< Previous | Contents | Next >

Listening to Learners: Consultation with Learners about Adult Literacy Education in Scotland

4 Diversity

The focus groups reveal considerable diversity in terms of the characteristics of adult learners. They show less diversity in terms of provision to meet so many different needs and interests.

a) Diversity of learners

Several of the ALN learners we talked to emphasised that 'everyone is different', that all ALN learners are not all the same. They wanted to make sure that there is variety in provision so that different needs and interests can be accommodated. This research showed diversity among adult literacy and numeracy learners in terms of age and social context, with young mothers, employed people and older people, all working together on literacy and numeracy.

'We're all different ages, we all want different things and we've all got different levels of education.'

'And we all function fine when we're together.'

'It doesn't make any difference that I'm going to be 40 and she's 21.'

'In fact we all help each other,' [Lothian, ALN learner]

The focus groups also documented inclusion in ALN programmes of people with learning difficulties of various kinds, including dyslexia, mental health problems as well as a stroke victim. The focus groups showed limited diversity in terms of ethnicity, but this may not reflect a true picture for adult education in Scotland as a whole. We had one ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) class in the Lothian region and one Highlands group that included both native English speakers and ESOL learners.

b) Diversity of provision

ALN's ability to accommodate diversity is not so clear. There is diversity of provision in the sense that classes are offered at different times of the day, and in different sites - although non-participants said either they did not know about local provision or there was nothing nearby that met their needs.

There does not seem to be a wide range of learning approaches in ALN. The ALN classes we heard about mostly offer individualised instruction in a group setting. They did not offer everything the learners were interested in. Some wanted to learn to use computers, but few were available. Some wanted the chance to progress to higher levels, taking Standard Grades and Highers in English, for example, but that was not offered. Although they offered choices, as we saw above, the range was not great. In some of the ALN programmes, learners felt they had a lot of choices about what to work on. In others, the learners said their tutor decides what they work on. Sometimes learners are happy to have the tutor decide, because they don't have the confidence to feel they know what they should be doing. Others would like more options.

The traditional ALN approach is for a group of learners to spend most of their time working independently on their own activities. The teacher moves around to spend time with each. It solves the problem of having different levels of learners within the same group, with different interests, and creates a sense of choice individualised learning. However, when the group is large it is not easy for the tutor to give the time to each that they want.

'It's quite a mixed group this, but [tutor] is still able to go round everybody because it's not a big group.'

'If it was a really big group and people are at different levels it would be harder.' [Glasgow, ALN Learners]

The few speakers of other languages wanted more intensive language learning. They pointed out that people are often immersed in a community of their own language speakers, and have little chance to practise English outside the class. They wanted a chance to practise talking with English speakers as well as one-to-one instruction. The focus group that combined members of ALN and ESOL classes enjoyed talking to each other so much that they made plans to keep meeting informally.

'I want to have a natural conversation with other people so I used to go to college, but college study is different from what I want to do, so I asked my tutor to have a daily conversation, and she encouraged me to speak with no purposes. If I go to shop I have a purpose, natural conversation has no purpose.' [Highlands, ALN/ESOL Learner]

The ALN learners we talked with, while generally happy with their current class, had had other experiences in which they had not been happy or felt like they 'fitted in'. Sometimes creating a 'happy family' atmosphere can be exclusionary -new people coming in may feel left out, or people who are not 'like us' may feel excluded. One Deaf learner in an ALN programme said that it had been difficult for him to come into the class 'because of the way other people have treated me when I ask for help, and put me down'. However, in his current class he said 'I feel good about it, because I've not had the prejudice that I sometimes get in a group.' [Lothian, ALN Learner]

Beyond his earlier problems with prejudice, this learner pointed out that ALN programmes found it hard to get funding for the sign language interpreter he needed. His tutor said 'it wasn't easy to convince people that [interpreter] should be paid to help [learner] in this group ... we just take the money from bits and pieces that have been underspent, but it's not something that's been budgeted for.' [Glasgow, ALN tutor]

Several of the focus group 'other adult learners' were in quite tightly structured programmes, not at basic levels but still aimed at people with few qualifications who have been out of school for a long time. In some of these programmes, choices can be made of what to write about, for example, but not about writing.

Allowing choice is partly a matter of philosophy and educational approach. But it also requires resources, in terms of tutor time and materials. Not all basic level courses have the resources needed to enable people to work on different things. In some groups, learners said that their tutor was so busy with other learners that they didn't like to ask for the amount of help they really needed. In one ALN class in an FE college, the learners talked about the need for 'different ranges of reading books'.

'In our class there are three levels, there's a couple of people that are not at a stage and there's somebody that is at a stage, and another two people that are higher. Giving a book to somebody that is quite low in the class doesn't really challenge them, but if somebody is quite low in the class and they get a hard book it will be difficult for them.' [Fife, ALN/FE Learner]

c) Control

Most ALN learners attend classes voluntarily, and their ultimate form of control over their learning is not to attend. We held focus groups with two New Deal groups, in which unemployed people are required to attend classes or lose their benefits. Understandably these groups were resentful about being forced into learning, even though most felt they were learning. One of the Return to Learn groups also talked about being required to attend:

'One of the first things is we were told by our management that we were going on this course. The second thing was we didn't know what the course was about... I think most adults don't like being treated like kids. Everybody's got an opinion about something and if you ask them they'll give you it, but if you talk to them like kids they'll just shy away from it.' [Glasgow, Other Adult Learner]

Perhaps the most important way in which learners feel they have control over their learning is in the sense that they can go at their own pace, and in this most of the ALN learners were content. ALN learners said 'you haven't got a time limit, they don't rush you.' [Fife, ALN Learner]

'There's no set time limit, if you have done a mistake you're given the chance to rectify it.' Glasgow, ALN Learner]

It is this control over pace that distinguishes adult education from their earlier, unsuccessful, school experiences. But it is important to note that controlling pace does not necessarily mean going more slowly. One ESOL group wanted their teachers to push them more. 'If I work for just two hours and then close up nothing can be improved. If teacher say you must do homework and the next day check up, I think I improve quicker.' [Lothian, ALN/FE Learner]

In this respect, the ESOL learners differed from other ALN learners.

< Previous | Contents | Next >