be successful with our learners andour tutors. It is learner-directed and volunteer-based, offering a one-to-onetutoring experience.

Funding and Staffing

Since 1973 the literacy program has received full Board support and isincluded as a budgetary item. Over 85% of the Library's budget comesfrom municipal taxes and the Regina City Council is u strong supporter ofthe literacy program.

959 4

In 1987, a directive from the Boardmade adult literacy a priority andthe two Learning Centre staff weresupplemented by the equivalent ofthree full time staff members. Thesestaff members were from branches.programs, and information servicesand worked part time on literacyinitiatives. At the same time, theLearning Centre collection becameadult-based with materials thatwould appeal to adults wishing toupgrade their reading, writing andnumeracy skills.

In 1987 the importance of literacywas recognized by governmentsand in January 1988 fundingbecame available from both theprovincial and federal govern-ments through the SaskatchewanLiteracy Council. The Librarysubmitted a propoca1. ad receivedextra funds which have enhancedour core program. The grantmoney has been used to expandthe "core" one-to-one tutoringprogram, to increase tutor andlearner support, and to increasepublicity to draw tutors andlearners. The library has also beenable to get funding from sourcesother than the Literacy Council, i.e.Youth Literecy Coordinator fundedby Employment and ImmigrationCanada.

Our program increased steadilyfrom 1977 to 1986, and with theadded publicity and higher profilewithin and uutside the library, wehave dramatically increasedparticipation. From September 1,1977 to December 31, 1989, 941tutors were trained, 298 in 1989.The total number of learnersenrolled in the same period was1219 to 1989, 410 in 1989.

Today, the Learning Centre atCentral and sever. of our eightbranches offer literacy tutortraining and literacy collections.Permanent staff working in literacyhave been supplemented by theequivalent of 4 1/2 grant positions.

Spearheading Literacy Initiatives

Because of the esteem it has withinthe community, Regina PublicLibrary has been at the forefront ofadtgt literacy in Saskatchewan. TheRegina Publi : Library has a verysuccessful literacy program.

Public libraries were first estab-lished as places where people couldgo to continue their learning exper-iences. Public libraries are oftenreferred to as open universitiessince they carry a variety ofmaterials to fill the informationaland educational needs of the public.

The Regina Public Library hastaken the desire for self-directedstudy one step further by providingopportunities for those with lowliteracy skills to improve thoseskills. Learners are able to directtheir own tutor-based study to meettheir individual goals whether it isreading a story to their children,passing a vocational test, experi-menting with recipes or increasing,self- esteem and pleasure throughreading and writing.

Part of the library's appeal to peopleneeding to upgrade their reading,writing and numeracy skills is itsaccessibility The Regina PublicLibrary is open seven days a week,from 9:3;) a.m. to 900 p.m. Mondayto Friday. Branches are locatedthroughout the city serving thoseunable to get te the Central Branch.

The library is a year roundinstitution that is not dictated by aschool year or --mesters, as often isthe case in the educational field.The library can and does offerprograms including literacy everymonth of the year. We do haveseasons (fall, winter, spring andsummer), but these are less definedthan in the educational system.Therefore, if someone wishes toupgrade their literacy skills in Juneor July they do not need to waituntil September to discuss their

- 96 -

needs and get help from ourliteracy program.

The library provides a completerange of materials for the wholefamily, from the baby (toys andboard books) to pandparents (largeprint and talking books). It also hasprograms which foster reading andtheir enjoyment of reading, fromstorytimes to author readings. Afilm theatre and an art gallery givepeople the chance to broaden theirexperiences in a familiar setting.

The library is a non-politicalinstitution that serves all incomegroups, although traditionally therehas been higher use by the middle in-come group. The literacy programis changing that as the lower incomegroup comes to the library to learnnew skills and improve existirg ones.

The library is viewed as a safe placefor all with no stigma attached to avisit. After all, anyone may want toread a newspaper, borrow a book,magazine, video or record. Peoplecan remain in the library as long asthey wish and so they get to feelthat the library is their place, a home

away fnnn home. Some people need toovercome an aversion to librariesand institutions of any kind andthese people feel more comfortablein a branch that is smaller withfewer staff to get to know.

The library is non-judgmental andtreats all requests as confidential.The reference staff do not makejudgements on the information orbooks people request, nor do thelearning centre staff makejudgements on why learnersrequest upgrading. Library stafftreat all requests as legitimate andconfidential and enable therequesters (learners or whomever)to satisfy their needs.

Learners at the Library

Learners are referred to the libraryliteracy program by other

r;

,

institutions, friends and family, andoccasionally through the media.

Potential learners can phone thelibrary and retain their anonymitywhile getting general informationon the literacy programs. They aregiven an appointment at which anapplication form is completed. Staffmembers give detailed informationabout the program and how it canhelp that particular individual.Learners are told how long the wait-ing period will be if there is one. Ifthey wish, they can join smallclasses to start learning to read andwrite while they are waiting for amatch. They are also encouraged tojoin the learners' meetings and areput on the mailing list for thelearner newsletter.

We do not question why they areasking for help, but rather how wecan help them. The learner isaccepted as needing upgrading inliteracy skills today and the learningcentre staff do not make assump-tions based on grade level attainedor perceived learning disabilities.At no time are the learners made tofeel awkward about their lack ofliteracy skills.

The program is tailored to fit theindividual learner and her/his skilllevel, reinforcing existing skills andbuilding on them. The materialsused are those that fit the goalsstated by the learner. The goaismay need to be restated if they aretoo unrealistic. Goals need to berealistic challenges and attainable inthe near future.

Learning does not occur in avacuum and literacy upgrading ismost effective when linked withpractical applications, such asobtaining a driver's license, bakinga cake, passing a vocational exam,preparing a resume, or reading andwriting reports.

The one-to-one tutor-based, learner-centred pi 1gram allows the learner

to benefit from a personalizedlearning experience. Such aprogram increases the motivationfor learning as it is geared to self-interests and therefore gainscommitment and dedication.

Our one-to-one program is indi-vidualized and learner-directed,serving learners at any level. Age,employment, education or ability(physical or mental) are not consid-ered. As there is no charge, alllearners have equal access regard-less of economic status.

Volunteer 'Dams at the Library

Tutors are excited about readingand wish to share this excitementwith others. Tutoring allows themto share their love of books, to beassociated with a place they regardhighly, and to help others in ameaningful way.

Tutoring is a volunteer position thatAWNS for the development ofinterpersonal skills, allows flexiblehours, and allows creativity inlearning and communication. In-service workshops, conferences andnewsletters promote personalgmwth and social functions, andprovide recognition and feedbackwhich build self-esteem.

Many people want to help otherslearn but do not have the formaleducation to be teachers. Theliteracy progam at RPL providesthem with the opportunity todevelop skills and use them whilehelping others in a one-to-onesituation.

Our program is strong because ofits volunteer b-le.!, which alsoallows us to expand as the needgrows. Media advertising andspeaking to groups have bothproven to be effective methods ofrecruitment.

I/... the ever-

present question ofongoing funding,and the challenge ofpromoting the libraryas approachable fornon-readers and non-library users.

I am concerned aboutthe protectionistattitudes fromvolunteer organizations,community colleges,funding bodies whichinterfere with deliveryof appropriate andsuccessful programs.

... to help learnersthink of the library astheir place.

On-going funding!


Ratic nate for a Library-basedLiteracy Program

While some may consider literacyte be the responsibility of the edu-cational system, the public library isa logical and, indeed, an ideallocation for literacy development.

The library is a public place, opento all seven days a week during theday and evening. The progn'ms runby the library are free; the li' eracyprogram is no exception, miking itaccessible, acceptable and attainableby all economic groups.

The library is recognized as a placefor the individual and for thefamily. Potential learners may learnabout the literacy programs whiletaking advantage of one of themany other programs and servicesoffered by the library (for example,non-readers bringing their childrento storytime, using the free videoservice or requesting information).

Libraries are information centresthat provide not only materials, butalso names of resource people orprograms that will meet a person'sneeds. Users looking for materialson basic reading and writing orGED may be told about the literacyprogram. The library acts as aclearing house, referring people toour basic iiteracy pre6:am, to theABE program and GED programsat Saskatchewan Institute ofApplied Stience and Technology,and to other community-basedagencies such as Open Doc: andCircle Project.

Books, magazines, pamphlets,videos, and many other materialsare available for use by tutors orlearners in the quest for knowledge.The library offers support groupssuch as the learners' meetings, tutorin-services, and the Coffee, Games &Company social time. Other libraryprograms, including legal andconsumer awareness, are availableand open to the learners.

Regina Public Library is able totrain and support our one-to-oneprogram at a low cost, partiallybecause some of the administrationcosts are absorbed as part of the gen-eral costs of the institution (i.e. heat,light, space) and partially becausethe program is largely dependenton volunteers. A rough estimate ofthe cost of literacy is approximately3% of the total library budget,including administration, publicrelations and social programs.

Since 1986 when litevacy becamea higher priority our active tutor/learner pairs have steadily increased.'Bator/learner pairs active at theend of 1989 were 366 compared to285 at the end of 1988. Thesenumbers show that the library hasthe ability to reach out and touchthe many needy (about 28% ofSaskatchewan people according toStats Canada.) Since 1987 when theSaskatchewan Literacy Councilbecame active, the library literacyprogram has helped over 1/3 of thetotal number enroled in theSaskatchewan literacy programs.

Our infrastructure allows thelibrary to expand the service inresponse to demand and in re-sponse to e.xtra funds. This is dueto our prop= being volunteer-based as well as the fact that it wasand is an established program in anon-educational institution.

Cooperative 'Ventures

In the provision of literacy, wecooperate with many institutionsboth educational and community-based.

One example of cooperation is theLiteracy Coordinators Group cfwhich Mary Cavanagh is a par-ticipant. Cooedinators from allSaskatchewan literacy programsreceiving funds from theSaskatchewan Literacy Councilmeet eight times a year to share

- 98 -

ideas, evaluate programs, and planpro;ects that complement andstrengthen literacy provision inthe province.

This group discusses projects andfunding before requests go to theSaskatchewan Literacy CouncilThe library does not receive theamount of funding which othergroups receive but the supportreceived has allowed us to expandour current programs and initiatenew ones such as Native Literacyand Literacy Development (follow-up of tutors and learners) whichenhance and support our basic one-to-one program.

Publicity of province-wideprograms has been a joint venturethrough the Council, with a toll-freenumber referring potential tutors orlearners to a program in their area.

The PALS (Prinaple of AlphabetLiteracy System) project, funded bySaskatchewan Education, IBM andRegina Public Library has been avery successful program. A half-labwas placed in the library for twoyears. The library paid forrenovations to house the lab as wellas all administration costs; IBMprovided the computer hardwareand software; and the Departmentof Education provided furnitureand salaries for one and a halfpositions for two years. There are13 labs (half or full) throughoutthe province.

PALS, a computerized learningmodule, complements our core one-to-one tutoring program byproviding another learningexperience. PALS learners arereferred to the program by LearningCentre staff, by tutors, by graduatesand by other institutions. After 100hours in the program, PAISgraduates are matched with a tutoror referred to ABE or other suitableprograms. Again, because of ouryear-round programs, we are ableto offer daytime, evening and

summer classes and have had moreadult learners complete theprogram than any other PALS labin the province.

However, there is a concern thatthis financial support may end inJune, 1991. The library cannotoperate the PALS program withoutgrant money frcm the Departmentof Education.

Regina Public Library has a goodworking relationship with SIAST -Wascana campus (SaskatchewanInstitute of Applied Science andTechnology). Students are referredto the ABE program once they havereached the Grade 5 level andwould benefit from a classroomsetting. Some of our paired studentscontinue to work with a tutor aswell as in the classroom setting.

In the fall of 1990, we discontinuedGED classes part !ly because ofthe overlap with SIAST and par-tially because it was felt that ourlearners could benefit more fromDevelopmental Writing classes whichare not geared to GED recognitionbut rather to incrmsed writingskills. While SIAST focuses on themore structured GED classes, thelibrary can compliment theseclasses with unstructured learningexperiences such as the writingclass.

We have develo oed cooperationand trust with the aboriginalgroups in the city through ourNative Literacy Coordinator. TheGabriel Dumont Institute and SIFC(Saskatchewan Indian PederatedCollege) refer learners and tutors tous, and tutors trained at RPL willwork at the two institutions helpingother students upgrade their skills.

The Circle Project, a communityservices agency that takes a holisticapproach to dealing with socialroblems among the aboriginalpeople, has tutors, usually ex-teachers, working for them. We will

conduct tutor workshops for themor include their .itors in our work-shops, as well as provide resourcesto support their literacy program.

The Open Door Society, an agencythat prc vides work preparationcourses for immigrants, brings their'students' for an orientation tour ofthe entire library and for an intro-duction to the literacy program.Staff from the Open Door Societyhave taken the ESL tutor work-shops to increase their skills inhelping their 'students' learn English.Our basic library brochures arebeing translated into the majorlanguage groups of new immigrants.I sit on their Employer's AdvisoryCommittee. Open Door Societypeople are regular library users, forthemselves and their families; somewho were job placements are nowemployed at the library.

Our Youth Literacy Coordinator hasformed links with the RainbowYouth Centre, a drop-in centre foryouth. Youth tutors have beentrained to provide literacy trainingon a drop-in basis at the centre.Regular sessions for these disad-vantaged youth did not work out;the flexible drop-in sessions meettheir needs better.

The Youth Coordinator works withthe John Howard Society, encour-aging youth in the fine optionprogram to become tutors. Herecruits and matches young peoplewho need literacy upgrading withtutors. Other youth tutors comefrom the regular school system.

All social agencies includingchurches are kept aware of ourprogram and refer both tutors andlearner& The Abilities Councilrefers learners and does presenta-tions for tutors to help them workwith individuals who have specialdisabilities which inhibit learning.

The library and SaskatchewanFederation of Labour are coop-

erating in an initiative to provideliteracy upgrading in the work-place. SI-7. will concentrate onunion shops and we will provideassistance to non-unionizedworkplaces.

We are exploring the possibility ofinitiating 'peer tutoring by seniors'with the various seniors groups inRegina, in particular the Universityof Regina Seniors groups. StatisticsCanael's past survey shows that62% of hose over 55 do not haveskills ne:essary to function ade-quately in our society. At presentabout 7% of our learners and 34%of the tutors are over 50.

Community Services staff partici-pate as presenters and participantsat all social agency, aboriginal oreducational workshops in order togive and get information on how toeradicate illiteracy in owcommunity.

The library will continue to actboth as a resource and as an activeparticipant in the fight for literacy.We will share our knowledge andexpertise in providing a volunteer-based, learner-directed one-to-onetutoring program. We will share ourmaterials and provide workshopseither for or in partnership withother groups.

How will thelibraries ge.t on-goingfunding for capit1expenses connected toliteracy programs andfor at least one paidworker. It


THIS WORKSHOP EXAMINED the problems and potentials of community-based, learner

centred programming.

Diversification of the fuming base is essential if programs are going to survive. It is important

that community programs educate funcing agencies about program values. The ideal of

learner centredness° becomes in practice a difficult objective to define and quantify for fund-

ing agencies which require accountability in terms of standard, functional outcomes, with an

emphasis on improving specified skills.

The work of volunteers is an issue needing scrutiny. Participants expressed the need for an

increase in the level of social awareness and cad thinking among volunteers. There are

differences in point of view and commitment between workers and volunteers, Each group

has its own idea of what learner-centredness means.

Many of the characteristics being discussed as defining effective community-based programs

come into conflict with expressed needs of the learners themselves a °split between com-

munity needs and philosophical ideas'.

Gaber-Katz described literacy as a °rupture point' in our social structure, where many social

and economic problems break through. The importance of a literacy community as a self-

heti tinicture was identified to eddress problems of alienation and Internalized oppression°.

Life skills development, networking, and formation of helper organizations among learners

are the 'mainstay' of community programs.

Prison workers suggested that the experience of beauty available in learning to read and

write is effective in giving meaning and purpose to literacy activity in the prisons and are just

as impalant as the functional elements In community literacy programs.

Increasing the input from learners and expanding their decision-makiiig power are Important

if a literacy group is to form `a c niununity within which members can get support as well as

start to empower themselves and their lives'.


COMBINING PRACTICE AND

THEORY IN COMMUNITY

LITERACY Elaine Gaber-Katz and Gladys Watson

WHAT COMBINMON OF PRACTISE AND

THEORY LEADS TO EFFECTIVE COMMU-

NI1Y-BASED UTERACY? EXPLORE THIS

QUESTION BASED ON THE FINDINGS OF

A PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH STUDY

THAT EXAMINED THNEE METROPOLITAN

TORONTO EDUCATION PROGRAMS

WHICH TAKE UP THE ISSUE OF LITERA-

CY IN THE CONTEXT OF THEIR GOAL

FOR A MORE INCLUSIVE AND PARTICIPA-

TORY SOCIETY.

Acommunity-based literacy project is one in which members of acommunity share locally the responsibility for providing adult lit-eracy education (Toronto Curriculum Working Group 1984).

Preamble

This workshop presents an overview of a participatory research study oncommunity-based literacy that was conducted during 1987-88 inMetropolitan Toronto. The purpose of the workshop was to provide work-shop participants with background information about the study and asummary of the research process. Study findings and analysis of theresearch were reviewed. This research study, The Land that We Dream ofA Participatory Study of Community-Based Literacy, is forthcoming from OISEPress (1990).

Context for the Research

Throughout Canada, literacy education has generally been provided byeducational institutions such as school boards, community colleges,libraries, and local affiliates of national and international volunteer literacyorganizations. In greaiar Metropolitan Toronto this has also been the case,

- 100 -

but during the last ten years com-munity-based literacy programs havedeveloped as an alternative. Inthese programs, which are usuallylocated in community facilities, vol-unteers provide adult literacyinstruction for English-speakingadults on a one-to-one and smallgroup basis. Operating with smallbudgets, these volunteer programsview the acquisition of reading andwriting skills in the context of alarger goal - to encourage all mem-bers of the community to participatefully in society. All aspects of theprogram organizational structure,setting, program design, method-ology, and materials - are shapedby this goal. As programs havegrown and developed, literacypractitioners have begun to talkabout the need to analyze and doc-ument community-based literacyexperience.

This study presents case studies ofthree community-based literacyprograms: Toronto Adult Literacyfor Action Centre (ALFA), East EndLiteracy, and Peel Literacy Guild. In1988, there were approximately 13operating in the MetropolitanToronto area.

The idea for this study originatedwith the Participatory ResearchGroup (PRG). During 1985-86, thePRG literacy advisory committeemet to develop a proposal andexplore funding possibilities. In1987, when initial funding wassecured from the Ontario govern-ment and the Maytree Foundation,the research study was formallylaunched. A volunteer workinggroup consisting of a representativeof PRG and two members fiomlocal community-based literacy pro-grams was formed to co-ordinatethe project. Subsequently, in thesummer of 1987, the authors werechosen by the working group to bethe researchers for the project. Theworking group felt that, given ourexperience with, and commitmentto, community-based literacy, we

would be trusted by community-based literacy programs to conductthe research in a sensitive manner.

The Research Process

The project followed participatoryresearch process, involving staff,board members, volunteers, andlearners from each of the threedesignated programa '11 fo eveningresearch sessions w(_ ..onduetedwith each of the programs, andthe participants from the tluee pro-grams were brought together for aweekend retreat. 'Ryes of theresearch discussions were tran-scribed and then analyzed. Thefindings were cireulated to allresearch participants and their com-ments were incorporated into theresulting book

Research Findings

When we considered and analyzedthe data from the research discus-sions, it became apparent that therewere three themes underlying thework of these programs: the partic-ular way in which learners weretaken into account in the program;the programs' interpretation andunderstanding of literacy; the senseof commitment to community thatwas present as part of the literacywork that was being done.

The first theme became apparentwhen people in the pmgramstalked about starting from thelearners' own experiences andthe need to value those exper-iences. They also talked about theneed for learning to be relevant tothe learner.

"The curriculum isn't set beforethe learner walks in the door."

Learners themselves talked aboutwhat they expected of a literacyprogram.

"It is very important for me tofeel equal to the tutors, even

- 101 -

100

theimportance of literacybeing learned in asocial way providesfuel for my fight againstwholly computer-based programming

How do we educatefunders to the value ofcommunity-based edu-cation? Programs muststick to their ownguidelines in acceptingfunding fund thewhole program notprojects.

...tension in the fitbetween expressedneeds of leerners andthe volunteers, staffand board.

There are great differ-ences between thecommunity programsthey described and thetypical USA Laubachand LVA tutoring.Wish we could importmore of your goodideas below the border.


though we are not equal interms of how much we know."

The second theme emerged whenwe began to discuss what peoplemeant by the term literacy Theseare the kinds of things we heard:

"It's not just functionll literacy... some things you learn justbecause they're beautiful."

"Every text is political and hasa point of view. It comes fromsomewhere. Part of what litera-cy is, is to teach learners this."

"To participate is part of litera-cy learners taking more controlover their lives and the forcesthat touch on their lives.".

When we discussed the relationshipbetween the programs and the com-munities in which they are located,the third theme surfaced. Peopletold us:

"We are connected with thecommunity. Our program hasdirect contact with other com-munity-based services."

"We're creating our own com-munity in a sense. We'redrawing in people from thearea."

you come away with theidea that you are located some-where in society."

These three themes were so integralto community-based literacy prac-tice that we named them aselements - fundamental, irreduciblecomponents:

- learner-centred ness- literacy from a critical

perspective- community-building.

The study explores how theseelements interact to shape theemerging practice and theory of

community-based literacy. Each ele-ment is examined in depth in termsof how it defines and limits com-munity-based literacy The studyalso addresses some of the tensionsand dilemmas that occur in practicesuch as how small, under-fundedprograms can maintain a high qual-ity service while continuing to growand develop; how a program withlimited resources balances the com-peting needs of learners, tutors,volunteers, board members, andstaff; and how programs articulatetheir goals - teaching reading andwriting or empowerment. The studyalso highlights the tremendousaccomplishments of community-based literacy such as the productionof working-class writings and thepotential of community-based liter-acy to redress issues of socialinjustices and inequality. As statedin the study, "Some literacy learnersmay be confined by poverty intolimited boundaries of thought andaction. Part of the task of communi-ty-based literacy is to widen theseboundaries and to assist literacylearners in articulating their aspira-tions for themselves and for theirchildren, and voicing the demandsthat will strengthen, rather than limit,their aspirations. Community-basedliteracy programs strive to buildsupportive communities, workingfrom the premise that community isessential for humanity." (Gaber-Katz & Watson 1990)

East End Literacy

Initiated by community workers in1978, East End Literacy is located inan old Victorian house owned byToronto Public Library. East EndLiteracy works primarily withEnglish-speaking learners who livein the east end of Toronto. The pro-gram has seventy-five student/tutorpairs that meet either in the com-munity or the Reading Centreoperated by the program.

Community education, advocacy,and clear writing and design are

-1°2-

integral to East End Literacy's pro-gemming. The program is perhapsbest known for its publishing. EastEnd Literacy Press has produced anumber of publications includingthe Writer's Voice, a student-written and student-produced peri-odical and the New Start ReadingSeries, a series of books producedfor adult new readers. East EndLiteracy is also known for itspioneering work in the area ofstudent leadership and studentinvolvement.

East End Literacy has a board ofdirectors that supports a staff of fiveliteracy workers. Active participa-tion in local, provincial, andnational literacy organizations is apriority. While it has chosen toremain a small, local literacy pro-gram that provides literacy learnerswith a community education alter-native, it assists other communityliteracy progams to get started.East End Literacy has conductedseveral program evaluations andhas thoroughly documented itsdevelopment as a community-based literacy program.

Peel Literacy Guild

The Peel Literacy Guild, whichbegan in 1981, has two tutoring cen-tres, one in the city of Mississauga,and one in the city of Brampton.The region of Peel is not officiallypart of Metropolitan Toronto, but isconsidered part of 'greater Metro'.The cities of Mississauga andBrampton cover !arge geographicareas and have a rapidly growingand changing population.

The Peel Literacy Guild, initiatedwith funds from a federal grant,developed a funding strategywhich enables it to draw fundir.gfrom a range of sources, includingprivate foundations, fundraisingevents such as bingos, and govern-ment grants. Firmly rooted in itscommunity, the Peel Literacy Guildenjoys the support of mlny corn-

munity agencies and institutions,including both the separate andpublic Boards of Education, thelibrary, and various service clubsand churches.

Working with over one hundredeighty-five learners, the PeelLiteracy Guild publishes severalstudent-written publications andprepares for its tutors, some ofwhom are paid, creative packageswhich facilitate the teaching of basicskills. Peel Literacy Guild is veryactive in Literacy networks and hasbeen, and continues to be, a strongsupporter of the Metro TorontoMovement for Literacy

I

References

Toronto Curriculum Working Group. 1984.Community-Based Literacy in an UrbanSetting: A Model. Toronto: unpublished

Paper.

Caber-Katz, Elaine and Gladys M. Watson.1990. The Land That We Dream Of...APartkipatory Study of Community-BasedLiteracy. Toronto: OISE Press.

How to get a multiplicity of groups to dia-logue and work together for the advancement ofliteracy.

Developing a critical perspective is part of commu-nity based programs.

...the idea that a literacy group forms a communitywithin which members can get suppo7t as well asstart to empower themselves and their lives.

It's not just functional literacy. Some things youlearn just because they are beautiful.

.How can we implment the B.C. ProvincialLiteracy Advisory Committee report to establishmoney for a comprehensive approach to literacy?

Funding strategies for B.C.!!!!

...the connection in theory, but more significantlyto me, between the personal development whichcomes through becoming 'literate' (in the broadestsense) and the development of the sense of selfwhich came for me through the women's move-ment and the therapy I undertook.

The whole notion of 'empowerment': What does itmean? Is the term becoming little more than jar-gon? Literacy may or may not 'empower'. Ivf

- 103-

102


THE WORKSHOP offered an historical oveniew of literacy developments in Quebec,

covering political, social, and pedagogical aspects. Simard is known in Quebec for his

involvement in the Quebec Coalition of Popular Literacy Groups, established in 1981 and

currently comprising some 45 diverse, autonomous groups, each with its own democraticstructure, and a general assembly which meets twice annually. Learner involvement exS3nds

to the organization of assembliesProgramming aperoaches range from initiatives deeply

rooted in community economic ventures to those more tied to formal political activity.

Current developments In Quebec have had a negative impact on literacy programs.

adornment has placed pressure on literacy programs to solve specific social problems

arising from welfare and unemployment insurance Moo, the deinstitutionalization of sodaservices, and an influx of Immigrants.

How can the phllosophy of Fmke be applied and how successful has the attempt been in the

Quebec context? The Freirean approach has been suggested by some to be `more suited tofacilitators than to participants', and others have commented that 'Freire cannot liberate us;we must liberate ourselves'. One group has conceptualized the accomplishment of

tonsclentization' as occurring In three stages: (1) awareness of oneself, (2) awareness ofone's immediate milieu and (3) awareness of the broac;er environment, correspondng

roughly to beginning, intermediate and advarad stages of literacy learning.

Hypotheses offered regarding the Inability of programs to reach a significant proportion of

the target population included: poor experiences in public school and the failure to

adequately fund recwitment. Furthermore, the changing focus of programs from 'pure'

literacy to upgrading and vocational training may be responsible for recruitment acuities.

Discussion centred on learner participation in programs. Specifically, loaners had requested

a set of coalition documents be 'translated' into more accessible language. The Coalition

denied this request because of the time Involved.

... from the Fallillator's Report

APPLYING FRE1RE,

RE-THINKING CONCEPTIONS:

QUEBEC Pierre Simard

DOES THE PEDAGOGY OF PAULO

FRE1RE OFTEN SUIT EDUCATORS

MORE THAN LEARNERS IN AN

INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRY? DEBATE

THE BROADER IMPLICATIONS OF A

FREIRE-INSPIRED APPROACH BASED

ON THE CONCLUSIONS DRAWN BY LE

REGROUPEMENT DES GROUPES

POPULAIRES D'ALPHABETISATION, A

COALITION OF OVER 30 D;VERSE LOCAL

AND REGIONAL COMMUNITY GROUPS

INVOLVED IN UTERACY IN TOWNS, CITY

NEIGHBOURHOODS, IN ETHNIC

COMMUNITIES, AND WITH SPECIFIC-

NEEDS GROUPS.

The theme of this workshop comes from a paragraph in a speechgiven by Louise Miller (former coordinator of the RGPOQ) in 1987at Toronto's international seminar Literacy in Industrialized Countries:

A Focus on Practice. She said "Nevertheless, without denying the value ofPaulo Freire's approach over a period of time, the groups realized ihat itwas often more suited to the facilitators than to the participants': Why isthat so? This is the question I have been asked to discuss with you.

First we must say that the Régroupement have been influenced byFreire'stheory. In 1980 ten groups (community-based organizations) decided tocreate a coalition in order to be more influential. At that time, the first goalwas to get the government to recognize the role of community-basedorganizations in the development of literacy programs in Quebec. Ourapproach was directly influenced by Freire. For us, as for Freire, the role ofeducation was to give more power to people in order to make them able tochange and improve their lives.

Five years later, 30 groups were part of the coalition. So, it was time for theRegroupement to further define its objectives as the coalition was gettingbigger. In 1985 the member organizations spelled out their main objectives:

- 104 -

1c3

to ensure the promotion, advocacyand development of popular liter-acy, of community literacy groups,and of the rights of illiterates.

The Regroupement considers thatpopular literacy is a multi-facetedapproach towards autonomous pop-ular education and is characterizedby its educational and politicaldimensions and its social implica-tion. Let's see in more detail whatthis implies.

Educational Dimension

Learning to read and write is a tool.Through a collective approach, theindividual develops a sense ofbelonging and capacity to carry outdemands. The participant is in-volved in the learning process andin running the training centre.

Political Dimension

A social and political awareness isdeveloped among participants andfacilitators. Collective responsibilitytoward the social environment isfostered in order to improve livingconditions in the community.

Social Dimensions

Through working with communityorganizations, the community issensitized to the isf ues surroundingilliteracy The righ',s of the illiterateneed to be defended.

With these dimensions, theRegroupement was adapting for itsneeds what Paulo Freire wasinsisting on: his refusal to dichot-omize action and reflection; hisinsistence on the non-neutrality ofeducation; his insistence that humanconsciousness is intentionalizingrather than passive and static(Darcy, Martin P. , ReappraisingFreire: the potential and limits ofconscientization ).

The point, however, is not tointerpret Freire into the Canadian

situation, nor to translate him, norto use him as a guide. The point isto do for ourselves what he hasdone for himself and his situation.Freire cannot liberate us; we mustliberate ourselves (Darcy).

b illustrate how we adaptedFreire's theory or how we 'liberatedourselves', I will present examplesof what was done in our groups atthe beginning of the 1980s.

1)At le Carrefour d'educationpopulaire de Pointe St. Charlesthe participants were invited toget involved in services andactivities such as a second handclothes store, communityholidays, Fetes populaires, alibrary, handicraft workshops,bazaars, and nutrition workshops.These activities and services weredesigned to provide an oppor-tunity for the participants toempower themselves throughmore control over what wasgoing on. Most of the services arestill functioning.

