The Role of Adult Literacy & Numeracy in Lifelong Learning and Socio-Economic Well-Being: ALNARC National Research Program, June 2001-June 2002. Feature.

An Adult Literacy and Numeracy Australian Research Consortium (ALNARC) program comprised four projects designed to integrate new research with analysis of past practices and provision. Preliminary themes were the perception of a "policy void" in regard to literacy and numeracy skills; professional development's tie to workplace practice and understanding of and compliance with reporting mechanisms; and problems when literacy and numeracy are collapsed as one. The project called "Women at Play" explored whether teaching women to write dramatic monologue helps them develop multiliteracies and cope with life transitions. Women developed confidence and skills to develop monologues and literacy skills through collaborative criticism of each other's work. In the project called"Curricular Practices of Adult Community Education, Language, Literacy, and Numeracy Providers in South Australia," community-based literacy practitioners investigated ways they make decisions about their practice to examine the "hidden" curriculum of their programs. Findings indicated that the "hidden" curriculum of community-based programs encourages development of social capital; participants came with widely varied backgrounds and previous learning experiences; programs are nonformal and flexible and English as a second language accounts for the greatest part of programs rather than literacy; and literacy is adaptive to the diversity of multicultural Australia. (YLB)