For many centuries, intergenerational literacy learning outside formal educational institutions has been an important part of everyday family life in Nepal. Yet, educational policy continues to focus on promoting 'schooled' approaches to literacy for both adults and children, overlooking informal learning and indigenous literacy practices in many…

This policy brief is produced by UEA UNESCO Chair in Adult Literacy and Learning for Social Transformation at Bahir Dar University, as part of impact activities for "Family Literacy, Indigenous Learning and Sustainable Development: Proof of Concept Pilot" Project. This work was supported by University of East Anglia's Global Research…

Straddling conventional education system boundaries between adult learners and children, and between employment-related and social benefits, family literacy programmes are not well recognised or supported in New Zealand's policy and funding environment. In this article, I reflect on my personal experience of redesigning the Whanau Ara Mua…

Twelve articles in this special issue look at changes in adult basic education (ABE) including the following: changes in policy, the overhaul of welfare, state governance, workforce development, family literacy, the connection with employment and training, contextualized literacy, health education, political and economic literacy, adult literacy…

A discussion of family and intergenerational programs promoting literacy reviews selected research, current policies, goals, models for program design, and curriculum approaches. Research informing both family and intergenerational literacy programs includes early research on literacy in school-age children and more recently, studies of literacy…

Family literacy has developed over the past decade into an increasingly significant--and often contested--area of research, practice, and policymaking in the fields of literacy and family studies as well as in the broader arenas of education and schooling. The purpose of this chapter is to give the reader a better understanding of the general…

A think tank on researching family literacy was held to brainstorm a national research agenda for family literacy. The think tank brought together 12 researchers, policymakers, and practitioners involved in family literacy. Key themes emerging during the think tank were as follows: (1) family literacy is difficult to research because it is…

This document explores selected issues related to connecting welfare reform initiatives and the literacy movement and provides basic information about literacy education and its economic impact. Literacy is defined, and similarities and differences between adult basic education, adult secondary education, and English-as-a-Second-Language programs…

This document contains information about and from a study of the experiences of 41 adults enrolled in adult basic education/English for speakers of other languages (ABE/ESOL) programs that was conducted to determine what their learning meant to them and to identify strategies for developing a new pluralism in ABE/ESOL classrooms and teaching to…

This document contains the proceedings of a conference on family literacy that was attended by representatives of community-based literacy and family literacy programs in Newfoundland and Labrador. The document begins with an executive summary of the conference activities. The texts of the following keynote addresses are presented: "A…

The first meeting of the National Literacy Summit 2000 convened 150 leaders from adult education and literacy and other related fields for a 2-day intensive working meeting to begin building a national consensus on how to move adult and family literacy forward in the 21st century. Comments and suggestions offered by summit participants were…