[AAACE-NLA] role of research centres

[Benseman John]

In response to Tom's note, I would like to make a number of points:

*	
	research takes time to filter through the various layers to actual practice (and it is always a two-way responsibility for researchers to disseminate their findings, but also for practitioners to seek them out)
*	
	front-line practitioners (whether they are ABE or elementary teachers) never walk round with research reports in their back pockets; it's usually the role of those who manage programmes and teach ABE quals to ensure that the research is built in to what they do)
*	
	from where I sit, the research undertaken by the NRDC and NCSALL is world-class, but is still trying to overcome many years of inertia and an extremely limited research base compared with other educational sectors
*	
	if adult literacy is ever to be taken seriously by government, it will be on the basis of a well-developed research base - without one there's no chance at all

As someone who has been watching this debate from afar, could I comment that "this too will pass" in the fullness of time. NZ, Ireland, Scotland, England are all in a period of optimism as their governments have taken this issue more seriously than they ever have - but there are also some indications (esp in England) that the Blair govt's patience is starting to run thin as they don't achieve the results that they expected (never mind that ABE is expected to achieve wondrous things on 2 hours a week with the 20% that the schooling system took 11 years of full-time study to fail of course...). None of which means that you should accept what the Bush adminstration dishes up to!

In the interim, can I make a plea to not make research centres the fall guys in all of this. As someone involved in trying to make a national ABE system more effective, I can honestly say that both NRDC and NCSALL's work have both made a significant contribution to our work. We certainly appreciate their work!!

John

John Benseman PhD
 
Faculty of Education
The University of Auckland
Auckland, NZ
E-mail: <mailto:j.benseman at auckland.ac.nz> j.benseman at auckland.ac.nz <mailto:j.benseman at auckland.ac.nz> 
Phone: 0064 9 373 7599 ext 87161
Office location: Room 365, N Block, Epsom Campus
Mail: PB 92019, Auckland, NZ




________________________________

From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org on behalf of tsticht at znet.com
Sent: Tue 28/03/2006 2:46 p.m.
To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Political Will



Aaace-NLA Colleagues: Susan Reid referred to Susan Pember as head of the
Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit, but Susan Pember is no longer in that
position. There are new staff at the Department for Education and Skills in
charge of adult basic skills work.

Regarding the National Research and Development Center for Adult Literacy
and Numeracy (NRDC) where Ursula Howard is director, as Susan Reid notes,
in the last three trips that I have made to London (Oct 05, Jan 06, Mar 06)
I have discussed the
contributions of the NRDC to policy and practice and the reports from
government people, non-governmental people, and some private organizations,
as well as a number of practitioners is that there are doubts about the
extent to which the NRDC
research and development efforts are contributing to the improvement of
either policy or practice.

This is similar to questions I have heard from state and federal government
officials and others in the US about the value of research from the
federally funded research centers for adult literacy from the outset of the
National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL) to the present work of the National
Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL).

Whether these types of concerns about the contributions of research centers
in both the UK and the US are justified I do not know. But when I speak in
the US to large groups of adult educators and ask how many are familiar
with the work of the NCSALL, or of projects like the National Assessment of
Adult Literacy (NAAL) very few indicate any familiarity with these
organizations or projects. So perhaps for many out in the field the
questions about the value of the research centers or these types of
national projects represents just a lack of knowledge about them. But this
is not true for a number of those with whom I have discussed the work of
national research centers for adult literacy in the US and UK.

Do readers of the aaace-nla list have any thoughts about specific ways in
which research centers, or any other research for that matter, have
improved their programs or some aspect of their teaching, or some other
aspects of practice, policy, awareness, participation, retention, etc?

Tom Sticht


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