During the early Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union used adult literacy education to wield influence in "Third World" countries. Frank C. Laubach, the "Apostle of Literacy," wrote prolifically about adult literacy and conducted and advised literacy campaigns in more than 100 countries, yet his work is understudied…

The broad aim of this paper is to track the evolution of adult literacy policy in the UK across three decades, highlighting convergences between policy phases and the promotion of democratic learning spaces. It is anchored onto the argument that, although it is generally accepted that democratic learning spaces are perceived as beneficial to adult…

This article contrasts educational discourses and their associated policy and practice in the field of adult literacy in two sociopolitical eras in Australia: firstly, the social-democratic era that describes the beginnings of adult literacy as a distinct educational field from the late 1970s, and in particular the 1980s; and secondly, the…

Background/Context: The Adult School of La Verneda Sant Martí, located in Barcelona, Spain, is a reference at the international level because of its trajectory and its contributions to the transformative movement in democratic education. The school was created in 1978 to address the demands of the working-class residents of the La Verneda…

This paper analyses Botswana's commitment to lifelong learning policy and discusses how it can help the state achieve its vision for sustainable development. First, it argues that while Botswana is renowned for its economic success, it still fails to address positively such traditional challenges as poverty, unemployment and income inequality,…

Adult literacy education can contribute to the political change process in Scotland by shifting from a narrow functional approach to a more critical one. The critical approach recognizes vernacular literacies and focuses on developing competence in diverse literacies and on identifying the contexts in which they should be used. (SK)

For Paulo Freire, a democratic education could not be conceived without a profound commitment to humanity and a recognition of the dialectical relationship between cultural existence as individuals and political and economic existence as social beings. Freire believed that to solve the educational difficulties of students from oppressed…

Examines the need for accountability in language planning in multilingual contexts in the Southern Countries. Provides a brief overview of language diversity in the South, considers how world trends of increasing democratization and strengthening of minority rights are generating calls for greater accountability and language rights, and looks at…

Planning adult literacy education in developing nations is largely viewed as a technical process reserved for government officials at the Ministry of Education. This empirical study argues that in Botswana, state sponsored adult literacy asserts its hegemony and stifles learner participation and district initiatives. The paper provides an overview…

This book offers Paulo Freire's retrospection on his life and work. These reflections, conceived in the form of 18 letters to his niece, Cristina, provide a backdrop for a deeper understanding of the experiences--including his exile---that have informed his thinking and teaching. The first 10 letters look back on Freire's childhood and youth. The…

The Movement for Canadian Literacy (MCL) is a national non-profit organization representing literacy coalitions, organizations and individuals from every province and territory. Since 1978 MCL has worked to: (1) inform the federal government and the general public about issues related to adult literacy in Canada; (2) provide a national forum for…

"Illiterates" are those who have not learned to write in any language. This is the definition on which American and most foreign statistics of illiteracy are based, because the percentage of those who can read but can not write is so small that it may be ignored. The test of writing one's name and ordinary words is simple, easily…

This document contains seven previously published papers examining trends in adult education in Japan. "Deepening Democracy" (1992) examines democracy and adult education for special needs groups (women, dropouts, disabled persons, ethnic minorities, and refugees). "Literacy Movement" (1990) traces literacy education in Japan…

This publication is comprised of 43 papers on the topic of promoting lifelong learning. The papers in Part 1, Overcoming False Dichotomies, are "Lifelong Learning in the North, Education for All in the South" (Torres); "Practice of Lifelong Learning in Indigenous Africa" (Omolewa); "Gender and Information Societies"…

These 15 papers share a common theme: seeking to promote literacy as a powerful tool for challenging existing inequalities and dependencies. "Powerful Literacies" (Jim Crowther et al.) is an introduction. Section 1 establishes the theoretical and policy frameworks that underpin the book and shows how literacy is situated in different…