« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
LOCATING LEARNING IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Developing a social practices approach for learners required adaptation for tutors and learners alike. Tutors had to become familiar with a new way of working which engaged more closely with the lives of their learners in order to understand and address their differing patterns of literacies understanding. Equally, they had to adapt to a way of working that expanded their learning activities beyond their time in class. The following sections draw attention to the barriers faced by tutors and learners in adapting to this model of working and indicate also the ways in which these barriers were addressed and significant progress was made.
Identifying learning opportunities
As referred to above the often heavily timetabled lives of people with learning difficulties proved a significant barrier to tutors in terms of trying to establish effective contacts and engage in collaborative work with other areas of learners' lives. Table 1 illustrates the timetable of organised activities which one learner, Ricky, took part in over the course of seven days:
Table 1
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|
Drama course in FE college | FE College ( IT course) | Adult literacies class AM | FE college all day (Child care course) | Social group AM Pub work voluntary PM | Youth group volunteer work PM | At home - usually watches westerns with dad |
To work effectively with Ricky his tutor needed to make contact with his carer before then beginning to engage with those aspects of his timetable that seemed most appropriate. Identifying and permeating the different contexts of learners' lives to see how they used literacies and the potential for its development, was at times a difficult process for the researcher. It was also one which tutors found particularly demanding in terms of time. The researcher's use of interviews, photography and film was shared with tutors and assisted them in identifying opportunities where learning could be realised in the everyday life of learners. While this helped established a baseline of information for tutors to work with it was also, crucially, an ongoing process.
The personal views of tutors also influenced their capacity to realise new ways of working. Some tutors were concerned by the time demands of the project and felt best use of their limited time was made by focusing on specific reading and writing tasks such as paired reading. The role of the researcher was key in assisting the development, among tutors, of a broader engagement with literacies. Where tutor time was limited the researcher was able to engage with carers/support workers and provide tutors with information about learners' activities/lives. This enabled tutors to evolve new ways of working permitting more broad location of learning in learners' everyday lives. For example Frank's tutor initially used part of their weekly sessions to work through a series of 'readers' (reading and comprehension based resources). While the tutor was responsive to resources and opportunities provided by the learner and their circumstances, expanding the remit of their classes was difficult. Working with Frank's support worker and drawing on the researcher's time, the tutor was able to devise material more closely related to Frank and his everyday experience.
Linking literacies and independence
A key factor to emerge in the course of the research related to the ways in which literacies could become linked to developing increased independence for learners. Tutors were able to work more effectively with carers and support workers when links to independence were made more explicit. However the extent to which carers and support workers engaged with increasing learners' independence and furthermore linked this to literacies was very variable. Support workers worked in different ways with clients, with some promoting independence and others being more focused on getting tasks done for their clients. One of Gerry's support workers recognised the importance to Gerry of being able to write his own name in a variety of different situations such as signing his name at the bank or post office. However other support workers working with Gerry were unaware of this and frequently signed for things on his behalf.
For a number of support workers, attending literacies classes was regarded as simply another slot in a person's timetable. Part explanation for this lay in the fact that some support workers were unaware of the potential of their role in terms of working with learners' literacies development. Many felt this was specialised activity that needed professional input:
When I first spoke to [support worker] she said that she didn't do any literacy with Frank, but when we talked about it, I pointed out that she did a lot, such as producing laminated bus timetables, lists of shopping prices, person centred planning and discussing Frank's life and goals (extract from research notes).
Where effective relationships with support workers were fostered, the rate of change of support workers hindered continuity for tutors and learners:
I worked with her for a period of 12 months with 1 key worker and because I saw this key worker every week, it worked very, very well and things moved on at quite a speedy rate, but we've probably hit a slight blip in that she's now got different key workers who are equally supportive. But the fact that they're not coming every week means that I'm finding it quite a job actually managing to keep up and keep the continuity going (interview with tutor).
