Women,literacy and health: comparing health and education sectoral approaches in Nepal

Functional adult literacy interventions have been regarded for many decades by policy makers as an effective way of imparting health knowledge. Supported by research on the statistical relationships between women’s literacy rates and health indicators, this dominant policy discourse is based on assumptions that non-literate women lack understanding and confidence, and that formal programmes and institutions constitute the main sites of learning. Proposing a broader conceptualisation of literacy as a social practice and of health as connected with social justice, this article draws on policy analysis and the authors’ earlier research in Nepal to re-examine the relationship between gender, literacy and health. By comparing health and literacy approaches used within the education and health sectors and taking account of new and indigenous informal learning practices, the article points to ways of investigating the complex interaction of factors that influence inequalities in gender and health at community level.     

Shaping Literacy in the Secondary School: Policy, Practice and Agency in the Age of the National Literacy Strategy

This article examines the definitions of literacy in operation in secondary schools, and the relationship between official literacy policy and the practices of the agents responsible for implementing this policy. We trace the history of national 'policy' back to the Language Across the Curriculum movement of the 1970s as it provides an illustrative point of comparison with the first five years of the National Literacy Strategy. Drawing on empirical data which illuminate the views, perceptions and practices of key agents on a number of levels, we critically review the concept of 'school literacy' promoted in government policy, defining it as 'school–centric literacy' and question its ability to facilitate participation in the practices associated with the media and technological literacies which are increasingly a feature of school life. There is evidence of some unplanned effects of the current national policy but also that levels of agency, for literacy teachers in particular, may be rapidly diminishing.     

Using PIAAC data to learn more about the literacy practices of adults

ABSTRACT

The present article connects a secondary analysis of quantitative data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) with the theoretical approach of ‘literacy practices’ and related research results from the so-called New Literacy Studies (NLS) tradition, which follows a cultural practices paradigm.

According to the literacy as social practice approach, the analysis of adults’ literacy and numeracy practices could provide relevant policy information about how to address target groups in adult literacy and basic education. Thus, a Latent Class Analysis was carried out with the German PIAAC dataset in order to differentiate the adult population by their uses of literacy, numeracy and ICT.

As a result of this procedure, three subgroups of adults can be distinguished by the frequency in which they use selected skill-related activities. Surprisingly, an adult’s individual literacy level does not clearly predict group membership. A further interesting result is that participants in one of the groups seem to compensate for the few chances they have to use their skills at work by using them more often in their everyday life. Both results contribute to the need to draw a more differentiated picture of adults with lower literacy skills.     

The Dominant Tradition in Adult Literacy – A Comparative Study of National Literacy Programmes in Botswana and Zimbabwe

The article highlights the renewed significance of adult literacy for international and national educational policy as a result of the World Educational Forum in 2000, at which a new vision of literacy was advocated. The difference between the new and old paradigms of adult literacy is considered. The article argues that the traditional approach which has dominated the international discourse on adult literacy has profoundly influenced national decisions. This influence is illustrated through a comparative analysis of national adult literacy programmes in Botswana and Zimbabwe. The programmes exhibit a high degree of similarity despite differences in the national contexts. The analysis shows that the traditional approach has been relatively ineffective in improving adult literacy levels. However, proposals for change influenced by the new paradigm have not been taken into account. Thus the examples of Botswana and Zimbabwe indicate the difficulty in displacing the dominant tradition in adult literacy at the level of national policy-making.     

The Dominant Tradition in Adult Literacy – A Comparative Study of National Literacy Programmes in Botswana and Zimbabwe

The article highlights the renewed significance of adult literacy for international and national educational policy as a result of the World Educational Forum in 2000, at which a new vision of literacy was advocated. The difference between the new and old paradigms of adult literacy is considered. The article argues that the traditional approach which has dominated the international discourse on adult literacy has profoundly influenced national decisions. This influence is illustrated through a comparative analysis of national adult literacy programmes in Botswana and Zimbabwe. The programmes exhibit a high degree of similarity despite differences in the national contexts. The analysis shows that the traditional approach has been relatively ineffective in improving adult literacy levels. However, proposals for change influenced by the new paradigm have not been taken into account. Thus the examples of Botswana and Zimbabwe indicate the difficulty in displacing the dominant tradition in adult literacy at the level of national policy-making.     

