Impact of COVID19 on Adult Learning and Education (ALE): UK case study

The findings of this study in the UK suggest that those working in Adult Learning and Education (ALE) in Islington feel that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a higher impact on ALE than other education sectors. Within ALE, the impact of the pandemic has been disproportionately high on the most marginalised ALE learners. The pandemic has highlighted the role of ALE as a frontline community service, strengthening the sense of community and providing valuable links between service providers and some of the most marginalised in the community. The COVID-19 pandemic posed a considerable challenge to ALE provision in the UK, disrupting the service and presenting a steep learning curve to tutors, coordinators and managers. Providers of ALE responded quickly with provision in Islington converting to online delivery within a couple of weeks. The Adult and Community Learning (ACL) curriculum was adapted rapidly in response to the COVID19 pandemic, to address the immediate challenges faced by learners in their lives and livelihoods. On-going reflection and dialogue about the appropriate curriculum and mode(s) of delivery continue. In the post-pandemic climate, Information Technology (IT) is no longer seen as a discrete topic to be studied, but as an essential component of ALE and as a cross-cutting theme, similar to literacy and numeracy, embedded into all provision from entry level onwards. All of these changes need to be seen in the light of the finding that the pandemic disproportionately impacted the most vulnerable ALE learners and those in the community who had least access to support and resources. Further research is required to explore ways of ensuring continued access to support and learning services by the most vulnerable adult groups in future crises

Conceptions of literacy in context:situated understandings in a rural area of Northern Cameroon

Taking a view of literacy as a communicative practice, in which a learned skill is applied by individual people in their particular social contexts, this thesis examines the understandings of literacy of people in a village in northern Cameroon and explores how these are influenced by the circumstances of their lives. Many developments have taken place in local life in the last fifty years as the village has become progressively integrated into a wider world. Most people are small farmers; poverty and hunger are recurrent problems. Three different languages are spoken, in different domains of life. The majority of adults describe themselves as non-literate and several literacy programmes are in operation. Using a qualitative methodology, the researcher took part in local events and activities and noted the ways in which literacy was used in the community. He also conducted interviews with 59 literate and non-literate men and women, three of whom were interviewed in depth over several months. He found that many people thought that literacy offered advantage and status and that it facilitated personal correspondence. It gave some people a sense of autonomy. However, learning to read and write was not a high priority in relation to the immediate pressures of survival. Religion was a significant influence on local understandings of literacy with Christians being mostly positive towards literacy. Protestants viewed literacy as useful for reading the Bible, and Catholics associated it with development. Literacy in French was seen as relevant for education and employment, literacy in the local language for religious purposes. This study confirms the view that literacy has to be understood as situated in its local context and it reveals that people’s conceptions of literacy, and not only their uses of reading and writing, need to be understood in the context of their lives