Exploring Equality through Creative Methods of Learning in Adult Literacy: Findings from a Peace Funded Project

Autor/in	Mark, Rob
Titel	Exploring Equality through Creative Methods of Learning in Adult Literacy: Findings from a Peace Funded Project
Quelle	In: Adult Learner: The Irish Journal of Adult and Community Education, (2008), S.77-83 (7 Seiten) PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0790-8040
Schlagwörter	Creativity; Foreign Countries; Adult Literacy; Teaching Methods; Social Justice; Cultural Relevance; Creative Activities; Creative Teaching; Conflict; Peace; Instructional Effectiveness; Ireland; United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Kreativität; Ausland; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Soziale Gerechtigkeit; Creative thinking; Teaching; Kreatives Denken; Unterricht; Konflikt; Frieden; Unterrichtserfolg; Irland
Abstract	The Literacy and Equality in Irish Society (LEIS) Project is an example of a project which used alternative non-text methodologies to help literacy and basic education learners explore and understand how inequalities in society have impacted on their lives. The project focused on inequalities, shifting the emphasis in literacy and basic skills practice away from using printed material to encouraging learners and tutors to explore together the experience of using non-text based methods of learning. The particular focus for inspiring this new type of learning was the post-conflict situation in the North of Ireland and the need to understand how including equality issues in literacy learning might contribute to peace building and reconciliation. The project had three key strands--Literacy, Equality, and Creativity and the partnership brought together different types of expertise to research, design and develop a package of innovative text-free teaching methods that could be used to explore equality issues in adult literacy education. The LEIS Project was a European Union project funded largely under the Peace and Reconciliation Programme for Northern Ireland and Border Counties of the Republic of Ireland. The project explored five different text-free methods and these methods were piloted with adult literacy tutors and tutor-trainers in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties of the Republic. The project held as one of its core principles the belief that adult literacy and basic education is an equality issue, and that low levels of literacy is a manifestation or symptom of inequality. This project set out to develop clearer links between the theoretical concept of equality and the practical approaches to teaching literacy. The linkages were created through the development of creative and non-text methodologies which literacy tutors could use in their practice. The methods selected were--Visual Arts, Drama, Storytelling, Image Theatre, and Making Music. By focusing on equality and creativity, the LEIS project has shown how these concepts can be used to develop new skills and understanding for adult literacy and basic education learners using non-text methodologies. This, in turn, can empower learners to examine and understand inequalities affecting their own lives and the lives of others, and the underlying causes of these inequalities. It might, for example, include the social, economic, cultural or environmental domains. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	AONTAS The National Adult Learning Organisation. 2nd Floor, 83-87 Main Street, Ranelagh, Dublin 6, Ireland. Tel: +353-1-406-8220; Tel: +353-1-406-8221; Fax: +353-1-406-8227; e-mail: mail@aontas.com; Web site: http://www.aontas.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10