adult males who, in many circumstances, are “hard to reach” in other forms of educational settings. The project has been going for a number of years and attracts a large group of students (20 plus is not unusual) for its meetings. Students are involved in focussed discussion as well as in undertaking reading and writing activities which are stimulated by their interest. Drawing on a Freirean perspective and the use of critical discourse analysis, the project seeks to impart critical awareness and literacies which are relevant to the lives of students. In terms of students also acquiring a narrower range of “functional” literacy skills, the project also claims success.
Cameo 2: Glamping on a budget
In the Adult Learners' awards in Edinburgh in May 2013 two employability projects were winners, both because of their successful practice in developing literacies in creative ways. “Glamping on a budget” (i.e. camping for “softies”) was one of these projects which received an award and was funded by the Money for Life Challenge and Lloyds Bank, with the aim of promoting social enterprise. The project seeks to provide affordable camping to enable young people without much money to have a break, appreciate Scotland's natural environment and raise awareness of environmental issues. Whilst funding for the project is directed towards economic ends, the account the project gives of itself illustrates a rich array of learning opportunities based on the interests and aspirations of young adults: designing posters, writing blogs, developing a Facebook site to promote the project, acquiring project management skills, researching camping gear, developing creative modes of advertising and much more. This has enabled the project to marry the lives and interests of the young adults in the group, along with enabling them to acquire experience and skills in a range of literacies, whilst supporting a social and environmental commitment.
What these brief accounts illustrate is that the role of community and adherence to a social practice vision of adult literacies is still significant. In the account of football literacies, the connection between power and literacies is particularly sharp. In the camping project the focus on the collective interests of the group clearly helped focus the activities of those involved. Nevertheless, the use of social practice in Scottish policy has its critics and the potential limitations of its application have to be recognised.
Defining social practice
Whilst a social practice approach has strong rhetorical power amongst practitioners and policy makers in Scotland, what it means is less obvious, and its application can be problematic. In Barton and Hamilton (1998) the term social practice refers to the contextual and contingent nature of interactions where literacy practices play a role. In an earlier book Barton (1994) makes the point that the most significant feature of this perspective is its social nature, because a range of purposes and relationships shape the uses of literacy. Social practice deliberately values equity and diversity where different norms govern its application. However institutions tend to “fix” a particular practice of literacy as the “gold standard”, which vernacular literacies fall short of.
The official meaning of social practice in Scottish policy draws on the above but differs from it in some respects. According to Education Scotland, which fosters and promotes provision, social practice involves the following characteristics: • literacy and numeracy are complex capabilities rather than a simple set of basic skills • learners are more likely to develop and retain knowledge, skills and understanding if they see them as relevant to their own context and everyday literacy practices
• learning should be negotiated with the learner through an individual learning plan, selecting the knowledge and skills most relevant to the individual learner's goals. To view report click here
12
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62