Review Essay

This article provides a critical sociological analysis of trends and perspectives pervasive during the emergence of North American adult education (1919–1970). In discussing transitions during the first 50 years of what is considered modern practice, it draws on Webster E. Cotton's (1986, On Behalf of Adult Education: A Historical Examination of the Supporting Literature. Boston, MA: Center for the Study of Liberal Education for Adults) periodization model—modified a few years later—to organize people, politics, and ideas as categories shaping North American adult education. In exploring this complexity, the article reflects on the perennial difficulty of answering the question ‘What is adult education?’ Following brief considerations of periods one (1919–1929) and two (1930–1946) in the field’s emergence, the article focuses on period three (1947–1970) in more detail, providing critical perspectives on field expansion during the perceived corporate age of adult education. It considers how adult education and constituent higher adult education were each affected as the field of study and practice negotiated the knowledge–culture–language–power nexus where it sought presence and place. Then, comparing the historical example of post-World War II North American adult education and the contemporary example of lifelong learning in neoliberal times, the article concludes by considering how cultural change forces have placed educational formations into reactive modes over time and tides.     

The enactment of literacy curriculum policy by early childhood teachers in two Australian schools

Since the early 2000s, literacy education has become an area of intense focus in Australian education policy, positioned to have a role in Australia's pursuit of enhanced international competitiveness in the “global knowledge economy”. Policy called for improvements in literacy outcomes, monitored by mandated annual assessments, and policy statements recognised the need to establish solid literacy foundations in early childhood to facilitate learning, and desired improvements, in later years. This article is derived from a larger study that investigated the production and enactment of literacy curriculum policy by early childhood teachers in Australian schools. It focuses on the school level within the State of Western Australia, presenting findings derived from thematic and critical discourse analysis of participant interview and documentary data collected in two case‐study schools. Comparative analysis revealed that literacy curriculum policy processes in both case‐study schools were focused on achieving improved test results in mandated testing regimes. This was impacting upon literacy curriculum in the early childhood years of schooling, in Australia deemed to involve children up to 8 years of age, in many, possibly adverse, ways. These findings may offer insights in other contexts about literacy curriculum policy processes that are focused on enhancing competitive positioning.     

Grouping for inequity

The inequity of streaming as a method of organising classes was established by research conducted in the 1960s and 1970s. While the practice produces small advantages for limited groups of students, it hinders the academic and social advancement of the majority. Although streaming has declined, new forms of achievement grouping have emerged, with the intention of being more equitable. Recent research in the UK suggests, however, that these grouping methods have similar equity issues to streaming. Drawing on research in Australian primary schools, this article examines the practice of regrouping primary students in some schools into separate classes according to achievement levels for literacy and mathematics lessons. Results from a mixed method study collated through interviews with principals and teachers, student surveys, state-wide academic test results and classroom observations are examined in relation to equity. The findings suggest that the regrouping practice is no more equitable than streaming, albeit more politically palatable.     

Basic Skills Provision for Offenders on Probation Supervision: Beyond a Rhetoric of Evidence–Based Policy?

This article draws upon issues within the debate on evidence–based policy raised in the academic literature and in recent government documentation. The article assesses the extent to and ways in which policy development and implementation on adult basic skills (literacy and numeracy) within the National Probation Service (NPS) are evidence–based. It is argued that the albeit limited amount of empirical evidence on adult basic skills, methodological insights gained through empirical research, and expert opinion have shaped the NPS basic skills strategy. To enhance policy implementation, findings from the NPS pathfinder evaluation have been disseminated to practitioners. It is aimed to build research evidence on basic skills in the NPS in a cumulative way and to use findings to shape policy development on an ongoing basis. The lack of a systematic review on adult basic skills is used to explore reasons for gaps in evidence–based policy on basic skills in the NPS. The article concludes that a range of types of evidence has shaped policy development on basic skills in the NPS.     

What can ethnographic studies tell us about the consequences of literacy?

The ethnographic literature on literacy is marked by a characteristic divide between ‘ideological’ and ‘autonomous’ positions, the former being associated with the sociocultural approach adopted within the ‘New Literacy Studies’ (NLS) and the work of Brian Street, and the latter with the work of Jack Goody. The polarization between the approaches has led to certain themes associated with the work of Goody and his ‘literacy thesis’ being excluded from ethnographic writing and theory. Such themes included the attributes and consequences of literacy as a ‘technology’, and the association of literacy acquisition with social mobility and progressive forms of social change. The article is based on ethnographic fieldwork in Bangladesh and a review of the recent ethnographic literature from a range of cultural settings. It examines the case for a more inclusive and comparative approach based on the emergent ‘situated’ perspective. It suggests revisionist readings of ethnographic accounts recognizing cross‐cultural patterns of utility, and the significance of literacy for human agency, gender relations, and well‐being. Presenting an ethnographic case study of women’s literacy in N/W Bangladesh it draws out the theoretical significance of such a shift in how we research and understand the consequences of literacy acquisition. The paper concludes by suggesting some implications of such a perspective for adult literacy policy and practice.     