In general while literacies could easily be identified as a key factor in developing learner independence there was little recognition of this in planning by care organisations. In fact in one organisation a tutor cited the lack of opportunity to develop a social practices approach with learners as a key factor in their seeking a new position. While it was identified that Gerry was, for example, eager to sign his own name or make a phone call to a friend there was little explicit recognition by his care organisation of the role a literacies tutor may play in Gerry achieving these goals. Interestingly two of the case studies, Jack and Steve, attended an adult literacies class for disabled people with a variety of different impairments. This class had a much more clear focus to "Promote personal independence in people with physical disabilities" (quote from project literature).
The following vignette (2) highlights the ways in which effective collaboration between tutor and support workers benefited the learning experience and ultimately independence of one learner:
Vignette 2:
Sally attends a local community education centre two half days per week. On Wednesday she attends a dedicated literacy and numeracy class and on Tuesday an integrated literacies and microwave cookery class. In the cookery class Sally's support worker initially attended the class in order to support Sally. This enabled Sally's tutor and support worker to work closely together. The support worker gained a good understanding of the aims of the class and was able to recognise opportunities to realise Sally's learning outside of the class. Sally was supported in these tasks by her support worker and her interest in losing weight added further motivation in terms of reading and understanding nutritional information on food packaging. Within class Sally and her tutor focused on the presentation of information. Sally contributed to producing resources for the class such as recipe layouts and flash cards. In this initial period both the tutor and support worker felt that Sally made excellent progress, she became interested in planning, shopping and preparing meals. Engaging more independently in these tasks allowed Sally to develop her literacies skills. The support worker was keen to develop Sally's overall independence and gradually withdrew her support as Sally gained confidence and also became a more independent traveller (to the class). This development, while initially viewed as positive, had the negative effect of weakening collaboration between Sally's tutor and support worker. Sally's support worker and tutor maintained contact however, and worked together in ensuring that Sally achieved her goals of healthy eating, a high fibre diet and weight loss. This form of support was maintained for a period of approximately eighteen months after which Sally's support worker left. In the period that followed, Sally's tutor found it difficult to establish the same level of contact and support with Sally's new support workers. In an attempt to engage with her support workers Sally and her tutor developed work booklets about shopping, recipes she would like to try and a record of things she had cooked. Supported by the researcher a meeting was held between Sally, one of her new support workers and her tutor. This proved useful in clarifying the ways in which support workers could create opportunities (such as weekly menu planning, checking for healthy options on labels) for Sally to practise her literacies skills at home and in the supermarket. While these aims were realised her tutor felt that there remained opportunities for developing Sally's learning (building on her existing knowledge of healthy eating, planning and cooking independently at home) that could have benefited from further collaboration with her support workers. Sally was supported by a range of different people all of whom would have needed to have been aware of her learning aims/programme in order to best foster her progress and independence. |
Building relationships
Establishing trust between tutors and learners and between tutors and carers/support workers was crucial to developing effective ways of working. For example Alison's carer was unhappy with changes to Alison's routine since the closure of her day centre and the establishment of more community based activities. She was concerned that Alison had now lost some of the personal relationships the centre had previously permitted:
Alison, and a lot of people like Alison they need that, they need a relationship with one person. I think that when the centre was centre based if you like, if Alison was stuck she knew who to go to. If there was something wrong with her, or you know, if she wasn't sure about something, she knew who to go to…she saw that person every day and spent time with that person. She needs to identify with somebody…I think she already has [identified with] with [tutor] (interview with carer).
The close working relationships which developed between Alison's carer, her tutor and support workers greatly relieved such anxieties. Alison's tutor now works closely with her mother, former support worker and keyworker. In particular regular contact with Alison's mother has enabled her tutor to maintain Alison's interest and expression outside of the class, reinforcing her learning:
I tend to phone [carer] each week. I've told [carer] exactly what we've been doing, to look for certain things and to ask Alison some leading questions to see if she can get a story out, and if she can't get the full story out then [carer] knows what we've done and when Alison's not forthcoming she can say "something about photos..?" and then the story will come out (interview with tutor).