2)At la boite a lettres de Longueuil, acentre with a 'young' clientele,they decided in 1984 to make avideo with and for the youngpeople participating at la boite alettres. This activity was designedas 'a process video' since theprocess of making the video withthe participants was as importantas the result itself.

3)At lettre en Main in Rosemont,the group decided in 1986 to holda real election within the group.The participants had to follow thesame process as a real election.Coincidentally there was aprovincial election being held atthe same time.

4)Finally, in 1984 et le Regroupementitself we organized what wecalled la grande Rencontre whichtook 400 participants from allover the province for a week-endat l'Université Laval. There were

How ourprograms reallybenefiting ourparticipants? Manypeople want to geitheir GED because theybelieve that all thesedoors will open forthem. But do they?

It was good to hearabout a literacyprogram that hasa political perspecfivethat is not functioningtotally successfully.This made me feelthat I was not the onlyone whose literacyprogram doesn't meetthe ideal. This work-shop was a breath offresh air in that it dealtwith the problems offunding, ESL, firstlanguage speakersand commented on

I the difficulties ofhaving learners orparticipants participate.Simard indicatedhow exhausting thework is. //


I/Pierre left mewith this question:Were the groups reallypractising theprinciples of Freirianeducation given that:

1.the teachers wrotethe political forummaterials in alanguage structureand vocabulary whichwas inaccessible to theparticipants and thatthey resented the ideaof the work involvedin translating into thestudent's language.

2.the group expectstheir constituents -the poor andunemployed - tocome to them forconferences andeducation. Comparethis to the Hackneylearning model wherethe tutors go into thecommunity to doactivities with thepeople from whichlearners can theninitiate literacylearning requests.

... from Partictpants' Response Cards

over thirty five differentworkshops facilitated almostentirely by participants. Theorganizing committee wasformed by eeven participantsand three workers.

These examples give an idea of whatwe are doing in our groups to try toempower the participants and givingthem more 'grip' in their lives. Ourlong range objective is that the par-ticipants would be part of thedecision making structure of theirown community-based organization.

In accordance with the threedimensions (educational, politicaland social) of popular literacy asdescribed above, the place of theparticipants is in the centre of allthe activities organized in ourgroup. However, the type of workwe are doing in our groups isclosely linked with the type ofclientele we get. And maybe wewill understand better what LouiseMiller was suggesting when shewas saying that "Freire's approachwas often more suited to thefacilitators that to the participants".

The Development of LitexacyPrograms in Quebec Since 1989

We have seen that our approach isto give to illiterate people themeans they need to get more powerin their day-to-day lives in order toimprove their lives. This is not easyto do. Literacy problems are notisolated from the context in whichpeople live. Our analysis of thecauses of illiteracy leads us to theconclusion that poverty andilliteracy are closely linked.

At the beginning of the 1980s thepopular groups were a l'avantgarde and were the first to putpressure on government andsociety to make them recognize theimportance of the illiteracyproblem. The question of recrui-tment was (and still is) there. Butthe people who decided to get

- 106 -

1 5

involved in a literacy process wereinvolved on a volunteer basis. Theywere not forced to do so. At thattime, literacy programs were not asstructured as they are now and wehad plenty of opportunities to createthe kind of literacy that we thoughtwas most adapted to the needs.

The concept of popular litentcywas first developed by literacygroups but very soon the schoolboard developed a kind of adap-tation of this concept. They called itcommunity literacy. Briefly, theobjectives of both are the same. Theprograms are based on the every-day life skills. Prom this point, thepeople who wanted to get involvedin a literacy process had the choice:a popular group or the school board.

Of course, most of the participantsnever see their involvement in aliteracy process as a politicalgesture. Their first objective is: Iwant to know how to read andwrite. It is the way that we inpopular group; lead the partici-pants in their process that makes itpolitical. Even though we alwaysfelt a gap existed between ourexpectations and the participants'expectations (for example, someparticipants always thought that adiscussion on any topic is a wasteof time), we can say that becausepeople were there on a volunteerbasis, the consciousness process wasalways possible.

In 1986 the government decidedto give more money to literacyHowever, more of the money goesto the school boards because theyare considered the principaladministration responsible foreducation in Quebec. Illiteratepeople get money to go to schoolas long as they go at the 'officialschool'. Nevertheless, some populargroups with special agreementsbenefit from the same treatment. Ofcourse, since the government pro-vides the funding, their programsare more controlled in terms of

results. After ten years of literacy inQuebec, the tendency is to focus onqualification scolaire and rattrapagescolaire. The ground-work is left tothe popular groups but with nofinancial resources. From thegovernment point of view literacyis an education issue and the answeris to give all the resources to theschool system.

Because most illiterate people havebeen through the school systembefore and have bad memories ofthat experience, we believe at leRegroupement that literacy shouldbe an issue for all the social actors,from the union, to the boss andevery ministry or departmentinvolved in social issues.

Giving a 'school answer' to aproblem as broad a3 illiteracy(which can, in part, be attributedto the failure of the school system)is a demonstration of narrowmindedness on the part ef thegovernment. Furthermore, sincethe reform of the unemploymentand welfare programs in Quebec,people who are declared 'ableto work' but who have 'noqualifications' are forced to goback to school. With the cuts insocial and health programs, thereare many mentally handicappedpeople left with no professionalhelp.

This adds to the problem in thatmany institutions are referring thisclientele to literrcy programs. Theresult is that we now face a newclientele of people who are notnezessarily willing to get involvedin a literacy process.

Conclusion

It has always been difficult to applyFreire's theory in our popularapproach but it has always beenpossible. After a while the parti-cipants get used to our informalapproach and to being asked to getinvolved in a number of activities

which actualize their potential.

But this is a broad approach. Wedo not have in mind making peoplemore adapted to employmentneeds. We have never had a timelimit in our program. Our goal isto have the participants experiencea democratic way of learning thatcan be useful in their everydaylives. Literacy is only a means nota final goal.

Now the government has decidedthat 2000 hours will be the timelimit permitted to someone whogets involved in a literacy process.The question is, after this, wheredoes one go to the high school?

As the gap gets bigger between theilliterate people and the literatepeople, society is using the schooldegree as a criteria to put asidepeople who don't know how toread and write. One has to have ahigh school degree to get a job as ajanitor. It is quite a dead end!

We, at le Regroupement, think thatwith the kind of technologicalsociety we have, we will always seea portion of the population whowon't ever have the possibility tofollow the main stream. To be ableto get involved in a literacy processone has to be motivated. And thismotivation will never be there ifyou are told that you have to go toschool for the next ten years only tobe able to get a job as a janitor.

At le Regroupement we are at thepoint where we tell the policymakers, "Let's be realistic. Insteadof trying to get the people to you,try to get to the people."

Lalita Raudas of the Society forAlternatives in Education, NewDelhi, asked "Can literacy help uslive a little better?" in Toronto in1987 at the seminar Literacy inIndustrialized Countries. If not wewill say "For god's sake, leave usalone."

- 107 -

//Groundwork isneeded to stir upawareness that literacyis a human right andmakes a difference to aperson's sense of self-worth and confidencein relating to others.

How do we resist thetrend towardsvocational, institu-tional education ratherthan politically-basededucation.

The methodology ofliteracy practise mayperpetuate the blamethe victim approach ineducation and socialpolicy ie. literacy is apersonal responsibilityor psychologicalproblem of the learner.

We must examine stateeducation for itsmiddle class bias andexclusion of poor kids'experience incurriculum. ft


IN MS WORKSHOP SOME DISCUSSION ticok place about the fact that the East End

literacy program that Sally was describing, Family Issues Group, was billed as a discussion

group, not as a literacy class. The point was raised that it was dishonest to do so. Saly

responded that East End litelaGy (EEL) does Untent-based Nteracy that responds to the

needs that puticipants flnd in their lilies. She also said that for most of their learners

admitting illiteracy was dangerous; it was another ma* against them in a situation where the

Children's Aid Society was questioning their ability to be good parents.

Someone asked about the preparation that was done to get a guest speaker ready to deal

with Mercy learners. Sally talked about the preparation that learners make, that is,

developing a list of questions for which they need answers. The fadlitator talks to the guest

speaker about what she could expect; a lot of thought and searching goes into finding guest

speakers who would be appropriate for the class.

Several people said In their written responses that leamer-driven programs are soft; that is,

they have no set agenda Sally made the point that for the facilitsdors or instructors of such

groups not having an agenda was immensely freeing and allowed for better teaching and

learning than when the programmers decided in athance what the agenda would be.

A great deal of Interest was expressed about pialn language and about educating agencies

and schools so that written material is easier to cope with for everyone.


Sally McBeth

PROMOTING LEARNER.

DRIVEN PROGRAMS

DOES THE DEGREE OF LEARNER

PARTICIPATION QUALITATIVELY ALTER

THE WAY UTERACY IS UNDERSTOOD

AND TALKED ABOUT? DOES LEARNER

PARTICIPATION CHANGE HOW

PROGRAMS ARE DEVELOPED, TUTORS

ARE TRAINED, AND LEARNERS ARE

EVALUATED? FOLLOW THE EVOLUTION

OF EAST END LITERACY'S °LITERACY

AND THE PARENT* PROJECT IN

TORONTO, WHERE LEARNERS'

INVOLVEMENT IN STARTING A NEW

PROGRAM HAS LED TO DEEP CHANGES

IN THE ORGANIZATION.

East End Literacy is a community-based learning centre for adultslocated in a densely populated, low-income area of downtownToronto. The organization has a diversity of funders, both public

and private, and this enables it to set its policies and plan its programswith considerable independence. There am at any one time about 85 activelearners in the progam, an equal number of trained volt nteers, and a staffof six. In addition to one-to-one tutoring and sewral smttll groups, wehave a vibrant publishing program dedicated to student writing and wedo extensive public education and advocacy

East End is more than ten years old now and has evolved fairly stablestructures for decision-making and accountability. The board of directors iscomposed of community residents, most of whom are former tutors; aboutone quarter are students. There are five very hard-working committees ofthe board: Program ,Ind Evaluation, Funding and Advocacy, Personnel,Press, and Building. Students sit on the committees; they also have astudent support group.

East End Literacy is generally admired in adult education circles for itsindependence, for its organizational democracy for its learner-centredteaching approach, for the success and dynamism of its projects. However,

- 108 -

It's a damned uncomfortable placeto work. Somebody is alwayschallenging the way things getdone. Somebody is always thinkingup something new. Nothing is everroutine. We are not satisfied withthe level of democracy in ourorganization. We are not satisfiedthat we have truly learner-centredprograms. We work in the midst of,and are exhausted by, the relentlesspoverty of our neighbourhood andall its attendant woes.

And so the program planningprocess I am about to describe isnot, in my mind, a series of steps oreven an organized system of thought.It is a desciption of a few episodesin an organization's never-endingstruggle for its own integrity.

The program in question is aFamily Literacy progr, westarted to plan in 19, 1nd finallylaunched in 1990. There wereseveral influences which led usto believe we. should go in thisdirection:

1. The Right to Learn Report

This report, passed by the TorontoBterd of Education in 1986,supported adult literacy programs.One important part of the rationalefor this report was that "researchand experience have shown thatone of the most effective ways ofimproving the educational exper-iences of the students in our schoolsis the provision of educationalopportunities for their parents."

2. Parenting Group

In the spring of 1986, volunteer JanKutcher organized a learning groupfor parents and babysitters. Theydiscussed, read and wrote aboutissues such as eating, bedtime,sickness, having fun with kids,behaviour problems, and school.This group ran for 8 weeks andwas well-attended.

3. Childcare for EEL Learners

In 1987, when learners requestedchildcare while attending gioupsand tutoring sessions, EELresponded by providing childcarewith funding from the Secretary ofState and George Bruwn College.The EEL Board of Directors, as partof their Long Range Planningprocess, made childcare a priorityand began looking for a fundingsource for childcare as part of theircore budget. One possibility wasthe Ministry of Community andSocial Services. There was someinterest from a local daycare inproviding one subsidized space forEEL learners to share.

4. Understanding the SchoolSpam.

It was found that adult learners atEEL often did not understand whatwas happening to their children inthe schools. For example, onemother brought in an extremelylong, complicated report from herchild's kindergarten teacher whichshe could not read. Many otherpP-ents did not understand whytheir children were being put inspecial education dasses or werebeing streamed; parents would goto meetings with teachers unpre-pared and intimidated and leavenot knowing how their child was

doing; parents had trouble under-standing notes coming home fromschool; parents were unable to helptheir children with homework. Aliteracy program in Washington,D.C. recognized these problems andbuilt assistance to parents in theschools into their core services.

5. Advocacy with the SchoolSystem

In 1987 EEL staff began to documentrequests for help from parents onbehalf of their illiterate children. Wefound out about reading clinics andprivate tutoring agencies in'Ibronto, however, the fees werewell beyond what parents in ourneighbourhood could pay.Alternatively, we successfullyreferred two people to the OISEPsychoeducational Clinic, staffedby graduate students; the fee wason a sliding scale. Ne urged parentsto bring the matter tn the attentionof their school trustee since theBoard of Education was supposedto be providing literacy in itsspecial education programs.

When we try :n plan things atEast End we have a picture thatwe sometimes draw on a flip chartb help us understand how we seeourselves in the world. It lookslike this:

//Schoolsand

social agencies mustrecognize the needfor clear or plainlanguage to be usedin communicatingwith parents.

The group wasintrigued by the ideaof starting with noplan; letting the plandevelop as a result oflistening carefully toparticipants in what isbilled as a discussiongroup. Is the program"mushy" if there is noplan or agenda; thatis, is the programcompletely learnerdriven? Many saidthey would take thisidea home to try. //

from Participants' Rae") Ise Cards

The idea is to look at what needs orconcerns the students are raisingand to keep those needs andconcerns in our heads while weassess all the needs, concerns andpressures coming from Lie localcommunity and the larger world.This helps us to keep from runningaway with a program idea that ismerely the result of pressure fromthe larger educational community,for example, or the result of moneybeing available to do a certainthing. What we are looking for is apoint of convergence among theexpressed needs and interests ofour students and our communityand the opportunities and interestsof the larger world.

Back in 1988 it was clear to theProgram Committee and to theBoard that our students wantedsome kind of Family Literacyprogram but we didn't know whatit should look like. Quite a fewliteracy organizations were pilotingfamily literacy pmjects at the time,and it was easy to get carried awaywith the ideas everyone else washaving. I remember how excited Iwas by the Literacy Council ofAlaska's Parent and Tot ReadingProgram. One day I was havinglunch with a student named DebbieSims and I showed her theirbrochure.

Debbie Sims started in our programsix years ago as a virtual non-readerand has done very well. Polio andits treatment made literacyunattainable for her as a child. Sheis now raising two girls, one ofthem, De: Ira, still a pre-schoolerabout the same age as my son, Lars.I've ah4ys has a lot of respect forDebbie and her ideas.

We looked at the brochure. It saysDon't Let Your Child Miss TheseSpecial Moments. There was adrawing of a beautiful youngmother in a frilly dress snugglingup with a story book and her curlyhaired toddler.

- 110 -ic

"Don't you think East End shoulddo some" *ng like this?" I said."Lars a 1read together everynight and it really is a special timefor us. We're close, all my attentionis on him and he's learning."

Debbie looked doubtful. "I neverdid read with my oldest but I do trywith Deanna," she said. "It's nevercomfortable, though. She's atartingto correct me now."

Then she thought for a minute. "Iagree that it's important to make aspecial time for each child. For me,my special time with Deanna iswhen I'm teaching her needlework.We're close together, all my atten-tion is on her and she's learningfrom me."

This incident with Debbie is myfavourite example of how honour-ing adult learners in the programplanning process tends to turn youon your head. Debbie was right.The Alaska program is probablywonderful there, but it wculd havebeen a disastrous starting point forEast End Literacy. So many urbanparents are under the scrutiny ofsocial agencies and live in fear ofhaving their children taken away. Itwould be mistaken and foolish todesign a program that appealed totheir feelings of inadequacy andfear. They simply would not attend.

Talking to parents like Debbie hasforced me to think hard about whogets to define what Family Literacyactually is. The Coors Foundationfor Family Literacy has defined thisissue in a way that many of us in theliteracy movement find dangerous.That foundation ran a publicawareness advertise-ment inseveral glossy magazines lastsummer which said: "Illiteracy isspreading like the worst kind ofdisease ... And since women are stillthe primary caretakers of children,the cycle continues to be passeddown from generation togeneration." The message was

illustrated with a graphic of awoman holding a child whileanother clung to her scrawnywaist. All three faced outwardsbut instead of faces, their headswere shown as empty holesthrough which you could see thedark, painy background of thepicture like a dust storm in aprairie depression.

I believe that this is what canhappen when women like DebbieSims are not heard b) literacyorganizations trying to designprograms. It should not surprise uswhen we hear, as we do, the quietanxiety coming from literacyorganizations all over the continentabout the difficulty they are havingwith recruitment and attendance intheir Family Literacy programs.What woman with a shred ofdignity would take the risk ofseeking help from a place thatmight see her as Coors sees her? Weshould not be surprised thatwomen who live in the daily crisisof poverty have trouble withregular attendance at literacyprograms. We should marvel thatthey come at all.

The shock of the Coors ad madeus very glad that we had spentsuch a long time working withstudents and struggling with ourown preconceptions before we triedto raise the money for a FamilyLiteracy project. By the time we didgo after money we had developedas an organization a set of goals forour Literacy and the Parent projectthat we all believed honoured theaspirations of our learners andrespected their strength andpotential. This is how we definedour goals:

1. To help parents improve theirreading and writing usingmaterials relevant to parentingand to their children's education.

2. To help parents develop a homeer vironment that emphasizes

reading as a family activity andthat nurtures learning in all itsdiverse forms.

3. To help parents develop the skillsto advocate, on behalf of theirchildren and themselves, the besteducation their families canreceive.

4. To promote community andinstitutional awareness of thebarriers illiterate parents face inreaching these goals.

5. To advocate the removal of thosebarriers.

Our parents group has been meet-ing every week now for threemonths. That is not enough time toevaluate a program but there is nodoubt in our minds that we havestarted something worthwhile. Wefeel that it will always be in theplanning stages because the parentsin the program feel free to decidewhat they are doing. They starttalking at the coffee machine whenthey come in on Friday morningsand they don't stop after themeeting is over. They come into theoffice or phone each other or thestaff whenever they feel like it. (Isaid it was a damneduncomfortable place to work.)

They talk about what FamilyLiteracy means to them: What doyou do when your six year oldbrings home a used needle shefound in the school yard? Why doesthe Department of Health sendhome a university-level treatise onchicken pox instead of simplywritten, practicol advice? How doyou make yowa re l.'s grade twoteacher understoltd that you caredeeply about his reading problemswhen you are terrified that she'llfind out you have a readingproblem yourself?

After they had met for two weeksour parents group decided torename itself the Family Issues

"Many weresurprised that motherswith low literacy skillsfear that their childrencould be taken fromthem on this basis.One participant wasuncomfortable withblaming Children'sServices, educationalsystems, and PublicHealth.

Realize there is apopulation of parentswho are, dueto drugs, mentalhealth, and povertyrelated issues, abusivetoward their children.They are unable toparticipate in yourproject because theseother issues cloudtheir lives. Unfortu-nately, these peopledo need legalintervention forthe children.


Group. I think it's a credit to themand to the organization that theyfelt free to decide who they wereand why they were there.

And yes, they do learn, in r. formalsense. They have asked for and readinformation on baby and child care,on incest and abuse, on health; theywant to read fairy tales and fablesand rhymes too and I think theywill. They have written lists ofquestions for school teachers,trustees, public health officials;they have invited some of thesepeople in and grilled them. Theyhave spoken and written about thesubtle and overt oppression intheir daily lives and how thesethings block their learningopportunities and those of theirchildren. And, although I amdepressed most of the time aboutmy society's failure to take theirissues into account, I think they arebeing heard more than they werebefore. At any rate, it is impossibleto say that such rich, informativeactivity is not adult literacy.

Although it is largely unplannedactivity, it is not directionless. Itseems to be catalyzed at the coffeemachine, but it is sustained andsupported by an extremely skilfulstaff and a sizable group of hand-picked volunteers notable for theirsensitivity, life eAperience, open-mindedness and knowledge of thesupport systems in the neighbour-hood. Nevertheless, the group'sstaff co-ordinator, MicheleKuhlmann, tells me that she feelslike she has gotten off a rollercoaster at the end of every Fridaymorning. Working with women inliteracy, Michele thinks, is whereyou find the outer limits amundthe notion of curriculum.

"If you create a safe place forwomen to sit down" Michele says,"they will set their own agenda.Give people choices about whatthey can learn, like Do you want totalk about a healthy diet or shall we

work on balancing the morthlybudget?' Those choices are notthe same as starting without anagenda."

"Surprisingly," says Michele, "itdoesn't leave you at a loss as aliteracy facilitator, although it doesseem a bit scary to those of us whowere trained never to leave homewithout a lesson plan. There is a lotof security built into this model.You go in believing that people arethere because they have importantthings to discuss; they do. Then youhelp them to get the informationthey are asking for, and they use it."

It is certainly more difficult for anadult education organization toplan programs in this chaotic,inclusive, creative way. We have tothink diffegently about efficiency. Ittakes a lot more work from the staff,the students, the volunteers and thecommunity when we are constantlytrying to establish the meaning ofwhat we do. It takes longer. It takesmuch more talk. It is intellectuallyconfusing and even painful, in thewey that learning from the lives ofother human beings can often be.

I think that our organization hasagreed that it is worth it because itmakes the thing. we do together inthis deprived, fractious, strugglingplace we call community better thanthey would have been.

-p27 Li

7111MININI

IIIt pushes me

forward in thinkingabout increased learnerparticipation inplanning.

How do fundersrespond to variousnames for literacyprograms?

... plain language ... sothat written material iseasier to cope with foreveryone.


INTERPRETING LITERACY:CULTURE & CONTEXT

TAKING MULTILINGUAL ISSUES INTO ACCOUNT. TORONTO

V. Manuel PintoDirector of the Canadian Multilingual Literacy CentreAdult educator from Peru

Brenda DuncombeAdult education specialist, Immigrant communitiesInitiator of ESL literacy programs in Toronto

TREATING LEARNERS AS EXPERTS: x IALIFAX NOVA SCOTIA

Gary MacDonaldCommunity worker wit'a Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement

Association, Holifax, Nova ScotiaDesigner and teacher, ESL literacy programs

SNOWDRIFT CHIPEWYAN PROJECT: NORMWEST TERRITORIES

Joanne BarnabyEducator and activist on aboriginal language issues and hnd claimsExecutive Director, Dene Culhral Institute ) a Yellowknife

Eleanor MillarclLiteracy consultant, Keewatin Region, Arctic CollegeCoordinator, Snowdrift projectABE/ESL instructor, Yukon, NWTFormer Yukon MLA and Minister of EducationResearcher, nat:ve ESL literacy

112

".9

2.4

t.

THIS WORKSHOP DESCRIBED the philosophy and operation of the Canadian Multilingual

Literacy Centre In Toronto and the value of meeting first language literacy needs of immi-

grants. The presenters made It clear that first language literacy for minodty groups is not to

be oonfused witti ESL literacy or even ESL It is literacy in one's first language.

The group examined some case studies of specific low-education adults who have come to

the Centre. Although there was not enough information to fully explore the needs of these

case-study students, the ciscussion generated valuable debate over the relationship between

ESL and mother-tongue literacy. The debate centred around whether first language literacy Is

a suffilient end In itself or whether It must be a brkige to ESL The general consensus was

that it depends on the students and their nmds, uses, and objectives for both the ESL and

first language literacy.

The most important issue raised was that immigrant learning needs must no longer be so

easily limited to ESL or English literacy. These must be expanded to include numeracy, tran-

sitional classroom skills needed to succeed in ESL classes, employment related training,

problem solving and organizing around one's own experienced blocks, and problems

encountered in taking part in this society.

TAKING MULTILINGUAL

ISSUES INTO ACCOUNT:

TORONTO

WHAT ARE THE MOTHER-TONGUE

LITERACY NEEDS OF NON-ENGLiSH/

FRENCH SPEAKING ADULTS IN CANADA?

WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN

FIRST LANGUAGE LITERACY SKILLS

AND THE STUDY AND ACQUISITION

OF A SECOND LANGUAGE? CONSIDER

THESE ISSUES AS WELL AS DIFFERENT

STRATEGIES DESIGNED TO DEAL

WITH THE MULTILINGUAL AND MULT-

CULTURAL SIDE OF LEARNERS'

LITERACY NEEDS.


Manuel Pinto and Brenda Duncombe

The Canadian Multilingual Literacy Centre in Toronto beganoperation in 1985. As a result of the Toronto Board of Educationpromoting literacy among Spanish speaking parents in area-

central public schools, an office for the Centre and program space wasestablished at 756 Ossington Ave, Its mission statement is:

"The Canadian Multilingual Literaty Centre develops and maintainsfirst language literacy programs as determined by the needs of thecommunity. Sensitive to the changing needs of learners, the Centreencourages them to achieve their own goals by offering programswhich contribute to first language literacy, nunteracy, interest and )ob-related skills, survival and settlement orientation, and introduction toEnglish as a Second Language and Citizenship."

The philosophical basis of the Centre is that every person who has adistinct culture, defined by its language and literature and rooted inhis/her home country, has a right to literacy in his/her first language.Literacy in one's first language is in some cases a necessary route towardsthe attainment of literacy in a second language. It is always a more efficientway of acquiring the skills of reading and writing in any language.

- 115 -

11 3

The focus is on literacy as socialempowerment and as a means tothe recognition of one's human dig-nity. First language literacy is abasic human right, independent ofcitizenship, nationality, ethnic back-griund, race, class, or gender.T1,erefore, literacy for the CanadianMultilingual Literacy Centre is awide and deep concept which doesnot limit its definition to compe-tency in reading and writing.

Why Teach Literacy in a FirstLanguage First

Pedagogically, first language litera-cy provides individuals withlearning tools and with channels ofanalysis, reflection, and personalexperience which cannot beaccessed while trying to stumbleimperfectly through communica-tion attempts in English.

That literacy in one's first languageis a human right is another reasonfor starting with first language liter-acy. People need the opportunityto learn to read and write in theirown primary language of use bothbecause of its connection to learn-ing (first language literacy as alearning tool) and because of firstlanguage literacy needs that operatein their lives (social, religious, letterwriting with family back home,access to status in one's own ethniccommunity).

Why First Language TAtcracyShould Go Beyond the Skills ofReading and Writing

There are over 150,000 non-English/French newcomers in Ontario whohave less than Grade 9 education.More than 100,000 of these reside inMetropolitan Toronto. These actualand potential learners range in agefrom 16 to 80 years and live in awide range of circumstances mak-ing classification difficult.

Some causes of their illiteracy are:social, economic and political injus-

tice in countries which opprwa theirpopulations; the lack of opportunitypeople had, and still have, to attendschool; and the war situation in someof these countries which disrupted,and continues to disrupt, the educa-tion of the people. As a result ofthese situations, these young, mid-dle-aged and elderly men andwomen must now be given oppor-tunities to participate in firstlanguage literacy pmgrams here.

Participants come to the Centrefrom a variety of circumstances.Some immigrants and refugeescame from the countryside or shan-ty towns and often lacked theopportunity to obtain an education.Others have studied sometimes upto Grade 6 but are now functionallyilliterate oecaust of lack of anopportunity to use his/her literacyskills. Still others arrived in Canadamany years ago and are not yetfully integrated into our societybecause, despite some fluency inoral English or French, they cannotread or write in English, French ortheir first language. Some are work-ing in menial jobs and want toupgrade their employment status.Some have retired and want to usetheir leisure time profitably toenhance the remaining years oftheir lives. Many are unemployedand cannot obtain or r lintain theirjobs because of limited literacyskills. Others of the unemployedlack literacy skills in both their firstand second language and cannotget job training to face the challengeof our industrialized society.

First language literacy can be abridge, arming participants _ththe confidence to then enter ESLand other educational and trainingprograms and to participate morefully in this society.

First Language Literacy andCurriculum

There is a need to develop learner-centred curriculum for first

116 -

Ole

4'

language literacy within the contextof Metro's multicultural and mul-tiracial society. First languageliteracy cannot focus on the lan-guage structure; it must go beyondthese limits. In addition, first lan-guage literacy cannot be purely aneducational service; it must also beseen as part of the settlement pro-cess through which all newCanadians pass.

It is important not only to listen tolearners when they express theirdifficulties with reading and writ-ing, but also to listen to them whenthey mention their aspirations andtheir difficulties finding or keepinga job, finding job training, helpingtheir children with their home-work, gaining self-esteem andself-confidence, and finding waysof participating in the economic,social and political life in society.

These realities should tell us tlutwhen we develop curriculum forfirst language literacy we cannotjust develop curriculum to addressthe reading and writing difficultiesof learners. We have to be ible toidentify the relationship betweenthis educational aspect and the dif-ficulties and hopes illiterates andfunctional illiterates have to face inCanadian society.

It is the aim of the CMLC to devel-op programs and curriculum usingan holistic approach and PauloFreire's Psycho-Socio Method. As J.Miller claims ".., curriculum devel-opment should consider personaland social change. The learner isnot just seen as an intelligent per-son who needs to develop orimprove his/her intellectualgrowth, but also to grow as a per-son with aesthetic, moral, physical,spiritual and social needs."Therefore, the curriculum and thelearners do not just interact at thecognitive level of learning how towrite a sentence by itself. Instead,the sentence has to be interconnect-ed to the psychological and social

1

needs of the learner and the societyas a whole.

According to this position first lan-guage literacy cannot justconcentrate on learning grammati-cal structures. It must belearner-centred. The curriculum hasto fit the learner's psychologicaland social needs. It has to empowerlearners to take control of their livesand be able to participate and con-tribute to social justice and change.

Program Models

The methodology behind first lan-guage literacy for non- English/French people does not focus onlyon reading and writing. The under-lying context is that learners shoulddevelop critical thinking for a trulymulticultural society. The programis developed actively with thelearner. To meet the diversity ofneeds and expectations the programincludes such things as numeracy,

writing, reading, oral expression,transitional English, technical skillslike welding, computers, ceramics,and organizational skills blendedtogether.

The CMLC has a first language lit-eracy-linked skills program for theSpanish speaking people who haveexperience in construction and areplanning to work in construction.Their program includes upgradingin reading and writing Spanish,numeracy, transitional English, andreading blueprints.

It is paramount that model programsbe developed which can respond tothe needs of non-English/Frenchwomen and men of all ages whocome from the various languagegroups and who have limitedliteracy skills. This model must sup-port the development of criticalthinking and support the learner'spersonal and social growth.

CONTEXT: Lserners should develop criticalthinking for a truly multicultural socisty.

-115

II...appreciated

the central idea thatESL is not always thelogical 1st step forimmigrants to Canada,

... important to becareful not to general-ize about linguistic andcultural groups.

Educational needs ofimmigrants must notbe seen as just ESLneeds.

