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

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230 / CHAPTER 9
2
Education for All Global Monitoring Report
Progress
requires strong
leadership, good
governance,
efficient
organization
and adequate
financing
23. Botswana, Eritrea,
Namibia and Thailand are
among the countries with
well-established adult or
non-formal education
units in the education
ministry overseeing adult
literacy programmes.
More recently, Burkina
Faso has established a
separate Ministry for
Literacy and Non-Formal
Education. On the other
hand, in Madagascar and
Kenya, for example, the
Ministries of Population
and Social Affairs,
respectively, have overall
responsibility for adult
literacy programmes.
then add a second language, offer social,
cognitive, psychological and pedagogical
advantages.
An inclusive multilingual policy will address
language group needs and available resources,
and will have the following key features, applied
in ways suited to local context (Robinson, 2005):
Studies of the linguistic and sociolinguistic
situation will be the basis for understanding
which languages should be used in learning.
The studies will include data on the attitudes of
communities towards the languages they use.
Consultations with local communities to
establish links between literacy providers and
local institutions will lead to input into learning
and to local governance and management of
programmes, especially with respect to choice
of language of literacy.
Local writing and production of material must
be the basis for sustainable development of the
literate environment and for the incorporation
of local knowledge as learning content.
Specific issues of linguistic structure and
language use must be considered in designing
the learning of second (third, etc.) languages,
so that the addition of languages in oral and
written form is readily available to large
numbers of people. In other words, the learning
of additional languages must take into account
learners’ existing language patterns, skills and
knowledge.
Conclusion
The diversity of literacy acquisition processes,
depending on context, and on learner and
educator backgrounds, poses technical
challenges in curricula, and in teaching and
learning approaches that need much more
professional attention at the national level.
Adult literacy-led and literacy-informed
programmes need to take better account of
the principles of adult education and learners’
experience, knowledge and motivations.
Meeting the challenges requires much more
investment in human resources and sustainable
training systems, which should include
adequately paid, qualified and motivated
literacy educators, trainers and supervisors.
Similarly, the importance of careful monitoring,
evaluation and research, and an experimental
spirit based on adapting and improving teaching
and learning processes along the way, cannot
be understated.
Scaling up adult literacy
programmes: the role
of government
In Chapter 8 it was shown that in certain
circumstances mass literacy campaigns, whether
sustained over time or short one-off programmes,
made a difference to levels of literacy. Political
commitment and direction, popular enthusiasm,
realistic targeting and attention to the language
of instruction all played their part. Elsewhere,
national programmes as part of wider
development initiatives have been preferred
vehicles for change.
Whatever the route chosen, the scaling up
of literacy programmes has to be part of a major
national endeavour, even if it finds practical
expression in a diversity of programme activities.
There is no chance of progress at a level
consistent with the Dakar goal without
government action on four policy directions set
out at the beginning of this chapter. This in turn
requires strong leadership, good governance,
efficient organization and adequate financing
of national literacy strategies.
Who leads?
Ministries of education normally have a major
responsibility for literacy policy and for
coordinating its implementation. In practice,
though, the home for adult literacy is not always
the education ministry. 23 Even when it is, capacity
may be weak, influence limited and resources
scarce. The locus for literacy may change within
a given ministry or even move from ministry to
ministry. But a comitment to increased youth
and adult literacy requires a secure and suitably
resourced base in government. Fortunately,
evidence of good practice exists or is emerging
in this regard.
Morocco merged the departments of adult
literacy from the Ministry of Employment and
Social Affairs and non-formal education from
Education to form a State Secretariat for Literacy
and Non-Formal Education. It is designed to
coordinate the growing number of public, private
and civil society literacy providers. Its
decentralized management structure includes
national and local coordination committees
chaired by senior political authorities (Bougroum,
2005). In Brazil’s decentralized education system,
youth and adult education is provided by twentysix
state school administrations and 5,000
municipalities, using teachers from the formal