2.0 Promoting the values and ideas of lifelong learning

Community literacy programs specifically promote "lifelong learning" — it is a phrase that recurs often in the mission statements, objectives and program descriptions of literacy programs.³ But more substantially, there appear to be three specific ways in which community-based literacy programs promote the values and ideas of lifelong learning:

1. these programs work to legitimize the ideas of both non-formal and informal learning, especially for those adults who have missed out on, and may not be able to retrieve, formal educational opportunities;
2. these programs legitimize the idea that education is for everyone without exception;
3. they promote many of the same ideas of learning and teaching favoured within the perspective of lifelong learning.

2.1 Legitimizing non-formal (and informal) learning

One of the central tenets of lifelong learning is that learning is not something that only goes on in schools or other formal settings. It can go on — and indeed many times ought to go on — in a less formal context. Admission rules, evaluation processes, study environment and teaching methods should sometimes, maybe quite a bit of the time, be less formal so that more people can get more effectively involved in the learning game.

In the literacy context, you are clearly dealing with a lot of actual and potential students who, for a variety of reasons, are not likely to function well in a formal educational setting — at least not right away. These individuals — all of them much more intelligent and quietly ambitious than even they give themselves credit for — lack the formal qualifications, techniques and inclination to participate, at least at the beginning, in a formal program of studies. But they can certainly function well within a non-formal or semi-formal setting. ("Semi-formal" or "less-formal" may be better terms to use with literacy programs since they are, on average, geared to expectations on the part of the learners, the community and governments that the course work provided by the programs will lead to credentials or recognized accomplishment of some kind that will actually mean something within the mainstream educational and employment system.)

Here we have the "life-wide" aspect of lifelong learning, but with a twist. It is not so much a case, for most literacy students, of moving between formal and non-formal learning opportunities, as would be the case for someone who has succeeded in school and college or university and is being encouraged to think about non-formal ways of continuing their learning career. It is a case of citizens who face significant reading and writing challenges realizing that quite a bit of educational ground can be made up in a non-formal (or less-formal) program of study and practice. Students in community-based programs can start with various levels of Adult Basic Education (ABE)⁴ and move up through General Educational Development (GED) testing to adult high school programs designed to give them their Grade 12 (or a lower grade) equivalency. Once they secure their high school graduation, their options may shift, allowing them to consider entry to college or university programs or courses.

³ For example, the Adult Basic Education Association of Hamilton-Wentworth uses this line to identify itself: "We develop and plan literacy services and promote lifelong learning in the community" (www.nald.ca/abea.htm).

⁴ The Discovery Centre in Botwood, Newfoundland, for example, offers three levels of ABE: "Level 1 is basic literacy tutoring to improve reading and writing skills; Level 2 involves courses in math, science and communication skills designed to prepare you for more advances Level III credit courses; Level 3 consists of credit courses in all subjects to meet ABE Graduation Requirements" (www.discoverycentre.nf.ca/botwood.html).