Should we be trying tooffer more content infirst language ratherthan English?

If we are consieleringoffering some I-CAREESL tutoring weshould perhaps belooking for bilingualtutors.

... from Participants' Respoitse Cards

MACDONALD DISCUSSED AN INNOVATIVE PROGRAM he has devised for newcomers to

Canada who already possess the rudiments of P ;fish language. One of the objectives is to

make the group relevant enough that the participants continue networking with each other

after the program ends.

Participants in Maceonakrs program are motivated to attend because they feel inadequate In

English language even though they already exhibit some competency In the language. The

group convenes as an Advanced English Language course. MacDonald then engages

panicipants in discussions about differences and perceptions of culture, values, and tellefs

comparing their own with each others and with their perceptions of Canada.

His belief is that newcomers need more opportunities to speak the language, build

confidence in language usage and increase cultural understanding. They also need

opportunities to showcase for themselves and Canadians the skills, talents, and expertise

they bring with them from their country of origin. This kind of exploration forms bonds of

friendship which outlast short term programs.

The kinds of discussions and activities generated by this process include: yard sales; gallery

shows of art work; use as consutiants to tutor training groups; telling of their experiences as

immigrants to influential groups like the school board, municipal council, libraries, business

groups; dancing dosses; investigation of the history of immigration and employment in

Canada; exploration of problem solvio iroproaches consistent with Canadian culture; and

understanding of the Canadian legal and political structure.

What does this mean for literacy education? A similar approach could be used in a literacy

program to value the lives of adults, to enoourage them to advise on and participate in

directing their programs and to provide experiences which could lead to formation of ongoing

support groups.

TREATING LEARNERS AS

EXPERTS: HALIFAX,

NOVA SCOTIA

CAN PROJECTS FUNDED ON SHOE-

STRING BUDGETS BY SMALL

ORGANIZATIONS BECOME ONGOING?

EXPLORE PROJECT DESIGNS WHERE

STUDENTS ORGANIZE CHILDCARE,

ESTABUSH SUPPORT GROUPS AND

INITIATE NEW CLASSES.


Gary MacDonald

ach of us is the result of our culturally complex life . with theeducation and the experience of not only a few years but ofcenturies."

- J. Krishnamurti

WhPt is the experience of newcomers (landed immigrants/refugees) asminorities in a population which is largely of white, Anglo- Saxonbackground? What is the individual's place in that community? How doeshe or she come to better understand that community? How does thenewcomer see him/herself in that environment? How does the new-comerfind his or her place in that environment? How can the newcomer beassisted when there are very few, if any, programs of support?

The workshop will examine two programs which brought newcorr -stogether and the factors which became important in the process. ThIL firstwas the establishing of ongoing support groups. The second was morespecific - the creation of an art exhibition by and for newcomer artists tothe Halifax area.

lb understand these two programs,it is important to understand therealities of the Halifax environmentfor newcomers. Halifax has a smallnumber of newcomers. Yet it is aplace where significant events havetaken place in the last few years.Atlantic Canada is the arrival pointof the largest single group of Sheikrefugee claimants and also the larg-est single group of Tamul refugeeclaimants in Canada in the last fewyears. These events were brought tothe attention of the media andtherefore to the general public. Bothevents led directly to the recallingof the Canadian Parliament and tochanges in Canada's immigrationlaws regarding refugee claimants.

As well, there k.ve been significantevents in both the black and nativecommunities. An outbreak ofphysical violence between blackand white students erupted in oneof the Halifax metro areas schools.The immigrant community inHalifax is very aware of both ofthese events. In addition, therehave been the effects of the DonaldMarshall enquiry.

In the Halifax metro area mostimmigrants do not remain for anylength of time. Most move withinthe first year of residence in Canadato larger urban centres.

There is also little, if any, fundingfrom either the Halifax municipalgovernment or from the provincialgovernment of Nova Scotia forservices and programs directed tothe immigrant community. Ethnicorganizations and groups remainsmall in size.

The Metropolitan ImmigrantSettlement Association (MISA) isthe only full time settlement organi-zation in the province. MISAdiscovered that among its clientelewere a number of newcomers whohad come individually to Canada.Many of these people expresseda feeling of isolation from the

community at large and expressedno real identification with an ethnicorganization or more informalgroup. A significant number spokeEnglish quite well.

Ongoing Support Groups

In its exploration of new programsdirected toward individuals whofelt no identification with theirpresent environment, MISA lookedat programs already available andthe reasoning behind the creation ofthem. It was found that the majorityof requests from clients were forEnglish as a Second Languageclasses. However, it was obviousthat a number of clients who wererequesting this service were alreadyfluent in the English language. Itwas believed that some clients wererequesting permission to attendEnglish as a Second Languageclasses because of having no otherprogram choices.

Therefore, groups of individualsalready fluent in the Englishlanguage were invited for whatwas called a Class for AdvancedSpeakers of English. Rather thanengage in the traditional Englishas a Second Language program, thefacilitator of the group discussedthe experience of settlement in anew country, particularly theHalifax area.

The grour was introduced togeneral patterns of experience asalready identified in the literaturebased on immigrant settlement inCanada. Already identified framesof reference within which newcomersmake assumptions and decisionswere examined. This includedlooking at culture of origin, personalhistory, social class, environment,personal experience and gender.The individuals within the groupwere assisted in realizing that it wasthrough their own personal exper-ience of these factors that they cameto understand the new culture andenvironment. Much of this was

117

I enjoyed thisworkshop. I don'thave much to say. Iarr, a student myself.I hope you people canunderstand this?

Are we trying tocreate culturalintegrationor collaboration?A mosaic ormelange?

I

More discussion isalways needed onthe never-endingproblem of integratingthe immigrant intoCanadian societyrather than just witheach other.


r1111111111111111

II...needfor

immigrants toorganize themselvesaround their own

1

wishes, felt needs andlearn from this processhow to participate inthis new setting...How do they gainaccess on their ownto aspects of societyfrom which they feelexcluded?

Many participantsexpress frustrationwith the currentfunding situation.There is still moreneed to address thisissue. How doprogram like thisfunded on short termlimited budgetsbecome ongoing?

... from Participants' Responal. Cards

done through individuals talkingabout their cultures of origin to thegroup and a comparing them withthe Halifax experience.

The group also examined the framesof reference in which newcomersunderstand the community. Again,information from literature onimmigrant settlement was used.The group looked at the role of thefamily, employment, community,and agency

Individuals in the group alsodiscussed their experiences andperceptions regarding barriers tonewcomers in Canada and, morelocally, those found in the hostcommunity in its attempts to servethe newcomer.

Again, already available informationwas used as a basis for discussion.The group examined and discussedthe barriers of language; the lack oforientation to differences of culturalvalues, systems or traditions; thefactor of suspicion or mistrust; andthe lack of awareness of resources.This was compared and contrastedto barriers as experienced by thehost community. This discussionincluded the barriers of language,the lack of familiarity with culturaldifferences or backgrounds, thefocus on the cause of the problemas individual and culturaldifferences only, and the lack ofawareness of resources.

At this point individuals within thegroup began to focus on a strongerunderstanding of the circumstancesof the new environment withinwhich they were living. Individualsbegan to speak of finding comfortin the knowledge that there wereothers who experienced the sameor similar problems in theirsettlement process.

The group then began to discussperceptions of values. Participantswere asked to identify values whichwere important to their own lives.

- 120 -

1 1 8

They were asked to compare andcontrast these with values whichthey perceived as being importantto people who were from theCanadian culture by birth. As agroup, the values that were mostimportant for themselves wereidentified as family, security, a senseof accomplishment, nationalsecurity, self-respect, and truefriendship. Those identified as beingmost important for those born inCanada and therefore Canadianvalues were a comfortable life,freedom, and a world of peace andhappiness. This information wasused to further discuss culturaldifferences and values.

At the conclusion of this part of theprogram the group was asked todiscuss ideas for future meetings.The group was asked to base itsdecisions on what settlementexperiences were important forgroup members in the Halifax area.

Social conversation was identifiedas an important skill. The groupalso expressed a desire to under-stand the history of immigrationand employment in Canada. Aswell, the group wanted to haveguest speakers from both the blackand native communities of NovaScotia. Social dancing was alsoidentified as an important skill toacquire.

Later, in addition to the on-goingsessions, the group began organ-izing social activities. This includedpot-luck dinners, sports activities,and out of town excursions.

Conclusion

Attendance and participationwithin the group was very high.Individuals exhibited growth insecurity and confidence. Indi-viduals began speaking moreobjectively and openly of theirsettlement experience. Individualsbegan to volunteer their servicesas presenters in MISA public

education programs. There was anincrease in the outward expressionsof concern and interest in the wel-fare of fellow group members.Telephone calls and vbits weremade to those who were ill or forother reasons hadto miss meetings.Letters were written back and torthto those who moved to other partsof Canada. Together the groupbegan to celebrate Cana :banholidays such as Christmas, NewYear's, and Canada Day.

Conversational English improved,especially amongst those whoinitially had a more limited know-ledge of English.

Newcomers' Art Exhibition

A second example of newcomersworking together within theframework of a support group waspresented. M1SA discovered thatamong its clients who had arrivedwithin the last year were six pro-fessional artists from China, Iran,Japan and Poland. All six were newto the Halifax metro area as well asto Canada. All six were experiencinggreat difficulties in gaining anyrecognition as professional artifits.

M1SA's community workerbrought the artists together as agroup and discussed with them thepossibilities of mounting their ownart exhibition. The artists readilyexpressed interest in such a project.

The group met on a regular basisand planned the exhibition to tie inwith the Canada Day, July 1stcelebrations using the theme title,Thank You, Canada. With the help ofthe community worker the artistscontacted galleries, art dealers andother professional artists within theHalifax metro area for assistance inframing, stretching canvases, andother practical aspects of mountingan exhibition.

A poster advertising the art exhi-bition was designed and distributed

by the artisU. Letters of invitationwere sent by the artists t9 politicalrepresentatives, other professionalartists working in the Halifax area,and others whom the group thoughtmight be interested in attending.

The opening of the exhibitionwas held in conjunction with aCanadian citizenship courtceremony. Both events shared ina joint reception.

The media was invited. The artistsand their works appeared on regionaltelevision. The exhibition itself wascovered by the Halifax newspapers.

Conclusion

The experience of mounting an artexhibition brought together indi-viduals who were facing similarproblems and united them into asingle, positive action. The new-comer artists met and were wellreceived by professional artistsfrom Halifax who offered theirassistance in the practical aspectsof mounting an exhibition. Thecommunity itself became moreaware of the presence and work ofthe newcomer artists.

The newcomer artists gained asense of what they were able toaccomplish as a group. They cameto know one another better. Theydeveloped an ongoing concern foreach another's -velfare andprofessional mgress.

S!

We need to bepatient in encouraginglearner involvement,letting this happennatvrally with positiveencouragment andletting it evolve at apace the lenrners arecomfortable with.

... integration ofisolated/marginalizedpeople intomainstream

... from Parndpants' Response Cards

THIS WAS A FASCINATING VrangKEHOP discu ssing the dilemmas, promises and limitations

of the whole language approtk. literacy (Amigo in the Done culture.

There is no written tracitioh in the Chlipsviyan language except in the recent past related to

the Ourch. The question, therefore, arises: is it possble to teach Remy through e. whole

Iaguaeapproaornian oral culture where fee are lully literate in eithe the first language or

the second? The Deparrrent of Edtpcaten prelers this method. However, tutors want more

structured methociu despite underitemridv the concept They do not feel confident in their

own language sIdlls or understating ol ha structure of either Chipewyan or EnOsh.

Many of the Done people have accepted the idea that they may jeopardize their economic

kluge by becoming literate first kW Chipehyan language. Yet, there Is a moral difficulty,

clean, voognIzed by he Done elders, that Nulling literacy only In English contributes to

cultural genocide. There is the feslirpg that the engage has to be written down kr order to

survive. Because there Is a ilinited tirne bake the speakers of the language die, there Is

pressure to develop Chipewyart literacy among the younger generation. How do we reconcile

the need for preservation Oh() lancp uage viith the need for English, which offers promises of

work opportunities?

Aboriginal language literacy Is a request Iran the people via the band councils. Despite

adoption of the Aboriginal literacy AbdOo Plai by the government little funding has been

forthcoming. Because ttie goverment NO he governed do not always see things the same

way, sone bands suggest the", would have been better off figuring out how to do It them-

selves thereby maintaining local control.

SNOWDRIFT CHIPMANPROJECT: NORTHMESTTERRITOPIES

IS A glANOLE LANGUAGE EXPERII ENCE

APPROACH* AP P ROP RIPE IN THE

ABORIGINAL CU LTURAL CCIPNTOC?

CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS ON COW

TO TACKLE UTE RACY ISSI) ESii

NATIVE COMMU NITIES BAS ED DIN

THIS PROJECTS RESULTS.


Joanne 13arnaby and Eleanor Mhard

Ia Whole Language Possible in Aboriginal Settings?

Background

Snowdrift, Northwest Territories, is located on the eastern end ofGreat Slave Lake, accessible only by air and water. It is a communityof approximately 300 people, over 90% native Indian or Dene as theyare known in the region. Because of its isolation the aboriginal lang-uage, Chipewyan (an Athapaskan dialect), survives relativelyfluently in Snowdrift when compared with other Athapaskan andChipewyan communities.

Early in 1989, a proposal from the Snowdrift Indian Band and the DeneCultural Institute for the establishment of an adult Chipewyan literacyclass in Snowdrift was accepted by the Government of the NorthwestTerritories (GNWT), Advanced Education. By July, the Native AdultEducation Resource Centre, affiliated with Okanagan College in B.C.,was awarded the contract for a pilot project in response to the proposal.An adult educator from the Yukon Territory, Eleanor Millard, was subcon-

- 122 -

tracted to co-ordinate the projectand to train an instructor.

The pilot project was completed inthree phases. Pha.ce One (six days)was developmental. In this phasethe community was to establish itsobjeetives for the implementation(post-pilot) period and to determinea reliable organizational structure.During Phase Two (29 days overthree months) the pilot projecttrained two instructors and hadactual instruction of students. PhaseThree saw the development andpublication of a generic model forDene literacy instruction in a Deneliteracy manual.

The pilot project enjoyed the activesupport of several groups.Interested parties included theGNWT Departments of Educationand Language and Culture, theDene Cultural Institute, and theSnowdrift Indian Band. AChipewyan Literacy WorkingGroup had been formed earlier toaevise the Band and the contractorand to supervise the project both inits pilot and implementation stages.The Working Group met on site inSnowdrift and consisted of theBand Council manager, the schoolprincipal (a Dene), the two instruc-tor-trainees, a Local EducationAuthority member, and two out-of-town members, one from the DeneCultural Institute (who attendedone meeting) and the Departmentof Education's ChipewyanLanguage Program specialist fromFort Smith, who had an automobileaccident early in the project andwas unable to attend any meetings.Those who were able to attendmeetings did so, and immediatedecisions were dealt with expedi-tiously. Enthusiasm for the projectwas high and support was positive.

Contractor and DepartmentalExpectations

In Phase One, the proposed designcalled for the determination of long-

term objectives by the ChipewyanLiteracy Working Group. This wasin order to determine the structureand the kind of instructor trainingrequired to meet the needs of thestudents who would be taught inthe implementation stage. In PhaseTWo, iastructor training as designedwas a full day, five-day week forsix weeks which would allow forenough time to experiment andto practice teaching. The designof the training demanded a degreeof confidence in the language andcreativity in instructional tech-niques by the instructors.

The Department of Education andthe contractor openly endorsedwhole language philosophy andstressed the importan of trainingwith whole language techniques.Whole language was defined as(paraphrased from pages 2 and 3of the final report):

... community-based educationin which the form and contentare always context-specific.Learners identify their nwnconcerns and priorities throughactivities that elicit theirauthentic feelings, attitudes,opinions and hopes. Methodsarid materials are designedto increase learner participationand to strengthen their capacityfor critical thinking. The litera-cy program is built around aninductive process of problem-posing and communal problem-solving in which teachers andstudents participate on an equalbasis. The major purpose of awhole language approach is toencourage students to use anarei.3 of language in a mutuallyreinforcing fashion, built on theessential unity of language andthe oral skills of the students.Teaching the component partsof language contribu'Rs little toimproved reading and writing.

Pilot Project Results

All of the groups interested in thepilot project were concerned withmeeting the following objectives:

1. to train an instructor;

2. to discover the applicability ofthe results of the pilot project toother Dene communities;

3. to actually teach some adult stu-dents Chipewyan literacy.

All three of these groups' minimumobjectives were met by the project:two instructors received approxi-mately 45 hours training apartfrom the class where they experi-enced teaching first hand; thegeneral findings of the project wereapplicable to other communities,and differences were clear; the stu-dents in the class expressedsatisfaction with the literacy train-ing they acquired.

However, the results were limitedin very important ways. The PhaseOne objective of having theWorking Group determine the ulti-mate structure and population to betaught was never realized even atthe end of the pilot project.Discussion was still taking place atthe end of the pilot about having aneeds assessment done in the com-munity to determine who wasinterested in learning Chipewyanliteracy and there appeared a dan-ger that the students might end upbeing the few non-Chipewyanspeakers in the community (allnon-Dene) who wanted to learnthe oral language.

The training of the instructors inPhase Two was re-designed to usethe students who were only avail-able to attend evening classes, fourtimes a week. From 30 hoursinstruction expected per week, itwas reduced to six. The design ofthe ,...aining was experiential andappeared to call for a higher level of

language and instructional skillthan was found in the instructcrs.The result was that, due to severalfactors, efforts to encourage theInstructors to try whole languagetechniques were not productive.They were not conversant with thestructure oi Chipewyan language,although apparently orally fluent,and could not analyze discourseproduced. They relied heavily onthe oral/sight/memorization tech-niques with which they had beentaught Chipewyan literacy by lin-guists. Lesson planning andreporting was minimally done andlessons often deteriorated intosocial visits. Available visual aidswere not integrated into the lessons.No curriculum for the implementa-tion stage was produced. Acommunity project (paintingChipewyan signs and producing acalendar) was well received by theclass although, with the limitedtime available, the Eme for lan-guage instruction suffered.

Perhaps the most important limita-tion to project objectives was thefact that norx of the four regularstudents were as fluent orally in thelanguage as anticipated. At leastone student came from anotherdialect area and did not recognizesome of the vocabulary and sounds,another student was only passivelybilingual (did not speak), and noneof the students were truly confidentin the language. Neither the stu-dents nor the instructors wereconversant with the formal level ofthe language, which had beenendorsed by linguists during alengthy Dene StandardizationProject as the level to be used for lit-eracy. This last condition wasprobably the most restrictive factor,since it meant that transposing orallanguage directly to written, a basicprocess in whole language tech-nique, was difficult since theinformal language of Chipewyanyouth (which is more contracted)was frowned upon. Some of theinstruction was required to be oral

because of the preferred formalregister and the informal use of thelanguage by the students.

Despite all these obvious barriers,students quickly demonstratedacquisition of a basic level ofChipewyan literacy, and expressedsatisfaction with their learning.

Discussion of Results

1. Dene Language Retention andLiteracy Acquisition

No statistical research is availableon the use of oral Chipewyan, but itis readily heard in Snowdrift whereit is used in social discourse by per-sons of all ages. English is used,however, for all 'important' trans-actions. For instance, the instructorswould discuss each others' hair-styles in Chipewyan, but wouldclarify teaching exercises and detailvocabulary differences to the stu-dents in English. One might be ledinto thinking that the use of bothlanguages displays a true bilingual-ism. On closer scrutiny, it isapparent that rather than a fluencyin both Chipewyan and English,the competence may be termed asemi-lingualism in both languages,with a complex level of usagnot available in either English orChipewyan, and code-switching oruse of the easiest language forexpression being confused w ithbilingualism. This may be th t. resultof the acquisition of English as asecond language, and the rapiddeterioration of the more creative,formal elders' language as it isinfluenced by the demands ofEnglish schooling and the pervasivepresence of English in most com-munication outside of the home.

At one time, Fort Chipewyan innorthern Alberta was known as'the Ath rs of the North' for itsvery high usage of Chipewyanliteracy. This was influericed andencouraged by the Catholic Churchthrough the use of Chipewyan syl-

- 124 - 12

labic transcriptions of the Biblebased on Cree orthography. The useof literacy spread beyond ecclesias-tical needs and the older generationof Snowdrift residents rememberusing Chipewyan syllabics in manypractical ways. However, with thecombos of reliable communicationtechnology ani the rapid spread ofEnglish, the use of Chipewyan liter-acy has virtually disappeared. Re-cently, the acceptance by the DeneStandardization Proje:t of the use ofthe Roman alphabet over syllabicshas created resistance by the elders.

The teaching of Dene literacy is seenby many as a means of preservingthe languages. However, unless theoral base is expanded along withliterature expression, it is doubtfulif either oral or literate use will sur-vive for any practical use throughthe next generation. The acceptanceof literacy simply as reading andwriting skills which are an additionalcommunication skill to oral userather than a cure-all for language(and therefore cultural) preservationwould focus the efforts for aborigi-nal literacy more realistically.

The teaching and learning of Deneliteracy is presently in its infancyand although there are dreams of aChipewyan newsletter for the lan-guage region and minutes of BandCouncil meetings produced for thepublic in the a' 'original languages,much work needs to be done first.The complex level of literacyrequired to produce and read thediscourse desired is simply notreadily available even if there It restudents willing to learn it.However, the choice of the level ofliteracy which is to be taught willdetermine if the written languagewill be solely a process of transposi-tion of oral language or if it will bea lively, creative new expression forthe Dene languages, enhancing itsuse and therefore its survival.

The problem: The relationshipbetween retention of oral aboriginal

languages and their production in aliterature mode appears to be veryclose. How does this affect theteaching of aboriginal literacy, thetraining of literacy instructors, andthe involvement cf the general com-munity?

2. Community Development andDene Literacy

Recently there has been legislativeendorsement of several aboriginallanguages in the NWT as oinciallanguages. However, there has beenno policy and budget support toencourage much-needed research,professional language educators,school curriculum, or other pro-grams that would give hope for thesurvival of the languages. TheDepartment of Education has madesome effort to teach aboriginal lan-guages in the school, but theresponse has not been a bilingual orimmersion program. Because of thediffering levels and types of lan-guages in the Dene region, it wouldbe difficult to determine individualschool and community needs andto meet those needs within reason-able budgets. Further complicatingthis picture is the fact that manycommunities themselves do notaccept that aboriginal languagesshould be maintained by the schoolsince they sense that it may be atthe expense of English instructionand that employment requiresEnglish.

The problem:The NWT has thelowest level of functio al Englishliteracy in Canada (estimated at75% for aboriginal peoples). Howcan the priorities of aboriginal lan-guage survival be coupled with theeconomic demands of modernNorthern life?

3, Dene Literacy Instructor?Mining: Whole Language

Instructor and student level of oralaboriginal language has a directixrpact on the content and approach

of instructor training. Whole lan-guage techniques which transposeoral language to written are particu-larly dependent upon oral fluency.It is assumed that oral fluency willassure a foothold into literacybecause it is not necessary then toteach items such as vocaby !ary afidgrammar, as would be the casewith learning an unfamiliar lan-guage. However, it appears thatproblems arise with using wholelanguage techniques when studentand instructor oral language profi-ciency is not fluent.

The general lack of linguistic under-standing of the language may affectthe teaching of it. Though views onthe importance and the extent ofgrammatical knowledge necessaryto teach in a whole langukigeapproach vary, the evidence fromSnowdrift appears to point to theneed for at least a minimal under-standing of the language structureby the instructor. Controlled manip-ulation of the discourse produced,pulling out the language patternsand concepts that need teaching,requires a confidence in the lan-guage that was not available.

Instructor reluctance to attemptwhole language techniques wasapparent in Snowdrift, but this isnot a phenomenon peculiar to thissituation. Language teaching whichvaries from the traditional memo-rization/drill routines are oftenmore talked about than done at anylevel of teaching. But a full under-standing of the reasons for relianceon the more traditional methods isneeded. In many cases, this type ofteaching is the one expected by thestudents as real teaching since thishas been the approach in the past.New approaches are not readilyadapted to eiflter by the instructoror students. tesearch on nativelearning styles consistently suggeststhat native learners prefer to dis-play a skill publicly only afterpractising the skill privately untilthey feel competent in it. This is in

- 125 -

123

//Government

wants the WholeLanguage approachused, band councilswant Chipewyan lan-guage taught, andmany learners thinklearning English is ofprimary importance asit is currently thedominant language.

What do the Snowdriftpeople see as theirneeds? Do they wantand will they needEnglish literacy per-haps as much asChipewyan literacy?

Could being totallylearner-centred denyaccess to the languageof power?

How can we/they rec-oncile the need to useEnglish with the needto preserve aboriginalculture?


direct contrast to our expectationdisplayed in our teaching stylesthat we should learn from our mis-takes and attempt trial practisesuntil we get it right. The languageexperience technique calls for directtranscription of oral language towritten, mistakes and all. The hesi-.tation to use the technique both bystudents and instructors may havecome from resistance to using theinformal register in the case ofSnowdrift because it is 'wrong' andthey run the risk of ridicule byputting it in a written form.

The problem: Whole languagephilosophy suggests more thanlanguage teaching techniques to belearned. The interactive dialogicalprocess involved which is based onreal-life content is worthy of in-depth training for aboriginalinstructors. Given the barriers tothis, is whole language possible inaboriginal settings?

Recommendations of the Report

The recommendations discuss abroad view of implementingaboriginal literacy programs forthe whole of the Territories, withan emphasis on the Dene groupof languages.

Developmental aspects for theimplementation of strong aborigi-nal literacy programs includerecommendations for the imple-mentation of a Territorial policy,thorough research into the currentstate of the languages, the settlingof basic management issues, theendorsement of local control andsupport, and evaluation of pro-grams and projects.

Recommendations for instructortraining include the training of liter-acy coordinators and cover detailssucli as the development of aborigi-nal literacy curricula for the variouslanguages, which would call for theestablishment of a team of educa-tors and linguists working together.

The recommendations stress thetraining and use of instruction thatis community-based, student- ori-ented, and problem-posing, andwhich gives training support tothose instructors needing upgrad-ing of their own language skills.Lastly, the recommendations cau-tion that the endorsement of awhole language philosophy bringswith it the need to teach the under-lying language skills that arenecessary for this creative approachas well as the theory on which thepractise is based. This should bedone by carefully building oninstructors' current skills and beingresponsive to levels ofunderstanding, needs and culturalperspectives.

References

Brice Heath, S. 1984. Literacy or literate skills?Considerations for ESLIEFL learners. In P.Larson et al. (Eds.) On TESOL '84: A bravenew world for TESOL: Selected papers frOM the18th annual convention, (March ): 15-28.

Burnaby, B. 1980, Languages and their roles ineducating native children.Toronto: OISE Press.

Cummins, J. 1986. Empowering minority stu-dents: a framework for intervention. HarvardEducational Reviem 56(1).

Kennedy, K. and S. Roeder. 1975. Using lan-guage experience with adults: A guide forteachers. Syracuse, NY: New Readers' Press.

Ogbu, J.U. 1982. Cultural discontinuities andschooling. Anthropology and EducationalQuarterly 13(4): 290-307.

Ong, W. 1982. Orality and literacy: The tech-nologizing of the work. London: Methuen.

Sawyer, D. 1984. Native literacy and life skillscurriculum guidelines: A resource book for adultbasic education. Victoria: B.C. Ministry ofAdvanced Education and Job 11:a1n1ng,

Swisher, K and Deyhle, D. 1989. The styles oflearning are different, but the teaching is justthe same. Journal of American IndianEducation.

Wallerstein, N. 1983. Language and culture inconflict. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.

- 126 -

1241

I/I wonder what

it means to a peopleto see their languagedisappearing?

0

They tried to provideliteracy in their homelanguage and failedas the learners did nothave the same desireespecially with themajor language of thecommunity beingEnglish.

Is language experiencean effective method ofteaching native peopletheir own language?

Whole language in anycommunity? Is thisautomatically good forall? I doubt it.

Would Dene teachersteaching Dene kidswith Dene as the lan-guage of instructionmake the difference asa first step? //


WORKING IT THROUGH:LITERACY & THE JOB SITE

111 EXCHANGING VIEWPOINTS: IDENTIF G OBSTACLES'Macy DefoeConsultant, Workplace lkaining Systems, Open College, Open Learning AgencyDelivery assistance coordinator, Language at Work, an ESL 'Program

Gary JohncoxVice-president, Human Resources for MacMillan Bleadel Ltd.Active participant, provincial and national business associations

Don GrahamCo-owner, Canadian Tire Franchise for Metro VancouverInitiator of the Ignition program, a post-secondary education plan for employees

Marina MelnikoffCoordinator, B.C. Federation of Labour Literacy ProjectEducator and programmer for trade-unions

BEST PROJECT: ONTARIO FEDERATION OF LABOURTamara LevineProgram coordinator, Eastern Ontario, BESTResponsible for instructor training, BEST

READNG/WRITING ON-ME-JOB: BRITISH COLUMBIAEmily GoetzResearcher, Job Communication Project, VancouverRegistered psychologist, Educational psychologist

Ron BrownMillworker and trad- .inion activist for 20 yearsGraduate student in sociology

VANCOUVER CITY HALL PROJECT. B SH COLUMBIAGary PharnessTeacher, Vancouver City Hall Project and Invergarry Learning CentreLiteracy instructor US Army, Headstart and for the Lower Kutenai Indian Band

WORKBASE: LONDON, ENGLANDLucy BonnerjeaAuthor, Workbase reportNeeds analyst and program developer for workers in industry, hospitals, banks

111Lecturer, London School of EconomicsEducational consultant for governments and universities in

Zimbabwe, Tanzania, India, Jordan

9

THE WORKSHOP WAS A PANEL PRESENTATION and open discussion on current Issues

for workplace literacy programs. Each panel member gave a short overview of one aspect of

workplace literacy.

Tracy Defoe spoke about marketing of programs to companies and identified potential obsta-

cles to initiating programs.

Garv Pluicox presented data resulting from a survey conducted by the Conference Board of

Carzia of the lop 500 Canadian companies regarding attitudes and practises in workplace

literacy issues.

Don Graham described the Ignition program established for Canadian lire employees who

were not, by choice, part of the 5% of employees on a management training program.

Marina Melnikoff presented an overview of the involvement of the B.C. Federation of Labour.

No written material from her presentation is available.

Some major obstacles were identified, including economic realities during recession for both

employers and unions; employer perception that literacy is not a priority because new/young

workers are now being thoroughly screened for Ateracy skills before being hired; and lack of

studies which effectively attribute serious accidents, system breakdowns or work problems to

limited literacy skills among workers. A need was identified for a full time coordinator or out-

reach worker to negotiate with business on an ongoing basis regarding program

development and a literacy advisory committee, with representatives from workers, union,

management and education, to suggest possible directions and guildelines for establishing

programs. Emphasis should be on worker-centred learning in order to create a well educat-

ed, motivated workforce.

