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

GOOD POLICY, GOOD PRACTICE / 225
Box 9.6
Approaches to the training of literacy educators
The many approaches to training adult literacy
educators vary according to the type of educator
trained (e.g. voluntary or part-time facilitators with no
formal qualifications, qualified schoolteachers who
teach adults after hours, formally qualified adult
educators, NGO staff with no education qualification)
and the type of training (e.g. non-formal, often
unaccredited, training or formal and accredited).
Rodgers (2005) summarizes these approaches in
two main categories.
Training of adult literacy facilitators
The existence of considerable variety among
programmes to train adult literacy facilitators would
seem to reflect (a) the ideologies of different
programme providers; (b) attempts by most providers
to adapt courses to the perceived needs of trainees;
and (c) the voluntary nature of the courses, and the
need to attract and retain trainees. Most courses are
short, intensive, one-shot activities lasting one or
two weeks, more or less full time.
Accreditation is generally absent. Brazil’s Solidarity
in Literacy programme does provide certificates, but
the facilitators may be employed for only six months
at most and may not be able to obtain the certification
to become formal teachers. In another programme in
Brazil, however, students who complete training
courses offered by Unitrabalho, an inter-university
network, are certified as specialist teachers in adult
and youth education. Few programmes use any form
of assessment, although in Botswana and some other
countries in Africa, literacy instructors are tested to
make sure they are able to teach effectively.
Training of ‘adult basic education and training’
teachers
Programmes in this category take two main forms:
institutional-based training, and open and distance
learning. A few programmes combine the two.
Most offer a one-year certificate, two-year diploma
or three-year degree, and are based at institutions
of further or higher education. Such formal courses
are strong in southern Africa and parts of Latin
America, and are starting in parts of Asia for nonformal
education programmes. Some also exist in
francophone Africa, emphasizing social psychology.
Formal assessments are held and formal qualifications
awarded. Such training may recognize trainees’
previous educational experience. In some cases,
relationships exist between this form of training
and primary-school teacher training.
Source: Rogers (2005).
progress towards more literate societies will be
severely constrained.
Literacy educators are a diverse group.
Many come from the communities in which their
programmes are situated. They may be broadly
categorized into four groups:
Local people with no formal qualifications,
engaged part-time and on a casual basis –
the largest of the four groups. Many in this
category have no previous experience of
teaching. 21 Some are unpaid. The group
includes students working for credit in formal
education programmes. People in this category
may have limited formal education, though
some are well educated.
Full-time or part-time NGO staff or other
development workers, such as extension staff
who teach literacy incidentally. Some NGO staff
have come up through social movements and
have high levels of commitment (e.g. in South
Africa and Latin America) while others are
pressed into service. Their qualifications are
usually in areas other than adult literacy.
Full-time teachers in other sectors of
education who teach literacy voluntarily
or as part of their duties. They are qualified
schoolteachers, but their qualifications are
not in adult education.
Full-time, formally qualified adult educators,
employed within wider programmes of adult
basic education and training or non-formal
education.
Given this diversity, and the range of goals and
objectives characterizing literacy programmes,
national training strategies vary considerably.
The practice of training, where it exists – formal
and non-formal – is equally diverse (Box 9.6).
But some important principles, having to do with
professional development and motivation,
underpin approaches to good quality.
Professional development 22
Relatively little research into the training of
trainers of literacy educators has been conducted.
Evaluation reports, where they exist, suggest that
training is a major area of weakness. For training
Evaluation reports
suggest that
training is a major
area of weakness
21. A survey of India’s
Total Literacy Campaigns
reported that ‘more than
70% of the volunteer
teachers interviewed … had
no previous experience of
teaching literacy’ (Rogers,
2005).
22. All direct quotations
in this subsection are
from Rogers (2005).