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school system. Sometimes children could be placed in the wrong school if they have had help and they may struggle at the higher schools…


Her daughter, incidentally, chose not to take the 11+.


The second example concerns Julie who


had expressed strong opinions during the course on lack of discipline in schools. Julie had weak comprehension skills and had difficulty addressing the learning outcomes required by the course. She wrote well, however, and in the feedback on her work I concentrated on getting her to improve her writing skills, sentences, paragraphing and punctuation. Success came when she handed in her portfolio. Her project, which was about behaviour in schools, concerned how her two children had fared in their education. One had rebelled and truanted, starting in primary school and continuing into secondary, the other had suffered severe bullying. Julie’s piece, written in longhand after a number of drafts, was really engaging. She told it like it was, with no frills. Although her portfolio was weak in other respects and could only be awarded Level 1, in my comments I recommended that she take further writing courses and try writing articles.


My main point is that the Helping in


Schools course was able to reach out to a wide variety of adult learners because of the way it was structured and taught. Adults want to learn and if they can use their life


experiences as a trigger then their learning will benefit. Unfortunately, recent changes to the course – the result of changes to the way it is funded – have had more to do with gaining accreditation than promoting engagement with learning. Learning object- ives now have a specific focus, making it clear that those who begin the course are expected to apply for teaching assistant posts at the end. It is offered only at Level 2, thus limiting the range of abilities that can be enrolled on the course. Finally, as the project has now become the planning and carrying out of a lesson, there is no opportunity for learners to do their own research.


The danger of a sophisticated accred- itation system is that the weaker, the not-so-committed, and the bright but inarticulate learners, as in the examples above, can find themselves in the situation encountered by Prezbo in The Wire, where learners become disaffected because the course they are engaged upon has lost contact with their lives. I hope that this won’t happen to those on Helping in Schools; that the strengths of the course, the group work, the real experiences and the discussions that result from these, will continue. Learners should be able to bring their own adult experiences as parents and workers to the course, and leave it, without getting the expected level perhaps, but with a new understanding of what they can achieve through the learning process.


Peter Leyland is a teacher, writer and researcher APRIL 2010 ADULTS LEARNING 31


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Adults Learning is published 10 times a year (September to June) by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (England and Wales).


It is a forum for debate on all issues affecting adult learning and contributions are welcome from those in the field. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of NIACE.


The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (England and Wales) represents the interests of adult learners.


All contributions © NIACE. No reproduction in any form or by any means is allowed without the express permission of NIACE.


Volume 21, Number 8 April 2010


ISSN: 0955-2308 Designed and typeset by


Prestige Colour Solutions, Leicester Printed in Great Britain by


The Russell Press, Nottingham


Richard Olivier


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