[NLA] Toward a "Foundational Understanding"

[Thomas Sticht]

This is in response to a question Eileen posed for me.

Eileen said: Quote"Thanks for taking the time to address the issue of
articulating a framework for understanding adult education and literacy.
Another question: How do you  think that framing their practice using the
perspectives you describe would impact individual teachers' and program
directors' day-to-day lives and careers?"End Quote

My Response: In my advocacy for the AELS my aim is to have the AELS
recognized as a publicly funded education system for adults with funding
stability and, very important, with funding per enrollee well beyond the
present federal and state combined level of less than $600. I hope for
more students to enroll, to have more full time, professional adult
educators with much better pay and benefits, and I hope that with a
nationally recognized adult education system, adult educators and students
alike would think of themselves in a positive manner as participants in a
highly regarded education system and that students would come to regard
themselves as alumni and become advocates for the AELS. This raising of
the morale of the adult literacy educators and students  might have an
impact on classroom practices.

Regarding classroom practices, I have placed a 100+ page workshop resource
notebook on Functional Context Education on the web with some ideas for
program design and teaching. Among other things, the notebook discusses my
views on the cognitive science foundations of adult literacy education and
offers case studies in applying functional context education (FCE)
principles to the development of adult basic skills programs. The notebook
can be downloaded for free at www.nald.ca under full text documents.
Tom Sticht



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