This is possibly the first assessment task – or part of the first assessment task – in the Level 6 Diploma of Adult Literacy and Numeracy Education. The name of this qualification is going to change shortly, but we’ll leave that for now:

Part 1

• Describe your personal philosophy of teaching adult literacy and numeracy: Write at least 500 words describing your personal approach to embedding or contextualising literacy and numeracy in your teaching or training.

Candidates will need to outline relevant aspects of their teaching approach touching on aspects of the model below as relevant:

• Understand issues and context
• Assess needs
• Design skills development
• Deliver outcomes
• Assess gains
• Evaluate effectiveness

And where appropriate they will need to discuss the assumptions that underlie their approach. These may include ideas about:

• Lifelong learning
• Stress or anxiety caused by learning
• The educator as facilitator
• Learner centredness
• The distance between learning and application
• The learner as co-collaborator in learning
• The need for learning to be active
• Learner readiness

Finally in this part, candidates will have to describe how their personal approach to teaching adult literacy differs from how they approach teaching adult numeracy including in relation to:

• Teaching and learning philosophies
• Teaching strategies
• Assessment
• Evaluation

Part 2

The next part needs to show how your approach is underpinned or informed by relevant research int he field.

• Explain how relevant theory and research underpins your personal approach to teaching adult literacy and numeracy: Write short explanations of at least 250 words each concisely summarising any four of these:
  • Cognitive approaches to teaching adult literacy and numeracy
  • Embedded literacy and numeracy
  • Contextualised literacy and numeracy
  • Literacy theories
  • Numeracy theories

Part 3

The final part involves getting evaluative feedback from others and then reflecting on how you can improve your practice

• Evaluate your personal approach against current constructs in adult literacy and numeracy practice in Aotearoa. Get feedback from a peer or supervisor as well as a learner on three of the areas below.
  • Learner centredness
  • The concept of ako
  • Te whare tapawha
  • Working with diverse learners
• Then evaluate your own approach including suggestions for improvements on how you can strengthen your adult literacy and numeracy teaching practice. As appropriate, your discussion may cover:
  • Knowledge
  • Values
  • Outcomes

Anyone keen to have a go at writing a personal approach as per Part 1 above? I’m interested in crowdsourcing content for the Diploma. You won’t get paid, but you might get some recognition and perhaps large chunks of your Diploma paid for by us…

Let me know if you are interested.