Education,Dialogue and Intervention: revisiting the Freirean project

In the past two decades Paulo Freire's philosophy of education has been the subject of much discussion by academics, school teachers and adult educators in a variety of formal and informal settings. While Freire initially gained recognition for his work with adult illiterates in Brazil and Chile, since the early 1970s his ideas have found increasing application in Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This article reconsiders the literacy methods through which Freire initially attracted international attention. Freire's approach to literacy education in Brazil is outlined and brief reference is made to the other major adult education programmes with which Freire has been involved since 1964. A number of serious criticisms of Freirean pedagogy are identified, all of which deal in some way with what might be termed the problem of ‘imposition’ in Freire's work. Critiques from Berger, Bowers and Walker suggest that the Freirean project entails the imposition of a particular world‐view and mode of social practice on adult illiterates. According to these critics, Freire assumes that he knows better than the oppressed the nature of, and the best solution to, their oppression. The author argues that the Freirean system is indeed non‐dialogical and impositional in certain respects, but concludes that Freire's literacy efforts were ultimately worthwhile.     

Changing discourses: Literacy and development in Nepal

Literacy policy and programming in developing countries continues to be influenced by the assumption that without literacy, an adult is unable to function on an equal basis in society and that an individual can be easily categorised as either literate or illiterate. Although this has led to prioritisation of primary schooling over adult literacy in many national government and donor agency budgets, there has recently been a movement away from regarding adult literacy as only ‘second chance schooling’ to explore how literacy programmes can build on participants’ existing practices. In the context of these changes in international policy discourses, this article analyses how literacy and development policy and programming in Nepal has changed over the past decade. Drawing on interviews with policy makers, trainers and literacy facilitators conducted in the 1990s and 2007, the author explores the shifts taking place. The structure of literacy programmes (including links with formal schooling), literacy materials, language of instruction and concepts of ‘post literacy’ were influenced by political events during this period as well as by donor agency discourses. Findings from the Nepal case have implications for the international policy discourse, such as the need to problematise the term ‘political’ to consider the intended and unintended consequences of literacy interventions.     

The Interrelationship of Beliefs,Context, and Learning: The Case of a Teacher Reacting to Language Policy

In this article, I trace the complex ways that literacy and language policy are translated into classroom practice through the examination of a single telling case.1 I demonstrate that the role teachers play in the process can best be understood by considering a variety of factors which have been advanced in policy research to explain variations in policy implementation. These include the nature of the local school context, the beliefs and experience of the teacher, and ways in which the teacher might learn from the new policy context. I underscore these claims with empirical data related to a teacher's role in the enactment of Proposition 227-the California initiative designed to end bilingual education. The article presents select findings from a 11/2-year-long ethnographic study of a California district that allowed individual schools to develop their own Proposition 227 implementation plans. Through detailed examinations of the classroom literacy practice of a former bilingual teacher, this article illustrates how the individual qualities of a teacher played a significant role in the enactment of literacy practice.     

Adult literacy education and development in Thailand: an historical analysis of policies and programmes from the 1930s to the present

This study of adult literacy education in Thailand analyses the ways in which the Thai state has historically shaped adult literacy education policies for development. For the authoritarian Thai state of the 1940s and 1950s, literacy education was a means of promoting nationalism through an imagined community of Thai citizens. For the developmentalist state of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, literacy education was the means to create a new Thai working class for industrial capitalism and export-oriented growth. For the liberal democratic state of the 1990s, literacy education was re-oriented toward a post-Fordist economy. Most recently, in the wake of the 1997 economic crisis and subsequent IMF and ADB ‘structural adjustment’ policies, state educational policies have shifted to an emphasis on fiscal economics over education. While state ideologies of educational policy are dominant in this historical narrative, they also possess internal contradictions contested by popular movements and social groups outside dominant classes. Literacy education in Thailand is, as such, not only the site of production and reproduction of state ideologies, but also of struggles over their meaning. Thus we find within the authoritarian nationalism of the 1940s and 1950s, a movement for popular democracy through literacy education born of the 1932 Revolution; within the work-oriented literacy programs of the 1970s, a trend towards broader community development inspired by the student revolution of October 1973; and within the neoliberal Thai state's embrace of globalization, a call for further democratization of educational opportunities first promoted by the May 1992 uprising and then embodied in the new Constitution of 1997 and the Education Act of 1999.     

