Hello Maria,

On Mar 22, 2008, at 1:04 PM, Maria Caratini-Prado wrote:

> In reading this information, I wonder if Equipped For the Future, the

> educational master plan for adult literacy education here in the

> United States, has been correlated to Functional Context Education.


EFF isn't exactly a master plan. It's a set of national content  
standards developed over a decade by the National Institute for  
Literacy and various other organizations around the country, built  
from research on what adult learners say they want and need to learn.  
Note, however, that while developed with federal funds, this is not a  
mandatory set of national standards. It's a resource available for  
states to adopt if they wish. With its extensive professional  
development component, provided by the Center for Literacy Studies at  
the University of Tennessee, one could also argue that it's now also  
a professional development effort.

The heart of Functional Context Education (FCE), as I understand it,  
is getting the learners' context right in the first place. If adult  
learners in a particular industry, let's say health care for example,  
want to advance in their jobs but lack the basic skills needed to do  
so, then the curriculum context might well be health care. However,  
as Sheryl Gowen's study, The Politics of Workplace Literacy [ http:// 
tinyurl.com/38zkcz ], argues so well,  you can't assume that because  
people work in a particular industry that they want to learn the  
basic skills to do their (current) jobs better, or even to advance in  
that industry. In short, to make sure you have the right context you  
have to ask the learners. For this reason I don't understand the  
notion of correlating anything to FCE. FCE only works when there is a  
high degree of congruence between the goals and interests of the  
actual group of adult learners you are teaching and the particular  
curriculum.

But perhaps you mean something different by "correlation" ? Were you  
asking in a more general way if FCE and EFF were compatible? If so, I  
would say they are. They both require a teacher to pay a lot of  
attention to what learners want to know and do, and to the contexts  
that are important to them.

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net


>

> Any information would be most helpful.

>

>

>

>

> Maria Caratini Prado, M. Ed. TESOL

> ESL & ESOL Teaching and Learning

> Eastfield College, Texas

> mcaratini at dcccd.edu

> www.eastfieldcollege.edu

> (972) 860-7659 office

> (972) 860-8392 fax

>>>> <tsticht at znet.com> 03/20/08 10:37 AM >>>

> 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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>

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