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The questions this seminar asks are “How well do public libraries support adults living with reading difficulties?” and “is there more we can do in the way of marketing, promotion and partnerships in this area?”LIBMARK- To actively market and promote Victorian public libraries by inspiring, enthusing and educating library staff through discussion and collaboration.
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Non Formal Learning and Literacy
Sally ThompsonChief Executive OfficerAdult Learning Australia
How Do Adults Learn to Read and Write?
“Literacy is socially situated, culturally constituted and actively mediated by the local everyday demands of work and life. Like it or not, uses of literacy and numeracy cannot be generalised across cultures, nor taught as isolated technical skills (even though they can be taught as distinctive routines or procedures). Meanings depend upon the social context in which they are embedded.”
Sue Shore, University of South Australia, Jean Searle, Griffith University Literacy and lifeskills in Australia: implications for policy activism, 2010 Paper to AVETRA Conference
Lifelong Learning and Literacy
All forms of learning contribute towards the development of literacy skills in adults:
• Formal – learning that leads to a formal qualification• Non-formal – learning that is organised and includes a teacher or instructor
but which doesn’t lead to an accredited outcome or qualification• Informal – self directed learning via mentoring, internet, library or civic
participation eg volunteering, sporting and social clubs, men’s sheds etc
Participation in Learning and Literacy
• For both prose and document literacy, 58% of people who had participated in learning in the 12 months prior to the survey achieved scores at Level 3 or above.
• In comparison, for people who had not participated in any form of learning in the 12 months prior to the survey, 19% and 18% achieved scores at Level 3 or above for prose and document literacy respectively.”
Source: ABS Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey, 2006
Who has the most access to Adult Learning opportunities?
1) Those who already have formal qualifications.
Source: ABS, Australian Social Trends, 2008 4229.0 - Adult Learning, Australia, 2006-07
2) Those who are already working.
Source: ABS, Australian Social Trends, 2008 4229.0 - Adult Learning, Australia, 2006-07
Who has the most access to Adult Learning opportunities?
3) Those with the highest incomes.
Non-formal learning -------------------
-------------------------------------------Informal Learning
Highest Income Quintile Lowest Income Quintile
25 50 75 100
Source: ABS, Australian Social Trends, 2008 4229.0 - Adult Learning, Australia, 2006-07
International Comparisons
Source: ABS, Australian Social Trends, 2008 4229.0 - Adult Learning, Australia, 2006-07
In Conclusion
1. Australia has relatively high levels of participation in adult learning, however those with the highest skills have the most access and those with the lowest skills have the least.
2. We have “closed the gap” significantly between the employed and unemployed when it comes to access to formal education but there are significant disparities of access to informal and particularly non-formal learning.
3. Those with the highest levels of literacy take part in formal, non-formal and informal learning, mainly through their workplaces.
4. Those countries with the highest levels of adult literacy don’t just plan to increase uptake of qualifications but to build cultures of lifelong learning.
5. The overwhelming body of research around adult learning suggests that adults develop their skills through purposeful engagement with other literate adults i.e. through informal and non-formal means.