The Persistent Gap between Education and Care: a ‘History of the Present’ Research on Belgian Child Care Provision and Policy 1

The first Belgian crèches for children from birth to three years of age date from the nineteenth century. From 1919, formal legislation on child care was developed. In the early twentieth century, the origins of Belgian childcare and in its initial legislation some core aspects of present‐day child care policy and practice can be found. This article will focus on two of these historical aspects of Belgian child care. Both features have far‐reaching consequences for the organization of present child care provision, for professional qualifications and for policy matters. The first is an aspect that is very common in Western Europe, and a source of current pedagogical debate: the persistent gap between care for the infant and the education of the preschool child. The second is a typical Belgian feature of childcare: subsidized liberty as a specific form of public–private partnership. This article wishes to contribute to the debates on viewing childcare policy and practice by historicizing these issues. A close look at Belgian child care history reveals how the gap between education and care and subsidized liberty occurred and in what context. Consequently the early twentieth century will be highlighted. However, it will also focus on oppositional discourse in the 1970s. In this period, another antagonistic debate took place, namely regarding compensation programmes for ‘blue collar’ parents. The article will briefly point to some remarkable similarities between the discussion in the 1910s and the 1970s. The outcomes of these discussions, as well as the concepts underpinning them, explain the persistence of the division between education and care. The debate between Henri Velge and Elise Plasky, around which this article is composed, has been studied previously by Belgian historians. The scarce research on Belgian child care history focuses on child care as a women's employment issue, somewhat neglecting the educational aspects. This vein, i.e. that historical research itself is embedded in the discursive regime separating education from care, is the very subject of this article. Therefore, research was conducted from a hermeneutical perspective, looking at coherences between discourses and their social, economic and cultural contexts. This research aims also to acknowledge the critiques of De Certeau regarding the focus on discontinuities in the construction of history.     

Literacy and development: what works for whom? or,how relevant is the social practices view of literacy for literacy education in developing countries?

This paper is concerned with the implications of a social view of literacy for the policy and practice of adult literacy. Taking the example of a recent literacy project in South Africa and comparing this with the author's own ethnographic research among learners from the National Literacy Programme in Namibia, the paper discusses the possible difficulties to be experienced when designing a literacy project based on the concept of literacy as a social practice. The main argument put forward is that these difficulties are likely to be grounded in the difference between potential learners’ uses of literacy in everyday life and their understandings of literacy and how this orients them towards particular forms of literacy education.     

Exploring the complex interplay of national learning and teaching policy and academic development practice

Academic developers are important interpreters of policy, yet little research has focussed on the interplay of policy and academic development practice. Using methods from critical discourse analysis, this article analyses a national learning and teaching policy, charts its development, and explores its interpretation by the academic development community. The findings suggest that while developers played a strategic role in the policy’s development nationally, their influence on and use of policy institutionally was more limited. The article calls on developers to take a more overt leadership role in an area of higher education practice where they clearly have (often unharnessed) expertise.     

《政策科学》课程教学中关于政策研究认识的几点思考

本文以政策科学思想发展史为线索,通过对有关的政策研究认识的梳理,结合现实案例进行实证分析,提出政策研究的问题中心性与跨学科性、理论与实践统一性、科学与经验统合性以及学者、官员研究的协同性等观点,以期深化初学者和政策研究工作者对政策研究的认识与理解。     

Of cultural dissonance: the UK’s adult literacy policies and the creation of democratic learning spaces

The broad aim of this paper is to track the evolution of adult literacy policy in the UK across three decades, highlighting convergences between policy phases and the promotion of democratic learning spaces. It is anchored onto the argument that, although it is generally accepted that democratic learning spaces are perceived as beneficial to adult literacy learners, policy has often deterred its promotion and, therefore, implementation. The paper identifies three block phases of adult literacy development: the seventies to mid-eighties, the mid-eighties to mid-nineties and the mid-nineties to the Moser Committees. The features of each of these phases are highlighted to map out convergences and divergences to the ethos of democratic learning spaces. The paper argues that, with the evolution of policy in adult literacy, the ethos of democratic learning space continuously diminished, such that as policy evolved year on year, the principle of democratic learning space found itself at counterpoint to policy. We draw on two theoretical frameworks, the NLS view of literacy and Bourdieu’s capital framework to explain these divergences and conclude that the dominant perception of literacy and the prioritised capital in the context of policy appear to limit the vestiges of democratic learning spaces.     

Constructs of teacher professionalism within a changing literacy landscape

This paper argues that the work of teachers in England's primary schools has been reconstructed. It is proposed that the literacy curriculum has been a major factor in this reconstruction. The paper suggests that the purposes of literacy today have been determined by policy makers, and that the nature of policy texts has changed, hardened, into specific requirements. It argues that the role of the policy driver has been fundamental in this era, influential in the contexts of policy making, policy text production and teacher training. The paper develops by proposing that there is an emerging model of professionalism today largely determined by two key figures: the Policy Driver, and the Practice Driver, or Headteacher. These two figures are at the meeting place of policy and practice and assume the mantle of ‘reality definers’ for the process of literacy education in English primary schools.