EXCHANGING VIEWPOINTS:

IDENTIFYING OBSTACLES

WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES TO

ESTABLISHING WORKPLACE

UPGRADING PROGRAMS? BEGIN

TO ADDRESS THIS CRITICAL QUESTION

BASED ON THE DIVERSE VIEWPOINTS

OF FOUR PANELISTS WHO SUPPORT

EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES.


Racy DefoeWorkplace Training Consultant

Identifying Obstacles

Workplace up-grading programs take place in the real world of politics,pride, prejudice and power. These programs are complicated and challeng-ing for an educator. Far from the insulation of a classroom, each industyand each workplace is a bit of an intercultural experience. As a consultantin parts unfamiliar, an explorer invited in to listen, watch and make sug-gestions, I've learned a lot.

What are the obstacles to basic workplace education? In my experience theobstacles are easy to identify: fear, suspicion, prejudice, our social struc-ture, time, and yes, money.

The obstacles are almost universal, but they can be overcome. We have tostart with ourselves, and ones we bu'ld. We nef,1 to figure out why we'rethere, what our issues and motivations are. Then we have to look aroundat institutions, and funders an4linclividuals, and help to throw some lighton the obstacles they build, and the issues they hold dear.

- 129 -

126 CEST COPY AVAILAPIE

My assumptions about the con-cerns of business, unions, workers,governments and educational insti-tutions have been stretched andsometimes discarded. Now I tryto follow my best interculturalsurvival rules articulate andchallenge assumptions, treat every-one with respect, take notes, askquestions, listen.

For every supervisor who's saidshe want to learn but she's afraid totry and 'fail', I've met an instructorlooking for a job who's asked whythe government or the companywould fund a language or basicskills program on paid time. Orwhy management would want totrain workers at all.

At the time of writing this I havebeen working on establishing work-place programs for eight months.A grant to Open College fromEmployment and ImmigrationCanada to support this activity, andmoney available to fund programsfor participants and employers whoqualify for Language at Work underthe Canadian Jobs Strategy hasaddressed both time and money tosome degree.

Still, time and money concernsremain important to employers,and to workers, too. Findingtime to devote to learning, findingmoney to pay for the time, andsometimes to pay for replacementworkers or in-house tutors as well,make time and mor.ey two of thethings we often talk about. Inanother way, time is a huge ob-stacle in organizing programsbecause of the long lead time thata decision to try workplace learningusually involves. In WorkplaceTraining Systems we've foundnine months to a year to be fairlystandard for any training decision,and much longer than that is notout of the ordinary. How manyinstitutions or individuals willinvest a year or more to see a pro-gram start?

What happens during that longlead time? Usually we face theother obstacles, listen to all parties,develop some trust and someground rules, try to convert a closedmind to a skeptical one, and do aneeds assessment.

In many ways, what we've done to'market' workplace learning is aprocess of research and education,assessment and negotiation.

I was asked what advice I wouldve sc6eone who wants to do

something about starting workplacelearning in their area. I said thatfirst, they should know why theywere there. Why did they personal-ly, and their institutions really wantto do this? If they have an agenda,they should face it. Things may getmessy, and neutrality will beimpossible to maintain. Then, theyshould do their homework, learnabout the companies and industriesand groups involved. Read andresearch and listen and talk.

Most of all, they should be up to thechallenge o( doing something out-side the usual frame of reference foreducators. Something with manystakeholders, many viewpoints toreconcile, many egos to reassure,many good and valid concerns. Asuccessful workplace learning pro-ject will demand a high level ofcooperation, commitment and trust.Amazing as it may seem to someeducators, I've found few villains inthe business community. Theemployers we talk to are concernedabout feelings and fears and fair-ness, as well as productivity andprofits. The civil servants we'vedealt with are incredibly hard-working, enthusiastic anddedicated. It gives you a reasonto pause and reconsider.

When I listed fear, suspicion, preju-dice, our societal structure, timeand money, I wanted to underlinethat these are on all sides.Educators also prejudge. We, as a

- 130 -

127

society often tacitly accept thatsome people julit won't get very far,and we separate education andwork-life and gov.mrnent to thepoint where putt ag them togetheris a feat of hope and imagination.

I believe in lifelong learning. Iknow tha, luny people will nevermake it to a community collegecourse, or reach out to a storefrontof homefront tutor. Working peoplewith families are busy, busy people.Bringing learning opportunities tothem, helping them find ways tolearn and work together, makessense to me.

The first group of workers I inter-viewed for a needs assessmenttaught me to not assume that theirlow language level was a problemfor them anywhere but where theysaid it was a problem. For them,the communication problem wasat work. And just like 'lie rest ofus, they needed to work. So, theyneeded to learn.

My message to anyone thinking ofgetting into workplace learningwould be simple: you have a lot tolearn; we all have a lot to learn.

r1771.1.11111.11.1mThere is a needfor business, labour,and education to coop-erate and build mutualunderstanding to suc-ceed.

We need to includemath and sdencewhen talking aboutworkplace literacy.


Gary H. JohncoxVice-presPient, Human Resources

MacN* Ian Bloedel Limited

It has been a remarkably success-ful year for raising literacyawareness in Canadian busi-

ness. Nonetheless, moving fromawareness to action will be a verytough proposition indeed over thenext few years. This will not be anencouraging message but no one'stime here is well served by any-thing less than the unvarnishedtruth, at least as I understand it.That is the purpose of this secsion -to frankly discuss the obstacles.However, it is not all bad. Literacyyear has moved business signifi-cantly and I would summarize thefollowing real achievements:

1. A better recognition of the valueand necessity for a literate, edu-cated workforte.

2. A vague but growing awarenessthat our own worksites haveliteracy problems.

3. Some knowledge of how poorlyliterate workers cope in complex,technological worksites.

4. A realization that our writteninstructions are needlesslycomplex and beyond thecomprehension of manyemployees.

5. A realization that reliance onself-reported literacy problemsis not likely to reveal the natureof workplace problems.

6. Realization that literacy problemsare the single largest cause ofworkers declining promotions.

7. A realization that grade levelachievement is a poor indicatorof employee literacy skills.

8. An awareness of the two princi-pal remedial approaches available- namely the community-basedbasic adult education programs,or the workplace based programssuch as BEST or those followingthe EAP model.

Now, for all of you here, this willseem to be a modest achievementlevel indeed. But for Canadian busi-ness it does represent a significantimprovement in awareness, and onits own, a good success for the yeardedicated to literacy.

What are the barriers and con-straints to moving ahead from thispoint? They are formidable:

1. Awareness will decline nextyear as the subject moves offconference agendas. If union-management programs arenot substantially in place andremedial programs ready togo, the issue will falter andmove back a page or two inour agendas. Seventy-sixpercent of large Canadianfirms have absolutely no formof assistance available or evena policy to deal with it.

2. Business will tell you a recessionis already clobbering us. It ishere and it does not look mildand shallow. There L; an instantrefocusing and reordering ofpriorities in these times. Gen-erally, training retrenchesand reverts to core work skills,maintenance and upgrading.

3. The deleterious effect of illiteracyon business is not yet thoroughlyunderstood in day to day terms.In my firm, no industrial acci-

- 131 -

128

dent, recorded case of equip-ment damage, or serious processerror can be traced to illiteracy.Miss-shipment has been. In theabsence of a continuing, visibleproblem, management attentionusually moves to something thatis visible.

4. The problem is believed tobe primarily among olderworkers, so time alone willprovide incremental solutions.This is probably not true.Forty percent of conferenceboard firms now screen newemployees for literacy levels.This means fewer youngeremployees are slipping inthrough our recruibnentprocess if they have literacyproblems.

5. Business may see a simplersolution in rewriting instruc-tions to match employeeability to comprehend. Thereis no doubt that some effort isneeded here in any event.

6. Business is unsure of whichmodel to adopt to provideassistance to workers. To assistin developing a community-based adult basic educationfacility looks attractive. Costscan be shared among a numberof community organizationsand help obtained from aregional college. The site isaway from the worksite andperhaps less threatening to theworker. However, this modelseems to rely on the workerapproaching the problem onhis own. Alternately, the OntarioFederation of Labour creation,the BEST program, seems tobe a highly successful workplacebased model. It relies on theworker coming forward andidentifying his need to his peers,and it requires individual pro-grams at individual sites, but itssuccess cannot be denied.

This may seem a formidable listof business obstacles but they arerealistic ones in todays environ-ment.

I do not want to end on such a neg-ative note, however, so I would liketo put this issu in a broader con-text that is guaranteed to capturebusiness interest. Most of us areconvinced of a few simple things:

1. We must make significantchanges in our industrial econo-my if we are to preserve ourvery high-cost society. Ourneighbours to the south aretransforming theirs into a costdrive, non-union, unegalitarian,hard-driving, competitive nation.Not a pretty sight.

2. We are not going to succeed inthis tough new world if we keepexporting commodities. We mustuse our well-developed infras-tructure to make more highlytechnological oriented goodsand services.

3. We will compete in this newgame principally with asuperior workforce highlyeducated, highly trained andhighly motivated.

4. Alas, we have no nationalstrategy in place to do this,and certainly no funds allocatedto the task. The cornerstone tosuch a strategy would clearly besuperior education of the work-force. As this view by businesstakes hold a little more firmly,with or without government sup-port and blessing, we will findways to get by these obstacles.

Don GrahamCo-owner, Canadian Tire Franchise for Metro Vancouver

canadian lire has started aunique scheme in its 21store Vancouver/Lower

Mainland franchise called Ignition.Canadian The hires high schoolkids and pays their way throughcollege on condition that theyo their jobs at the store whenth. y graduate.

The education/employment planwas created to solve a commonhuman resources problem amongits junior cashiers and warehouleworkers boredom. The youngstersstocking shelves and operating cashregisters weren't doing what theywanted with their lives, but job sta-bility and inertia kept them frommoving on. The program givesthem motivation and at the sametime brings in fresh blood andkeeps the company's juices flowing.

A reality of the retail business isthat two-thirds of the jobs are bor-ing. The Ignition pmgram gives thecompany active, goal-orientedemployees plus a public relationsboost for minimal cost, and at thesame time, returns better-educated,happier young people to society.

Contrary to what most companiesascribe to, we think in many case.,it's better for us to be supportive inhavir e; people reach their owngoals rather than buy into ours.

The program pays up to $3,000 intuition for each three-year employ-ee or up to $1,000 for each two-yearemployee. Employees may applyto any full-time post-secondaryinstitution anywhere in the world.They are guaranteed part-time orsummer employment if they wantit, but on completion , ' their pro-gram must turn in their resignationand leave Canadian lire withinthree months.

- 132 -

Canadian Tire pays the schoolsdirectly and does not monitor aca-dernic standing if a student quitspart-way through a program therewill be no recriminations from thecompany. The point is to get youngpeople started not force themthrough.

On a human resources level, thereis a dear correlation betweenemployee satisfaction and the pm-gram. An employee survey showsthat people are much happier abouttheir jobs since the initiation of theIgnition pmgram.

"Knowing whatbusiness sees as anobstacle makes it easierfor me as an educator toknow what approach totake when approachingcompanies.

I am dismayed by theidea that employers aresolving the problemnow by screening newemployees more strin-gently for literacy skillsas a result of the aware-ness raised about theissue. Yet, 75% of thosewho will be in the work-force in the year 2000 arealready.

... from Participants' Responae Cards

DISCUSSIONOF THE BEST PROJECT generated much interest in: the cooperation Ibetween trade unions, employers and government; worker facilitated learning opportunities;

and the development of curriculum around workers' interests and needs.

Many participants wanted to know how we could implement such a program here in B.C.

Where will we find funding? How can we motivate business and government to support such

a program? Can we access federal monies if the province lacks the interest? What would be

the role of colleges and institutions? Some worried that the tutor training is too short and not

enough Git,gclag supervision is supplied.

Participmts were also interested in the strategies used by the OFL and individual unions to

negotiate these programs with employers. Each union affiliate apparently bargains

independently, sometimes as part of the normal collective bargaining, sometimes separately,

and sometimes a combination of both.

The proportion of mon and women participating in the projects varies from factory to factory

depending on which gender is dominant in that industry. Participants are encouraged to

continue on in ABE or GED courses offered elsewhere when they ie reedy to move on.

Peer tutors are generally world% in jobs skulls to those of program partidpants. BEST has

always favoured the inn group approach. The coordinator passes information between the

groups. Suggestions were made to start a network of some kind which would nurture direct

communication (ie. a participant written newsletter).

Potential jurisdictionai problems that might have arisen over volunteer teachers not being

members of a teacher's union were worked out ahead of time. It was suggested that the B.C.

Federation of Labour set up a literacy committee to examine this issue in preparation for

possible initiation of this type of program. Because the union philosophy is that training

includes enriching lives, literacy training is a natural extension of the existing union training

programs.

BEST PROJECT: ONTARIO

FEDERATION OF LABOUR

WHAT IS LABOUR'S PERSPECTIVE ON

LITERACY? ARE THERE ADVANTAGES

TO PROVIDING ON-SITE WORKPLACE

PROGRAMS? LEARN ABOUT THE

BILINGUAL BASIC EDUCATION FOR

SKILLS TRAINING PROJECT, THE

LARGEST LABOUR- RUN WORKPLACE

ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM IN NORTH

AMERICA, WHICH TRAINS WORKERS TO

TEACH OTHER WORKERS TO READ AND

WRITE IN MINES, HOSPITALS,

FACTORIES, BUSH CAMPS, HOTELS,

NURSING HOMES, MUNICIPALITIES,

AND EVEN UNIVERSITIES.


Tamara Levine

Now entering our third year of operation, BEST (Basic Educationfor Skills 'Draining) was developed at a time when literacy wasbeginning to gain ground as an issue in Canada. With new players

and service providers on the scene from a wide range of interests andpoints of view, it was important to be clear at the outset, and to furtherclarify as time went on, what the labour movement has to do with literacy.

Why would the labour movement get involved in literacy anyway?Research points to the fact that it is working class kids who by and largeare streamed into failure at school, and that this experience has nothing todo with their intelligence. Adults in literacy programs are often the victimsof a school system that failed them, and union literacy programs are inkeeping with the history and tradition of workers helping workers withintheir unions.

Literacy training in a union context, if it is based on the real needs andexperiences of its members, can be a tool that starts to enable individualsto take charge of their lives. At another level, people who have a betterunderstanding of themselves in the world can become important playersin helping to change the community and its institutions for the better.

- 133-

130

//Thisprogram

does not deal with Theunemployed. Whatabout unorganized,non-union workers?

O O

Contradictionperceived by manyworkshop participants:1) BEST's orientationnot blaming the victim... not using terms likeilliteracy and learner ...not blaming the schoolsystem either justgetting on with it!! and2) BEST's positionthat the reason forliteracy problems isstreaming in schoolsfor working classstudents.

The whole notion ofworkplace literacyseems so sensible andcivilized. Very excitingand grassrootsy. //


But the labour movement is alsoan institution. It took a vision andstrong political will on the part ofkey learners and staff to convincethe labour movement in Ontariothat increased skills and partici-pation of members who lacked avoice was a priority.

Some of the piemises for BESTcame from what we had learnedfrom literacy movements in thedeveloping world and from populareducation groups in Canada. It hadto be union-run, within a smallgroup setting, with a participant-centred approach, with workersinstructing workers and with astrong emphasis on accessibility.

Some of the other underpinningsfor BEST come from what literacyclearly is not. Literacy is not a solu-tion to unemployment - more jobsare. Literacy is not a solution toaccidents and disease at theworkplace - safe workplaces are.Literacy is not a solution to lowproductivity - adequate capital,appropriate technology andincreased efficiency are. Andliteracy is not a remedy for poverty- more jobs, a higher minimumwage and adequate socialassistance programs are.

Rather, the most important impactof improved literacy would be thatpeople gain some of the skills theyneed to manage better in their lives,in a way that is personally reward-ing to them. When this happensthey may be better able to attacksome of the broader problems. So itwas important to design a programthat was headed in that direction.

What are the key ingredients ofBEST?

BEST is a union-run literacy andsecond language program of theOntario Federation of Labour,which represents 800,000 members.We receive major funding from theOatario Ministry of Education and

- 134 -

1 n

our affiliated unions, and projectfunding from the National LiteracySecretariat. There are currently over100 BEST programs being offeredacross Ontario in mines, papermills, hospitals, hotels, lumbercamps, universities, nursing homes,garment factories, and food pro-cessing and manufacturing plants.There are also programs formunicipal workers, labourers andbus drivers. A program year runsover a thirty-six week period, forfour hours a week. BEST offersinstruction in either English orFrench, depending on the needs ofthe participants. The instructor is aco-worker and fellow union mem-ber, who is trained to work with agroup of six to twelve participants.BEST takes place at the workplacesat least partly on work time.

BEST is a union-run program forunion members.

BEST is a literacy program thatgrows out of an existing movementfor social change. This continuallyputs literacy in the larger perspec-tive, as a means to an end but notan end in itself. Every aspect ofBEST is designed to promote thecollective ability of working peopleto shape the world in which theylive; to take control of their lives; tobe better able to speak with theirown voices; to be able to makethose voices heard; and to question,criticize, evaluate and act as fullcitizens in a democratic society.

At the same time, we know thatour members have a very real needto improve their language andliteracy skills and that we mustdeliver a program that respondseffectively to those needs. No one isgoing to sign up for empowermentclasses. Rather, the ways and meansof doing BEST needs to advanceliteracy skills in a context ofempowerment.

BEST programs start with what theparticipants want to learn.

BEST believes that people learnwhen they want to learn,particularly when they are usingmaterials and content they see asrelevant to their lives. For thisreason, BEST has no standard textor curriculum and uses learningresources that come from the livesof the participants: their stories;their life experiences; writtenmaterials from home, the work-place and the community.

The literacy community, and in-creasingly the mainstream educa-tional system, has come to embracethe whole language approach toreading, writing and languagelearning. It is generally acceptedthat these skills cannot be learned bydissecting the language into danglingparticiples and other grammar bits,but rather must be connected bymeaning and expression.

I like to think that BEST alsoembraces a whole personapproach, one that looks at theindividual not only as a worker,with specific functional tasks toperform, but as a whole person.This pert .3n comes to BEST with ahistory ot life experience, withskills, interests, hopes and dreams.

BEST programs are run in smallgroups.

Learning in a group of six to 12participants makes use of thecollective abilities of the group,not just the individual abilities ofthe instructor. Participants feelcomfortable in a learning situationwith their co-workers and friendswhere there is already a good dealin common. Groups also provide aplace.to develop and practise skillsfor discussing, questioning,listening, planning, goal settingand building mutual support.

BEST instructors are co-workers.

Instructors in the BEST program areexclusively co-workers from thesame work-place and the same union.So instructors are phone operators,waiters and waitresses, hospitalworkers, mechanics, cooks, busdrivers and factory workers. Thisaspect of the BEST model conveysan important message: workerscollectively are able to meet theirown needs. Instructors are selectedby their union and participate in atwo week training program beforestarting to instruct. The instructorreceives ongoing support from theBEST Regional Coordinator antakes part in on-going training overthe course of the year. With goodcommunication skills, respect forco-workers, a commitment to tradeunion education, and a healthyblend of confidence and humility,an instructor can begin from astarting point of shared experiencesand backgrounds. Instructors relyon the skills of all the participantsto shape and build the program. It'sabout the self-determination of agroup, where the instructor is apeer, not a representative of powerin an unequal relationship.

BEST takes place at the workplace.

The union negotiates for the pro-gram to be held in the workplacewherever possible. This is criticallyimportant for access and conven-ience, and it is familiar territory.Work is where we all spend a gooddeal of our waking hours, and thereare many work-related languageand literacy skills participants wantto learn. Furthermore, for manyworkers, school settings still producefeeling of inadequacy, rejection andirrelevance. And while schedulingis often a major challenge, particu-larly in a 24 hour operation withvaried and rotational shifts, it is farmore likely that the need of shift-workers can be accommodated atthe workplace than elsewhere.

- 135 -

132:

I/Confidentiality

for employees whocome forward Havethey/do they suffernegative consequencesas a result of declaringreading/writingproblems? Unionjurisdictions, skilllevels of teachers arethorny issues.

I

... not trying to argueeconomic benefits butrather more subjectivefactors.

Employer-run versusworker-run programs... which will grow overthe next decade?

Where do we getfunding for theseprograms if theprovincial governmentwill not participate,/

... from ParticipaMs' Response Cards

Employers' contribution to BEST.

Employers have an importantrole to play in almost all BESTprograms. In addition to providingthe physical facilities - the meetingroom and use of a photocopier andflip chart - most employers haveagreed, through negotiations withthe union, to provide paid time tothose involved in BEST. Generally,employers provide 50% (two hoursper week) of the participants' time.BEST instructors receive their timefc, recruitment, needs assessment,instruction and preparation. Theparticipation of women and, moreand more, men with familyresponsibilities is directly related towhether the classes are offered onwork time.

Enlightened employers recognizethat BEST can provide an opportunity for a win-win situation. Theyrealize that there will be positivespinoffs for them, with increasedskills and better morale within theirwork-force. They also recoptize thebenefits of a worker-run program;that workers will not be threatenedby an initiative they have generatedfor themselves; that BEST and theunion take all responsibility forimplementing and administeringthe program; and that a successfulprogram could have a positiveimpact on the labour relationsclimate in general.

But how do we know BEST is reallyworking? At a recent follow-uptraining session with instrlictorswho had been involved with BESTfor at least several months, withsome starting their second andthird years, we listed some of theSigns of BEST at Work, Some ofthe observations had to do withparticipants' increased motivationand confidence in themselves, like"feeling proud to come to class","coming to class on a day off", and"making more friends at work".

Other signs had to do withincreased skills at work and intheir personal lives, like "not beingafraid to speak English out loud","being able to talk to my super-visor", "going for my driver'slicense (at age 55)", "going to thedoctor by myself for the first time","reading stories to my children", or"trying for (and sometimes getting)better iobs". Other participants'comments included a growingawareness of the cmmunity andthe role they might play in it, like"enrolling in a night claw","becoming a volunteer", "filing agrievance" or "getting moreinvolved in my union".

BEST is working. BEST has becomean integral component of theOntario labour movement's effortsto promote social and economicjustice. Other regions of Canada arelooking closely at the model to seewhat can be learned from BEST andapplied to their own area.Saskatchewan, New Brunswick,Quebec, Alberta and BritishColumbia are at varying stages oflooking at or implementing theirown labour literacy and secondlanguage programs.

And yet, enormous challengesremain. What happens whendozens of BEST instructors andmost of their participants lose theirjobs to plant lay-offs and shut-downs in an ever-worseningeconomy? How do we spread thinresources across the province andthe country, especially in provinceswhere the prospect of governmentsupport for worker-run literacyprograms is abysmal? How do weprovide instructors who make acommitment of thirty-six weeks toBEST with the best possible trainingto instruct literacy in an empower-ing way? How do we encourageFrancophone minority participantsto engage in literacy training first intheir own language before Englishwhich is perceived as moreeconomically viable? How do we

- 136 -

make it clear that the BEST model isnot a model for employer-runworkplace literacy programsbecause the power relationshipsare, by definition, unequal? Butrather, that literacy programs aremost likely to be successful whenthey are self-determined by peoplewho share life experiences within acommunity or organization taatlinks literacy with its broackrpurpose, such as within a nativecommunity or housing p:oject.

Sharing ideas and experiences at aforward-looking conference likeLiteracy 2000 is a start. We havemuch to learn from each other inCanada, and Canada has much tolearn from the popular movementsof the developing world. If we canbuild on the premise that if literacyis to be truly of value it mustempower those involved to see, andstart to make, small changes in theirlives and in the world around them;then perhaps we are on the righttrack.

133

There is adefinite need formaterials that helpdevelop those workrelated, life orientedskills. Libraries tend'to over-emphasize tlInreading for pleasureaspect of basic readingmaterials. What isreally important isREAL life reading andwriting skills. I/

... from Partidpanta' Response Cards

IT IS TOO SOON to release the data collected throoh the COFI research on literacy in

B.C. sawmills, so Emily Goetz spoke in general terms about the design and process used.

Significantly, interviewers never used the word literacy° with participants. In some small

communities there seems to be a stigma attached to kids whose folks attend dasses. They

experienced some lack of participation due to fear of being fired owing to low education.

Goetz stressed that 11 we're going to make sense of literacy ... there must be more inter-

disciplinary communication; you have to check my assumptions and I have to check yours.°

Ron Brown changed the focus of the discussion to the discrepancy between the labour

process of the fukire and the present public debate about literacy. The basic assumptions

need to be re-examined: a higher level of technology requires a higher level of skill; a

higher level of skill requires a higher level of literacy; and literacy Is good.

In fact, labour processes have been deskilling jobs ('transferring skitis from the hands of the

worters to the handbooks of managers's). Desk filing of jobs takes power and control away

from the worker and gives it to managers. Even when higher levels of education are

necessary to acquire new technological skills, a lower level of literacy Is often required to

perform the job. The skill level required to do a job cannot be equated with literacy level.

Workers are interested in increasing literacy to advance out of their Jobs not to be able to

do them better. New technologies do not open up new jobs br those already employed In the

plant. New managers come from the outside to fill the created joi.4.

A lively discussion followed. Participants seemed energized by the challenge of re-svaluating

the assumptions. No conclusio, J could be drawn. More work must be done in many

disciplines to discover a more usefu perspective on literacy in the wortplace than the one

derived from present assumptions.

READING/WRITING

ON-THE-JOB:

BRITISH COLUMBIA

HAVE LITERACY REQUIREMENTS

INCREASED OR DECREASED WITH THE

INTRODUCTION OF COMPUTERS AND

LASER SCANNERS IN INDUSTRY? WHAT

JOB SPECIFIC SKILLS AND LITERACY

LEVELS ARE NEEDED NOW? HEAR THE

RESULTS OF A STUDY UNDERTAKEN BY

THE COUNCIL OF FOREST INDUSTRIES

(C0F1), FOREST INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

(FIR), AND THE INTERNATIONAL

WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA (IWA)

WHICH ASSESS THE LEVEL OF JOB

COMPREHENSION SKILLS AMONG

WORKERS IN TEN PROVINCIAL MILLS

AND COMPARE THESE FINDINGS TO

CHANGING JOB DEMANDS.

,

... from the Facilitab3r's Report

Emily Goetz

Reading/Writing on the Job:British Columbia Sawmills

Background and Introduction

Three years ago a group of us, known as Job Communications Project UCP)Research, wrote a research proposal for the Literacy Secretariat in Ottawa.Without making any assumptions about literacy c r retraining, we wantedto conduct basic exploratory research to see if there was a discrepancybetween the level of written workplace materials in b.C. sawmills and theskills of employees who allegedly need to read them. We selected theforest industry in B.C. because of its size and importance.

JCP Research approached the Council of Forest Industries (COFI) andIWA-Canada for sponsorship and guidance for two reasons. JCP is aprivate group and therefore could not be funded directly by the NationalLiteracy Secretariat. Also, we knew it was important to have the support ofIWA-Canada and COFI to access sawmills where data would be collected.

Secretary of State, Ottawa, granted funding for the project to COFI in May,1989. As project sponsor and administrator of funds, COFI formed a

- 137 -

134

Steering Committee of industryVice Presidents consisting of BertHawyrish, COFI (Chair); PhillipLegg, IWA- Canada; Gary Johncox,MacMillan Bloedel; and RossStryvoke, Forest Industrial Relations(FIR). The jCP Research group andthe Steering Committee began aseries of meetings to set timelines,discuss logistics and process formill access, and choose a pilot millfor testing materials and method.

The JCP Field Director's task wastwofold. First, we needed a batteryof tasks that could measure the fitbetween written materials used inB.C. sawmills and the cornpre-hensior Allis of the employees whoallegedly need to read them. Wewanted a process that would allowus to take an employee who couldnot read or write through anintensive two hour interview /assessment and send him/her awayfeeling great about the experience.At the same time, tasks had toallow high scorers to reach theirlimits. Two hours per participantseemed to be a time period thatmills could tolerate and one thatwould permit us to gather adequateinformalon for our exploratoryresearch questions.

Secondly, three extra interviewersin addition to Steve Sharpe andmyself were needed. As RegisteredPsychologists in B.C., Steve and Iwould serve as supervising andparticipating interviewers. Theinterviewers needed that rapport-building quality which keepsinterviewees feeling good no matterhow they are performing. Wewould be dealing with a wide rangeof skills and language backgrounds.We needed participants to believeus when we told them the processwas confidential, that results wouldbe anonymous and in no way affecttheirlobs. We required accurateresponses in the interviews andassessments, plus honest evaluativefeedback afterward. There were twoprocesses to design: the interview/

assessment process and the processto sell the project to the mills.

The Interview/Assessment Process

JCP Research designed a set of tasksfor an individual assessment ofeach participant. The governingprinciples of the assessmentprocedure were: confidentiality,high interest for the participant,minimal cultural bias, mix of verbaland non verbal materials.

The Warm-up

The procedure was explained,confidentiality assured, and a con-sent form signed and witnessed.

The Interview

There was a 10 to 20 minute oralinterview consisting of 52 questionsconcerning: background infor-mation, language use, educationand certification, communication onthe job, training courses and needs.

Three assessment tests wereadministered: the Peabody PictureVocabulary Test Revised (Dunn &Dunn 1981); Comprehension of Work-place Materials (locally developeddoze passages based on rationaleand options presented by Bowers &Bowers 1989; and Raven's StandardProgressive Matrices (Raven, Court &Raven 1986).

The Wind-up

Participants gave feedback andsuggestions about the process.

Selling the Project to Mills &Employees

Securing the co-operation of allparties was a critical task. Lining upmills and employees for the inter-views required countless hoursfrom Steering Committee membersand from Barry Bent, JCP's Site Co-ordinator. Unwittingly, we enteredthe forest industry in B.C. at a

- 138 -

1 5

particularly sensitive time. Millswere facing cutbacks, closure andmedia pressure. It was difficult tofind a way to assure that individualresults were confidential and wouldnot be revealed to employers at atime when jobs were perceived tobe at risk. We followed a proceduresuggested by the PersonnelManager in the pilot mill whichwas later modified to be sitespecific. First, the Steering Com-mittee secured the cooperation ofmill management. Second, the JCPResearch group and the SteeringCommittee met several times at themill with the Personnel Manager,the Plant Committee Chairman andthe Supervisors. Next, thePersonnel Manager published adescription of the project in the millnewsletter. He explained that 50employees, hourly and salaried,would be selected at random; andthat there would be meetings in thelunchroom to explain the study,conducted by himself and bymembers of the Safety Committee.

Then, two members of the SafetyCommittee personally contactedeach randomly selected employee.The selected employees were askedto attend a meeting with the JCPResearch interviewers, who wouldanswer any questions beforeemployees agreed to participate.We met them in two groups of 25.Their questions were numerous,about confidentiality, method andresults. After the meetings, 100%agreed to participate.

It is not entirely clear why therewere refusals in other mills. It didseem, however, that the refusalrate was lower when invitationsto selected union participantscr...-ne from union members, andwhen selectees could meet withJCP interviewers to ask questionsbefore interviews began. Certainlythere were other variables whichfurther analysis can hopefullyclarify.