Carers and support workers engaging with the research were eager to have some form of regular communication with tutors. In the course of the research Steve's carer and support worker were eager to have regular access to his tutor. In Steve's situation this was achieved as his support worker and tutor were located in the same centre he regularly attended. This enabled ease of contact between them:
That's another thing that's so good, because [tutor] is in the building and all, see if this was a group that was outwith, I wouldn't have the same rapport getting that information and being able to see her. She [tutor] comes down for her lunch sometimes, and just says, I need to see you for something, so we just kind of nab each other that way, which is good, otherwise I don't think you'd get on so well with how [Steve & Jack] are progressing. (interview with support worker, p.5)
Despite these opportunities to meet informally, Steve's support worker still felt that a regular meeting with his tutor was necessary to help them understand each other and share what was developing for Steve:
What I would find quite beneficial would be like having a wee meeting and arranging it with [tutor]. A day and a time that we could just be sitting and saying, "Could you give me information about this?" or "How's this?" So she [tutor] knows how it's working out at home and all that, because I know more of that side, just with contact (interview with support worker).
Creating networks
Where tutors were restricted in terms of time the researcher identified opportunities for extending learning activities into learners' everyday lives. Often this involved establishing contact and arranging meetings between several individuals. The following extract from research field notes illustrates how this realised increased opportunities for Frank:
Frank's tutor said that she wished she had more time to sit with Frank, perhaps another hour in the week when she could sit and do paired reading with him: I don't feel I get enough time with Frank to really take his reading forward…I get a wee bit frustrated that we can't spend longer doing that…From one week to the next, although he has the recall, the actual reading skills are not just coming on as quickly as I would have thought they would. (interview with tutor) I suggested that we look at where Frank already does reading in the week and build upon this. One idea I'd thought of was the catering company which Frank works in and which is located in the same building as his class. Frank's tutor managed to speak to his support worker about this and the next time I visited the day centre, the support worker had printed out a set of sandwich labels that the catering company use. Frank's support worker, tutor, catering company manager, Frank and myself sat down after the class and we discussed possible ways that tasks within the company could be broken down so that all staff in the catering company could participate. I was able to give some useful examples from another project. Frank has been in the catering company since it started and the manager was receptive to the idea that they could look at everything afresh and see how Frank could use his literacies skills to a greater extent (extract from field notes). |
Tutors were keen to develop networks where possible but maintaining these for a group of learners could be difficult. Although there was a lot of goodwill and enthusiasm from tutors to work in this way, for those on sessional work establishing more extensive contacts was a task largely completed in their own time:
Another challenge with working with Ricky and being part of the research programme is that it's very time consuming and in order to make a difference it has to be quite detailed and quite well structured. And I find that I just don't have enough time to do the job the best way I can. There isn't really any answer to that, you're either involved in the research project or you're not. So I've just had to work around it, and when I see how Ricky has actually improved, when I see the difference it's making in his life and how much he's enjoying working and being part of the research project I think it's worth it (interview with tutor).
It's quite time consuming to prepare the lesson and prepare the group work, and do the group thing, to communicate and talk to [carer] and [support worker]. So that can be difficult if you're trying to do that with each student. In this group, 3 [learners] come from the same centre but somebody else comes from a different set up, and in other groups everyone comes from a different centre or a different place so potentially you could have 4 or 5 different sets of people to communicate with. But I think there are a lot of opportunities and it's [project] a great thing. It's not without its problems to work through and tackle but you get a great deal from it (interview with tutor).
