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Community Partnerships for Adult Learning
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Together We Learn:
Collaboration and Adult Literacy Education
by Ralf St. Clair
In many ways the history of adult education is a story of collaboration.
The main reason for this is probably one of the most obvious facts about
adult education - there have been very few organizations completely dedicated
to the education of adults. There have been a few notable exceptions,
but generally adult education is supported by structures designed to do
something else, and viewing the education of adults as a means to an end
rather than an end in itself. Adult literacy education in the US has been
fortunate to have two major volunteer organizations - Literacy Volunteers
of America and Laubach Literacy Action - committed solely to adult literacy,
but collaboration is a much more common scenario.
In this short article I would like to identify some of the partners adult
literacy and ESL education has danced with, and briefly describe the steps
they took. My first hope is that this will be interesting, but my further
hope is to inspire administrators, instructors, and learners to think
constructively about some of the collaborative opportunities available.
Collaboration is a powerful tool for your program, your learners, and
your community.
Most likely you are already involved in collaboration to some degree.
If your adult ESL program uses a church basement or a corner in the
local library you are collaborating. If a local supermarket lets you
walk around their shelves with your Even Start adults in order to learn
about comparison-shopping you are collaborating. However, making collaboration
a central pillar of your program involves getting those people interested
enough in your work to attend board meetings, learn what adult literacy
is all about, and commit to working with you to build services for learners.
Many different organizations have taken this step over the years, including:
Churches.
In ancient, medieval, and contemporary Europe religious organizations
have provided a great deal of adult literacy education. In Scandinavia,
this was because the local brand of Protestantism required members of
the faith to be able to read the bible. Interestingly, the literacy education
in this context was entirely concerned with reading - learners were not
taught how to write. The focus was entirely on understanding the word
of God, not on creating your own word. Nonetheless, the education provided
a critical contribution to the status of Scandinavian countries as among
the best educated in the world.
Overall,
it is hard to see how any kind of adult education could exist without
the historical support of religious organizations. In the US and Canada,
churches have maintained the tradition of support for literacy education,
albeit with a lower profile. Rather than directly providing literacy education
for adults, churches often supply facilities to local programs, saving
the programs a great deal of money and trouble, and allowing them to be
situated in areas where many potential learners can be found.
Universities
and Colleges. While post-secondary education may not spring to mind
as an obvious partner in adult education, these organizations have a strong
history of involvement. One of the best examples is the Settlement House
movement, an idea imported from the UK to North America during the 19th
century. Settlement Houses involve groups of students living together
in the community and providing accessible education services to the people
in the neighborhood. The term itself is rather old-fashioned, and they
are now sometimes called Neighborhood Houses or something similar. Many
colleges have also followed this kind of model, providing local adult
literacy and ESL services for local people. One well-known Canadian program
is offered in Downtown Eastside Vancouver (the poorest area in Canada)
by Capilano Community College. The program is situated in a historic Carnegie
library saved from demolition by a coalition of local residents. This
kind of provision pulls together adult education and community development,
and is often very effective at attracting and retaining learners.
One
example of a university-based collaboration is Universidad Popular (UP)
in Chicago. Established thirty years ago largely through the efforts of
community activist and academic Tom Heaney, UP is situated is Humboldt
Park, a predominantly Hispanic and economically challenged area of the
city. Heaney brought together the resources of the City of Chicago, local
universities, and the community themselves to create an organization which
specialized in EL/ Civics long before the term was coined.
Libraries.
Over the last hundred years or so, libraries have been wonderful allies
to adult literacy educators. In 2002, the American Library Association
endorsed literacy as one of the areas of endeavor for libraries to pursue
in the future. The provision of libraries ranges from a room for a couple
of hours a week to a group of dedicated staff. In most cases, libraries
will stock adult reading materials at a variety of reading and English
language proficiency levels. The contributions of libraries have been
recognized on an international level as well, with UNESCO identifying
them as a critical component of the adult literacy network in developing
countries.
Schools.
It may seem peculiar to see schools on this list, but it should be remembered
that the primary business of schools is to work with children - when they
get involved with adults they are usually collaborating with adult education
specialists. The history of school provision is an interesting one, and
I always think about the early teachers of adults with a great deal of
respect. Due to school regulations, teachers were almost always female
and had to be unmarried. These single women, often based in small prairie
towns far from their family, would organize evening classes for adults.
This would involve overcoming all sorts of barriers - including weather,
resentment, and scorn - to assist adults to develop the skills these teachers
believed they had the right to know.
