[ProfessionalDevelopment 2046] News about workplace skills and FCEtsticht at znet.com tsticht at znet.comThu Mar 20 12:37:31 EDT 2008
Colleagues: The Times & Transcript newspaper published in New Brunswick, Canada includes an article by Peter Sawyer, President of the Moncton, New Brunswick Regional Learning Council. The article appeared on page D6 Tuesday March 18th, 2008 (available online at http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/search/article/242932). In his article, Sawyer calls attention to the value of Functional Context Education for improving workforce skills in Canada. He asks whether the government's budget will address workplace learning needs. He makes the point that only one in 10 Canadians with low literacy skills receive government support and that they are not being reached by organized forms of adult learning. Focusing on the need for new approaches to workforce lifelong learning, Sawyer goes on to say, "Dr. Thomas Sticht, an international consultant in adult education, maintains that integrated literacy is the concept that makes workforce development efficient and effective. He explains, "One approach to improving the efficiency of basic skills and job skills training that is gaining in popularity in developed nations follows what I have called a Functional Context Education approach. In this approach, basic literacy, numeracy and English language skills education [is] integrated into, or embedded in, or contextualized with, vocational education or job skills training. This approach is more efficient because it shortens the learners' overall time required to be in education and training, and increases the amount of time that can be spent on a job providing productive activity in the marketplace and bringing home a pay cheque. It does this because it removes the need to have learners spend time first raising their basic skills to some established level before they can enter into vocational education." Governments and adult literacy educators in other nations including Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, England and Wales have implemented extensive programs of Functional Context Education that include the integration of language, literacy, and numeracy (LLN) skills development with vocational and other important content areas such as health, citizenship, and parenting. For additional information about Functional Context Education (FCE) and examples of embedded, integrated, contextualized LLN programs see my online syllabus of 12 reports that includes two on FCE online at http://adulted.about.com/od/adultbasiceducation/a/sticht.htm On 15 April 2008 I will be in Marlborough, Massachusetts to present a keynote about Functional context Education entitled: Integrated Curriculum Models Work! followed by a breakout session on Case Studies On Integrated Curriculum Models. This is a conference sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Education. For information regarding my free presentations on Functional Context Education, Integrated Literacy Models and other topics and my present speaking schedule and venues contact me at tsticht at aznet.net Tom Sticht
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