For Jack and Steve this process was less complicated as a large part of their time was spent in a community building which housed both the hub of their support work and their adult literacies class. Steve's support worker described how they were able to foster Jack's learning with regard to handling money outside of his class and engage others in the process:
I think it's still early days with Steve. When he goes to get his lunch, I try to always help with Steve, and he'll say to me, and I don't make a big deal of it, the cook will just say £2.47, and he'll get the pounds out, and then I can feel him staring at me and I'll talk to [cook], and I'll look at him out of the corner of my eye, and I can see him, it's as if he's like that to me, and I'll go "right Steve, count the money out" and I'll say "put it out on the counter and we'll count it out", and then I'll just talk away again and I won't make a big deal of it, so as I'm not staring at him, and he thinks "God, they're looking at me doing this" and he does it no problem (interview with support worker).
Where tutors were successful in creating effective networks these seemed to rely heavily on the goodwill and personality of those involved. Formed on this basis and without organisational support, these networks were inherently fragile.
The following vignette (3) illustrates the ways in which increased communication between tutor, carer and support worker (and involvement in the research) benefited one learner attending a community based adult literacies class.
Vignette 3:
Ricky has attended an adult literacies class for the past two years. He expressed a desire to learn to read and after an initial assessment, his tutor decided to start from scratch using a system of "dolch" words. Ricky took his work seriously and was keen to work outside of his class and at home. His tutor wrote to his mum to ask if she could help Ricky sound out words and also work with him to practise the Dolch words and help him recognise them in other contexts such as in TV guides, newspapers and cereal packets. In this initial period Ricky's mum felt that his attention span was beginning to increase and both his mum and tutor felt that he was making significant progress. His speech in terms of sounding out words improved as did his ability to recognise commonly used words. During this initial period however the researcher recognised that the support Ricky required at home was becoming increasingly intensive, something which his mum felt unable to sustain. At this point the researcher worked with Ricky using photography as a means to help him describe and discuss his weekly activities. This process revealed a number of opportunities for Ricky's literacies development to be more closely embedded in his everyday activities. Ricky's mum suggested the researcher should contact key workers at the club Ricky attended on a Friday as they were able to source a range of social, sporting and educational activities for Ricky such as the literacies class and his participation in the Special Olympics. After working with Ricky and contacting his key worker the researcher was able to provide his tutor with more understanding of Ricky's weekly activities and subsequently identify ideas for further developing his literacies. Ricky's tutor built upon the photographic work he had done with the researcher to engage Ricky in writing a book, 'My Story', about aspects of his everyday life. This also enabled the tutor to make connections with Ricky's work experience in a local pub. Ricky's tutor developed activities such as role play which helped with his understanding of tasks and duties expected of him in his pub job. The tutor also set up a meeting with Ricky's key worker to discuss Ricky's literacies class and since then the key worker has been helping with some of the 1:1 reinforcing work and also feeding back information to the tutor. Added to this Ricky's mum is still in contact with both. She reported that for the first time Ricky was able to read the letters in an eye test and it was the first time that the optician really had a good idea of Ricky' eye sight. This was celebrated by all, and the tutor feels that Ricky is making such excellent progress because everyone is contributing and supporting him to achieve his goals. Whilst the tutor is highly encouraged by Ricky's success she feels that this level of support requires effort beyond her preparation and contact time with learners. Engagement in the research has shaped a developmental aspect to this way of working which may not have been achieved if the researcher hadn't been able to consult across agencies. This work could go even further by incorporating Ricky's other activities such as those at the FE college but which in turn would involve even greater effort. Further to this, the literacies class has undergone several disrupting episodes such as changes in funding structure and the buildings where the class has been held. In order to continue working with Ricky, the tutor had to ensure he joined a new horticultural group. |
Benefits to learners
The time involved in developing the contacts and developing an effective way of working with carers/support workers meant that significant benefit to learners from engaging with the project were perhaps only beginning to emerge in its later stages. Support workers and tutors reported a number of ways in which they felt a collaborative social practices approach was both benefiting learners directly and also expanding their opportunities to learn:
I think personally from the reading and writing that it just brought out much more confidence in Frank to even try new things…before Frank was actually quite quiet, kind of didn't really do too much to be honest and now he's just applied to do an SVQ2 at college which is obviously going to involve some writing. He's quite sure of himself and knows what to do, and won't sit back…he's quite definite that he wants to write stuff himself. We've filled in tons of job applications and disclosures, which can be quite time consuming but he does it all himself, I just help with spelling (interview with support worker).
