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CONTINUED... The OFL's BEST Training Manual was rewritten to better represent and reflect the needs of the SFL's membership, yet there is still a great need to develop and incorporate new materials that better reflect Saskatchewan's particular cross-cultural concerns. Furthermore, the OFL's manual, and now our own manual, are essentially useless without having gone through the training process. Unfortunately this makes the model extremely difficult to transfer to a new audience and makes it dependent on the involvement of particular individuals - those individuals who have previously gone through the training course. If the SFL's Program is to e a success in the long term, and if others are to learn from and be able to make use of our experience, there is a real need to write down and formalize the processes involved in facilitating literacy through empowerment. As of yet there exists no such manual or guide that proves useful or practical for the North American audience. This necessitates two activities - production of a Facilitator's Manual, and testing of the SFL's new Course Leaders' Manual. The SFL's Program is based on curriculum materials that are created and developed by its participants in the course of their learning. All of our Pilot Project Course Leaders experienced considerable difficulty in directing their participants to take such an active approach to their own learning process. Most of us grew up within educational institutions where curriculum and learning directives were handed down - we were told what we would learn and how we would learn it. The transition to an actively participant centered, directed and controlled learning approach is not an easy one for any of the participants, including the Course Leader. We believe that a collection of workplace based adult curriculum materials, that were created and used by previous participants, could greatly ease this transition. Just being able to see that others in the same predicament were able to rise to the task seems to act as a great motivator and self-confidence builder. The fact that the transition to an actively participant centered learning system is a difficult one did not, however, lead us to question the whole approach. Rather, we have simply recognized the need to try and make the transition an easier one. Although the transition is not an easy one, it is a pivotal one, for once the transition is made, the results are amazing. Not only is the process in learning new skills hastened, but possibly even more importantly, participants' self-confidence and enthusiasm for learning in general are greatly heightened. The general consensus was one of success for all involved in the SFL's WEST Pilot Project. The very real accomplishments and victories of both the Course Leaders and the participants are irrefutable. Although the lack of more concrete and readily quantifiable data makes the model somewhat difficult to evaluate, the positive consequences are still readily apparent. The lack of quantifiable data has forced us to evaluate the successes of the WEST Program in more qualitative, more human, and possibly more meaningful terms - the difference the WEST Program has made, and continues to make, in the lives of all its participants. |