Preliminary Results

'lb date, we have completedinterviews in the pilot mill and sixof the projected ten others.Numbers presented here are frompreliminary and rudimentaryanalysis; Pilot Mill data were notincluded. The final report from thisstudy will be presented to andavailable from the LiteracySecretariat, Sccretary of State,0.1.1wa, Canada.

PPVT-R Scores, N473

30 participants scored above the75th percentile; 71 scored below the25th percentile.

Raven's SPM Scores, N475

113 participants scored above the75th percentile; 23 scored below the25th percentile.

Cloze Passages

Passages were scored usingDe Santi's scoring ar,d interpn:ta-tion system (1986). Numbers arereported in percentages and divid-ed into three levels: Independent(can read material without assist-ance), Instructional (can read withassistance, Frustration (should notbe asked to deal with this material).

We administered the easiestpassage to 169 participants. Themean percentage for exact orTI.aditional Comprehension was56.6 which is at the top of DeSanti'sInstructional range. For TotalComprehension, which includesscores for synonyms, the meanpercentage was 74.2, or atIndependent level.

The most difficult passage wasgiven to 91 participants. The meanpercentage for TraditionalComprehension was 49, orInstructional level; the TotalComprehension mean percentagewas 77, or at Independent level.

This passage was written at post-university reading level.

Age

Based on an N of 179, the mean agefor the sample described here was39, with a range from 19 to 64 years.

fob Tenure

Participants (179) had spent an aver-age of 7 years on the job, with a rangebetween one month and 38 years.

Education

The average number of years ofeducation completed by 176participants was 11. The range wasfrom 2 to 16 years.

First Language

Of the 179 interviewees, 110 spokeEnglish as their first language.Further analysis will detail andexpand the data and therelationships between them.

Comments & Conclusions

If final analysis confirms patternssuggested by these data, :c maysuggest that for varying reasons,the sample examined has higherreasoning abilities than formalreceptive vocabulary scores. Also,anecdotal data indicate a sizablegroup of participants who had aseries of negative and humiliatingexperiences in formal school, oftenresulting in dropping out beforeGrade 12. This group was unableto complete the doze passagesthey just didn't want to. It took agreat deal of cajoling to gainenthusiastic participation. We weretold our tasks were too much likeschool and that it was 'scary' forthem. There seemed to be a strongtheme I call educational impotence orfeeling thai formal educationaloptions aren't possible for a varietyof statec reasons.

Certainly there were participantswho could not complete the dozepassages; we aren't sure this makesany difference in job performance.Employees seem to compensate.Also, alternate kinds of job literacywere not messed, such as handsigning and physical demonstration.

Interview data show a desire forformal 'coursework', but notnecessarily job-related study.Though most said they wouldupgrade to keep or improve theirjobs, there seemed to be an ex-pressed thirst for learning that wasmore on a personal level. Manycommented on the mental effortrequired to complete our tasks, andhow different it was for them to feelthat way. In several mills we werecalled the Inizinstrainers; this wassaid with jocularity and usuallyaccompanied by comments like "Inever get to use words like this!"

We are reasonably sure that manyparticipants, both hourly andsalaried, are dissatisfied with theirformal education levels.

Further analysis of our data canhelp explain these tentative inter-pretations and what educationaloptions this verbally articulategroup of sawmill employees wouldconsider useful and/or palatable.Our hunch for now? to avoid anyassumptions that one approachcould meet the needs of this variedand interesting group.

Thanks are due to my supportivepartners in JCP Research, BarryBent and Steve Sharpe; to ourmagical interviewers, DoloresMacDonald, Joyce Matheson andAlan Dawe; to our SteeringCommittee members; and toSecretary of State, Ottawa, forfunding this research.

(References follow Brown's report)

Ron Brown

Literacy and Power: Technological Change and Skills in the B.C.Forest Industry

As new fon..s of technology propelus Into the so-called 'informationage', the issue of illiteracy is takingon the appearance of a crisis. Aninteresting feature of the way thiscrisis is perceived is the discrepancybetween the work being carried outby people in the field on the onehand and the public debatesconcerning illiteracy on the other.Even a brief survey of the literatureconcerning adult literacy revealsa diversity of views on such basicquestions as the definition andmeasurement of literacy researchdirections, and remedial strategies.

In contrast, the parameters of thepublic or political discussion seemlimited to one particular model.The low level of reading and writ-ing skills of a large number ofpeople in our society is seen as athreat to 'our competitive position'in the world economy. It is fromthis understanding of the problemthat the concept of functionalilliteracy seems to have beenderived (Levine 1987, 250) and fromwhich the problems associated withilliteracy are reduced to the finan-cial losses attributed to inadzquatetraining, high accident rates, andlow productivity.

This version of Human CapitalTheory can be questioned on a num-ber of grounds. As David Noble'sstudy of the U.S. steel industry hasshown, the technological determin-ism which informs this approachonly serves to mystify the actualsocial processes at work (Noble1984, 18). Similar questions can beraised as to how this theory isrelattd to such ethical and politicalvalues as egalitarianism anddemocracy.

As well as avoiding any recognition

of these larger issues, the publicdiscussion of literacy is characterizedby some questionable assumptionsabout the specific effects of techno-logical change on the labour process.The argument can be found invarious magazines, newspapers,and organizational reports but thestatement of the Economic Councilof Canada is as clear as any:

Organizations must continuallyadapt to a complex and con-stantly changing environment;... and individuals must learnnew skills and adapt themselvesto the group and the organ-ization. The key elements are,therefore, the flexibility andadaptability that come fromcontinuous learning (1987, 92).

While leaving open the question ofhow to implement a program ofcontinuous learning, the argumenttakes for granted, first of all, thathigher levels of technology requirea more highly skilled workforce.Related to this assumption is thewidely shared view that these newskills can be equated to, or at leastwill require, higher levels ofliteracy. Finally, the argumentimplies that these higher ofliteracy in themselves empower theindividual and enrich social life ingeneral. The objective of this briefpresentation is to show how thepremises of the discussions beingcarried out in the public andpolitical arenas are open tocriticism. Some insights providedby debates in social science andaround deskilling, together withexamples from the forest industryin B.C., can illustrate the dangers ofan approach which subordinatesliteracy to the needs of industry.One of the most widely held beliefsabout our 'post-iniustrial' society is

- 140 -

that the workers of the future willbe highly skilled, knowledgeable,and competent. The CanadianBusiness Task Force on Literacyconfidently predicts:

The new technologies arehaving an impact on the typesof skills people require. Almostall industries am introducingcomputer based technologieswhich require a level of compre-hension and ability over andabove previous requirements(1988, 11).

While more complex levels oftechnology will obviously requireworkers who am capable ofdesigning, installing, and main-taining the new equipment, theeffects on the working class as awhole are far from obvious. In con-trast to the rosy picture presentedby business and governmentorganizations is the well-knownBraverman Thesis concerning the'degradation' of work in capitalistsociety (Braverman 1984).Braverman maintains that anintegral part of the capitalist labourprocess is the con-tinual deskillingof the labour force. He points toTaylorism` or scientific manage-ment as the logical development ofthat process whereby production isbroken down into a series of simpletasks which separate the conceptionof these tasks from their execution.Thus, the worker is stripped of allknowledge of or participation in theprocess as a whole and is relegatedto the endless repetition of thesesimplified tasks. The re-assembly ofskills or knowledge of the wholeproduct is carried out at the level ofmanagement in the form of instruc-tions. Seen from this view, the labourprocess represents the "transfer ofskills from the hands of workers tothe handbooks of management"(Noble 1984, 33).

I 37

A brief look at the latest technologyof the forest industry ir B.C. tendsto confirm this view. The introduc-

tion of laser scanners and computerbased information systems isovercoming some of the previouslimitations imposed by the irregularnature of wood products. Thechanges involved in one of the jobsmost pivotal to any sawmill, theoperation the headsaw, canillustrate this point.

Tradhionally, the sawyers who runthe headsaw have been consideredamongst the most highly skilledindividuals in the industry Sinceevery log is different in regard tosize, shape, species and quality andcan be utilized in an infinite varietyof ways, the sawyer had to combinea thorough knowledge of the var-ious qualities of the log with anunderstanding of what cuts wererequired to fill particular productorders. These mental calculationswere carried out with a high degreeof manual coordination in loading,unloading and turning the log whileat the same time passing the logthrough the saw and disposing ofthe cut pieces.

Laser scanners now 'read' thesize and length of the logs whichhave been pre-sorted as to qualityspecies, and so on. This informationis fed into the computer which isprogrammed to co-ordinate thesecharacteristics with the type oforders to be filled. The computersets the log for each cut, tellingthe sawyer when to turn the logand what type of cut to make. Thesawyer's job, then, has become oneof largely operating the manualcontrols which move the log.

This example of changes to theoperation of the headsaw providesa classic example of deskilling. Thetraditional knowledge of the productand the process of production,originally found in the individualworker, is now to be found in theprogramme of the computer. Thesame transformation has takenplace in other jobs, to the degreethat the new technology has been

applied to them.

The counter-argument to thedeskilling thesis is that the sameprocess which eliminates the needfor some skills creates a need fornew types of skills. The assertionthat skills of literacy and numeracyreplace those informal or traditionalskills which have been lost can beseen as the second assumption inthe public debate. The Workforce2000 study predicts that more thanone-half of the jobs created in thenext decade will require more thanhigh school education. There is asurprising lack of hard evidence tosupport this contention and there isno reason to simply assume itsvalidity. In fact, there are goodreasons to doubt it. Noble's com-prehensive study of the U.S. steeland machine tool industry forexample, shows that the drivingforce behind the automation of thatindustry was the necessity, asperceived by employers, to over-come the dependence on skilledlabour. As one designer indicated,the whole purpose of the automa-tion process is to design a "machinefor idiots" (Noble 1984, 44).

Some evidence that this is at leastthe result of the new forest industrytechnology is indicated by thetraining period required forsawyeis. Whereas, in the past,sawyers were trained over a longperiod of time up to a year andusually were individuals who hadheld closely related jobs, thetraining period now requires only afew weeks and there is less need forrelated experience.

To be sure, there are now some verybasic literacy requirements for thejob in that the operator must be ableto 'read' the computer monitor.However, most of this 'reading'consists of repetitive one wordinstructions and interpreting aseries of pictur., graphs into manualoperations. One installer of thecomputer driven machinery at the

- 141-

138

log cut-off saw observed that "evena moron could run this machine".The new literacy proponents mightargue that the higher levels ofliteracy will not be found in the jobsbeing transformed but in thecreation of new types of jobs.However, the tremendous increasein the amount of information beingproduced and processed has notmeant an increase in clerical ormental jobs. The ever increasingcapacity of computers to handle theinformation has meant anintensification of work for theindividual worker rather than anincrease in the number of workers.

Production workers affecteddirectly by the new technology asalready noted, require very lowlevels of litera y to translate theinstructions from the computer intomechanical operations. There havebeen some changes to the existingtrades jobs but not nearly as muchas might be expected. Some of themillwrights, for example, have hadto acquhe additional training tomaintain the sophisticatedhydraulic systems allied to thecomputerized technology Most ofthe new skilled jobs the assembly,installation and even maintenanceof the computer systems havebeen created outside the plant.Even anything beyond the simplestprogramming is performed byoutside contractors with thespecialized knowledge required.

The one area in which there hasbeen a dramatic increase in the num-ber of jobs is that of coordination.The number of supervisorypersonnel has increased dramati-cally at all levels. Whereas thesawmill/planer complex used torun with one shift supervisor andan overall manager, there are nowfirst line supervisors in each sectionof the mill sawmill, planer, logyard, fibre, maintenance as well aswhole new layers of managementsuch as superintendents andgeneral supervisors as well as

personnel, prody m and generalmanagers.

This increase of supervisorypersonnel is related to the finalassumption present in the literacydebate. What is at stake here is thenotion of literacy as a means ofempowering the individual, socialgroups and society in general. Apowerful tradition within ourculture is the faith in Reason andEnlightenment as a guide toprogress, but how this actuallytakes place, of course, is a matterof contention. Most visionaries ofthe new technology remain quitevague about the distribution ofbenefits derived from advances inknowledge in the form of advancedtechnology.

There is certainly enough evidenceto at least question this optimisticview of the relationship betweenknowledge and power. As oneliteracy commentator has pointedout, the rise of National Socialismtook place in a relatively literatesociety and Hitler even wrote abook (Gold 1979, 42). The work ofMichel Foucault (1980) illustratesthe intimate relation betweenknowledge and power in everysociety (Foucault 1980). lb evaluatewhether literacy is empoweringfrom such a perspective is todetermine pre-cisely who is beingempowered and for what purposes.

Literacy, like any other skill,does not take place in a vacuum.It is pointless to talk about literacy,particularly functional literacywithout discussing the economicand political context. This means,for one thing, that the goalsof literacy must be seen in thelight of an overall industrialstrategy. Does talking about hightech needs and skills in Canadamake any sense within theframework of our resource basedeconomy (Luke 1988, 199)? Thisissue will become increasinglyrelevant in light of the numerous

predictions concerning the de-industrializing effects of the Free11.ade Agreement.

But, power is also embedded in thelabour process itself. An importantsource of workers' power is theability to use their skill in exercisingsome degree of control overpmduction. As Noble's studyshows, the desire of employers tolimit ;:is control is often asimportant as economic feasibility inthe development of automatedequipment (Noble 1984, 266).

The changes in sawmill technologylend credence to this perception. Tobeing with, as mentioned earlier,many of the decision making pro-cesses have been transformed intoinstructions. The sawyer or the logcut-off saw operator no longerperform manual operations accord-ing to a skilled evaluation but carryout these operations on the basis ofdecisions made by managementthrough the computer programme.Other, more overt forms ofincreased management control arealso permitted by the introductionof computer technology. The vastamount of instantaneouslyaccessible information allows fora much closer monitoring of theproduction process. By pressing abutton, a supervisor can find outhow many lines or cuts a sawyerlas made at any given time as wellas the types of cuts, the number oflogs used and the exact amount offootage produced. The computeralso permits a much tighter scrutinyof time in that any amount of timethe machine is not working isrecorded and printed out at the endof each shift. Finally, the newsystems give the different levels ofmanagement direct access to pro-duction information. The generalmanager, for instance, can tap inthrough the central computer to geta first hand look at the performanceof the different parts of the opera-tion. In these instances, the increasein knowledge, either in literacy skills

- 142 -

or advanced technology do not tendto empower the individualsconcerned but serve to reinforce theexisting division of power.

This is the issue which should be atthe centre of the discussions ofliteracy how reading and writingcan give people more power overtheir lives. Capitalism, on a worldscale, is undergoing a tremendousre-organization, with resultantchanges to all levels of sodetyDorothy Smith refers to theworkplace as being textuallymediated in the sense that the powerof management in the labourprocess is increasingly reliant onthe interpretation of texts (Smithn.d., 2). However, the level and typeof literacy being introduced doesnot necessarily lead to richer livesin the spirit of the UNESCOresolution:

...that the wide diffusion ofculture and the education ofhumanity for justice and libertyand peace are indispensable tothe dignity of man and consti-tute a sacred duty which all thenations must fulfil in a spiritof mutual assistance andconcern (1965, 5).

This objective should 3 the focusof the public debates croundingliteracy If the needs ot people, inthe form of particular skills, aresubordinated to the needs ofindustry, the UNESCO resolutionmay end up being just so muchrhetoric. On the other hand, if thegenuine needs and aspirations ofpeople are the driving force ofliteracy programmes includingthose based in the workplace,reading and writing skills can, inth -.! words of Paulo Friere, enablepeople to ultimately participate insociety's historical process".

References Goetz:

Bowers, F. & Bowers, B.A. 1989. TestingAdult Comprehension in the Workplace: AReport to JCP Research.

DeSanti, R.J. 1986. The De Sant! Clara ReadingInventory. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Dunn, L.M. & Dunn, L.M. 1981. PeabodyPicture Vocabulary Test, Recised. Circle Pines,MN: American Guidance Service.

Raven, J.C., Court, J.H. & Raven, J. 1977.Standard Progressive Matrices. London: H.K.Lewis & Co. Ltd.

Settler, J.M. 1988. Assessment of Children, 3rd

Ed. San Diego: J.M. Settler.

References Brown:

Braverman, Harry. 1974. labour andMonopoly Capital, the Degradation of lekrk inthe Twentieth Century, New York MonthlyReview Press.

Canadian Business Task Force on Literacy.1988. Measuring the Costs of Illiteracy inCanada, Toronto: Canadian Task Force onLiteracy.

Foucault, Michel 1980. Power/Knowledge:Selected Interviews and other Writings,1972-1977, Edited by Colin Gordon, New York:Pantheon Books.

Freire, Paulo. 1968. Pedagogy of the Oppressed,New York: Herder and Herder.

Gold, Joseph. 1979. "Recombinant language",in language and Literacy in Canada: A ReportSubmitted to the Social Sciences andHumanities Research Council of a Workshopheld in 7bronto, October 19-20, 1979, Ottawa:Minister of Supply and Services.

Levine, Kenneth. 1982. Functional Literacy:Fond Illusions and False Economies, in HarvardEducational Review, 52,3, August: 249-266.

Luke, Allan. 1988. Literacy, Textbooks andIdeology: n Awar Literacy Instruction and theMythologl Dick and Jane, London: TheFalmer Press.

Noble, David E. 1984. Force of Production: ASocial History of Industrial Automation, NewYork: Oxford University Press.

Smith, Dorothy E. n.d. Literacy, Business, andthe New Management, unpublishedmanuscript.

United Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organizadon. 1965. WorldConference of Ministers of Education on theEradication of Illiteracy, Tehran, 8-19September, 1965: Final Report, UNESCO.

"The outcome of the study is this reallywhat we wanted the forest industry to hear?(ie no need for upgrading?)

Much interest was expressed in the idea that jobskills and literacy may be two different things.

I found the idea that literacy would no longer berequired due to de-skilling to be unbelievable thefocus on mills was too narrow.

This area has such a multiplicity of definitions ofliteracy, that some seemingly diuparate opinionsmay well have been resolved had a commondefinition been established.

.Why is the literacy debate not political? Why arewe not challenging the way in which literacy isbeing discussed?

Interesting that literacy does not necessarily'empower' as has often been suggested.

Introduction of computers and technology doesnot necessarily mean higher levels of literacy areneeded.

Need a whole re-thinking of whose agenda isliteracy? There must be a re-thinking of ournational campaign. Literacy is not necessarilyconnected to employment.

... from Partidpants' Response Cards

- 143 -

140

PHARNESS DESCRIBED THE EVOLVING MODEL of his learner-centred program.

The Vancouver City Hall Language Program by the city's Equal Employment Opportunity

Office responds to the language barriers faced by city employees. Classes take place in

five different city workplace sites. To date there have been approximately 70 participants in

the program.

Enrolment In the program is voluntary for three month sessions, after which an employee

may re-enrol. The program is open to any employee. No formal measurement isconducted;

assessment occurs informally and continuously through personal interviews and review of

the students' writing portfolios. The confidentiality of the employees is strictly maintained.

At present most of the participants in the program use English as a second language, reflect-

ing the large number of immigrants making up the city workforce. Phamess does not

distinguish his methodology between English as a second language and native English-

spealdng students except that with ESL he emphasizes class discussion to develop facility in

spoken English.There are no prescribed tey ts or curriculum for the classes; the participants

themselves define their language needs. reading materials are supplied by the students

(and often are texts pertaining to their work) or, when supplied by Pharness, are always

°authentic° reading tasks (e.g., the students' own writings, union documents, and other such

'whole language° materials.)

Of particular Interest to the workshop participants was Phamess's concept of 'clusters of

using the actual affiliations between individuals in the wodplace rather than the

usual employer-worker-union channels for organization and recruitment.

VANCOUVER CITY HALL

PROJECT: BRITISH

COLUMBIA

CAN WHAT LEARNERS Wh, a BECOME

THE BASIS FOR PROGRAM PLANNING

WITI-IOUT LOSING THE ENDORSEMENT

OF EMPLOYERS AND TRADE UNIONS?

INVESTIGATE A WIDE-RANGING

APPROACH TO NEEDS ASSESSMENT

WHICH LEADS TO LEARNER-CENTRED

WORKPLACE PROGRAMS.

Gary Phargess

The following briefly describes how one worker language programevolved and developed through on-site assessment in the City ofVancouver.

Selected literature on the rationale for participatory program planningshows that: (1) more accurate information and better decisions will bemade if client feedback is involved and (2) as a result of involvement,clients will share in the ownership of their learning, and by extension,the project.

In their studies, Comstock and Pox (1982) concluded that learners' partici-patory experiences initiated sustained personal growth.

Personal testimonies of many experienceadult educators (Kidd 1959; Knox1977; Knowles 1980) consistently advocate the importance of student feed-back in adult learning. However, practitioners most often plan theireducational programs with other instructors or administrators (Fox,1981).

As presented here, learners can be seen to be the designers of their own lit-eracy. These learning designs begin with the initial interview ,"... a processgeared to the uncovering.., through natural language, of how people feel,

- 144 -

141

what they know, and what theirconcerns, beliefs, perceptions andunderstandings ate" (Wolf &Tymitz, 1976-77, 6). This passageshows the importance of placinglearners at the centre ot therlearning, and strengthens theproposition that learning designedand implemented without learnerparticipation invites failure.

Some managerial and union lan-guage concerns came about duringinitial interviews held in earlyDecember, 1989. After these meet-ings, the following language issuesin the City workplace came intofocus.

Employee needs addressed by theCity workplace language programsare:

1. Low-entry staff employeeshaving reading, writing andpronunciation difficulties whichinterfere in their moving fromthe entry !evel to a morechallenging Maff position orimpair general communicationprocesses.

2. Oral language needs the talentsand skills of these staff not beingfully realized because of theirspecific oral language problems.

3. Language of socializationimmigrant and long-term work-ers with ESL backgroundsexpressing feelings of alienation,isolation and over-all lonelinessin the context of work relation-ships, attributable to Englishlanguage deficits.

4. Sophisticated oral and writtenexpression the desire by man-agers and supervisors to achievehigher level oral and writtenexpression for utilization espe-cially within the workenvironment.

Access to prospective participantswas, for the most part, through

managers and immediate supervi-sors. This allowed for reasonablyeasy access to the possible candi-dates. However, the follow-upinterviews with employees posedsome specific problems, for exam-ple, "how'd you get my name?""what about my work?" and "whoelse from our department is doingthis?". These were valid questionsfrom some who found being inter-viewed a threatening imposition.

The personal interview is an on-going feature of this program. It isa tool which provides learners theopportunity to continually reassesstheir learning.

As pointed out by Guba andLincoln (1981), "... the interview isan indispensable tool for identify-ing concerns and issues ... it is onlythrough the interview thzt theinvestigator can fully explore anaudience's perspective ..."(1981,331). Payne (1951) cites the techni-cal advantages of the unstructuredinterview: elicits a wide range ofresponses, solicits suggestions,provides respondents the opportu-nity to have their own say, helpsto discover information, and offersmaximum flexibility for movementin different directions.

Along with the personal interview,observation and document analysisserve to more fully inform. Through-out this program, observation isprimarily used in two ways. First,it helps the observer gain a sense ofthe work environment and can be'looked over' by managers, super-visors and prospective participants.Second, references to situations thatrequire further clarification can pos-sibly be informally observed whilein the environment.

Document analysis occurs whenreference is made during interviewsto specific written materials used inthe workplace. On more than oneoccasion documents were broughtout during the interview. These

- 145 -

142

materials facilitate external auditingand also serve as evaluative tools inthat properly prepared documentsrepresent desired werk outcomes,whereas improperly attempted doc-uments reveal literacy needs.

December 4 - 15, 1989

Disscussion of possible employeeliteracy needs. Managers contactedindividually during these twoweeks. Worker literacy needs werediscussed in more detail, and, insome instances, specific literacyproblems were defined.

December 18 - 22, 1989

Contacted managers and supervi-sors and found that many of themneeded more time for considera-tion. One employee who hadcompleted an earlier literacy pro-gram suggested a number of thingsto avoid when interviewing pros-pective candidates. Her suggestionsconfirmed our own practices. Shesuggested that the phrases poorEnglish, a misunderstanding, andpoor communication be avoided.Also, she spoke of how the phrasewant you to peform better leaves anESL person feeling ashamed. Heralternative was to have coulsesdesigned for ESL employees whichenable them to prepare themselvesfor advancement and promotion,and upgrade English standards;all positive ways of presentingliteracy. At a meeting on December20th the managers of non-revenuebuildings thoughtfully allowed meto present and answer questionsand adopted the notion of literacyas everyone's right.

January 1 - 15, 1990

Interviews conducted. Outlines ofsome of the interviews are present-ed here.

Participant #1: ESL background;seen as an industrious worker bypeers and supervisor at City

//Howto balance

all the needs of learn-ers, union, andmanagement? How toget everyone's hiddenagenda out into consid-eration?

It is time for educatorsto re-read (or perhapsread for the first time)teaching as a subver-sive activity.

Fascinating idea -creating clusters ofallies, analyzing the'minefield'.


Clerks Department which is alanguage-sensitive work site.Problem identification: listeningand typing problems arising fromdictaphone; phone and desk con-tact with public requiringinteractive communication.

Participant #2: works at library;Cantonese language background;speaks English only in the work-place; feels isolated from peersbecause of language barriers.Obtaining of pronunciation, read-ing and writing skills areimportant to client. Problem iden-tification: pronunciation in theworkplace. Material orientation:interactive communication prac-tice; personal and workplacewriting as bases for reading textand vocabulary development.

Participant #3: works at libraryThis person, at first, was nervous,but once the interview got underway, he relaxed and discussedsome very revealing feelings andconcerns. Like most interviewees,he offered much more informa-tion than needed and, like mostprospective participants, oncehaving settled into the interviewcandidly expressed how languagebarriers prevented his full partici-pation in the workplace. Problemidentification: reading and writ-ing workplace documents;conversation interaction; andvocabulary development.Material orientation: documentanalysis; reading for meaning anddiscussion; practice using activelistening to effect self-correction.

Participant #6: met with this partici-pant two times previously so atthe interview, he was able to getquickly to the point. He wants tobe better prepared with his lan-guage skill for meetings, and hesees his writing as "babyish".Very intense desire, as a descrip-tive phrase, is an understatementabout this participant. He is will-ing to work well beyond the six

- 146 -

hours if necessary. At present heis a manager. Problem identifica-tion: speaking and writing.Materials orientation: documewanalysis of past written work;rewriting such documents toachieve a more sophisticatedwriting style; creating higherlevel language structures toenable more fluent participationat meetings.

Participant #7: recently been pro-moted to a position requiringmore and better written andverbal skills. The participant wasobserved receiving three incom-ing calls. In all cases, his s?eechwas heavily accented (self-described) and oral responsesranged from one or two wordanswers to convolutedly con-structed questions. He feels thathe spends too much time trans-lating from home language toEnglish. Also, he says he hasreceived numerous complaintsfrom the public. At first, he expe-rienced difficulty formulatingquestions. Later, he added thathe needed help in puttinganswers into English structures.In a very wonderful way heexpressed his dilemma, "Thewords come to my lips, and therethey freeze. I want to melt them."How to write work orders,memos and short reports areother pressing literacy needs forthis employee. ProbUrn identifi-cation: oral and writtenexpnssion. Materials orientation:communicative interactionphone, person to person, smallgroups; analysis of workplacedocuments; replication of work-place materials; languagestructure practice.

Participant #8: has been in Canadafor five years and has worked forthe City for four years. Formerlya grade K teacher for 14 yearsprior to moving to Canada, shenow works in a laundry. Hookedat two novels which she had been

trying to read. One was by RexStout. She felt her reading skillswere wholly inadequate. Inlooking at her reports, I notedthat sentence structures weregood, however, some lackedverbs and/or modifiers.Paragraph construction was aproblem area. Problem identifica-tion: reading, writing andconversation. Materials orienta-tion: workplace documentanalysis; communicative interac-tion; higher hwel sentence andparagraph structures; personalwriting to build vocabulary andgain reading skills.

Participant #9: has been in Canadaa number of years. He attended atechnical school where instructiontook place in English. Althoughhe is quite knowledgeable aboutwoyk, his subordinates view himas someone who knows very lit-tle. This is because in his speechhe uses wonis, expressions andstructures which tend to soundmeaningless. At my arrival at thework site, the participant ques-tioned me extensively about howI had gotten his name. I told him.He seemed satisfied with myresponse. He wanted to knowwho I worked for and how muchI was being paid. I told him.Again, the response seemed toplease him. Then a fairly uncivi-lized incident developed.Another worker came into theroom, walked over to the partici-pant's desk, shoved a paperdirectly into his face and said,"What does this mean? Doesn'tlook like it means anything. Can'tyou do it right?" The participantcalmly tried to show the otherworker why he had put the pur-chase order together in such away. At this point, the otherworker finished his attack on theparticipant with, "Only a moronwould do work like that." Withthe arrival of the senior supervi-sor, order was restored to theworkplace. The supervisor veri-

fied the language problems iden-tified by the worker. He wholeheartedly supported the worker,and wanted to know what hecould do to help him. I must addhere, that I couldn't understandhis speech although he was anative-born English speaker.Problem identification: oral lan-guage and pronunciationpractice. Material orientation:discourse analysis; personalwriting as a basis to understand-ing ideogrammatic and slangexpression; to see meaningthrough structural analysis ofwritten work.

I will include here a summary ofa series of meetings between adepartment supervisor and myselfwhich illustrate the difficulties thatcan be encountered in assessing andrectifying workplace languageproblems. The department supervi-sor explained a problem with twoprofessionally trained senior staffmembers who demonstrated lan-guage deficiencies in the workplace.

One used .anguage abruptly andabrasively, consequently alienatingher own clients. Her problemseemed to stem from an inadequatelanguage base which caused herto act defensively. However,unknowing clients viewed herdefensiveness as brusqueness,culminating in the feeling that theworker didn't truly give a damnabout them. The other senior staffmember, though viewed as possiblythe most knowledgeable in his field,spoke and thought with such rapid-ity as to leave listeners confusedand possibly disoriented, Here hisaccent got in the way of communi-cation.

The supervisor felt he faced a truedilemma. He was at a loss as tohow he should approach these twostaff members about a problemwhich had not been attended to forso long. The supervisor's plan tochange this situation was to name

- 147 -

1 4

What do wedo when the employeris not as benign andfriendly to the ideaof learner-basedprograms?

...encouraging personalwriting even in a work-place program andtrusting that growinglanguage skills willeventually include all

I kinds of communica-tion needs includingworkplace skills.

... confidence in alearner-centredapproach. //


the quick-speaking staff member asthe abrasive staff member's super-visor. It was hoped that, workingtogether, these two would come tosee the language problems theyheld between them. This did notwork out and in the end the super-visor approached his language-defensive, abrasive staff member astactfully as possible about our pro-gram. He explained that it wasvoluntary and designed to meetemployees' needs. She flatly re-fused and wouldn't give a minuteof her time, even for her own laguageimprovement. The supervisor saidthat this is her usual reaction. Atthis time the supervisor decided notto approach the other senior staffmember. However, he did decide toapproach a third senior staff mem-ber concerning our program. Theresult was disastrous. She did notwant to be in a class with first andsecond year immigrants. She felthurt. Given the fact that the super-visor now has two upset staffmembers, the decision is to waitand try another approach in theyen/ near future.

