In the year 2005 I was invited by UNESCO Iraq office located in Amman (Jordan) to develop a blue-print for the Adult Literacy program in Iraq. The blue-print was to be based on a comprehensive survey conducted in Iraq by a consortium of NGOs. The survey results suggested that in post-war Iraq the entire education system was in shambles and the most hardly hit was the girls' education. There was an atmosphere of uncertainity as how to bring the education system back on track and it was a challenge to put in a well defined heirarchy for the effective implementation. It was also realised that the Iraqi people wanted vocational education as an integral part of adult litercy program. They also wanted to read on a number of subjects i.e. religion, culture, history etc. One interesting result suggested that the people were politically aware and knew what they wanted. The crux is that the sole motive of adult literacy programs has to be to make the people
 functionally literate. The rest will follow subsequently.

Anil Roongta
Chairman, GOOD India
(A not for profit organisation)



________________________________
From: "Ellison, Art" <AEllison at ed.state.nh.us>
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
Sent: Tue, October 27, 2009 10:41:35 PM
Subject: [PD 4073] Re: Swinging the Sword of Literacy in Iraq


In New Hampshire we have added political literacy to the list of literacy’s that are commonly accepted as part of our adult education work, (written literacy, math literacy, health literacy, economic literacy, etc.). We take on the responsibility of helping students gain the skills to take some control over the institutions in their lives. 
 
Political literacy starts with the commitment that all of us need to participate in the political process on all levels. If we and our students do not participate in the political process someone else will make all of those important decisions for us. We spend considerable time and resources insuring that as many adult education students as possible register to vote and actually vote. As part of the New England Literacy Resource Center ’s Voter Education, Research and Action campaigns (VERA) over 85% of the registered adult education students in our programs have voted in the last two presidential elections.
 
If we take on the responsibility of encouraging everyone to participate in the political process we, as adult educators, must also help students to make intelligent decisions in this arena. The very best publication available in this area is Pick Your Candidate:  A Workbook for Adult Learners, written by Debbie Tasker, the professional development consultant in the NH Department of Education’s Bureau of Adult Education. A copy of that manual can be obtained from the World Education website at http://literacytech.world.ed.org/docs/pick/PICKPR.HTM. 
 
None of this work deals with the ideological orientation of our students or our staff; it is part of helping students to gain skills that will allow them to be successful participants in all of their communities. 
 
Art Ellison, Bureau of Adult Education, NH Department of Education 
 

________________________________

From:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Steve Kaufmann
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:23 PM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [PD 4072] Re: Swinging the Sword of Literacy in Iraq
 
If the issue is literacy, it does not matter what the information is. Learners should be encouraged to read and listen to the information that they like, whether the Bible, Karl Marx or the sports page. It is not for the literacy teacher to worry about the ideological orientation of the learner, in my view.
Steve Kaufmann
604-922-8551

 
--- @ WiseStamp Signature. Get it now
 
On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 8:02 AM, Cynthia Peters <cynthia_peters at worlded.org> wrote:
It would be interesting to talk with teachers about how they address
objectivity in the classroom. How do they come up with objective
sources? Perhaps another way of looking at it is to remain skeptical of
all sources and to look at many sources and to ask questions about where
the sources comes from, what interests they might represent, and what
outcomes they might be invested in, etc.

For example, what constitutes "solid information"?

Cynthia
--

Cynthia Peters
Change Agent Editor
World Education
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston , MA   02210

tel: 617-482-9485 ext. 3649
fax: 617-482-0617
email: cpeters at worlded.org

Check out The Change Agent online at:
www.nelrc.org/changeagent



>>> On 10/26/2009 at 3:20 PM, in message

<d0ed1c87b10017dc676f2abfe92dc2ea at ciesc.k12.in.us>, Bhofmeyer
<bhofmeyer at ciesc.k12.in.us> wrote:

> Cynthia,

> You are correct to encourage critical thinking and evaluation skills

in our

> instruction of adult learners and in PD for instructors. Such skills

will

> benefit our learners in life and work. However, I believe that a

critical

> part of that instruction includes teaching them to consider all sides

of an

> issue and then to make up their own minds after having weighed the

> information. To do so, we must be sure to offer - or provide

resources for

> them to discover -  solid information without prejudicing the

information.

> That may mean they reach conclusions contrary to our own. However, if

we do

> not approach topics with a good measure of objectivity we risk

sacrificing

> the very lesson we strive to teach.

>

> Barbara Hofmeyer

> Professional  Development Consultant

> Indiana Adult Education

> Professional Development Project

> bhofmeyer at ciesc.k12.in.us

> 260-572-6296

> FAX: 260-927-8720

>

>

>

> -----Original message-----

> From: "Cynthia Peters" cynthia_peters at worlded.org

> Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:11:04 -0400

> To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov

> Subject: [PD 4065] Re: Swinging the Sword of Literacy in Iraq

>

>> Tom's article reminds me of some key aspects of literacy, including

the

>> importance of understanding the context of events, of examining who

is

>> saying what and why, and of being able to think clearly about

events

>> despite the way that certain kinds of "talk" can obscure reality.

>>

>> Professional Development for adult ed. teachers should include a lot

of

>> support to teachers to figure out ways to help students not just

learn

>> to read but to penetrate people's words in context. Those of us who

are

>> teachers and who are already literate need to be supported to keep

>> reminding ourselves about harsh realities because it's tempting to

>> ignore them, especially since (as U.S. citizens) we have a large

>> responsibility.

>>

>> For example, in reference to Tom's article below, if we are

concerned

>> about literacy in Iraq , perhaps one of the most important

contributions

>> U.S. citizens can make would be to examine our government's role

there

>> over the past several decades, which includes numerous illegal and

>> immoral (not to mention useless and counterproductive) bombings,

>> invasions, occupations, economic boycotts (which do not literally

drop

>> bombs on people but nonetheless cause 100s of thousands to die),

etc.

>>

>> Another example: A close reading of the text reveals the Orwellian

>> doublespeak of Army Spc. Tiffany Evans talking about how "...war

and

>> economic hardships have caused the education system to suffer

>> significantly in the last two decades" -- as if the *source* of war

and

>> economic hardship were not directly linked to her, indeed, to all of

us,

>> as citizens of the country which launched an illegal pre-emptive

war,

>> and which before that had driven the country into the ground

through

>> absolutely vicious economic sanctions.

>>

>> I know there are many great professional development people out

there

>> who are supporting teachers (and by extension, students) to look

deeply

>> into texts and to provide pathways for all of us to use what we

>> understand to be happening in the world as a check on what we read.

I

>> think we cannot underestimate the importance of that work!

>>

>> Cynthia

>>

>> --

>>

>>

> ----------------------------------------------------

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> nt

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Steve Kaufmann
www.lingq.com
604-922-8514
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