Rachel Stubley and Irene Schwab


Welcome to this edition of the RaPAL journal, which presents writings from adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL educators on the theme of keeping learning meaningful.


In a political climate which encourages freedom of choice and consumer rights (in education as elsewhere), the restrictive nature of much adult literacies learning is striking. The space to develop negotiated, student-centred learning has shrunk dramatically over the last 15 years. Curriculum content, accreditation and, in some cases, even attendance is mandated and controlled, and can 'bracket out the lived experiences of students and teachers' (Comber 2016: xiv). The ‘washback’ from narrowly-focused (sometimes inappropriate) tests can be a particular challenge to the ingenuity and integrity of adult educators, and to the motivation and progress of adult learners. Elsewhere, teachers can find themselves focusing on collecting evidence and auditing progress rather than on learning and teaching. Tusting reminds us that it is not that teachers cannot cope with change but that they recognise a 'conflict of discourses' where new practices are not based on models of good teaching, which always start with responsiveness to learners (Tusting, 2009). Current educational policies, not just in the UK but across the English-speaking world, seem in conflict with RaPAL’s position, that socially-situated learning is crucial to effective adult literacies learning and teaching (Ivanič et al, 2009).


And yet ... adult educators and adult learners continue to find ways to engage in meaningful learning and teaching, and to challenge and resist current strictures. We hope that you, like us, are heartened by the responses to the current environmental and policy contexts which our contributors have shared in this edition of the RaPAL journal. Their responses fall into three broad categories:


Critique and resistance are the focus of two articles on the lived experience of particular groups of women. The first piece in this edition is Helena James’ prose poem Learning from Aprons. This is an impassioned elegy for a generation of working class miners’ daughters let down by schooling, careers advice and above all the gendered expectations of their girlhoods. In our academic peer-reviewed section 3, Sarah Foster has written a fascinating paper presenting her research into the experiences of migrant women living and attending Family Learning classes in North West London. Her study uses the voices of the learners themselves to show that institutional agendas, such as auditing ‘employability’ outcomes, are blind to (and perhaps irrelevant to) the women’s own processes of knowledge building and sharing.


Teachers as researchers is another powerful and inspiring response to institutional and policy challenge. Claire Collins and her colleagues have supported adult literacies tutors in undertaking practitioner-led action research (PLAR). As well as outlining the methodology and focus of some of these projects, their piece argues for the value of small-scale, qualitative educational research, based on the experiences and insights of teachers themselves. Sarah Richards tells us more about one of the PLAR projects. Her work at Abingdon and Witney College with students retaking maths GCSE aims to promote 'mathematical resilience' through growth mind set messages. Whilst it may be too early to tell yet if they make a difference, her work is full of possibility for the future.


In Ireland too, there have been a number of parallel action learning projects concerned with adult numeracy, published as case studies by the National Adult literacy Agency (NALA). The article, Action learning with Irish numeracy tutors, outlines what three tutors did and the effect it had on their practice. Action Research can be so empowering for teachers, and we are delighted to be able to include the voices of teacher-researchers in this edition.


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