In
recent years collaboration with schools has been a bit of a two-edged
sword. Schools have resources adult educators can only dream of, but they
also have set ways of thinking about education that are not always compatible
with the philosophies of adult educators. For example, educators of adults
often use very eclectic methods - a few ideas from here, another few from
there - and put them together into a package that works for them and a
specific group of learners. School teachers are often trained in a more
linear fashion - phonics and then whole language, for example. Another
significant difference is that educators of adults often use the personal
and diverse experience of learners as a central component of curriculum,
whereas schoolteachers usually have to follow pre-formed textbooks and
other materials.
Unions.
There are two educational audiences for unions - members and non-members.
Traditionally they have provided services to members and nobody else,
but in recent years there has been a trend to extend their services to
non-members. Partly, this is a response to falling membership and the
need to create positive publicity, but an equally strong motive has been
the realization that unions have a great deal of educational expertise
to share. Unions collaborate with colleges and non-profit organizations
to provide these services, which are often of very high quality.
Business.
The obvious role for business is to sponsor adult literacy and ESL education,
such as in the highly visible case of Verizon and the recent efforts
by Wal-Mart. However, they can do a lot more. The strongest example
is workplace literacy programs, where literacy or ESL education is provided
to the employees of a specific organization. Hospitals are sometimes
partners in this kind of program, but there is no reason why any business
would not be a suitable candidate.A common model is to have classes
where half the time is paid by the employer and the other half is volunteered
by the employee. So if the learner attends 6 hours per week, 3 hours
is paid. This is a good deal for the employee and a strong incentive
to attend. The employing organization benefits from the increased productivity
of a better-educated workforce, the members of which are often more
committed to the company. They can see that the employer is prepared
to help them learn, and that means a lot to employees irrespective of
their level of education!
Service
Organizations. The work of the Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary, and especially
the Scottish Rite Masons cannot be overlooked. Each of these organizations
has shown support for literacy work in different ways, with the Masons
having had the most impact. They have developed curriculum and materials
for use in adult literacy, which have proven to be popular and effective
in many areas.
Social
Service Agencies. The final area I will talk about is social service
agencies. Since the passing of the Workforce Investment Act, thousands
of agencies provide education to unemployed people combining basic skills
and ESL with job specific training. This is a whole new context for adult
literacy education - learners are required to be there, the outcome is
often linked to a specific job, and continued education may or may not
be an acceptable goal. Despite these differences this provision offers
many opportunities to engage learners with the process of education in
a positive, and hopefully long-lasting, way.
Building
Collaboration
So
what do you do if you are now convinced that collaboration is both desirable
and worthwhile? First of all, learn some more about it. There are many
resources available, and TCALL can help you to find some relevant to your
situation. Recognize that collaboration, in the best sense, will involve
giving up some control of your program. Know what the pitfalls are, and
think about how to avoid them. For example, the local grocery store will
provide you with a room and help you build a library, but mandates that
you promote their products - what do you do? When you feel that you have
a sense of where you want to go, and what is acceptable as a route to
get there, you can begin to think about likely partners.
While
national collaborations attract publicity, for most programs a local collaboration
is both more realistic and more useful. Local organizations are more likely
to care enough about your community to want to invest time, resources
and money in your program. Be clear about what kind of collaboration you
want to set up - is it a straight sponsorship deal, or do you want the
library to become a full partner in your program? If you have nothing
in mind when you start, you are likely to get it.
People
often talk as if collaboration is a new thing in adult literacy education,
made necessary by shrinking resources. What I have suggested here is that
collaboration is a long established principle of adult education, a central
component of our vocation. Collaboration adds value to what we do in so
many senses, and is not as hard as the word can make us think. Collaboration
can be informal, formal, legal, friendly, controlling, or casual - the
point is that you decide. The benefits are enormous and multifaceted -
for learners, who see that many people are behind their learning; for
programs, who can leverage their resources and serve more people; and
for the collaborators, who get to learn about our field and participate
in programs that make a real difference to real lives. Together we all
can learn how powerful literacy education can be.
About the Author
Dr. St.Clair is the Director of the Texas Center for Adult Literacy and
Learning (TCALL). Born in Glasgow, he has come to Texas from Scotland
via Canada, so brings significant international experience in adult education
and literacy. He received his doctorate from the University of British
Columbia in Vancouver, Canada and has been working in adult education
for almost twenty years. He is also an Assistant Professor in EAHRD, with
research interests in adult and family literacy and curriculum studies.
Ralf and partner Jenny believe that the most effective teacher they have
ever met is their 18 month old son Grant.
 
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