Workforce - Workplace Literacy

Back to Work,Back to Basics

Reading and writing are important because we read and write our world as well as our texts and are read and written by them in turn.
— Robert Scholes

Given my status as the newest employee here at TCALL, I find it incredibly apropos that the first Literacy Links edition that I have the pleasure of contributing to deals with the theme of “Workforce Literacy.” Every day I feel as if I am rising to the challenge of becoming literate in the many ways of my new workplace culture. Returning to the workforce full- time, after 5 years of graduate studies, I am struck by my own experiences with a complex and evolving workplace situated within an ever changing world. Five years ago, I felt I had the foundational skills required to be a productive, technologically savvy worker. Today, those same skills are outmoded and have been replaced with the need to understand new programs, new technologies, and new hardware. I find myself learning a whole new set of “basic” skills. Five years ago, e-mail was something I only used with friends never to communicate with colleagues at work. I had never heard of PowerPoint much less come to rely so heavily on it for all my presentations. My laptop (one of the lightest on the market at time) weighed an impressive eleven pounds. Today, my laptop (not the lightest on the market) weighs in at barely four pounds. Technology is making personal computers the size of watches, our phones are taking pictures, and our picture frames are talking to us. The only thing scarier than the speed at which all of this change is taking place is the speed at which one must keep up. Indeed, a challenge for workforce literacy educators.

In this edition of Literacy Links the articles address not only the importance of having a technology component in adult education curriculum (see Irene E. Ramos’ article), they also offer examples of effective innovative adult education programs, such as in Christia Moore’s article on the new program “Hands of Serve Prepare a Dedicated Texas Workforce.” This edition also addresses the important issue of how to focus on workforce literacy while still remaining focused on Adult Education. You will find this in Barbara Tondre’s piece. Also in this Literacy Links, TCALL’s family literacy specialist Jacqueline Gramann deals with how working families manage to stay connected. Her article highlights the role literacy can take in families juggling work, community, and home. TCALL’s professional development specialist Ken Appelt provides useful information in his article on EFF’s customized curriculum and professional development package “Preparing for Careers in Sales and Service.” Interested in accessing even more information on workforce literacy and workplace education? You will find the resources listed here in “What’s new with LINCS and NIFL?” And of course in the extensive “Welcome to our Library...”. We hope that all of the articles in this edition will provide you with new information about workforce literacy while also providing you with useful practices to apply.

While learning in the workplace can be traced back to the model of apprenticeships used to learn a specific craft during the 1700s, at the start of the Industrial Revolution, the first formal programs of instruction in the workplace known as corporation or factory schools are a relatively recent development. Tracing their roots to the early 1900s, these factory schools were first created by the railroad companies and later instituted by electric companies and car factories. Adult basic education programs for the workplace, offering on-site adult education and high school equivalency programs have been a workplace staple at many corporations since the 1960s. Along with the development of these programs was the development of the terms to describe these programs such as basic skills, workplace literacy, workplace education, workforce development, and workforce literacy. While workforce development is a more inclusive and generic term to describe much of the educative processes portrayed in the articles that follow, the term workforce literacy highlights the issue of adult basic education and illuminates the rich history of experience that defines the field of workplace education regardless of whether or not that education takes place on-site at the actual workplace or in adult education centers that devote a segment of their teaching to workforce development and learning. So as you take the time to read this edition of Literacy Links, we hope you will recall the workplace of yesterday, recognize the workplace of today, and envision the workplace of tomorrow. In doing so, we hope the following newsletter will serve as the impetus for ongoing discussion around the important issues surrounding the development and practice of workforce literacy.

Sincerely,
Dr. Dominique T. Chlup
Director of TCALL &
Principal Investigator on the Clearinghouse Project