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An invitation-only seminar was held on 16 February at the
Institute of Education in London, to celebrate the launch
of the Literacy and Social Inclusion position paper, 'Every
which way we can'. The seminar was held jointly with the National
Research and Development Centre for adult literacy and numeracy
(NRDC), and chaired by its director, Dr Ursula Howard.
Ursula Howard introduced the day, saying that an improvement
in so-called "soft skills", such as confidence and
resilience, is an important outcome of engaging in learning
and can promote social inclusion. Given the critical nature
of such non-cognitive skills for making one's life work, we
should find an alternative name for them - such as "tough
skills" - and continue to work on ways of measuring them.
Download Ursula Howard's presentation
[PowerPoint]
Download a Basic Skills and Social
Inclusion Research Briefing produced by the NRDC, February
2005 [Word document]
Viv Bird, Literacy and Social Inclusion Project Director,
then presented the paper's key findings.
Professor John Bynner of the Centre for Research
on the Wider Benefits of Learning responded by describing
the paper as a very good overview with valuable policy recommendations.
He particularly liked the way in which it highlighted the
importance of public facilities such as libraries. He explored
the concept of social exclusion, emphasising the idea of "capability"
as accounting for the role that literacy plays in social inclusion.
Individuals with poor literacy, and without the support or
resources of family, friends or neighbours, are particularly
likely to be socially excluded. Literacy is part of not only
a set of capabilities, but a whole lifestyle that needs to
be embraced to tackle the social exclusion problem.
Download John Bynner's notes
[Word document]
Professor Brian Street of
King’s College London emphasised that we need to take
account of theories of learning, including informal learning,
and real literacy materials. However, he questioned the use
of a "deficit" model and negative terminology like
"at risk" and "poor basic skills", and
also said that there is an over-emphasis in the field on books
and print at the expense of wider communicative practices
and new media.
Download Brian Street's notes [Word document]
Carol Taylor of the Basic Skills
Agency recognised that there is much good practice going on,
and that literacy is about not just function but also enjoyment,
and participation in the democratic process. She asked how
we can support the development of a literacy vision such as
the one set out in the paper. How do we put literacy at the
heart of joined-up thinking and policies to address social
inclusion, and support partnership at a local level? How can
Skills for Life support the social inclusion issue?
Download Carol Taylor's presentation [PowerPoint]
The responses were followed by a panel discussion that also
included Barry Brooks of the
Skills for Life Strategy Unit and Stephen
Martin of the Social Exclusion Unit. The questions
addressed by the panel had been collected from the audience
of practitioners, policymakers and members of the research
community over the course of the day by means of post-it notes,
leading to a wide-ranging debate. Some of the key points were:
Exclusion and inclusion: The
Government's emphasis on early years investment reflects concern
with distinguishing between the 'hand you're dealt' and what
happens afterwards. We should be talking about 'easy-to-use'
services rather than 'hard-to-reach' people.
Cultural assumptions: we need
literacy in order to be safe in our daily lives, for example
to access health information, but people also want access
to stories and a shared culture. This does not necessarily
come through books and reading, but reading does bring pleasure
and can have a transforming effect on life.
"New" and broader literacies:
the word "literacy" can be a metaphor for
"skill", or can refer to communicative practices,
and we need to be clear about these terms because there are
implications for funding. In the context of social inclusion,
speaking and talking through issues may be more of an immediate
priority for individuals than reading and writing tasks, which,
however, can be followed up later.
Funding: there are challenges
around short-term funding, funding at Pre-entry level for
adult basic skills, and demonstrating the impact of informal
learning. Should we as a society fund all provision in this
area? The issues go beyond just the Department for Education
and Skills. Are colleges the best places to deliver basic
skills provision for socially excluded groups? Should the
shape and pace of provision be very different for different
groups - for example, is two hours a week sufficient for those
adults with very low skills levels?
Partnership: Any partnership
body needs to be local; local authorities should provide a
framework for taking on partnership working. Local Area Agreements
are already drawing on a number of funding streams, and Regional
Development Agencies also provide a remit and resources. Partnerships
need to be built from the bottom up, and Children's Centres
at the heart of communities provide a real opportunity for
this. We need to take the risks of embracing diversity rather
than promoting uniformity.
Neil McClelland, director of
the National Literacy Trust, summed up the day by pointing
to the emerging agreement that the problem of under-achievement
does not exist in a vacuum: it is linked to poverty, welfare,
crime, health and so on, so a systems approach is needed to
tackle it. He pointed out that there are also many pre-school
and pre-16 opportunities for coordinating work: early years
issues must be taken into account, and there is already some
excellent work going on. Cross-community partnerships are
crucial and can be facilitated without great cost at local
level, to bring in resources and plan strategically. Partnership
bodies should ensure that they listen to the end user rather
than being dominated by learning providers. We need to promote
the demand for learning; providers and others with influence
in communities all have a role here.
Download questions asked by the
audience [Word document]
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