National Adult Literacy Database

By Tom Sticht

Colleagues: There are two strands of activities going on in adult education that form the basis for the free workshops I am offering for the remainder of 2011. These two strands of activities in the U.S. and Canada include the resurgence of interest in WORKPLACE LITERACY and the growing importance of EARLY PARENTHOOD EDUCATION for family literacy.

I recently completed presentations in Florida on both these areas of interest and they form the basis for the workshops I am offering this year.

Workshop on Functional Context Education and Workplace Literacy

The Centre for Literacy in Montreal is conducting a series of three conferences on workplace literacy, two of which took place in 2009 and 2010 and a third is planned for summer 2011. I participated in the 2009 conference and discussed qualitative and quantitative research on the skills of working-class adults. I illustrated the development of programs that integrate basic skills with job skills training. This year’s workplace literacy conference in Montreal will focus on embedding (integrating) basic skills education with job-related skills education.

In January of this year I presented a keynote on Functional Context Education and Workplace Literacy in Historical Perspective in London, Ontario, and on April 11 I presented a speech entitled “Workplace Literacy and the American Economy - Getting Ahead” in Palm City, Florida. In this presentation I argued that instead of casting under-skilled people off because of low literacy, we need to gather people into the mainstream of the American community with workplace literacy.

In March of this year, I presented a keynote address at a technology conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This speech, entitled “Teachers, Books, Computers, and Peers: Integrated Communications Technologies in Adult Education,” focused on research to integrate literacy with work-related education, and emphasized the social basis of cognitive development and the importance of developing social capital while we work to develop human capital.

The widespread use of social media in digital technologies provides a way to expand the social capital of adult learners and provide a means by which the socially excluded can become the socially included!

In my one-day, six-hour workshop on Functional Context Education and Workplace Literacy, I cover the foregoing topics and review the latest research and resources for implementing workplace literacy education in diverse communities of adult education practice.

Workshop on Early Parenthood Education

In the summer of 2010, I presented a keynote address, which was entitled “From Parents to Progeny: Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy,” at a family literacy conference in Edmonton, Alberta. My presentation covered a wide range of topics including: A New Perspective on Brain Science in Children’s and Adults’ Education, Born to Lose: Some Say Low Literate Adults Can’t Learn, Relationship of Adult Education and Literacy to Children’s Education and Literacy Achievement, Professional Wisdom and Scientific Research on Adults’ Literacy and its Intergenerational Effects, Parental Powering of Preschool Achievements, and Teach the Mother and Reach the Child. In this presentation I argued that governments and communities should know that one of the best investments they can make for the education of children is an investment in the education of adults.

In September of 2010, Education Canada, the official magazine of the Canadian Education Association, published an article I wrote entitled “Educated Parents, Educated Children: Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy” in which I documented the role of parents’ education and literacy skills on the literacy skills of their children. Later this year I will have an article on Early Parenthood Education coming out in the American Educator, the official magazine of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

In my one-day, six-hour workshop on Early Parenthood Education I cover the topics mentioned above and others, and I review the latest research and resources for implementing Early Parenthood Education in diverse contexts, including workplaces.

In this workshop I emphasize the important role that adult educators have played and can play in this educational activity that moves from policies based on lifelong learning that focuses on one life cycle to policies implementing education that follows a multiple life cycles education policy.

As indicated, I charge no fee for these workshops but sponsors need to pay my travel and accommodation expenses. For additional information and/or to arrange a workshop in your area contact me at: tsticht@aznet.net.

Tom Sticht is an international consultant in adult education.

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