There are several tools available tohelp to allay employees' fears ofbeing involved in a workplace lan-guage program. For instance, toavoid the fear that tests hold forlearners we can establish a fewrules which make them feel safer.We can begin to set up boundaries,which show where learners' rightsbegin and where the rights of allothers participating in the learningenvironment end. These boundariesare flexible and can bend to accom-modate change in our relationshipwith learners. The object is to beopen to change without lettingadministrative and/or unionneeds violate the inviolate needsof learners.

Participant #10: is someone forwhom the language program hasspecial meaning. He is Caucasian,

Canadian born, who was sent toChina at age nine with his adop-tive mother. He returned toCanada eleven years ago at age41. English was no longer his firstlanguage. He speaks four Chinesedialects, reads and writesMandarin well, and practicesacupuncture; this in spite ofbeing allowed only the mostmenial and laborious of jobs oncollective farms and in rockquarries. He presented himselfas an eager man who was verymuch wanting to learn.

His supervisor had intimatedto me that there was somethingpeculiar about Joe; however,she could not put her fingeron it. He read English passablywell, but he wrote much lessfluently. He seemed to requireconversation and took on anextraordinary aliveness whenconversing. He found all sub-jects interesting and especiallyliked talking about the worldof politics and the cruelty peo-ple are wont to inflict on oneanother.

Late one afternoon, after beingin the program for two weeks,he and I left the committeeroom across from the Mayor'soffice. Although we had beentalking about barracks living oncollective farms deep in China,while waiting for the elevator Iwas struck by his composure insuch surroundings. He seemedas warm to life as the autumnsun which was at that momentsettling onto the edge of theworld.

We stepped outside and stoodon the steps talking. We talkedwell past the locking of thedoors after the workers had leftfor home. Suddenly, I under-stood why he was hesitant toquit - to leave English untilanother time. Unlike the settingsun emptying the world of its

- 148 -

light, in speaking English, hewas filling his mind and beingwith the light of language.

'"hen, leaning toward me, heput his hand on my arm andsaid, "Gary, I can read thenewspaper, I can learn to saymachine (a word he had onlyrecently pronounced as 'miss-ing') and also I know to sayplease and thank you and hello.At work, every day it is thesame 'hello, how are you,fine' - and every once in awhile someone comments onhow they went to Eatons or to afootball game." He quit talkingmomentarily. Finally he said,"Gary, only since I've come tothis language program, have Ihad the opportunity to talksince coming back to Canada -to really talk."

"Articulatedmy frustration witha course I'm teachingwhere we havestudents writejournals and workon formulaic para-graphs. Journalsare not corrected.Paragraphs haveto be in a perfectform. Journals haveinteresting contentand paragraphs areboring.


14 5

LUCY SONNERJEAS WORKSHOP owned the objectives, assessment techniques,

negotiating strategies, course designs, schedules and evaluation procedures of the

Workbase program. At the core of the politics of the Workbase program Is the Idea of

meeting the employers' objectives and at the same time satisfying the needs of the workers.

To thls end they have developed cooperative strategies for worldng with employers, employ-

ees, unions and educational bodies.

As the principles and practises of Workbase were delineated, questions surfaced. Do skills-

based programs adequately address literacy needs? Is litroacy being narrowed by

responding to job-re'ated literacy needs?

Workbase programs are not an alternative to the broader educational mandate of community

or college programs, but rather are seen as the only way to start to change the workplace

and achieve social justice. This leads to certain compromises. Something being taught is bet-

ter than nothing. Given the 'hidden agenda' of Workbase, how is trust maintained with

employers? Do employers know?

The session opened many questions. Participants suggested that the issues of what type of

programs belong in the workplace and what role educators should play in these programs

deserved considerable further exploration.

WORKBASE:

LONDCN, ENGLAND

HOW CAN LITERACY PROGRAMS HELP

MANUAL WORKERS TACKLE THE ISSUES

WHICH AFFECT THEM? FIND OUT

HOW EMPLOYER-FUNDED WORKBASE,

AN INDEPENDENT ORGANIZATION

WHICH HAS WORKED WITH TRADE

UNIONS AND INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT

TO PROVIDE LITERACY TRAINING FOR

MANUAL WORKERS SINCE 1978, VIEWS

WORKERS' EDUCATION.

... from the Facilitator's RePort

Lucy Bonnerjea

Literacy is not all about developing the imagination. It is not purelyabout self-expression in inter-personal terms, not limited to thedevelopment of a sense of poetry or writing about feelings. It may be

all of these things, and these may all be very worthwhile, but it can also beabout something different.

The something different is about work. Workplace literacy is aboutworking, communicating, self-skilling; and sometimes it is also aboutchallenging, choosing, asserting, demanding, negotiating. It is aboutengaging with workplace practices to give workers a greater voice. It isabout demystifying structures, to make the whole of an organization moreaccessible to its least skilled workers. It is about teaching communicatingskills so that managers can listen more and workers can talk more.

These are ideals and perhaps not always realizable. Yes there is work-place literacy that is narrow, that teaches the basic minimum :or workers toimprove their work. It is designed around improved productivity and itaims to benefit employers. It tries to make money: it tries to save money.At times it squeezes overworked and underpaid workers even more thanbefore to extract better value for money from their, to make them morecompetitive, to increase profits. It gives workplace literacy a bad name.

- 149 -

146

"...the conflictbetween the practicalof today or tomorrowand the notion of learn-ing needing to be an I

open-ended, learner-centred process. Theimportant point was tobe an agent for change.

I

I was impressed by theamount of preparationthat seems to go intoWorkbase's dealingswith management.This preparation seemsto enable Workbase toachieve many positivethings for workerswithout managementquestioning the grouponce the courses havestarted.

Who owns workplaceliteracy?

I

How do we stretchworkplace literacy tobroader educationneeds?


It keeps good teachers away fromthe workplace and contributes tothe division between educationwhich is 'good' and training atwork which is tad'. Education isregarded as broad, student-centred,expansive and creative; narrowworkplace literacy is none of these.It is seen as narrow, employer-centred, productivity-centred anddeadening.

So, why get involved in workplaceliteracy anyway? Why not avoid itand keep to the security of theclassroom or the community hall?Three reasons. Erst, economictrends. The world is becomingrapidly interdependent, with whatwere previously rich countries nowexporting the source of their richness,relying on their manufacturing sec-tors and importing for much oftheir needs. These countries arebecoming the expensive countriesrather than the rich ones. Thereduction of labour costs becomes akey aim of all businesses, and man-ual work is disappearing. ForCanada the biggest development inthis direction is Free Trade.Introduced already with the U.S.and soon with Mexico, it is a majorthreat to all less skilled workerswith literacy needs. The less skilledworkers' jobs will disappear.

This is more urgent than often rec-ognized. The work of the currentmanual workforce of Canada,whether or not it consists of immi-grants or other low paid workers, isunder threat of extinction. IfMexican workers are willing towork for three dollars a day, whykeep a factory running in Canada?Unskilled workers will need tobecome skilled workers to stay inemployment; they will need tolearn a great many skills in a veryshort time, and literacy will be thefirst and facilitating one.

The second reason is technology.This argument has been around fora long time, and there is some truth

- 150 -

14 7

in the counter-argument that thedoom and gloom predictions madeten or fifteen years ago have nottaken place. But the issue remains aserious one. The level of technologyoperating in any workplace is nowvery high. It requires people to beskilled in using machinery, keepingto health and safety regulations,recognizing and preventing techno-logical breakdowns, and so on.Literacy is increasingly a pre-requi-site for even the most menial job.And the absence of literacy andnumeracy skills is a very good pre-dictor of job losses, de-skilling, longperiods of unemployment and acareer of earning progressively lessthroughout oni work life. Oneexample of an ., dustry that is sub-stituting machinery and technologyfor many of its less skilled workersis the logging industry. Job lossesare phenomenal and the social con-sequences in some parts of thecountry are devastating.

The third reason is the debatearound the nature of work itself.For some people brought up in thearts and humanities, the world ofwork outside this is at best narrowand restricted, at worst oppressiveand evil. There is now internation-ally a debate about 'what is work',about whether concepts such asfull time work are meaningful,whether greater flexibility can beintroduced, whether the more tradi-tional divisions between workersand managers, and between work-ers and shareholders, can bereduced, whether work can begiven meaning again as somethingother than a source of income.

These debates are important, andthey are most important for thosewho have been furthest away fromthem, in the least skilled jobs. Yetthe professionals who are loadingthe debate and the negotiationsknow little about the people whocould benefit most. They know littleabout the obstacles to greater satis-faction, greater participation, and

greater promotion opportunities inthe unskilled sectors.

So these are some of the reasons fortransferring some of literacy teach-ing from the classroom or thecommunity hall to the workplace.This is not what everyone wants todo or should do - but it is impor-tant for some people to do it, toreach those whose lack of literacy,numeracy or communications skillsmake them especially vulnerable.

So what makes a good workplaceliteracy scheme? I would arguethere are three ingredients: listeningskills, negotiating skills and facili-tating skills. First, listening skills:workplare literacy teachers needto develop a special workplace liter-acy themselves, which consists ofdeveloping the skills to understandthe politics at the workplace. Itmeans listening and watching forthe many unspoken barriers tocommunication in the workplace.It means analyzing these barriersin terms of elements that can beturned around, barriers that canbe pulled down and made intoopportunities.

When literacy teachers start work ina workplace, they often suffer froma kind of illiteracy themselves. It iseasy to stumble around not know-ing what questions to ask, who toask, how to interpret, how to com-municate. We may want to collectworkplace material to enable facto-ry operators to communicate better,to take more control over theiwork, to identify the problems in theworkplace that keep them workingin dull jobs without a sense of jobsatisfaction. But how do we do it?

Literacy teachers' own literacy devel-ops slowly, with experience. It isbased on initial listening skills -learning from those who do not havethe formal si ;Ils that are required inso many places, but who have theinformal survival skills which seemto count for solittle. Listening is

about valuing those skills, workingwith those skills.

Then there is negotiating. That isabout translating the needs ofworkers - not just ibr education,but fc r access to respect, to acareer, to progress, to reward, intodemands for practical, implement-able changes. This might meanstarting with the development oftraining opportunities and movingtowards making recommendationson career opportunities - notnew to professionals but often aheretic suggestion when appliedto unskilled workers in manyworkplack.s.

And lastly, there are facilitatingskills. Teaching is the wrong wordmost of the time; since the experi-ence is there, it is only the wordsand the methods for using themthat need to be added. Maybe it isteaching of a sort, but it starts withthe workers' own experiences,needs and aspirations and movestowards articulating these andacting on them.

I have tried to argue there are goodreasons for taking the need forworkplace literacy seriously andfor recognising the needs of theleast skilled workers in Canada.I have also tried to give some sug-gestions as to how to approach agood workplace literacy scheme.Shying away from workplaceliteracy as a principle is as irrespon-sible as promoting the narrow typeof functional literacy that fitspeople more effectively into dead-end jobs. Both attitudes lackimagination, lack an understandingof the politics of literacy and itsnew dimension for the year 2000.Workplace literacy needs to beabout the economics of theoppressed. It is about increasingthe economic bargaining power ofthose who carry the label illiterateor unskilled. And it is also aboutdeveloping the imagination of theworkplace.

- 151 -

148

UWemust work

more closely withunions to distinguishthe responsibilities ofunions in educatingworkers and the role ofthe literacy educator.

How can a programwhich requires somuch thorough orga-nizing ever be funded,become cost effective,ot even cost reason-able?

I

The issue of our work-place propams simplymeeting the needs ofthe workplace or dothey acknowledge thatwork is only a part ofsomeone's situation?The issues to be dealtwith by the workermay have little to dowith the workplace buthave more to do withlife outside the work-place.

... from Parddpants' Response Cards

TRAINING INSTRUCTORS:1111 EXPERIENCE & ACCREDITATION

INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATION SCHEME: ENGLAND & WALES

Judith BanburyAssistant Director, Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit, England and WalesResponsible for staff development training, Yorkshire

LEGITIMIZING PRACMIONERS' SKILLS AND WO

Serge WagnerFounder and director, University of Quebec certification program in

adult educationInitiator of literacy programming in Quebec and French OntarioInternational educator, writer and researcherAuthor, UNESCO's 1990 report on literacy in Canada

MOVING ON: FROM LEARNER TO TEACHER

Elsa Auerbach111 Ex-assembler, auto and electronics industries

Assistant professor, University of Massachusetts, BostonESL adult literacy teacher in community-based, workplace and

community college programsCoordinator, University of Massachusetts Family Literacy ProjectInitiator of community and university literacy teaching

education project

14 9

a ti

AA,s_k

BANBURY OUTLINED THE FUNCTIONS of ALBSU (Adult Uteracy and Basic Sid Ils Unit),

ALBSU has an annual budget of three million pounds from government sources but will soon

become an independent charitable body. Literacy is not a partisan issue in Britain and there

is now recognition that literacy provision needs to be a continuing service not just a

°mopping-up° operation as many first envisaged It. ALBSU's aim was to set up a training

situation where coherence, credibility and °something for everyone* could all be combined In

an accreditation scheme.

There are some possible faults, dangers and lessons learned. Accreditation begets

accreditation; the Certificate is subject to upward mobility resulting in a 'degree' type course.

Certificates may become barriers to entry in the field. There was little student/learner

involvement in the drawing up of the certificate content/competencies. Some people taking

the courses 'serve time' but do not change their way of doing things; constant assessment is

required. There is some confusion between the names of the two certificates as they are so

similar and the 'Certificate' was actually available ahead of the 'Initial Certificate'.

The program raises several issues: the charging of training fees for volunteers or low-paid

tutors working a few hours a week; the role of volunteers in teaching literacyl.e. suitability,

accountability, etc.; the question of who determines the competencies; and the lack of learner

input into design of training programs. Is certification needed in Canada? If so, which level(s)

of government will direct it? How will it affect more remote areas and community-based

groups?

Several aspects of the program were attractive: a nationally-recognized accreditation

scheme; accreditation of prior experience; the competency-based approach; use of mentors;

building a personal portfolio of experiencetwork; and recognition of each certificate level

towards further qualifications. Accreditation schemes are being developed in Canada, one In

Ontario and one at Fairview College, Alberta.

INSTRUCTOR

CERTIFICATION SCHEME:

ENGLAND AND WALES

SHOULD CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS

BE ESTABLISHED FOR ABE AND ESL

INSTRUCTORS? Ht-J/ WILL PROVEN

EXPERTISE BE RECOGNIZED ONCE

CERTIFICATION IS INTRODUCED?

LEARN WHY THE ADULT LITERACY

AND BASIC SKILLS UNIT, THE CENTRAL

SECRETARIAT FOR LITERACY IN

ENGLAND AND WALES, DEVELOPED ITS

ACCREDITATION STRATEGY IN 1984-85,

WHAT QUALIFICATIONS ARE

CONSIDERED ESSENTIAL, AND HOW

THEIR FRAMEWORK FOR STAFF

DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING HAS

BEEN IMPLEMENTED ON NATIONAL AND

REGIONAL LEVELS. \


Judith Banbury

The following is an account of the current picture of staff develop-ment and training in England and Wales and its attempts to providesome background and a context for the developments which have

taken place in the last five years.

ALBSU (the Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit) is the central focus foradult literacy and basic skills work in England and Wales and is fundedby the Department of Education and Science and the Welsh OfficeEducation Department.

The Unit's initiatives in staff development and training have been underdevelopment since 1986. The significance of this date is that it was fromthat year onwards that the Unit was granted a more permanent status byits major funding bodies. Previously the Unit, in its various forms andunder its various titles, had received short-term funding for between oneand three years at a time. This had been the position since the first centralUnit had been established in 1975.

The new status enabled the Unit to plan more effectively in the longerterm and to take into account the long-term training needs of the field.The current programmes, now more fully developed, were the result of an

- 155 -

1 5 0

extensive aeries of pilots and researrlinto good practice in existence.There was also a considerableamount of consultation with keyorganizations and individuals.

The position in 1985 was that therewas little accredited training forstaff in adult literacy. The onlycourse available which was nation-ally recognized was the R.S.A.Diploma in Teaching and Learningin Adult Basic Education and thiswas only available in a few areas ofEngland and Wales. The Diplomawas at the time seen as a post-graduate course and conceived at afairly advanced level in terms ofacademic endeavour. In spite of this,the Diploma was sometimes used(in the absence of alternatives) as aform of accreditation for staff at alllevels of experience. Therefore,where candidates were inappro-priately recruited there was often ahigh level of drop-out.

The range and diversity of exper-ience and background of all staff inthe field of adult literacy neededalso to be taken into account. Manyhad entered the field as volunteersand had worked for some timebefore being offered paid work.Others might have qualificationsfor teaching in schools or a craft orvocational qualification if they wereworking in a college of further educa-tion. Any system o: accreditationestablished needed, therefore, to takethis into account and should notassume any single route through theeducational or training system andinto adult literacy work. It was alsonecessary to recognize that manystaff might have no appropriatequalifications but might have aconsiderable amount of valuableexnerience.

Although little training had beenaccredited until that time, there hadbeen a considerable amount oftraining in the previous ten years.This was either provided throughALBSU funded regional training

programmes or else by localeducation authorities. Much of thistraining consisted of single day orweekend events and there was nocommonly agreed upon curriculum.Information given in local author-ities' annual reports to ALBSUsuggested that in some areas part-time paid staff had few opportunitiesfor training. Provision was patchy,uncoordinated and varied in quality

However, a common experience foreducational establishments wishingto recruit staff for work in basicskills woirld include having to siftthrough batches of applicationforms of staff who had had severalyears of part-time work in basicskills with no specific qualifications.Many forms, however, wouldinclude several additional pageslisting short courses attended andactivities undertaken.

Induction training for volunteertutors was provided by almost alllocal education authorities and thisusually consisted of a series of twohour sessions. The most commonpattern was six sessions providedbefore the prospective volunteerbegan work with a student or was&.ocated to assist a paid teacher ina group.

Programmes of accredited trainingalso needed to take into accountnational trends in vocationaltraining. These included movestowards more competency basedprogrammes where the success ofthe training which had taken placewould be measured by improvedperformance in the workplacerather than by more formalexaminations. There were alsomoves towards open learningappro.;:hes which do not specify apart; zular format for a course anddo not prescribe the process acandidate needs to go through toachieve competen:e.

ALBSU's aim in establishing itsinitiatives was therefore to create a

- 156 - 15 1

"How do wejustify charging peoplefor training whichleads to unpaid work?

6

I'm concerned aboutthe use and misuse ofvolunteers tosu ent unfundedand underfundedprograms.

Accreditation begetsaccreditation. Thelearner wants a returnon his investment. I'mnot sure what reward,other than intrinsic,there would be inCanada for an adultlearner to embark on arelatively costlyprogram to become anaccredited literacyinstructor. Of course,this quandary existswithin the context ofgovernments who arehappy to dedare a waron illiteracy usingvoluntary supportalmost exclusively.


coherent system of nationalaccreditation for staff at all levelsof experience and training.

The programmes established wouldneed to have the followingcharacteristics:

They would need to allowaccess for all regardless ofprevious experience orqualifications.

They should give credit forprevious experience andtraining;

They should relate to othermore general forms of teachereducation and training;

There should be a system ofprogression from one pro-gramme to another andbetween specific literacytraining and general teachertraining.

The programmes which have beendeveloped and are already in placeare as follows:

Initial Certificate in TeachingBasic Communication Ckills(ALBSU City and Guilds 9282)

The Initial Certificate is forvolunteers or new staff cominginto the service from anotherarea of education or training. Itcomprises 30 hours of activity(16 hours of coursework, 6hours of placement/practicumand 8 hours of assignments).This certificate is designed aspre-entry training for paidtutors and voluWeers. (Note:ALBSU's position is that unpaidstaff should not teach groups.)

Certificate in Teaching BasicCommunication Skills(ALBSU/City and Guilds 9281)

The Certificate course isintended for staff who have

been employed for six monthsor more and have some initialstraining and experience ofteaching. The Certificate is forthose who have completed theInitial Certificate, or who areexperienced, paid practitionerswho require accreditation. Thiscertificate is competency-based,recognizes acquired experienceand competencies and usesmentors to act as personaltutors/facilitators andassessors. The time to completethe work for this certificate willvary, but will be between oneand three years, depending onthe strengths and weaknessesof each trainee. There are sixbroad areas of competence.'frainees must demonstratecompetence in adult learningapproaches and teaching skills, aswell as competence in literacy,numeracy, or English for speak*of other languages. There is alsoa strand on organization andcoordination.

R.S.A. Diploma in Teachingand Learning in Adult BasicEducation

This is intended for veryexperienced staff who areinterested in obtaining adiploma level course.

Each Programme he^ a differenttarget audience. Participants paytraining fees for all certificates.Amounts vary.

The Certificate is the more unusualof the three and is intended toaccredit any competence the candi-date can demonst rate however ithas been acquired. It is an individu-ally designed programme and eachcandidate is assigned to a mentorwho acts as advisor and assessor.

The Initial Certificate is moreconventional in its format althoughit does include a teaching place-ment, assignment work and the

- 157-152

completion of a record of achieve-ment which most volunteer trainingcourses did not include previously.

Handbooks for the two newschemes are available free fromALBSU and a handbook for theDiploma is available from the R.S.A.at a small charge.

Many training initiatives can behampered by lack of funds to runthem, particularly when they arenew and having to establish

ALBSU has been able topersuade the Department ofEducation and Science to makefunds centrally available to run thethree schemes mentioned in thisarticle. This amounts to a ma:timumof 1,400,000 spread over twofinancial years.

The Unit is in the process ofevaluating these programmes andwill modify them if this provesnecessary Clearly the world of staffdevelopment and training ismoving very fast and we are keento respond to this and perhapsmake our contribution to thegeneral changes being made in thearea of vocational training.

" Do we needcertification in Canada?Should it be nationallyor provincially con-trolled? What inputwill learners have insaying what qualitiesand qualifications theirguided tutors shouldhave? How will itaffect community andrural literacy groups?tor


THE ISSUES SURROUNDING ACCREDITATION for Instructors and the use of volunteers in

literacy prognnming are controversial and the debate often takes place in an emotionally

charged atmosphere with both professionals and volunteers feeling threatened and Insecure

about their value and job security.

The controversy revolving around the role of the volunteer versus the role of the paid practi-

tioner has many aspects. There is concern that volunteerism perpetuates low wage situations

for paid practitioners. Many fear that an increase in skilled volunteers will decrease employ-

ment opportunities for instructors. How can we 'protect the employment of instructors while

'protecting' the popular movement aspects of volunteerism in the field? Do these two objec-

tives have to be mutually exclusive? There is also a concern that an increase in accreditation

for practitioners will lead to a decrease in opportunities for volunteers. This could lead to

everything being more academic and we would loose the values contdbuted by volunteers

and gramoots organizations.

Accrecitafion tor Instructors presents other concerns. As masters degrees and teaching cer-

tificates are starting to be considered necessary qualificativs ?or instructor positions. will

practitioners with years of practical experience be replaced by newcomers with credentials?

Will the experienced be required to spend time and money to acquire credentials to maintain

or apply for positions if they wish to continue careers in this field? As a large percentage of

literacy practitioners wolc on pad time, non-pemianent contracts, there will be no grandfather

clause to provide job security.

Wagner presented his view, which was popular with the workshop participants, that we must

make on-site professional development a funding priority. At present due to limited funding,

there is a tendency to use the available dollars to reach as many learners as possible.

However, Wagner suggests that by develop'ng ourselves professionally we can be more

effective thus we will reach more learners.

LEGITIMIZING

PRACTITIONERS' SKILLS

AND WORTH

WHAT KIND OF TRAINING IS NEEDED

FOR PEOPLE WISHING TO ENTER THE

FIELD, FOR THOSE WHO HAVE JUST

STARTED, AND FOR THOSE WITH

LOTS OF EXPERIENCE WHO WANT AN

OPPORTUNITY TO EXTEND THEIR

KNOWLEDGE? EXAMINE THE PRACTISE

AND PHILOSOPHY BEHIND CANADA'S

ONLY ESTABLISHED ACCREDITATION

PROGRAM IN MONTREAL, QUEBEC,

AS A BASIS FOR EVALUATING CURRENT

INITIATIVES TO INTRODUCE CERTIFICA-

TION PROGRAMS IN OTHER PROVINCES,

INCLUDING BRITISH COLUMBIA.


Serge Wagner

i he first issue is: what is a literacy practitioner? Is s/he becominga mere technician of reading, writing, computing and 'job-relatedskill'; that is to say, has s/he less and less power to decide on objec-

tives and content of the educational process? What kind of training isuseful for those who enter the literacy field and for those seeking anopportunity to extend their knowledge?

1. The Four W's

The fundamental issue here is probably "what is literacy?". So, before welook more directly at our topic, let us ask ourselves some fundamentalquestions directly affecting the perspective and content of literacy practi-tioners' training or upgrading. We will call them the Four W's: what isliteracy? who are the illiterates? what has happened in the field of literacyin the last three years? what about the status of literacy workers? For some,these questions may seem `theoreidcar (i.e. non practical, irrelevant or use-less); however, the answers to these issues determine literacy educationpractices and thus literacy practitioner training.

- 158 - I 5 3

What is Literacy?

Is literacy merely an educationalprocess that allows people toupgrade to the equivalent of sec-ondary school education? Thatmight be true of many so-calledfunctional illiterates.

Does literacy relate primarily to thethree R's or does it relate also toother skills essential for coping withdaily life and for being a full partic-ipant in society? Does literacymerely aim to increase basic work-place skills for the new internationaleconomic competitiveness and/oris it an empowering process that islearner-centred, that takes intoaccount the learner's experience,social context, needs and purposes?Other goals could, of course, be pre-sented and each of those alreadymentioned are not mutually exclu-sive; combinations are possible andin fact occur.

Tmining and upgrading for literacypractitioners would have to takeinto account the typology of possi-ble literacy goals. Here, choiceshave to be made.

Who are the Illiterates?

Are illiterate persons lacking sometechnical skills (three R's and someother skills)? Are they people rela-tively well integrated in society,lacking in an isolated skill and thusneeding specific upgrading? Isilliteracy, or limited literacy, a com-ponent of the global situation ofpoor people experiencing difficultiesin employment, health, housingand social integration? Illiterates arean important percentage of inmates,ethnic minorities, immigrants enter-ing Canada as refugees, socialassistance recipients, and singleparents (mostly women). For those,illiteracy, embedded in a culture ofpoverty, would be a component ofsocial and structural inequalities inour society. And at least two per-spectives in defining the situation

are possible: a deficit perspective(ultimately 'blaming the victim% ora popular education perspectiveCempowering the illiterate%

In Canada, the student-centredapproach seems dominant (at leastin literature). That approach, ifapplied, is no doubt positive; prac-titioners take into consideration theindividual needs of learners. But itmight also have a negative counter-part, somehow resulting in puttingaside the social, collective andstructural reality of many illiteratesin Canada.

What Happened in the Last ThreeYea; ti?

Literacy in Canada is viewed differ-ently now than three years ago.Significant changes have occurred.

The issie of literacy certainly hasgained importance in the late1980's. This is due to the effect ofthe Southam Report and the advo-cacy work done by major Canadianliteracy organizations. Involvementof some governments or govern-mental organizations was also ofparamount importance. Andincreasingly, the voice of the leaneris being heard.

In previous years, there was a dom-inant dichotomy in the literacy fieldbetween literacy in school settingsand literacy in community-basedorganizations. The former was saidto be formal and the latter pretend-ed to be more flexible, morefunctional, more learner-centred. Inthe last three years, this dichotomyhas been replaced by new orienta-tions and new differences. Asmentioned earlier, economic devel-opment goals appeared and becameat least as important as 'schoolingper se' or 'student-centred' or 'stu-dent-empowerment' literacy. Thenew partners and new governmen-tal policies stress the link betweenliteracy and economic develop-ment. This new orientation has a

- 159 -

154

great potential impact on the con-tent of literacy education and thusthe content of literacy practitioners'training.

The literacy field was also influ-enced by a diversification ofclienteles and of practices. There aremore and more specifically targetedpopulations (inmates, social welfarerecipients, the unemployed, singlemothers, immigrants, nativesThis diversity often implies thatthere needs to be a diversification ofapproaches to the specifically tar-geted populations and to deliveryof literacy services: materials, con-venient hours, accessible locationsand support services (transporta-tion, child care, counselling).

For literacy workers, those new ori-entations stress the need for specificknowledge and skills related to spe-cific clienteles: in methodology (forinstance, the often ambiguous liter-acy for immigrants requiresexpertise in second language teach-ing) and in development strategies(recruitment, counselling, etc.),

lastitutionalization and profession-alization has increased recently.Historically, government takeoverof a social area (such as educationfor youth, and health) meant areduction of the 'charity' model andlocal voluntary involvement. Thatis, services are then delivered bycivil servants. That has not been thecase in the governmental involve-ment in literacy in the last threeyears. As in the United States, thenew literacy initiatives werefocused on an increase of literacydelivery through recruitment ofvolunteers. What is surprising isthat even the public schools andcolleges are using (to my knowl-edge at least) a high number ofnon-paid literacy 'workers' and,maybe to a smaller scale, part-timepaid staff.

Even though more money is spentin adult literacy, a large part of it

With no or littlefunds for delivery - dowe use volunteers ornot if it means lackof programmingall or nothing? orcompromise withoptimism?

The idea of actionresearch and profes-sional developmentbeing built into pro-grams support forresearch, writing,reflection, professionaldevelopment as part ofone's teaching.

A better role thanteaching for volunteersis as fundraisers,supporting the contin-uation of programsand supporting theexperts to do theirjobs.


seems to be channelled into thevolunteerism model that was usedpreviously when there was littleor no public funding for literacy.Obviously, the enhancement ofvolunteerism is part of the 'new'state policy.

What is the Status of LiteracyWorkers?

The obvious answer is: a rather lowstatus. Already, adult educatorsgenerally enjoy a lower (social andeconomic) status than youth educa-tors in the regular public schoolsystem. Within the field of adulteducation, literacy workers seemto have a lower status. Within edu-cational institutions, literacyprogrammes may be seen as alower-status activity compared toreal academic programmes, or evenhigher-level ABE programmes. Thislow status is probably also relatedto the fact that many of the literacyworkers have no job security, arelow-income, and part-time workers.

And, of course, this low status isprobably the reflection of the pres-ence of a very high percentage ofunpaid workers; according to arecent CMEC study, 80% of teachersin one province are still volunteers.And that situation is also related tothe fact that the vast majority ofliteracy workers are women.Furthermore, a recent survey of lit-eracy workers in Quebec revealedthat men are more often thanwomen directors or coordinatomthough women are almost alwaysvolunteers and teachers. It may beworth noting that, in Quebec, thebulk of volunteers are working inthe public school system whereaspopular voluntary organizations areusing paid staff. Volunteerism inthese organizations is instead usedfor boards' participation, advocacyart,' ruitment purposes.

rent in literacy is very high. In thefield of adult literacy, there is asense of specificity, of personal andsocial commitment, a sense of dedi-cation that is not as common amongother educators.

