Rogers, Alan

Reflecting contemporary interest in developing new adult literacy learning programmes based on ‘literacy for livelihoods’, this article examines some case studies from New Zealand, Bangladesh, and Egypt, illustrating literacy being used in livelihoods, and relates these to the kind of literacy being taught in many adult literacy programmes today. It argues that people often change […]

Literacy programmes conventionally focus solely on non-literates and use a ‘learn first, do later’ model that is ill-suited to adult learning. Programmes based on existing groups (whether function- or location-based), and which use a ‘learn through doing’ approach, are more likely to be successful both in achieving literacy and in reinforcing other development goals. This […]

The main purpose of extension work is to assist and encourage learning, and current thinking on the way adults learn suggests that the social context in which the learning takes place and the attitudes of the target group are as integral to their learning capacity as effective communication. The importance of learners’ capacity for engagement […]