Abstract

This presentation considers the findings of a 2023 study of mainly indigenous adults’ experiences of community-based literacy learning from a wellbeing perspective. Two frameworks developed in an earlier study by the author were systematically applied to the 2023 study. The first of these frameworks identified six principles and practices related to literacy and six related to people as having shaped adult literacy learners’ positive experiences and contributed to learning and life outcomes important to them. The second framework set out the elements of a process of movement towards enhanced wellbeing for the learners, their families, and their communities in which literacy learning opportunities played an important role. Analysis of the 2023 study data using these two frameworks showed that key principles and practices including programme staff belief in the adults’ capabilities, recognition of the complexities of people’s lives, recognition of the importance to adults of content that is meaningful in their everyday lives and the use of pedagogy that is culturally appropriate, also contributed to the learners’ positive experiences in the recent study. As well, key process elements including the identification of idiosyncratic yet tangible learning and life pathways, the contribution of history and context to the literacy learning experience and the ‘flow-on’ of programme effects to wider aspects of the adults’ lives and to others in their family and wider social networks were seen. These findings confirm the necessity of a culturally shaped, holistic approach to the design of adult literacy learning opportunities and to the attribution of outcomes that go beyond traditional skills testing to focus on what matters to people in their lives, aspects of the adult literacy field that continue to be contested. The findings also confirm the value of an ecological approach to understanding the essential elements of successful adult literacy learning environments and the critical importance of individual, family, and community wellbeing as a framework for understanding what success means for adult literacy learners. Ecological and wellbeing-based theories of adult literacy learning are built upon and expanded in this presentation and will support practitioners and policymakers in their efforts to achieve outcomes that are valued by both adult learners and adult literacy programme funders.

Speaker: Jane Furness

Published in: Ireland International Conference on Education (IICE-2024)

  • Date of Conference: 28-30 October, 2024
  • DOI: 10.20533/IICE.2024.10.0003
  • ISBN: 978-1-913572-73-0
  • Conference Location: Dún Laoghaire, Ireland

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