Integrated and dedicated approaches

Adult Literacy and Numeracy (ALN) Curriculum Framework for Scotland

Part Two: Practice

2.3 Integrated and dedicated approaches

Effective ALN learning should be rooted in the social contexts and purposes of the learner. Integrated literacy approaches are strong in this respect. We also know that the learner should be explicitly aware of his/her literacy learning so as to be able to reflect on and review his or her learning process. It is sometimes easier to achieve this focus in dedicated literacy approaches. It may be better to consider integrated and dedicated literacy as a continuum rather than entirely distinct types of provision. Nevertheless, the terms remain useful in distinguishing two broad approaches to literacy learning and are used in the following section.

Offering the continuum of integrated and dedicated literacy provision
The Learning Support unit of an FE College offers a drop-in facility for learners on both a self-referred and a referred (by social workers, addiction units, homeless units) basis. Discussion begins on a one-to-one basis with a learning support tutor, followed by core skills profiling. Learners’ own interests are used as a starting point for development of literacy/numeracy skills. Many of the learners wish to improve their literacy/numeracy skills for family reasons such as their children starting school whilst others start because they need to take on new roles. An example of this is a retired man who was asked to become treasurer of a bowling club. He came to college to improve his accounting skills (numeracy) and his communication skills (attending and taking part in meetings, for example). In addition he developed IT skills (word-processing).
 
Another person attending the drop-in facility is an ex-offender who wanted to enrol on the plumbing course aimed at adults, but did not have the necessary qualifications or skills. He was keen to develop IT skills, so he started with this and he also used his IT work to improve his literacy skills, and went on to achieve his ECDL. His ambitions then changed so that he subsequently enrolled on an IT course.
Learners usually attempt certificated units (Core Skills) at Access 2 or 3 level. Many move on from the ‘drop-in’ facility to full or part-time courses, such as Return to Study.
 
Integrated literacy is often offered in short courses where the subject matter (eg first aid, song writing, reminiscence or IT) may be the learners' first concern. Courses may be advertised with a clear subject base, for example ‘Local history project’ or ‘Healthy eating for your children’, but with a clear indication of the literacies tasks to be tackled. These might include writing and laying out a history booklet or reading and working on menus and charts. Tutors should seek opportunities in short courses to recognise and promote diversity in terms of students’ prior learning and experience.
 
 
Promoting critical awareness in a reminiscence and literacies group
A short course in reminiscence and literacy aims to maintain and develop the literacy capabilities of frail elderly learners in a residential home in Edinburgh by reading, sharing, discussing, recording and writing their reminiscences.   Discussion is often stimulated by reading together from the published collections of other reminiscence groups.
 
To start off a discussion about holidays and daytrips the group read these two accounts of pre-war day trips to Ratho from Edinburgh, organised and paid for by a city councillor.
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‘I once got a ticket to Barrie’s trip and I took it home and my mother says – take the ticket back. That’s for children much worse off than you. Children whose dads are not working. I was right disappointed.’ Minnie Goodall Pleasance Day Centre
 Taken from Memories of Edinburgh Streets: the City Image Living Memory Association, November 2001.
 
 
‘The Courant fund would send children away for picnics to Ratho. We’d assemble down by Milton House School and march up with a pipe band, up the Royal Mile, along Jeffrey Street to the Waverley. The song then was
 
I’m no goin’ on Barrie’s trip
I’m no goin’ again
I’m no goin on Barrie’s trip
It always comes on rain
George Flannigan and David Anderson
 Taken from Kiss me while my lips are tacky WEA, 1988.
 
The group discussed what each writer thought about the trip and why they should have such different stories to tell. They talked about the different ways they told their stories. Later they were asked whether they had ever been on such a trip and what was their memory of it.
 
 

 In this case, negotiating the curriculum is focused firstly around the subject matter and then later the literacy and numeracy skills, knowledge and understanding required for that subject. Group aims and tasks are established before individual ones. The Group Learning Plan provided in Appendix 2 might be of use in negotiating and recording this.  

Learners can be encouraged to share their strategies through, for example, reading food tables or spelling difficult names.  This allows everyone to contribute and opens up the possibilities of what could be learned. In later sessions the tutor can begin to work with individuals establishing their own learning goals and setting appropriate tasks.  These are likely to lie within the context of the group's subject focus.
 
These courses are useful both to attract new learners into literacy learning and to provide a way forward for those who need to move on from dedicated literacy.
 
Tutors offering integrated literacies courses need to be confident both in the subject matter of the course and in ways of introducing the skills, knowledge and understanding of literacies into it.
 
Examples of integrated literacy
  • Driving theory course
A six-week course offered to young people aged 17-25, working towards passing the driving theory test, with support for reading and understanding the test language.
  • Cooking and literacy
A four-session course offered to learners already attending literacy provision; learners used recipes to produce a variety of dishes, looked critically at how recipes and recipe books are written and produced, and identified what they would look for if they were buying recipe books for themselves.
 
Critical awareness in an integrated literacy short course
 
A group of learners already attending literacies provision attended a four-session course on cooking and literacy/numeracy.
 
