Literacy

I've worked in adult literacy and basic education in Lewisham, Hackney, Bristol, Weymouth and Essex, in community, youth and Trades Union projects, in a prison, a psychiatric hospital, workplaces and colleges.

Whose skills, whose life? This report was written for people working in the context of informal learning with adults who may be deemed to have “Basic Skills Needs”.  In posing the question, “Whose Skills?” I argue that instead of looking for skill deficits, or “Basic Skills Needs” and offering remedies, we might focus on the skills we need if we want to develop more inclusive practices. In posing the question “Whose life?” I am inviting readers to question the gate-keeping practices that make life so difficult for people who are deemed to lack “Basic Skills” in English or Maths.