Similarly Sally's tutor explained how involvement in the literacies class had developed Sally's knowledge and interest in healthy eating. She identified tangible benefits including Sally losing weight, becoming aware of healthy eating options and being able to join in discussion about healthy eating and dieting. The class also helps Sally with decision making and choice which her tutor encourages her to experiment with at home:
This week we made a fruit fool. Sally chose to add banana and apple to this dish. She also took home a selection of cereals to try along with the fool. She will report back on whether she liked this or not! She was a bit unsure about the contrasting textures but was keen to give it a try (interview with tutor)
As mentioned above Gerry gained great satisfaction from learning to sign his name and this allowed him to send out Christmas cards for the first time. He has also, according to his carers, grown in confidence and now offers to take notes for a community group he participates in when previously he would was careful not to let anyone see that he couldn't manage this task.
The following extract from the researcher's fieldnotes describes the ways in which Jack and Steve have benefited from their literacies class and engagement in the research project:
Steve Everyone comments on the increase in Steve's confidence. He makes eye contact with people instead of staring at the floor, he's also encouraged to walk more instead of using his wheelchair. When Steve first arrived at the project his mum said he couldn't read, however now he's reading books with support, retaining information and vocabulary between sessions. His mum said that rather than nag him to take out his reading he now instigates the practice. The coordinated approach to Steve's numeracy and money handling allows for the transfer of skills from classroom to real life. His tutor has spent time coaching Steve's support worker and mum how to facilitate manageable steps when supporting Steve. Engaging more professionals who work with Steve increases the opportunities that Steve has to realise skills outside the classroom. Steve is taking to the learner centred approach. Although in its early stages, this way of working might support Steve to actively engage and articulate choices about his life outside of the literacies class. Jack Again Jack's confidence has increased over the 3 years he's been at the project. Jack's support worker sees a difference in Jack over the last few months since his new tutor has taken over the class in that he's become more excited about his learning and also voicing more of an interest in the world around him. In particular using what he learns about latest football news from the papers to engage others in conversation: Jack's been doing really well, but it's only the last few months he's been talking about the football and what's going on in the news, and he's got great views on different things, see like politics, just the difference in him…he'll come out with things and he must have been reading somewhere in a paper or on the news, or the politics programmes, and it's just wee things like that, that probably you wouldn't notice, but because I know he's never done any of that, never spoke out, now he's taking an interest, and it is with going to that wee group [group engaging with the project]. (interview with support worker) Jack is gradually starting to take to the learner centred approach, coming up with ideas about writing stories. He asked if one of the stories he wrote could be published in the newsletter and this was a page of writing compared to the short poem he published previously. Jack's support worker supports him with further writing outside of the class such as typing up menus which he enjoys. |
SUMMARY
Engaging effectively with learners and being aware of how literacies could be more fully realised in their everyday lives challenged tutors to develop new ways of working.
Time had to be created to nurture relationships with a variety of carers and support workers often affiliated to a number of different organisations. While this often proved difficult there were nevertheless opportunities for development. In particular when literacies could be more closely and explicitly linked to developing learners' independence, tutors found a more positive basis on which to build collaborative working with carers and support workers.
The most positive experiences for learners seem to arise from instances where their learning could be developed within a network of different people all of whom were aware of how they could support aspects of learning.
Learners appeared to benefit in a variety of ways as their learning became more firmly established beyond their immediate class work.
« Previous | Contents | Next »