If you’re starting out with your literacy and numeracy professional development you need to read a good overview of the background to this field.
The publication Facing the Challenge: Foundation Learning for Adults in Aotearoa New Zealand is one of the only New Zealand-focused books on foundation-level adult literacy and numeracy education.
The book’s scope covers different perspectives on the teaching of literacy and numeracy, different contexts for provision, and various issues including professional development, assessment, and information and communications technology (ICT).
Chapter One though, is short and a great place to get an overview. We also have the digital rights to chapter one (which we purchased when we bought the entire stock of Facing the Challenge a few years back).
So here it is: If you click the link below you can download and read John Benseman’s definitive summary of the background to foundation-focused literacy and numeracy education in Aotearoa New Zealand.
In Chapter 1, John summarises developments and initiatives from the 1970s through to the current time. He provides some useful definitions, outlines brief historical background for approaches and methods in adult literacy and numeracy education, as well as the state of play until 2008 when the book was published.
The PDF also includes an outline of the chapters that follow, which although they are interesting are not part of the readings for the NCALNE (Voc).
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