At the initial meeting when the content of the short course was negotiated with participants, the learners identified as one goal ‘being able to read recipes’. The group used a variety of written recipes to do their cooking - some typed by the tutor, some photocopied from books/magazines. 
 
At one session the group worked in pairs, each pair looking at a different recipe, and using a series of questions to help them to think critically about how the recipe was presented:
 
                        What is the purpose of a written recipe?
                        What do you notice about this one?
                        What do you like/not like about it? Why?
                        How well does it achieve its purpose?
                        What would you change if you were presenting it?
 
The pairs then fed back their findings to the rest of the group. Identifying the features of particular recipes such as content, language and style, layout, and pictures led to comparisons between different formats and discussion about personal preferences. At the end of the discussion each learner drew up a list of what they wanted from a cookery book. One of the group planned to buy herself a new book, armed with her list to help her to make the choice.
 
  • Family learning groups

Groups for parents and carers of young children, looking at how children learn, brushing up on their own learning and learning new skills, finding out what goes on in schools, and discussing learning both in and out of school.

  • Workplace groups

Groups working on a project relevant to their work, eg home helps learn to research and present information on depression and dementia in elderly people.

  • Accredited courses

Literacy and numeracy work integrated into childcare units on Child Development and Child Health courses.
Where one tutor does not feel confident about offering both the subject of the course and the appropriate literacy support integrated provision can be offered in a variety of ways.  These include co-tutoring and a variety of drop-in models.

Co-tutoring
Here a literacy/numeracy tutor works with a subject tutor (say for Social Care or core numeracy) tutoring in the class together.  This is expensive and therefore may not be sustainable but it allows for individual coaching, interviews and support within the group.  Tutors involved in this need to:

  • appreciate each other's ethos and approaches
  • have agreed the aims of the class and how they will work together
  • be offered joint preparation and liaison time
  • have discussed the ownership of the group and the paperwork involved.

This model works well in integrated literacy/numeracy and is used in all settings, including colleges. But there is a danger that learners perceive literacy as something set apart and the province of the ‘spelling expert!’!  

While using a drop-in centre for those recovering from mental health difficulties, members showed interest in learning to use computers, but there was uncertainty and some lack of confidence about writing. A group slowly evolved, aiming to produce a high quality newsletter to voice their own issues and experience and to campaign for appropriate informal educational opportunities.
 
This group was co-tutored by an IT specialist and a literacies tutor with a background in creative writing. A publication of very high-quality design and content was the end result. In their review of their work the group valued the power a high quality product gave them, the opportunities for social interaction in the group and the writing
 

Drop-ins

Where larger learning centres want to offer integrated literacy but do not have staff skilled in both their subject and in literacies support, the problem can be addressed by establishing drop-ins alongside the main subject provision.  Either the learner or the tutor can drop in. 

Many colleges operate literacy and numeracy support from well-resourced learning centres.  Learners may refer themselves or be referred for one session or many. Expert tuition will be available but it relies on strong learner motivation to seek out the support.

Other colleges offer a tutorial slot in which a subject tutor for (say) numeracy will be invited to drop in to work with individuals while the rest of the group does other work.  This can be felt to stigmatise those who receive the drop-in tutor's help but reduces the need for strong individual motivation.

Team teaching
In a medium sized FE College NQ Sport and Fitness is delivered by staff in the Sports section with Communication units delivered by a specialist Communication tutor. The tutors worked together to develop and use more ‘sport and fitness relevant’ materials in Communication units and to develop literacy skills (oral and written) required for Communication units by completing assignments for Sports units. Timetabling was arranged so that the tutors taught consecutive two-hour classes, with one tutor being ‘free’ whilst the other was teaching. This enabled the Sports tutor to observe the learning programme activities taking place during Communication and vice versa.
 
The tutors integrated their work in a variety of ways. Reading interpretation exercises were used as ‘open book assessments’ in Sports units, to prepare learners for assessments for the Communication unit. The ‘Content of Sports’ unit was used as a basis for practising essay-writing skills for Communication unit. Finally the presentation of lesson plans in the Sports unit gave opportunities for practice for the oral Communication unit.
 
This method of team teaching produced not only a better than average attendance pattern compared with previous years but also a better than average achievement rate with most of those learners who completed the course achieving the Communication units. 

Dedicated literacies provision focuses explicitly on literacy or numeracy learning goals.  Taking learners’ own uses and contexts for literacy and numeracy as a starting point, learners and tutors negotiate the learning programme. Learners have individual learning plans and record and evaluate their work regularly.  Dedicated provision is delivered successfully via all sorts of learning models.

Examples of dedicated provision include:

  • community learning and development roll-on-roll-off groups or study clubs where the learners discuss and agree individual and group learning goals with the tutor to enable them to gain skills, knowledge and understanding in reading, writing and numeracy
  • short courses for learners such as ‘Improve your reading’, ‘Writing letters’ or  ‘Looking at everyday numbers’
  • a group of learners taking an SQA Communication unit
  • one-to-one support in college
  • drop-in provision for learners who may not be able to access regular groups or who may wish to make use of additional learning opportunities.
  • some workplace groups focusing on particular workplace literacy tasks. 

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