literacy for life; EFA global monitoring report, 2006 - Institut de ...

GOOD POLICY, GOOD PRACTICE / 219
participants in a well-organized and flexible way,
using resources that directly respond to learners’
needs and interests. Teaching and learning
strategies should reflect the learning outcomes
and objectives that provide the rationale for the
literacy programme. 9
A well-planned curriculum respects the
demand and motivation for literacy. It takes
account of the circumstances of young people
and adults, including the poverty that pervades
many learners’ lives. All too often it needs to
address disability, HIV/AIDS, conflict or other
emergencies, migration and exclusion, as
Chapter 7 notes. Fundamentally, the curriculum
must be useful and relevant to learners’ everyday
lives. 10 A relevant curriculum is conducive to
better learning outcomes.
Whether literacy-led, -informed or -sustaining,
the curriculum should reflect and build on the
individual and social contexts underlying the
demand for literacy. These include what the
learner already knows, wants and brings to the
learning experience; the learner’s mother tongue
and his/her other languages; his/her cultural
background (including family, local culture, oral
traditions and indigenous knowledge) and its
relationship to the literacy being acquired; and the
identity of the learner in relation to gender, class,
religion and race (Ouane and Glanz, 2005). Some
commentators also emphasize helping learners
move out of their current context through, for
example, knowledge of an official or international
language. Balancing the curriculum in ways that
are relevant to local context and wider opportunity
is a significant curriculum development
challenge.
To respond to these diverse needs and
motivations, clear, appropriate and realistic
goals should define the ‘why’ of the curriculum
(Hendricks, 1996). From this should flow the
‘what’ – the specific learning objectives and
results that provide clear statements of intent
for learners, couched in terms of skills and
their application or wider social engagement
(Hendricks, 1996; Posner and Rudnitsky, 1982,
cited in Otto, 1997).
The ‘who’ in these processes is also
important. Specialists tend to predominate in
defining functional or skills-based programmes,
while a more participatory and less prescribed
approach generally characterizes transformative
activities. When the primary objective is literacyinformed
development of a job-specific skill, the
vocational subject specialist usually determines
the curriculum (Otto, 1997). A broader, teambased
approach is required when a range of skills
is targeted. Other literacy stakeholders who may
participate in curriculum design include
government officials, literacy or education
experts, representatives of civil society
organizations, educators (teachers, facilitators,
trainers and supervisors) and learners. Another
approach increasingly taken is the integration of
adult education (including literacy-informed
programmes) into the formal education system
and the expansion of credentials for adult
education. This involves a greater degree of
curriculum determination by formal agencies.
The core of a literacy curriculum, often
directed to the attainment of the cognitive skills
of reading, writing and calculation, tends to be
taught the same way in all contexts. 11 The
centrality of this approach may be challenged if
critical analysis and confidence-building are seen
as primary learning outcomes, and learners
participate in determining programme objectives
and content (Streumer and Tuijnman, 1996).
ActionAid’s Reflect initiative is guided by the goal
of having literacy programmes taken over fully
by their host communities. 12 This requires a much
more open approach to curriculum development
but also a large number of very committed,
well-trained educators and trainers, which is
often impossible to provide where resources
are limited.
Programme rationale has an impact on the
choice and sequencing of subject matter and the
uses to which primers, educators’ manuals and
other learning materials are put. Again, choices
are influenced by the degree to which reading,
writing and numeracy are approached as ends in
themselves or as means to realize other goals.
Programmes that stress empowerment may give
priority to literacy and civic education, and to
rights and responsibilities. Those geared to
poverty reduction may focus on health education
or other socio-economic life skills. The
development and choice of learning materials
will reflect such wider goals.
Many literacy programmes, notably in Africa,
describe themselves as ‘functional’. Literacy is
combined with health practices, agriculture,
marketing, environmental issues, and other life
skills or livelihood skills. Senegal’s Women’s
Literacy Programme (1996–2001) combined basic
education with opportunities for training in
income-generating activities, such as soapmaking,
dyeing, poultry, shop-keeping and other
A well-planned
curriculum
respects
the demand
and motivation
for literacy
9. See, for instance,
Bondi and Bondi (1989,
cited in Otto, 1997).
10. This observation is
supported at least
rhetorically by nearly all
the country background
papers commissioned for
this Report.
11. Skills-based
approaches often follow
the memorization and
‘chalk and talk’ methods
used in many schools.
12. Reflect (the name
is an acronym, standing
for ‘Regenerated Freirean
Literacy through
Empowering Community
Techniques’) combines
Freirean and participatory
methods. Begun with pilot
projects in Bangladesh,
El Salvador and Uganda
in 1995, it has since been
adopted by over 350
organizations in more
than 60 countries.