Scottish adult literacy and numeracy policy and practice: a social practice model: rhetoric or reality

Campbell, Elizabeth (2011) Scottish adult literacy and numeracy policy and practice: a social practice model: rhetoric or reality. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

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Printed Thesis Information: https://eleanor.lib.gla.ac.uk/record=b2884394

Abstract

This thesis is about the story of the development of Adult Literacy and Numeracy policy and practice in Scotland. It includes some of my personal experiences over the past thirty years working in the field of adult education and particularly in literacies. However, the focus is primarily on the years 2000 –2006 when major developments took place in this field of adult learning. One of the tenets of the ‘new literacies’ policy and practice is that it is predicated on a social practice model. This thesis explores whether this assertion is rhetoric or reality.

In the process the thesis outlines what the term social practice means to theorists, academics and those involved in the direct delivery of literacies. It examines the policy documents and the practices of managers and tutors and learner outcomes. The thesis argues that, while a learner centred approach is integral to any good adult education practice, it does not equate to the use of a social practice model and more requires to be done before it can be claimed that Scotland truly operates a social practice model in the delivery of Adult Literacy and Numeracy.

The first five chapters of the thesis outline the historical context of literacies development in Scotland, locate my methodological approach, explore what is meant by social practices, sketch the development of policy and practice in Scotland and describe the methods used to gather data.

The following three chapters explore the responses of the managers, tutors and learners that informed the outcomes of the research. The final chapters analyse the data and address three pertinent questions. Firstly, is it possible/likely that a full social practice model can become the norm in Scotland, secondly, whether it is possible to develop this model at a national level anywhere considering the current global situation and thirdly, how can the good practice recorded in this research be sustained.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Qualification Level: Doctoral
Keywords: History of adult literacies in Scotland, work of Paulo Freire, social practice approach
Subjects: L Education > LC Special aspects of education
Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
Supervisor's Name: Barr, Dr. Jean
Date of Award: 2011
Depositing User: Mrs Elizabeth Margaret Campbell
Unique ID: glathesis:2011-2948
Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
Date Deposited: 01 Nov 2011
Last Modified: 10 Dec 2012 14:02
URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/2948

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