Serving Adults with Special Learning Needs

Strategies for Helping Women Overcome
Barriers to Learning Caused by Violence
Book Review

Horsman, J. (1999). Too Scared to Learn: Women, Violence and Education. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: McGilligan Books. 392 pp., $24.95

Morrish, E., Horsman, J., and Hofer, J. (2002). Take on the Challenge: A Source Book from the Women, Violence, and Adult Education Project. Boston, MA: World Education. 208 pp., $18.00

Both of the books described in this review are available for checkout by mail from the Clearinghouse Library.

In Too Scared to Learn: Women, Violence and Education, Jenny Horsman re-examines learning from the perspective of the prevalence and impacts of violence in women’s lives. Based on research with literacy learners, instructors, and practicing therapists, Too Scared to Learn brings together a variety of disciplines and perspectives to inspire new approaches to teaching and learning. On the book jacket notes, Elsa Auerbach of University of Massachusetts at Boston calls the book “a groundbreaking study that brings a critical issue for adult educators out of the closet. Trauma and violence have been invisible elephants in adult education classes — Jenny Horsman is a pioneer in raising awareness about their pervasiveness in learners’ lives, their consequences for learning, and the implications for teaching.”

Debra Coe, Even Start Evaluator and former Austin-area adult literacy program administrator, said this about her reading of Too Scared to Learn: “When I was teaching women receiving TANF in ABE/ASE classes, I was constantly shocked and amazed by the tremendous amount of violence my students experienced both in their pasts and in the present. Jenny Horseman’s book helped me to understand the psychological impact that violence had on these women’s ability to learn. It spoke not only of the negative aspects but also of the courage and resiliency these women possessed. Too Scared to Learn helped sensitize me to a reality that was very different from my own and enabled me to empathize and better connect with my students.” (personal communication, October 2006).

Horsman and others in the Women, Violence, and Adult Education (WVAE) Project were funded by the US Department of Education, Women’s Educational Equity Act Program to study and develop practices to address the impact of violence on women’s learning in their New England adult basic education classrooms. Take on the Challenge: A Source Book from the Women, Violence, and Adult Education Project is the result of that project. This resource for educators and activists interested in anti-violence work provides an analysis of the effects of violence and a practical collection of ideas and activities, with examples from teachers working in GED, native language literacy, ABE, ESOL, welfare-to-work, corrections, and shelter settings. Based on the foundation of Jenny Horsman’s research, educators in the project successfully changed their curriculum and learning environment to address impacts of violence on learning. Practitioners focused on well-being and incorporated counseling and creative arts into the classroom. Each chapter includes a general introduction, tools for programs, and teachers’ writings about the changes they made. In addition to book form, Take on the Challenge can also be downloaded from the publications page of the World Education website.

The following is an excerpt of content from Too Scared to Learn, as it later appeared in the form of a teacher handout in Take on the Challenge (pp. 25-26).

This issue is of particular concern in literacy programs that serve immigrant learners, according to Janet Isserlis (2000). “Minimizing violent behavior (e.g., convincing a woman that violence is criminal only if it occurs in public, or that a man is allowed to physically punish her because of male privilege; or blaming her for the violence because she did not obey him) is also common among batterers both within and beyond immigrant communities. Batterers strive to isolate their victims. For immigrant or refugee women, this isolation is exacerbated by language and culture differences that make finding safe options all the more daunting.” (p. 1). As to how this impacts learners’ participation in the classroom, Isserlis explains, “For English language learners who have faced loss of one sort or another (status, employment, family members, or homeland), being able to view the classroom as a safe and predictable place is key to building community among and safety for learners and practitioners.” (p. 2). Implications extend to state policy as well. “State plans for adult education might support development of ancillary services for learners attending classes for whom violence is a factor in learning. This, coupled with teachers’ understanding of the effects of trauma on learning, should help to make the classroom a safe place and learning more possible for adult language learners” (p. 3).

Jenny Horsman invites interested individuals to visit the new Learning and Violence Website to learn about who is doing research or creating innovative practice to understand and address this issue. The site features a forum where members can post questions, comments, input, experience and ideas about learning and violence. www.learningandviolence.net

Isserlis, J. (2000). Trauma and the Adult English Language Learner: ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: National Center for ESL Literacy Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED444397).