Some of the consequences of theprecarious situation of literacyworkers may be low income, heavyworkloads, burn-out, high turn-over (especially for volunteertutors), and difficulty of establish-ing a legitimate career plan.

We should add that, unlike primaryeducation, there is no single profileor credential for entering theliteracy education workforce'.Recruitment of literacy workers isoften related to local or regionalprojects that set their own condi-tions, taking into consideration thecontent of their specific literacy pro-ject (eg.: ESL training for immigrantliteracy projects, previous commu-nity involvement in community-based projects, etc).

Part of the problem of literacyworkers is not related to their train-ing or upgrading; it directly derivesfrom their status and (often bad)working conditions. Too often,training is presented or seen as asolution to problems that are noteducational. Radical changes inliteracy policies may prove to bequite effective in enhancing literacypractices and the status of literacypractitioners.

2. About Accreditation

Even if it is still limited, theprofessionalization and institution-alization of the literacy field hasopened the question and problemof accreditation of literacy workers.The issue is complex but it isimportant.

Obviously, the greater part of theFinally, even though the status of accreditation issue can only be dealtliteracy woricers is rather low, their wittyprovincially because fundingpersonal and professional involve- for literacy programs is provided byirr

f t)- 160 -

the provinces (and also becauseeducation is a provincial jurisdic-tion). Having said that, someCanadian or trans-provincial litera-cy organizations could eventuallyset up criteria of their own.

To my knowledge, there are twoexamples of literacy accreditation inCanada. One is the Alberta experi-ence where accreditation iscontrolled and channelled by theliteracy workers themselves.

Another and quite different modelis Quebec's new regulation foradult educators. While the newPublic Education Act (Loi del'instruction publique) includes theright of every illiterate adult to getfree basic education in the province,the legislation also includes an obli-gation, for full-time and part- timeliteracy teachers, to have teachercertification.

One of the negative effects of thenew accreditation process inQuebec is the fact that many (hun-dredu if not thousands) literacyworkers will likely lose their jobs;the regulation will be effective intwo years and the Department ofEducation still doesn't know howmany literacy teachers do not haveteacher certification. There is noprovision in the accreditation rulesfor recognition of literacy workers'experience (reconnaissance desacquis). The system is lacking flexi-bility Recognition of experience forthose who have worked, pioneeredin the field of literacy, often in diffi-cult conditions, is an importantequity issue.

Another potential impact of accred-itation is that it may well changethe orientation of literacy practices.For instance, again in Quebec,according to the new rules onaccreditation, almost every teacherof primary or secondary levels arenow legally eligible to work inadult literacy education. (InQuebec, the colleges les CEGEPs

do not provide adult basic educa-tion as is the case in EnglishCanada.) The new ruling meansthat the schooling dimension of theliteracy programmes will probablyincrease. It creates a strange situa-tion; adults who often went toschools without learning (adequate-ly) to read and write will go back toschool for a 'second chance' withessentially the same kind of teach-ers. One of the bizarre effects of thenew regulation in Quebec, is thatlif.nacy practitioners having literacycertificates cannot obtain the teach-er's accfeditation. Even a personwith a Master's degree or a Ph.D. inAdult Education is not eligible foraccreditation unless s/he has previ-ously taken a three year course in ateaching programme (merely foryoungsters) that leads to teachercertification.

3. About Training

General Remarks

Diversity and flexibility should bekey dimensions of training for liter-acy workers. There should be aplace for diversified opportunitiesfor training (from the local literacyscheme to university credited pro-gramme) and in the content oftraining. There is no single modelof adequate training because litera-cy workers do not have the sameinitial training (as is the case forprimary teachers) and also becauseliteracy is a very general termencompassing different strategies(eg. literacy for illiterate immi-grants, literacy for Natives, literacyfor the mentally handicapped, notto speak about numeracy). Thisdoes not mean that there is nocommon ground and commonneeds, but in an emerging field likeilliteracy/literacy there is littleplace for premature uniformity.

As stated earlier, recognition ofexperience (reconnaissance desacquis) should be integrated inevery training project, especially

- 161-

156

11171.1.1111...1Much worry and

anger about excludingliteracy and ABE tutorsand instructors fromjobs when an accredita-tion requirement isimplemented: screwingthe tutors and 'thanksfor all the fish!'

What are the politicalimplications re:employment, status,etc. with respect toaccreditation (ie. howto protect the praction-ers' employment whileprotecting the popularaspects of the field, itsflexibility, etc.?


II...training of

literacy practitioners -does the quality ofinstruction go up?If so, what are theimplications forvolunteer versusformal educationalsettings?

I think the governmentand we, as practition-ers, should focus onthe mandated literacyproviders provinciallyand fund educationalagencies that are estab-lished. It is a sad buttrue fact that much ofthe 'fringe' money willdie with ILY!'

when the training is credited andmight lead to formal certification.

One often expressed need shouldbe closely assessed: the method-ological need. Literacy workersare often asking for training inmethodology. There are real andlegitimate needs in this area. Butone should also be aware of themethodological myth ...If the successof literacy education was merelyrelated to the adequateutilization of good teaching/instructional techniques (thatmay be presented in a weekendworkshop), every Canadian childschooled in Canada would be fullyliterate. The reality is more complex.Mastering learning and teachingtechniques may be no doubt useful,but adult literacy education is acomplex socio-educational practiceand cannot be reduced to somebasic techniques.

Daining in the Literacy Place

'fraining in the literacy place (asan analogy with literacy in theworkplace) should be a priority inevery literacy project. As literacypractitioners, we should applyto ourselves the same objectiveswe put forward for literacy learn-ers: reading, writing, criticalthinking! In Canada, we are nowfacing a very peculiar situation:learners are writing more andmore. Their texts are published.Onemay sometimes wonder iflearners are not writing andpublishing more than literacypractitioners (coordinators orteachers). Again, if literacy relatesat least partly to democratizationof knowledge in our society, theproduction of knowledge insideeach literacy scheme should alsobe democratized. Writing, if theparameters are well-defined, is avery effective 6. .1 congruent tech-rilple to understand what happensin our own practice and to seewhat could eventually be improvedor changed.

- 162 -

Training and upgrading shouldbegin at the level of daily practice.Literacy practitioners (like literacylearners) ate able to gain knowl-edge from their own experience.Maining should be an on-goingprocess but, as is the case for liter-acy per se, learning for practitionerswill be more effective if it is orga-nized, systematized. Consequently,training should be a part of theliteracy practitioners' job. For in-stance, training objectives shouldbe set, an annual training programmeshould be planned, and time fortraining meetings should be sched-uled. This training should also becooperative (that does not excludethe possibility of integrating exter-nal expertise in the process) likeliteracy teaching/learnirg is sup-posed to be. And if this ..,aining/research activity is a real part of theliteracy work, literacy practitionersshould be paid for it.

A great part of training and learn-ing can be gained through research.In the mid 30's in Europe, whenteacher training began to shift fromprofessional schools to universities,many hoped that this shift wouldresult in each teacher becoming alsoa research worker. In fact, teachertraining was transferred to univer-sities and the profession becamemote institutionalized, but theresearch objective was not a com-plete success. In literacy, researchobjectives should be more integrat-ed in local literacy planning.

A genuine training/research atti-tude is of paramount importance in4he field of adult literacy because,on one hand, literacy strategies foryoungsters even if they are wellsupplemented by research havepartially failed (especially in lowsocio-economic areas) and, on theother hand, the body of researchand knowledge on adult literacy indeveloped countries is quite limit-ed. Furthermore, learning in theliteracy place is highly important;ultimately, it is in the literacy

5 7

place, in the daily practice, thatpractitioners use or apply theknowledge and skills they haveacquired by reading, by Nchangeswith colleagues or from more for-mal training.

One might object that it takesmoney to do training and researchand that adequate funding for liter-acy is already difficult to obtain.That is a reality and literacy work-ers and organizations should stillbe involved in lobbying for ade-quate funding of literacy activities.Having said that, there are specificfunding programmes for researchand practitioners' training (eg. theNational Literacy Secretariat's pro-gramme); and it is written nowherethat research activities can only bedone by Canada-wide organiza-tions or universities! 'Action-research' (la recherche-action) andqualitative research are types ofresearch particularly suitable forlocal literacy projects and fundingmay be obtained for it. Action-research is particularly interestingbecause it is easy for literacy work-ers to verify their reflections indaily practice, and also easy forthem to experiment with somehypotheses in their own practice.

Creditation Programmes

Here, we will concentrate onuniversity programmes thoughcreditation may also be offeredin colleges.

It would be a mistake to think thatinitial training for literacy practi-tioners should be a specific literacyprogramme. Adult literacy is a newarea of intervention, and researchon literacy and related areas is lim-ited. Furthermore, literacy is at thecmssroads of many disciplines(education, sociology, psychology,linguistics, etc.) and in the field ofadult illiteracy/literacy those disci-plines still have not mergedtogether in an interdisciplinaryperspective. Ideally, literacy practi-

tioners should acquire a solid basictraining in a pertinent field (educa-tion, linguistics, sociology ...). Then,specific literacy training.could becomplementary and effective.Therefore, programmes like sum-mer seminars or certificates arecertainly useful but represen . o -tlyone area of the potential contribu-tion of universities.

As stated earlier, recognition ofexperience is an important issue.Furthermore, any university pm-gramme should be able to makesome individual choices based onprevious training and on the experi-ence and specific objectives of eachpractitioner (eg. courses relating toassessment, sociolinguistics, peda-gogy, computer use in education...).This flexibility is not synonymous,especially in formalized pro-grammes, with a cafeteria systemwhem everybody makes only indi-vidual choices; elements of aprogramme should be integrated ina coherent ensemble. For instance,in the Université du Quebec(Montreal) literacy certificate, wetried to organize the programmeinto three complementary areas:theory of literacy, strategy for liter-acyz and methodology of literacy.

There should be some kind of inte-gration of training in the literacyplace, short professional workshopsand credited training in universi-ties. University training shouldbe critical. A statement made afew years ago by the McGillUniversity's Faculty of Educationseems to apply quite well to liter-acy: "it is the proper role of the uni-versity to offer alternatives, thevision of other ways, the taste ofirrelevance, the scent of anarchyand a reverence of excellence".

Often, university training is saidto be too theoretical. That may betrue, but it is not necessarily nega-tive. Theory represents a specificpotential contribution of universi-ties and, if the theory is adequate-

163-

158

ly presented and acquired, it mayhave great practical effects in litera-cy practices. On the other hand, onecould say that practical training isoften tooi ractical with not enoughreflection mbedded in the process.Ideally, there should be some kindof equilibrium between theory andpractice.

IIWe need to build

research, writing, andreflection into literacy

Iprograms (but when?).

... importance of lit-eracy workers writing,producing ideas,exchanging ideas in thefield of literacy...theimportance of staffenrichment and profes-sional development ona regular basis.


ELSA AUERBACH DESCRIBED a participatory learning project among adult Haitian Creole

speakers and Intern teachers in Boston which exemplifies Fernando Cardenars Ideas on

helping learners become teachers. Auerbach explained that as she is the only non-Haitian In

the project, and she should not be representing It here.

Study of a written dialogue from Creole participants generated the following issues: the

urgency to complete educational programs then move on to °real life% conflicting Ideas about

relating research to practise; tensions between learners' and teachers' decisions; and the

value of first language literacy for knmigrants. Auerbach dscussed how these issues have

largely dssipated since the inception of the project.

First, the project tried to enact a fully participatotyapproach by relating all instruction to

issues and themes in the lives of the cultural community, confronting and resolving the

differential of power between teachers and learners, and challenging policies of English-only

by focusing on Creole literacy.

Second, the project used five successful processes:1) teacher sharing at weekly meetings;

2) problem-posing (rather than problem solving) by all participants; 3) mentoting to bridge

between all levels; 4) ongoing inquiry trying out new approaches In instruction; and 5) culturel

contextualizIng by referring to materials from litersq campaigns in Haiti.

Third, key tools used were language experience stories, photo stories and dalogues, Creole

readings, and key words for a North American context.

Participants were interested in Auerbach's approach to teacher prepardon, community

building, power-sharing, valorizing student's first language (especially a stigmatized one like

Creole), interpersonal sensitivity, and ongoing questioning. Some will reconsider their

concepts of expertise and authority in order to be more sensitive to students' cultures and

values, to experiment with less structured programs, and to reshape their ideas of teacher

accreditation.

... from the FaciNtakir's Report

MOVING OM FROM

LEARNER TO TEACHER

WHAT KIND OF PROGRAM HELPS

LEARNERS, WHO WANT TO BECOME

TEACHERS, SUCCEED? INVESTIGATE

A UNIQUE COLLABORATION BETWEEN

THE COMMUNITY AND THE UNIVERSITY,

WHERE A LITERACY TEACHING

EDUCATION PROJECT HELPS FORMER

LITERACY LEARNERS BEI.:OME

LITERACY WORKERS IN THEIR

COMMUNITIES.

Elsa Auerbach

As more and more immigrants and refugees line up at the doorsof adult education centers, the challenges for educators becomeincreasingly complex. Classes are large, waiting lists are long,

resources are limited and the pressure to move students quickly throughprograms is great. A growing percentage of students have little or no priorschooling, are unable to read and write in their first language (L1) andhave barely begun to learn English. Classes are mixed in terms of level,educational background and language group. Teachers often share neitherlanguage nor socio-cultural background with the students. The leastliterate students are lost in class, making virtually no progress, and oftendrop out, Teachers have a hard time finding out about students' concernsand strengths, are frustrated by the conflicting demands of a diverse groupand often don't know what to do with the 'lowest' students and the moreadvanced students' impatience with the learning pace. Since funding isincreasingly contingent on job placements and quantifiable progress (andthe least literate students take more time to show gains or become'employable% many programs are forced to turn low level students awayor relegate them to waiting lists.

At the same time, the communities of the learners are rich with peoplewho have strong first language literacy skills and deep commitment to

- 164 - 5

their own communities, but whoseEnglish skills and educationalcredentials are limited. They maybe people who were communityleaders or professionals in theirhomelands; they may be studentswho have excelled in ESL classes,helping to develop curriculum andsupporting their fellow students; orthey may be activists in theircurrent neighbourhoods and com-munities. They are intimatelyfamiliar with the needs and concernsof literacy students, as well as withissues of cultural and linguistictransition. Very often, however,even as their English improves, it isdifficult for them to find meaning-ful work. They find themselvesdoing menial jobs because of thegatekeeping mechanisms of oureconomic system which relegatesnewcomers to the bottom rungs ofthe socio-economic ladder.

The Bilingual Community LiteracyIlsining Project (BCLTP) wasdesigned to address the educationalneeds of the former group ofstudents by drawing on the strengthsand resources of the latter. It is auniversity/community collaborationin which people from the com-munities of the literacy learners(who may not have traditionaleducational qualifications but whohave demonstrated commitmentand leadership) are trained tobecome literacy instructors in theirown communities.

Background and Rationale for theProject

The need for this kind of an approachto literacy for language minoritylearners was identified in partthrough the work of the UMass/Boston Family Literacy Project. Inthat project, three community-basedadult literacy programs workedwith UMass to implement aparticipatory approach to familyliteracy. In a nutshell, we startedwith the issues and concerns ofadult literacy students and devel-

oped curricula around what wasimportant for them (see Auerbach1990). Since our approach wascontext-specific, differing from siteto site according to student needs,we were able to explore and reflecton a number of variables impactingliteracy development (including therole of teacher background factors,the role of Ll literacy instruction asa bridge to ESL, and the role of ESLlevel in implementing a participatoryapproach). What we found was:

1) Students' view of literacy as ameaning-making process andtheir ability to use literacy insocially significant ways intheir families/communitieswas enhanced by following aparticipatory process. Usingissues from their own lives ascontent increased the quantityand quality of their reading andwriting.

2) The lower the level, the moredifficult it was to implement thisprocess, especially if teachers andstudents didn't speak the samelanguage. In fact, whole groups ofstudents never even came to ESLclasses because their literacylevels impeded participation.

3) Inversely, when teachers sharedstudents' language or aspects oflife experience, finding themeswas facilitated. When L1 wasused, formerly excluded studentswere more willing to participate.

4) The conceptual content as well asthe quantity and quality of theirwritten work was enhanced whenstudents were free to use theirfirst language to develop ideas.

5) The atmosphere of trust, sharing,and communication wasfacilitated by commonalitiesbetween students and teachers.

6) Students who had participated inLl literacy classes progressedmore rapidly in ESL classes.

- 165 -

160

Thus, we began to question twowidely held assumptions: that useof English-only is always mosteffective in ESL classes, and thatnative English speakers withadvanced credentialing are alwaysmost qualified to teach ESL. Rather,we moved toward seeing theimportance of developing Llliteracy as a bridge to ESL and ofallowing for language choice in theESL classroom (where studentsdecide which langauge to usedepending on task, level, etc.). Wesaw that teachers who shared back-ground factors with students couldplay a critical role in this processbecause they have familiarity withand access to students' backgroundsand concerns; their common exper-ience and in some cases commonlanguage help in establishing trustand overcoming power differen-tials. Further, since the goal of aparticipatory approach is increasinglearner involvement in all aspects ofprogramming (from needs assess-ment to materials and curriculumdevelopment), training learners tobe come instructors seemed alogical direction.

These conclusions were by nomeans arrived at in a vacuum.Practitioners in the Boston adultliteracy community were increas-ingly calling for both Ll literacyservices and training opportunitiesfor language minority participants.Several programs developed asmall project to train students asadministrative and classroomassistants. Ll literacy classes,usually taught on a limited basis byvolunteers, were started in a fewsites. The specific impetus for ourown proposal came from the pro-grams participating in the FamilyLiteracy project which wanted to beable to support the development oflearners as teachers.

At the same time, the professionalliterature has been increasinglypointing to evidence of theimportance of L1 literacy as a basis

for L2 acquisition in (eg. Cummins1981; Rivera 1988; Weinstein 1984),focusing on expanded roles forbilingual/bicultural ESL/literacyinstructors (eg. Spiege11988; Thonis1990), and the advantages ofdrawing on Ll resources in theclassroom (eg. Co Hingham 1988). Itwas in this context that the BCLTPemerged, with the goals of:

1) training a core of bilingualliteracy interns from thecommunities of the learnersthrough a participatory trainingprocess;

2) implementing and evaluating aparticipatory approach to firstlangauge literacy instruction as abridge to ESL; and

3) evaluating the effectiveness ofthis community intern model inboth mixed language and singlelanguage contexts.

Project Design

The BCLTP began on a pilot basis inJanuary 1990 at one site, the HaitianMulti-Service Center (HMSC). Wechose to work at the HMSC becauseit is a true community center forHaitians in the Boston area. It isopen day and night, weekdays andweekends, providing ESL classes,daycare, legal assistance and coun-selling as well as housing numerousother community projects (AIDSeducation, oral history, teen healtheducation, theatre, etc.). Classes arefull to overflowing and have longwaiting lists. The project hasenabled the HMSC to establish aHaitian Creole literacy componentand later a bilingual component tobridge the transition from Creole toESL. The work at this site will bethe focus of the rest of this paper.

The core group of the Project overthe past year included a university-based coordinator (myself), a half-time Master Teacher, and fourinterns, all of whom are Haitian

with the exception of the coordinator.Participants have a range ofstrengths and community connec-tion. Jean-Marc Jean-Baptist, theMaster Teacher for the first ninemonths, has worked in the Centerfor many years. As education coord-inator, he had begun teachingCreole literacy on his own, with afew volunteers; his mother was oneof the students in his class. Recentlyhe has been appointed Director ofthe HMSC, a fact which was cele-brated by a special mass at theHaitian Catholic Church. Theinterns include Marie Julien, a long-time resident of Boston who isfluent in English and intimatelyfamiliar with the problems andneeds of the learners as a result ofher in-take work at the HMSC;Mireille Cassignol who enroled as astudent speaking virtually noEnglish when she arrived fromHaiti less than a year ago and hasnow passed her GED; RomeoEstinvil who also spoke littleEnglish when he arrived two yearsago, was involved with a literacyradio program in Haiti and asked tojoin the project to continue thiswork while studying for his GEDhere; and Liotha St. Pierre, thechurch choir leader, who asked toparticipate in the project as a way ofcontributing to her community.

Our original proposal was toprovide a ten-month, three cycletraining process for interns. Duringthe first cycle, interns wouldobserve the Master Teacher; during

second, they would take onmore teaching responsibility underhis/her supervision; and during thelast cycle, they would workindependently in pairs (with twointerns per class). Concurrently,they would participate in weeklysite-based training meetings andmonthly worKshops. We adaptedthis model to fit the needs of theHMSC so that interns would beable to serve the students on thelong waiting lists as quickly aspossible. This meant that some

- 166 - 1 01

interns with prior teaching exper-ience went directly to cycle two,working in their own classes undersupervision. Thus, from thebeginning, the project enabled theCentex to accommodate at least 75additional students. There are fourCreole literacy classes, and twobilingual beginning ESL classessupported by the program. Internsspend six to eight hours per weekteaching and two hours in atraining meeting; they receivestipends of about $325 per month.

.g

From the beginning, we felt that thetraining process should model theapproach that we are trying toimplement in literacy classes.Namely, that it be based on realissues and concerns of participants,that it be partidpatory and intersactive (with participants sharingexperiences and making decisionsas a group, rather than 'receiving'information transmitted by an'experts), and that it be contex-tualized in the cultural values andexperiences of the learrers. Wefound that this model wasn'talways easy to implem nt; likeparticipatory curriculunt develop-ment, participatory trailing had todevelop over time.

Raining started with an intensetwo-day 'pre-services workshopconducted by a leading 2articipa-tory educator from California.While the workshop itself was aneye-opening hands-on experiencein participatory methods, the carry-over to classes wasn't immediate.Likewise, the early weekly meet-ings which focused on instructionalmethods selected by the coordinatorgenerated interest and discussion inthemselves but didn't seem to havemuch impact on instruction. Thecontent of the talk was about literacyas a meaning-making process, aboutthe need to contextualize instruc-tion and connect it to social issues,but practice still focused a good

deal on isolated mechanical skills -alphabet and sound exercises, etc.On the one hand, interns expectedJean-Marc and me, as MasterTeacher and Coordinator, to tellthem what to do; and on the other,we felt a pressure to meet theirexpectations.

Gradually, we developed a differentpattern to our meetings, a pattern ofstarting with classroom realitiesand moving toward a sharing ofideas in response to them. Insteadof coming in with a training topic,we went around the circle, askingquestions, like, "What happened inyour class this week? What did youdo? How did you feel about it?What was new? What went well?What problems or issues arose?" Aswe listened to each other, we triedto identify common issues,addressing them first by namingthe concern, then asking how otherpeople experienced it, how theymight address it, and whatresources they needed (materials,training, structural support, etc.).As we talked about methods orapproaches to solving classroomproblems, we stTessed a stance ofinvestigation - that no one couldtell anyone else what to do, butrather that each teacher was ascientist of his/her own classroomwhose job was to experiment, totry something, and evaluate it.

By sharing students' concerns, weidentified our own concerns: forexample, the first question that wehad to struggle with was resistanceto the notion of a Creole class.Students felt that they had come tolearn English; they already knewCreole. Some went so far as to sayteaching Creole was a way to keepthem ignorant. As we shared waysof responding to students' queries,we realized that some of the internshad a hard time explaining therationale for the classes because theyweren't comfortable with it them-selves. We spent a great deal of timetalking about socio-political sources

of negative attitudes toward Creoleand pedagogical reasons for teach-ing literacy in Creole. As a resultof these discussions, we invited incommunity members to give work-shops on the rationale for Creoleliteracy for the whole Center. Therewas center-wide discussion aboutthe political context of the literacysituation in Haiti, various literacycampaigns and their methodologies,especially Misyon Alfa (a Freire-inspired campaign). We set upCreole training sessions for teachersand added once a week ESL classesfor Creole literacy students inresponse to their requests. Wediscussed how to use and evaluateexisting materials; identified theneed for better materials and train-ing on eliciting student stories;and we began the process of devel-oping Creole materials for the US./Boston context.

In addition, since Jean-Marc had hisown class, and I also had time to co-teach and attend interns' classesduring the summer, we were able to:

1) implement the methods that wewere discussing in meetings;

2) model the development ofmaterials based on students'issues;

3) model methods in the interns'classes; and

4) observe the strengths andchallenges facing the interns asthey taught.

In group meetings, we could tellour stories alongside everyone else,breaking down the expert/ learnerdistinction. Dialogue about sharedexperiences (where we each talkedabout the same situation from differ-ent perspectives) seemed to validateand draw out the interns' expertise.A kind of cross-fertilization tookplace, with one intern's strengthsbecoming the inspiration for othersto try new things.

- 167 -

f

" I am NOT theexpert. I am in this tolearn what to do andhow to do it. This canonly be done byconsulting with tutors,trainers and learnersas equals.

Many were excitedby how students andinterns learned andcollaborated byquestioning andchallenging themethodology andgradually come toappreciate their ownlanguage and stories.

Maybe we aremarginalizing ourprofession by anoverconcern with'credentializing'ourselves to makeourselves moreprofessional. //


//Perhapswe are

not valuing our ownlife and professionalexperiences sufficiently.

How does literacy inCreole really helpliteracy in English?What are the ttansitionpoints? Would it be agood idea to go fromCreole to French firstsince Creole is basedon French?

I liked the sharing ofthe power, the trustingof the teachers todevelop a method thatwould work'

from Participant's Response Cards

lb summarize, our trainIng modelincluded the following elements:

1) teacher-sharing, starting withparticipants' practice as the basisfor mutual learning;

2) problem-posing, identifyingteaching issues and drawing ongroup resources to add, : ss them;

3) mentoring and modelling, pairingmore and less experiencedteachers with each other tofacilitate teaching bydemonstration and dialogue;

4) experimenting, encouraging astance of inquiry and practidonerresearch within the classroom;

5) cultural contextualizing, drawingon culturally familiar teachingmodels and on communityresources.

Curriculum Development andMaterials

The curriculum developmentprocess has mirrored the trainingprocess to a large extent. While atthe beginning, curriculum concernsfocused on finding the single 'best'set of materials or methods toimplement in the classroom, wehave moved toward developing arange of context-specific methods,tools and materials. Where theinitial focus was on transmittingskills, often in a decontextualized,mechanical way (copying letters orwords in isolation), the focus in theclasses now is more on findingways to link dialogue aboutstudents' reality and needs in aNorth American context to readingand writing. Interns have movedfrom seeing instruction as puttingthings into students' heads towardseeing it as drawing out what's intheir heads.

A number of issues arose as wetried to implement a participatoryapproach in the classroom:

- 168

1) students wanted a textbook,seeing it as the legitimate vehiclefor learning;

2) it wasn't easy to elicit students'stories/concerns because neitherinterns nor students are familiarwith the process;

3) developing materials fromstudents' stories was a time-consuming job.

Thus, we started by working withexisting materials as a basis formoving toward our own curricu-lum. We set ourselves the task ofexploring the appropriateness oftwo Creole literacy texts for use in aNorth American context, Goute Seland Aprunn Li. Ultimately, wedecided to take elements we likedfrom each, with each intern tryingwhat felt comfortable in his/hersituation.

As a group, we have begunidentifying mokle for a NorthAmerican context, based both oninterns' own lived experience of theHaitian reality in Boston and onwhat emerges from classroominteraction with students. Sincestudents like having a text, severalinterns use Goute Sel as a startingpoint or catalyst for discussion,adapting the themes to their realityin Boston and using them as a basisfor cultural comparison. As studentsdiscuss issues or stories from theirlives, teachers write their stories,using a language experienceapproach. In some classes, internsuse culture-specific genre, likeproverbs and riddles to generatediscussion, or Haitian songs astexts. We have begun collectingCreole newspaper articles andpolitical cartoons to address theneed for more sophisticatedmaterials. One class has begunidentifying themes and developingtexts using a Polaroid camera: eachstudent is given the camera for onenight and told to take a picture of"something that's important for

1

Haitians living in Boston". Studentscollect the pictures and select onefor the day's lessm. Discussionquestions include, "What do yousee in this picture?" and "what doesthis picture make you thinkabout?". The intern writes keywords from this discussion on theboard and then asks, "What do youwant to say about tWs picture?".The process goes back and forthbetween writing and discussion,with each student r_ontruting asentence to the story that the internwrites. The students then read thestory horally, work cn key words,etc. ri !story is typed sith keyword E .<ercises for further work.

Central t 3 this transition from atext/teacher-centred approach to amore student-centred approach isconstant talk about the approachand methodology itself what I callmeta-talk which involves reflectingon learning. Interns constantly sharetheir reasons for eliciting studenttalk, and involve students in mak-ing decisions about what theyshould do. One intern, for example,read (and translated) a teachers'guide about the Language Exper-ience Approach to her class;another critiqued Goute Sel. Classesdiscuss why literacy involves bothconscientization and mechanicalaspects, why students have notbeen able to go to school until now(the socio-political context forilliteracy), why they are learningliteracy in Creole, and why dialogueis important to literacy acquisition.Each class participated in a groupevaluation process, discussing whatthey have learned sant to learn,like and don't like in class.

To summarize, curriculum devel-opment has centered around thefollowing tools and processes:

1) use and adaptation of Haitianliteracy Creole texts;

2) mokle (key words) developed fora North American context;

3) photography;

4) language experience stories;

5) culture-specific forms and genres(songs, proverbs, riddles);

6) authentic Creole materials (eg.cartoons, newspaper articles); andthe following content: reasons forliteracy/illiteracy, feelings aboutthe use of Creole, violence inBoston and Haiti, the politicalsituation in Haiti, culturalcomparisons (families in Haiti/U.S., shopping), finding work,religion, students' personalstories, and classroom choicesand evaluation.

Impact and Issues

Although this project is still verymuch in process, and it is prematureto draw conclusions about itseffectiveness, it has already had astrong impact at the HMSC. Whileat the beginning of the electstudents resisted the idea of Creoleclasses, they now not only under-stand their importance but ask tostay in them until their literacy isstrong enough to do well in ESL.Learning Creole is no longerstigmatized and the classes are nolonger marginalized from theeducational structure of the Center.Students who began during thespring and summer are in the post-alphabetization stage now. Theytalk about being able to read andwrite longer passages, take dicta-tion and do more for themselvesoutside school. Some studentsidentify telling stories as theirgreatest strength, a strength whichthey formerly didn't recognize.Many students who were notprogressing at all before are nowmakingprogress; some have begunmoving on to ESL classes; otherswho had formerly dropped out ofthe program because they couldn'tkeep up are returning. Retentionand attendance have increasedsignificantly. In fact, the project has

- 169 -

164

11... studentsand interns learnedby questioning(challenging) themethodology andgradually came toappreciate their ownlanguage and stories.

The intern teacher'srelationship to student-learners is as importantas credentials.

