Research program: June 2001-June 2002
For the period June 2001 – June 2002 the ALNARC
research program addresses the issue of the role of adult literacy and numeracy in
lifelong learning and socio-economic well-being, with a view to consolidating previous
research and flagging possible modes of policy research and provision in the future. The
current research program consists of four interlocking projects.
Project #1: What does the past tell us about the
role of adult numeracy and literacy?
- What initiatives have been undertaken in recent years in
adult literacy and numeracy policy and research? How have they been designed to improve
vocational and lifelong learning opportunities?
- Can Australia be informed by new policy and program
developments in the UK and elsewhere in industrial countries?
- How have policy in the literacy and numeracy area, and
policy in related areas (e.g. health, poverty, (un)employment, and casualisation of work)
informed each other?
Project #2: What does the present tell us about the
role of adult numeracy and literacy?
This project produces five examples of literacy and
numeracy provision across contexts as diverse as workplace learning, community provision
and vocational training. A range of methodologies are employed across sites to provide
insights into the contemporary context of existing literacy and numeracy practices and
what these practices might tell us about future provision. Areas of inquiry include the
following:
- literacy learning and youth training,
- financial numeracy?
- the relationship between ESL and literacy learning,
- the emerging forms of work often referred to as portfolio
work and the implications of literacy teaching and learning,
- comparative studies of workplace training in diverse
industry contexts
Project #3: Scenarios for the future
This project considers future scenarios for adult literacy
and numeracy use in work and community contexts where notions of skills and knowledge are
in a process of rapid transformation? It explores these scenarios through a series of
interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral discussion papers, which will form the basis of an
online forum during the early months of 2002.
Project #4: Implications for adult literacy and
numeracy provision and research: an analysis of the ‘evidence’.
ALNARC’s overall research plan is drawn together under
this project which will produce a report on the range of ways in which future policy and
provision in Australian adult numeracy and literacy can respond to the current and future
numeracy and literacy demands of workplace, training and community contexts.
Click here to
go to Past Projects Reports
