richness, inspiration and hope

Thanks to everyone who took part in this forum, either by reading or commenting. Three weeks have flown by, and we have certainly had a rich discussion!

Many people spoke of the powerful, not necessarily financial, rewards of this work. Those gifts keep people committed to adult literacy and are appealing to young people who are starting to see their place in literacy work.

We've also spent some time exposing some of the structures and systems that threaten to undermine the amazing work people are doing coast to coast to coast. As a wonderful antidote to those pressures, people shared their dreams of Places to Learn..."just like we have hockey rinks and playgrounds and walking trails and libraries and swimming pools and tourist information centres and..."

Let's keep talking to each other, and dreaming of the future we'd like to see. Please consider typing up those thoughts and sharing them through Literacies!

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Thanks again!

is there a next generation?

On this forum we've heard about the wide discrepancies between working conditions. In some parts of the country practitioners are paid $11.50 an hour for 30 to 35 weeks of the year, while in others college instructors are paid $78,000 a year. The disparities reflect the reality of federalism, which allows each jurisdiction to decide how it will support, or neglect, adult literacy.

Despite the limits of federalism, literacy workers have been thinking strategically. Some people believe that if adult literacy workers were accredited, the work would be taken more seriously which would lead to increases in program funding.

Others point out that governments only respond to power. They argue that the only way to have literacy work recognized and supported is to unionize -- a truly mammoth undertaking given 13 jurisdictions with their own school boards, community colleges, workplace programs and community programs.

What do you think? Would either strategy build support for literacy work?

If we don't find a way to build an infrastructure, is there a future for literacy work?

Who are the next generation of literacy workers? Where are they?

How will they enter the field, and what will encourage them to stay?

Given the growing emphasis on evidence-based performance measures, is literacy work in danger of being overrun by outcomes, worksheets and teaching to the test?

What can we do to teach future generations of literacy workers about the human side of literacy work?

Please share your dreams about how we can build a better future for literacy work.

P.S. Don't forget to answer our new poll ---->>>

have we shot ourselves in the foot?

Sometimes, when we have advocated for better funding for programs and for coherent and consistent literacy policy, practitioners have been told that we are self-interested. Discussions of working conditions create the same danger: Policy-makers can say that we are only interested in improving our own station in life, while we should concentrate on proving that we are truly 'helping' the students in our programs. In the past decade, funders have become increasingly adamant that they will not support anything that even remotely approaches advocacy for literacy.

In the 1980s, learner networks were active and vibrant. While some still do exist, it seems to me that I hear fewer learners speaking as advocates for adult literacy programming, and more speaking about personal transformation.

Have we practitioners shot ourselves in the foot?

Has our focus on accreditation as a route to strengthen the field allowed funders to accuse us of self-interest?

Might things look different today if learners' voices had been at the forefront?

why this state of things?

Thanks to everyone who shared their stories about how they got into literacy work, and what keeps them in the field. Several people wrote about how literacy work allows them to make a real difference in people's lives.

They also mentioned the other side of the coin. As Linda Wentzel writes, "It's hard to accept that what you do is so undervalued that you are dispensable on a regular basis."

For many years now, people have been lobbying for better program funding and for policy that recognizes that literacy programs can help make society more equitable and inclusive. But perhaps the reason that literacy work is not supported has nothing to do with the value placed on this work.

Here is what Maria Moriarty discovered when she tried to find information about adult literacy as a job category:

A search of Canada's National Occupational Classification (NOC) site failed to turn up a description of the job duties or requirements for adult literacy instructor or adult basic education instructor. However, I did find interesting “official” descriptions of literacy work and job prospects for literacy workers in the United States and the United Kingdom. For example, in the US, the Occupational Outlook Handbook provides this telling description of job prospects in adult literacy:

"The demand for literacy and basic education often fluctuates with the economy. When the economy is good and workers are hard to find, employers relax their standards and hire workers without a degree or GED. As the economy softens, more students find they need additional education to get a job. However, adult education classes are often subject to funding level changes, which can cause the number of teaching jobs to fluctuate from year to year. When this happens, volunteers may take the place of paid teachers."

According to this view, literacy policy is driven by economic demands rather than what people, and communities, need.

If this is so, will adult literacy ever be entrenched in solid programs run by stable staff?

Does it explain why volunteerism is such a large part of our legacy?

To share your thoughts, click on the comment link below this post.

To read past posts and comments, click on the links listed on the right-hand side of this page.

what brought you to literacy work?

I imagine many of you are eager to talk about about working conditions. We'll get to that in a few days.

First, though, I want to share something that Sally Crawford, a recently-retired family literacy worker from New Brunswick, wrote in a wildcard for Focused on Practice:

We do it for the money
and the status—NOT

Ever examine who works in the field and why? It seems to me that it’s mostly women. Is it that the work somehow demands the “nurturing female thing”? Is the job not valued by society so the attitude is "let the women do it"? Are women more willing to put up with the working conditions because they know if they don’t, the programs will fold? Should we be more militant? I’m of the age and stage where I can do this because I love the work. Because I’m not putting bread on the table I don't need a secure salary and benefits to continue doing this work.

I enjoy the fact that everyone I talk to has come to the field by a different route. I’ve not met one person yet who woke up one morning as a youngster and said “I think I’ll be a literacy facilitator when I grow up.” And they are all passionate in some way about their work and about social justice. They all seem to be comfortable choosing “curiosity over certainty”. Such richness!

Let's start this discussion by sharing some of that richness.
* What drew you to adult literacy work?
* Once you got into literacy work, what surprised you?

Please share your stories!
And please do our where-do-you work survey - look right -->