We must rethinkthe emphasis oncredentials ineducation, especiallyliteracy training.

... from Partial ants' Response Cards

totally failed in reducing thewaiting list and class sizes. Moreand more students are coming tothe Center because they have heardhow good the program is andliteracy classes are overflowing. Theinterns also have made significantchanges. Their teaching is lessmechanical and more issue/dialogue-centred; they are morecomfortable with a range of toolsand methods; they have changedfrom teacher-centred to moreparticipatory teaching styles; theyhave moved from a stance ofhoping to be told what to do totaking the initiative; they havebecome investigators of their ownclassrooms, exploring a range ofmethods and materials andincreasingly involving students indiscussions about the method; theyhave become each others' bestresources in staff development.

Of course, there continue to be un-resolved inues, both pedagogicaland programmatic. Some of theseare the same concerns facing anyparticipatory literacy pmject: howto balance planning and spontaneityin the classroom; how to deal with'hot' issues (religion, violence,politics); how to elicit stories; howto integrate published materialswith student-created materials; howto challenge students' traditional,

References

teacher-centred models of educa-tion; how to work in multi-levelclasses; how to work within timeand money constraints. There is anongoing tension between trainingand service needs. Because of thepressure to service as many studentsas possible, training sometimes getsshort-changed. Further, just wheninterns are becoming comfortableand skilled in their work, they haveto make way for a new group ofinterns (because the grant limitstraining to ten months). Thus, thebiggest challenge facing us is howto institutionalize this model so thatinterns can become part of theteaching staff once they have beentrained.Despite these problems and thevery preliminary nature of ourwork, the BCLTP suggests twopowerful new directions to explorein the next decade: the first isincorporating Ll bilingual ESLcomponents as an integral part ofeducational provision for adultESL/literacy students; the second isopening the ranks of practitionersto people from the communities ofthe learners. Breaking down thetraditional barriers betweenprofessional educators, communitypeople and learners can onlybroaden our rtsources in facing thechallenges of the nineties astogether we teach and learn.

Auerbach, E. 1990. Making Meaning, Making Change: A Guide to Participatory CurriculumDevelopment for Adult ESL and Family Literacy. Boston: University of Massachusetts/Boston.

Gollingham, M. 1988. Making use of students' linguistic resources. in S. Nicholls and E.Hoadley-Maidment, Current Issues in Teaching English as a Second Language to Adults. London:Edward Arnold, 81-85.

Cummins, M. 1981. The role of primary language development in promoting educational success forlanguage minority students. In California State Department of Education Schooling andLanguage Minority Stitdents: A Theoretical Framework. Los Angeles: California State University,3-49,

Rivera, K. 1988. Not "Either/Or" but "And": Literacy for non-English Speakers. Focus on Basics,1:3/4 (Spring/Sununer), 1-3.

Spiegel, M. 1990. Teaching English as a Second Language: Who Should Mach Language MinorityStudents? Reading Today (June/July), 19.

Weinstein, G. 1984. Literacy and Second Language Acquisition: Issues and Perspectives. TESOLQuarterly, XVIII: 3(Sept.) 471-484.

- 170 -

//How to handle

our need to control,our fear things will fallapart if we don't knowwhat we are doing -or if we admit this toour students.

... looking criticallyat different teachingstyles.

...the use of teachinginterns from the sameracial / socioeconomicgroup.


TRACKING THE PROCESS:III DESIGN, IDEAS, INITIATIVES

TRACKING REPORT

Richard DarvilleResearch Associate, Centre for Policy Studies in Education,

University of British ColumbiaIITeacher, writer and researcher on literacyPast-president, Movement for Canadian Literacy

111 SUMMARIZING THE PROCESS

IIIJoyce CameronDevelopmental Studies Faculty Douglas CollegeCo-Chair, Literacy 2000

111Gil lies Malnarich

II Co-Chair, Literacy 2000Developmental Studies Faculty Douglas College

Catherine BissettCommunity Programmer, Douglas College

III LITERACY 2000 CONFERENCE EVALUATIONS

III FOLLOW-UP TO LITERACY 2000

.s

1 66

TRACKING THE PROCESS

HOW CAN YOU BE EVERYWHERE AT ONCE SO YOU CAN COMMENT ON ALL

THE CRITICAL ISSUES, DEBATES, AND PROGRAM IDEAS DISCUSSED AT THE

CONFERENCE? DURING LITERACY 2000 WORKSHOP FACILITATORS WILL KEEP

TRACK OF PARTICIPANTS VIEWS ON THOSE IDEAS WHICH ARE THE MOST

INTERESTING, ON PROGRAM INITIATIVES WHICH CAN BE IMPLEMENTED NOW,

AND ON THOSE ISSUES OR QUESTIONS WHICH ARE IDENTIFIED AS BEING

ESPECIALLY SIGNIFICANT FOR FUTURE WORK. YOU WILL BE ASKED TO WRITE

DOWN YOUR COMMENTS ON INDEX CARDS AT THE END OF EACH WORKSHOP.

FACILITATORS WILL MEET WITH THE CONFERENCE TRACKER TO PREPARE THE

TRACKING REPORT FOR THE NEXT DAY'S PLENARY. AND, IF SOMETHING HAS BEEN

MISSED, THE OPEN FORUM AFTER THE TRACKERS PRESENTATION ALLOWS

EVERYONE TO HAVE A SAY.

Richard Darville

Tacking Report

First Session

In the first tracking session, I wanted to do two things: first, to describesome of the outstanding themes that people wrote in response to theopening plenary, and then to focus on one issue that has come up in thediscussion.

After tie opening plenary, many people reflected on whose agendaliteracy is, and looked to the larger social, economic and political comext.Most were sceptical concerning ideas about workplace literacy if that isdefined front above; some were sceptical about the idea of functional literacyif that is based on an assumption that lacking a skill is always having aproblem. At least one person noted that mass media are propagandisticand anti-learning, and that to become knowledgeable and to havea voiceis to swim against the tide.

Many people noted our present releively good fortune, with concern overwhether financial support for literacy will continue in recession andrestraint and in particular support for innovation.

Many connected literacy to broade sociai movements (including peoplewho are women, workers, native, francophones, hearing impaired, older,and others) to social justice issues. Some, however, were cautious about thisapproach; they said the social justice questions are important but theysound socialistic, or that literacy work so broadly conceived is hani to

- 173 -

167

distinguish from social work. Clearly, there needs to be more discussionwithin the literacy movement about these broader questions.

Every connection to a social movement raises a series of further questions.Regarding just one example, aboriginal literacy, people raisedquestionsabout teaching literacy in native languages to help in their preservation,and how this relates to literacy in English or French that is more exten-sively, and officially, used. People raised questions about whether literacyitself is a kind of relation to a mainstream culture that is alien to aboriginaltraditions.

From the plenary and the first workshops, one prominent theme con-cerning literacy is a learners' agenda - learners defining what literacy isand what should be learned. These questions about learners raise a seriesof parallel questions about practitioners and how they can learn to assistand support a learners' movement These questions have arisen at thisvery Conference, with learners reporting that some of the plenarypresentations were hard to understand, or with some learners in work-shops evidently being confused about how to use the response cards thathave been handed out

Many of the questions have to do with connections between speakingand writing, or what can be called orality and literacy Literacy of courseis 'marks on paper', as the play called them -frozen words. Orality issimply words that people speak; once they've been said they're gone;they're not frozen but runny.

For learners to take more control over literacy programs involves usingthe frozen words, the paperwork of meetings and bureaucracies. This bringsup some hard questions. For example, for learner involvement, there needsto be ways of making sure everybody understands the agenda - the listof what we will do at the meeting. We need to find ways a making sureeverybody understands the minutes - the record of what people said -and to find ways of letting as many people as possIle learn to take theminutes. Then, of course, there are the bureau-cratic forms and thegovernment policy statements that are often confusing even to practitioners.

The questions about the runny words may be even harder, at least harderfor university-educated practitioners. When we talk we very often mixinfrozen words. We refer to things we've read. We assume other peoplehave also read them. To engage with learners who are taking controlrequires that we talk differently. Talking differently means we need alsoto think differently. We need to explain more. We need to locate theknowledge more in our experience and with other people in the room,and less in the books. This is a tall order.

The Mission Statement of the Learner Action Group of Canada, that washeard in the plenary session, raises three questions for us to consider:

1. Do you agree?

2. To increase learner involvement, what are the first things youwould do?

3. What would give you a hard time?

- 174 - 1 re

Second Session

In the conference discussions there has been a striking attention toparticulars and contexts. Facilitators reporting on workshops repeatedlysay that people ask persistent, particular questions - wanting to knowhow it works, what you do, how often it meets, where the money comesfrom - about a particular program in particular circumstances. That is,most of the discussion has not been ideological. It has not been aboutlooking for one right way of doing things, on abstract principle.

At the same time, people have over and over wanted to understand theseparticulars and contexts in terms of the question of whose agenda literacyis. Teaching and learning have been related to broader social and econ-omic processes.

SOO

Four themes have emerged from workshops and discussions.

The first theme is, again, learner-centred literacy work, and literacy as alearners' movement. In workshops and corridors there has been a lot ofdiscussion of this. Some people hve sounded notes of caution: thatteacher and learner interests aren't always the same; that involvementin operating programs means going to meeting after meeting, somethingthat practitioners get tired of; that there is immense time required torewrite various reports so that everyone can read them.

People have also said that the important thing is to open up a forum fordiscussion, to hear what people say and think. (After all, as one personsaid on a note, "New learners are not new thinkers.")

Several workshops have let us see some of the new ways of thinking andacting that appear when learners and communities are at the centre ofliteracy work. Several workshops have described ways that learners ormembers of learners' communities can be central in teaching or recruiting.The Ontario Federation of Labour BEST program trains union membersto serve as teachers of co-workers. In the University of MassachusettsFamily Literacy Project, Haitian Creole learners - who can speak withother learners in their mother tongue - are the teachers. They aresupported by the program coordinator. In Sweden, experiments inputting recruitment work for basic education programs into the h.andsof trade unions and other popular organizations have produced sig-nificant increases in participation.

Other workshops have shown us that teaching itself changes whenlearners take the lead. Literacy may not be the greatest interest; it doesn'topen all doors. To involve people with limited literacy, we need to seethat. For example, a program at East End Literacy in Toronto started outas the Family Literacy Group, but changed itself into the Family IssuesGroup; women still worked on their reading and writing skills, butliteracy work came to focus equally on advocacy with the Board ofEducation for plain language and against psychological jargon. TheSnowdrift Chipewyan Project in the Northwest Territories has learnedthat a whole language method may not work for some aboriginallearners, indeed that the forms of progressive pedagogy we have workedlong and hard to develop can be a burden for some.

,/ . 1A-8

Workshops have also shown us that one important area of movement inreducing distance between teachers and learners is among women. In theFamily Issues Group, again, all participants are women, and this makes thediscus-sion flow. In the conference workshop on women's needs forliteracy, many women and men present sensed the equalizing of relation-ships that happens when the conditions of women's lives are put at thecentre of discussion.

A second theme of many workshops has be I workplace literacy. Thesituation is extremely complex.

Some of what we have learned turns conventional wisdom on its head. Weoften think of limited skill as creating need and frustration. But theStatistics Canada Survey of Lamy Skills Used in Daily Aztivities shows thatmost workers, like most people with limited literacy, are satisfied withtheir abilities.

We often think of technological change as producing increased literacydemands. But a description of work in British Columbia sawmills hasemphasized that technology often makes training shorter and work lessliterate. In a different way, WORKBASE in England has learned thatliteracy work may not come out of enlarged jobs, but may itself be a toolfor challenging the organization of unskilled work, and the low status andpower of unskilled workers.

On the other hand, we've heard that some familiar truths are still true.Workers who come to programs want not only job skills, but also a greatercapacity to talk with doctors, mak ." iends, read to kids, and so on. Andunorganized workers and unemplc../ed workers often feel the greatestneeds for increased literacy and for educational certificates.

Employers' interests and responses to literacy issues vary tremendously.The OFL's BEST program has found that many employers value literacyprograms for the higher morale that workers in them have. Other em-ployers, we heard candidly from a B.C. forest industry executive, respondto literacy awareness primarily by dghtening up their testing and screen-ing of new employees.

Finally, educators in workplace literacy, we have heard, often don'tunderstand employers, don't understand unions, and have a lot to learnabout how to operate in these settings. Part of the learning involves theartful compromises to be made between educators' views, management'sviews and workers' and unions' views.

Another theme has been training for tutors and for paid literacy workers.Several workshops looked at training issues for practitioners of differentvarieties.

In the Hackney project, the thoughtful coordination of tutors begins withinterviews that ask why volunteers want to teach, and why they want toteach adults. People are sometimes told to volunteer elsewhere. There is acareful training process, and also an understanding that the most difficulttask for a volunteer is one-to-one tutoring, away from the supportive

- 176 -71)

dynamic of a group, and with no backup at hand. There are mutes forvolunteers to move on to paid work. The BEST program, again, usesworkers as teachers, and gives about three weeks' training.

Also in England, AL&SU recognizes prior learning in its training andcertification of literacy practitioners. The training can range beyond 20and 80 hours. (Eighty hours is about equivalent to two one-term Canadianuniversity courses.)

Training before doing literacy work is, of course, not the only possibility.Workshops here conducted by literacy researchers have emphasizedtraining in the program, practitioners reflecting on their practice, prac-titioners writing. This requires, of course, that literacy practitioners havelime, on the job, to engage in such reflection.

'fraining can come round and hit us in the back of the head. There's a storyfrom Quebec about this. As a result of recent policy changes in Quebec.every permanent school board teacher has to have a university certificate;now hundreds of teachers (mostly women) are losing jobs, includingpeople with ten years and more of experience.

There is obviously a question h' : how can training for practitionersstrengthen literacy work and LILA disorganize by bureaucratizing it?

.8

Finally a few remarks about funding for literacy programs, and policy andsocial justice.

What we do in literacy work is often to create spaces where people canbecome more than they have been. More and more often the voices oflearners are heard. In the process, many truths are brought to light inpublic, in writing, including questions about how literacy is related topoverty and how it is related to the oppression of women. In these waysand others, in literacy work there's a genuine democratic impetus.

Yet across Canada we are doing these things under conservative regimes.Although many governments promote literacy, they don't promote fullerdemocracy and economic justice. There aren't official policies to reducegaps in education, income, political resources. There's some truth in apicture of literacy as an issue that's been hoisted onto the agenda with in-tentions of increasing productivity and competitiveness, but which,onceit is on the agenda, opens up very different possibilities.

This is a complicated and risky situation. My observation is that we needto get better at describing and analyzing and acting on it. Let me describetwo ways that this has struck me during the conference.

At dinner one night there were speeches from visiting politicians. As theytalked, or rather read their speeches, many of us hissed and groaned,although not very noisily. Hisses don't explain themselves, but I suspectwe hissed because we listen to the politicians' words and hear themrepresenting a system that doesn't share many aims of literacy work. Yetthe politicians' presence is puzzling at the same time, because those menand the system that they speak for are a direct part of the social processthat brought us all to New Westminster.

- 177 -

Here's another way I've been struck at the conference by the complicatedand risky situation we're in. There's been, quite rightly, some discussion ofthe B.C. government's failure to respond very positively to therecommendations of the literacy advisory committee that it set up. It's nota secret, but only a few people here know just where the recommendationsare stuck. They have been supported by the Ministry of AdvancedEducation, but the cabinet committee that oversees spending has refusedto consider them before the budget-planning process for next year. I'm notsaying this is good news. But it's important to understand such thingsabout how the government bureaucracy works (about politicians too,ofcourse). It's important to understand such things so that we don't just treatgovernment like a black box, and bang on the outside of it withoutknowing what's going on inside that we might affect.

Raising these reflections about funding, policy and social justice just keepsleading on to difficult questions. How should we think about and workwith people who are both somewhat on our side, and somewhat not? Howcan we push forward the understanding of literacy as a human right, sothat partial interests in literacy for productivity, or for functioning, don'tcome to stand for the whole interest in literacy?

I'm sure you can add to the questions.

SUMMARIZING THE PROCESS

Joyce Cameron, Gi Hies Malnanch, Catherine Bissett

The catalogue description of the tracking process is what we hopedwould occur at Literacy 2000. Workshop writeups in the catalogueposed questions to focus attention on critical issues. The keynote

speaker was selected to provide a global perspective, and panelists fromvaried literacy backgrounds were asked to define these issues. Ratherthan solicit speakers, we invited presenters who could contribute toforwarding literacy workers' thinking arid practise. Rooms and a noticeboard were provided for "hot topics", so participants could add or con-tinue workshops. Response cards were designed so participants couldbriefly comment on issues in each workshop. Facilitators were assignedto the opening plenary and each workshop to summarize and report onissues expressed in discussion and on the cards. A tracker was chosen tosynthesize the reports and identify emerging key Issues. Plenaries wereset throughout the conference to encourage debate. A closing workingbrunch was organized so participants could plan follow-up activitiesand network.

What did this actually look like in practise?

Presenters were asked to speak on the issues outlined in the cataloguedescriptions of workshops and to allow a minimum of one-half hourfor debate and discussion. Most presenters did this. Despite writtenguidelines, however, some presenters ignored or only partly addressedtheir topic and some delivered lectures. This obviously limited debate.(All presenters will be sent the index cards from their workshop and sowill receive participants' feedback on the issues and, to some extent, onthe presentaqon.)

Some participants took advantage of the opportunity to organize hot topicsessions. These were organized on popular education with FernandoCardenal, on the B.C. government's response to the Provincial LiteracyAdvisory Committee's recommendations, and on successful literacy grantapplications for cost-shared funds. As well, one scheduled workshopcontinued into the next session. Unfortunately, only one such sessionappointed a facilitator and taped the session. Hot topics do seem to be avaluable way to make emerging issues legitimate, but their contributionto the conference could have been stronger if they had been reported tothe tracker or at plenary sessions.

The response cards were instrumental in identifying key issues andcon-cerns. The facilitators, who met as a group with the tracker along with oneconference Chair after each workshop block, found participants' commentsthoughtful and clearly based on rich experience. Some partid-pants foundthe cards' questio is awkward or had difficulty responding immediately,but many more felt it was a useful means of focusing their thoughts. Thepurpose of the cards, though, should have been explained at each work-shop so that those who missed the opening plenary would understand thetracking process. As well, the process needs to be adapted to allow

- 179-

173

learners to participate comfortably. For example, the arrangement ofsupport people to assist students needs to be more structured and oralresponses should be an option.

After each facilitators' meeting, the tracker discussed issues with one,two or all three conference organizers to decide on the focus of the plenaryreport. It proved to be extremely difficult for a small group to pull togetherthe range, variety and depth of workshop discussions and for one personto adequately report. Later, Richard Daryl lle, the tracker, wrote:

"My sense as tracker was that the dynamics of the debate weren'ttracked. These were very complicated and rich and not easilyrepresented, even if they were present in the collection of facilitators'reports. What happened was that some particular themes got fedback to the general conference."

Richard's remarks coincide with those from many of the participants.They felt that the process would have worked better if more people hadparticipated, especially in the plenary presentations. Some participantssaid that having a male tracker did not reflect the gender composition ofthe field and was sexist.

A few participants suggested the physical set-up of the plenaries hindereddebate. The threatre-type seating and light focused on the stage madecross-discussion difficult.

Despite these drawbacks, many evaluation cards expressed enthusiasmfor the tracking process and the oppor-tunity to hear about otherworkshops. It appears that this attempt at capturing, disseminating andstimulating debate was worthwhile, but it requires refinements that moreexperience will make possible.

The working brunch on Sunday received mixed reviews. Some felt it wasterrific and very useful in planning new directions. Others enjoyed thefood and company but thought it was too tiring and scattered. How canconferences come to a conclusion which draws on past days and lays plansfor the days to come, given that people are tired and need to catch planes?This is a conundrum which is yet to be resolved, and one faced by allconference organizers.

Our objectives for Literacy 2000 were ambitious. They have not beencompletely realized, but we have been encouraged by the contributionthe conference has made to helping participants and ourselves evaluateand reformulate our present work and plans for future work.

- 180 - 174

LITERACY 2000 CONFERENCE EVALUATIONS

Did the Conference achieve its goals?

1. Did it explore innovative programmes and research?

I particularly enjoyed and made maximum use ofthe opportunity to learn about and dialogue withinternational literacy contacts.

I really enjoyed the high quality information oninnovative work.

2. Did it provide a forum for identifying and debatingimportant issues?

One thing that really sticks in my mind is that we don'tlose sight of why we are involved in literacy programmingand who the programming is for.

Although fatigued, I would like more occasions like theworking brunch, maybe sooner than the last morning. Iknow sometimes this doesn't work but in this case for methe discussion was stimulating, new people, good sharing.

I believe that the diversity of literacy initiatives is a strongpoint. We shouldn't be the same. We should recognize thatpeople can have different ideas about literacy.

The plenary helped me integrate the information andorganize the concepts.

Richard's summaries and exploration of aspects ofdifferent themes was excellent.

Plenary, tracking, Sunday morning, excellent.

Exciting debate came of the conference.

The "Hot Topic" sessions were a valuable addition to thescheduled workshop/forums.

181- 175

Sunday plenary very interesting and could have been longer.Plenary sessions and tracker system providedopportunities. We participants in forums probably needsome skill-training in efficient use of such opportunities.

... however ...

I do not feel that the kind of depth I would have liked wasreached in debating some of the issues surroundingliteracy. They were clearly identified but not grappledwith.

The physical limitations of the theatre negativelyimpacted the possibility of a real forum with real dialogue.

Too much descriptions and complacency. Not enoughissues.

Sometimes I feel we got too caught up in language andterms and identifying issues instead of debating them.

'Ib a certain extent - but we could have had more "openforums" i.e. slightly smaller groups than the plenary, tryto cover more than one program issue.

Could be more available time for dialogue.

3. Did it extend literacy networks?

I'm happy to have had the introduction to 'he NationalLiteracy Database.

... however ...

This was good, but also I would have liked more time todevelop this so that we could be sure it worked after theconference.

4. DR.& it encourage planning futurr literacyinitiatives?

Planning committees should be organized on a regularbasis, probably community-based.

Lot to discuss and debate at furthei (future) conferences.

- 182 -

Provided a good setting for discession on future initiatives.

... however ...

Probably, but I feel singularly uninspired - in some casesmy time was wasted by people who want to fix every-thing for everyone and make everyone equal - its adream!!! We're not all the same and we don't all want thesame things.

Dd the following aspects of the Conferencestructure and design work?

1. Workshop index/response cards

Good exercise to write down ideas. Need better, morethorough summary so we can see how responses arebeing heard.

Helped me focus on some key points from theworkshops.

A rating and suggestion box would be useful.

Good to reflect and collect immediately.

Very well done!

... however ...

Difficult to fill out in framework of questions asked.

It seemed such a good idea - but for me it felt jarring andI didn't feel it was clear what the purpose was.

You'd have to be some kind of a genius to answer thosequestions in "2 or 3 minutes"!

But I wanted an opportunity to critique the facilitators/presenters and the cards didn't allow a framework forthis.

2. Tracker and plenary sessions

It was a good process for tying ,logether a variety of thoughtsthat were emerging across the various workshops.

Appreciated the overview of the whole conference. Themost frustrating part about conferences is not being ableto be at more places at once. Tracker helped.

I can only judge from the plenary session on Saturday.Impressive.

Very informative and helpful.

I think the tracking experiment was successful. TheSaturday plenary waS a little fuzzy, but the Sunday wasmat. The exactitude of the summaries from the front ledto focused and specific debate.

It was wonderful to hear about workshops I missed.

...however ...

A brief summary of each workshop may have been moreuseful. No one could attend all. Concept of cooperativelearning possibility should have been applied.

Should have focused on diversity not tried to present theoverall view.

Would have preferred to have a group track theconference and different people report back at pienaly

Would have preferred a woman as tracker or as one of thetrackers.

A more conducive physical environment would havehelped - use of flip charts or posters or overheads wouldhave kept themes before us and encourage dialogue.

Plenary session needs to be in a setting so people cancomfortably discuss issues presented. Good idea to breakup plenary throughout conference vs. saving it for endwhen most people have left.

Yes but ... I had some trouble with one person (whitemale, academic etc.) interpreting and analyzing theinformation for us - perhaps 2 or 3 or 4 need to play thatrole.

Plenary sessions a bit long-winded.

- 164 - 178

3. Working brunch

This was so positive. Rarely do we have a chance atIconferences to actually plan for social change.

Very good wind-up of the conference, to create more of aIunified feeling in the struggle to gain acknowledgement.

Valuable to discuss with others. Again found anIinformative source in discussing issues with individuals.

A good opportunity to meet in smaller groups aroundIcommon issues.

Some useful ideas. People could have been 'prepped' aIlittle better to achieve more focus.

It was an excellent opportunity to share/e-,.change ideasIand initiative - discuss strategies to improve networking.

Fun mostly.

Sunday brunch tasty and interesting.

... however ...

People too "conferenced out" to eat, talk and walk.

Too scattered lunch meetings of strangers are not easilyproductive.

Nice idea but not enough time to work well. Would havebeen good to have this on Saturday over dinner so that wewould have had some time to shape ideas/plansovernight.

Oddly unsatisfactory - perhaps because we wereconferenced out.

Commen ts abount Conference Organization:

You did a good job of organizing the conference. Theenormity of the task is staggering. Well done! Why notinvolve MORE learners. If literacy is to be learner-basedwhy were there only 11 learners in attendance? Maybe we

111

are simply promoting more elitism.

- 185 -

179

I really appreciated the fact that people from an over wereat this conference. It helps to bring in ideas that are new tous. You did a great job. I was impressed with theorganization.

Good networking breaks between sessions: 1/2 hourcoffee break is good.

Open forums, especially as time goes on, are great idea.

Great conference.

Great organization. No glitches. Congratulations.

Loved the politkcal directions that led to choii:es ofworkshops, topics and presenters.

...however ...

Should have been more learner involvement i.e.attendance and panel discussions.

- 186- 1E0

FOLLOW-UP TO LITERACY 2000

WOULD PARTICIPANTS BE WILUNG TO HOST POST-CONFERENCE SYMPOSIUMS?

THE CONFERENCE PLANNING COMMITTEE WOULD LIKE THIS REPORT TO BECOME

THE BASIS FOR FUTURE WORKING SYMPOSIUMS WHERE INITIATIVES IN

RESEARCH, PRACTISE, AND PROGRAM MODELS CAN BE SHARED AND COMMON

CONCERNS CAN BE DISCUSSED AND ACTED ON.

These are some specific undertakings initiated asa result of Literacy 2000:

Trade unionists who attended have initiated theestablishment of a Literacy Advisory Committee withinthe B.C. Federation of Labour.

The Adult Basic Education Association of B.C. andLiteracy B.C. have applied for funding to host a forum onvolunteerism and instructor accreditation to establishsome provincial policies on these two issues.

A network of feminist literacy workers is being set upthrough the Canadian Congress of Learning Opportunitiesfor Women.

Douglas College is developing an affiliation with theNicaraguan Institute for Popular Education and Research.

The National Adult Literacy Databank now has a listing ofparticipants who expressed interest in issues which wereor became a focus dui ing the conference, so furthernetworking is possible.

The Adult Literacy Contact Centre in Vancouver will loantapes of the Literary 2000 opening plenary and work-shops. (#622 510 W. Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C.V6B 1L8 phone 604/684-0624)

General outcomes of the conference includethe following:

Several programs are considering adapting the Puentemodel for their specific situations.

According to feedback which we have received, changeswhich insure a more equal representation of students willbe occurring in many programs as a result of the focuswhich this issue received at the conference.

Several people have told us that they intend to applyaspects of Literacy 2000's design to promote debateduring conferences which they are planning.

Student writings which were on display during theconference will be used in displays promoting literacy.

WORKSHOP FACILITATORS

OPENING PLENARY

Hilary Cheung, Brenda Brak len, Valerie Oszust, Carol St. Jean, Donna Stephens,

Mary Alice Johnson, Marie Grinstrand, Lynn Fogwill, Basha Rahn, Marina Melnikoff

DEFINING LITERACY: CONCEPTION & STRATEGIES

UNDERSTANDING LITERACY AS A DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESS Paula DavisCLOSING GAPS BETWEEN RESEARCH AND PRACTISE Trudy LothiarREVEALING FACTS: STATISTICS CANADA'S 1990 STUDY Jean Cockburn

MEETING LEARNER NEEDS: PERSPECTIVES & DIRECTIONS

LEARNERS SPEAK OUT

PUENTE PROJECT: BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA

TALKING ABOUT LIVES: PLANNING PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN

ALBSU'S STUDENT ACCREDITATION INITIATIVE

REACHING OU'T: LITERACY & THE COMMUNITY

BREAKING THE STIGMA/RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES: SWEDEN

READ-WRITE: KINGSTON, ONTARIO

HACKNEY LEARNING CENTRE: LONDON, ENGLAND

REGINA LIBRARYS LITERACY TUTORS: SASKATCHEWAN

COMBINING PRACTICE & THEORY IN COMMUNITY LITERACY

APPLYING FRIERE, RE-THINKING CONCEPTIONS: QUEBEC

PROMOTING LEARNER-DRIVEN PROGRAMS

INTERPRETING LITERACY: CULTURE & CONTEXT

TAKING MULTILINGUAL ISSUES INTO ACCOUNT: TORONTO

TREATING LEARNERS AS EXPERTS: HALIFAX NOVA SCOTIA

SNo )WDRIFT CHIPEWYAN PROJECT: NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

WORKING IT THROUGH: LITERACY & THE JOB SITE

EXCHANGING VIEWPOINTS: IDENTIFYING OBSTACLES

BEST PROJECT: ONTARIO FEDERATION OF LABOUR

READING/WRITING ON-THE-JOB: BRITISH COLUMBIA

VANCOUVER CITY HALL PROJECT: BRITISH COLUMBIA

WORKBASE: LONDON, ENGLAND

TRAINING INSTRUCTORS: EXPERIENCE & ACCREDITATION

INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATION SCHEME: ENGLAND & WALES

LEGITIMIZING PRACTITIONERS' SKILLS AND WORTH

MOVING ON: FROM LEARNER TO TEACHER

- 189 -

1 83

Brenda Pickard, Joyce Cameron

Ted James, Mia Gordon

Evelyn Battell

Robin Millar

Donalda Turkington

Judy Crawford

Don MacPherson, Lorraine Fox

Thomas Quigley

Tim Shireman

Connie Broatch, Lynn Hunter

Kate Nonesuch

Cecil Klassen

Patty Bossort

Jill Plumbley, Meg Hoppe

Mia Gordon

Linda Tosczak, David Cadman

Rob Dramer

Linda Hackett

Mary Carlisle, Mardi Joyce

Audrey Thomas

aaudette Laberge

Alister Cumming

Documents

CE 057 484 AUTHOR - ERICDOCUMENT RESUME ED 335 443 CE 057 484 AUTHOR Bossort, Patty, Ed.; And Others TITLE Literacy 2000: Make the Next Ten Years Matter. Conference Summary (New Westminster,