The exercise in which adults involved in an organized as well as sustained self-learning undertakings to achieve new forms of knowledge, skills attitudes and values is referred to adult education. The education refers to any form of engagement of adult learning in normal outside schooling, surrounding basic knowledge to individual satisfaction as a lifetime learner. Adult literacy program in particular mirrors a precise philosophy about education and teaching centered on the notion that adults are able and need to learn, they are willing and capable of taking responsibility in the learning, and the education program should meet their needs. For the learning to be effective in teaching adults, it is essential to take note of the audience and have an overall understanding of how adults do their learning.
The science of helping the adults to learn, the exercise of adult education is defined as andragogy, to differentiate it from the customary school-based learning for youngster's pedagogy. Dissimilar to the children, adults are observed as self-directed, with minimal need of help from other quarters. They are mature, and their readiness to learn is connected to what they need to know, with their direction to learn being problematic pinpointed rather than subject placed, i.e., their urge to learn is internal. Adults have gathered knowledge through work experience thus their learning differ from educating children as their experience can be advantageous in the education experience. The voluntary education process for adults motivates them, and their application of knowledge practically makes the learning to be effective. The expectation with the adult learners is the application of the knowledge they will achieve would help them advance their objectives (Sabatini, Shore, Holtzman, & Scarborough, 2011). In the present years, adults have enrolled for computer training courses to have the basic knowledge of the operating system and particular application software. One of the common goals of adult literacy education is to help them satisfy their requirements and attain their professional objective. Human fulfillment and institutional desires might be the ultimate aims.
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The standard of andragogy stream directly from an understanding of the adult features as learners and can be acknowledged when we understand on the ideas of adults and observe the manner at which those ideas influence the effectiveness of adult learning. Instructors who take the value of andragogy when selecting materials for teaching and planning program conveyance have their learners advance more quickly, and they are extra prosperous in attaining their objectives. The many responsibilities adults have made it challenging for them to balance against the demands of education (Jedličková, 2014). These responsibilities are seen as barriers and challenges that adults go through when participating in adult literacy programs. The barriers which include daily wages may hinder the adults in joining educational programs in fear of losing their source of income. Stigma, fear, and shyness can also hinder adults from pursuing learning, but distance learning can address some of the hindrances.
The participants of adult literacy programs need to be motivated, through implanting confidence and emphasize on positive self-esteem to allow them to develop lifetime learner attitude. The best method to encourage adult learners is to boost their motives for joining and minimize the obstacles. The teachers should plan their strategies for motivating learners with the successful strategy being to show the adult learners, the connection between learning and an anticipated upgrade. The adult learners can also be shown how the training helps them logically making them perform better for longer lasting benefits. Teachers should also take into consideration the characteristics of learners to make lessons that address the needs as well as the strength of individual learner.
Adult literacy program provides an opportunity for personal growth, fulfillment of objectives and socialization. Friendship is a significant feature of adult learning, and the education environment is an integral part of the social network (Johnson, 2012). Social network together with support was seen to be essential in adult learner motivation.
They are various key factors that should be focused on in the development of training to best influence adults literacy program;
Materials should be available for maximum usefulness to the learners.
Materials that are available should be related to the adult learner's lives.
Learners should feel welcomed and safe in the training environment for effective participation.
Presentation during training should be appealing.
Respectful training manner should be encouraged, where participants have a chance to share their understandings.
Following of these main principles would help in determining what is to be included in the training process and presentation approach. The training should be made relevant to the adult literacy program participants through recognition of the privileged background and experience of people working in the program. Various methods are used in the development of instructions, and teachers of the adult literacy program have often debated on which is the most effective method. The most practical style that is seen to work well with adult students moves the thinking on developing instructions from the perspective that will help in improvement of the process enormously (Johnson, 2012). Several fundamental questions need to be addressed to get started;
Who are the audience target and their learning needs?
The instructor has the responsibility to find out who will be the audience and the kind of training they may have already received. Short description of the audience could also be written to guide in instruction plan. Preferably, the needs assessment should be conducted before training projects are started.
Objectives and strategies
The purpose should be the main component of the learning, training needs, knowledge deficit and skills are the primary wants to be accomplished in the course. What the participants need learn should be taken into account as the main aim is to leave the training institution with new information and skills that they did not have. Objectives for learning should serve as a contact with the audience and aid in putting the resolution of the training in real, measurable positions. The knowledge by the participants on the purpose of the training, give them a high expectation to learn and focus clearly on the anticipated outcomes (Johnson, 2012). Before developing the learning objectives, it is critical to define the knowledge to be attained by the students. Knowledge, Skill or Attitudes (KSAs) helps in recognizing the kind of knowledge to be developed and specifically training intentions. The objective of the adult literacy program should be contributed to;
Ability to participate actively in progress of the community with the aim of attaining social justice through the development of critical understanding of first contemporary problems and common alterations.
The participants should be trained on promoting awareness of the relationship among persons, their culture, and physical surroundings through the desire to progress the environment, respect and safeguard nature, public property as well as common custom.
Creating an environment that understands and respect the diversity of cultures and customs of different people throughout the world.
Encouraging awareness and giving effects of different methods of communication and harmony in the family, local, national, regional and international stages.
Encouraging the development and acquiring of personal ability, through groups or in the context of systematic study in educational formations made explicitly for the purpose. The development supports the new form of behavior conducted with maturity, further knowledge qualifications, and personality.
Individuals should be guided on effective incorporation into working life, by providing them with the ability to create a new spirit and aesthetic value.
Persons should gain the ability to grasp difficulties involved in children upbringing adequately.
Promoting creativity in making use of leisure and obtaining any essential or desired information.
Gain knowledge in using mass media communication, including radio, television, and cinema as well as developing the ability to interpret and address various messages in the modern society.
Adult literacy program activities should be planned and implemented on the ground of identified needs, challenges as well as defined objectives. Their effect should be gauged and strengthened by appropriate activities in the given condition. Specific emphasis on activities meant social and geographical entity with the view of advancement of community setting. In encouraging participation, effective development of objectives should be written from a student point of view. Emphasis should be put on the value of students, level of understanding or intention of the skill or information being taught. Various models are used in designing teaching objectives, e.g., to develop practical objectives the SMART model is considered while in behavior change objectives the A-B-C-D model is preferred.
Developing training resources involves creating education exercises, writing and working with content specialists and trainers. It may be a time-consuming phase, but it is essential to maintaining a successful training. Reinforcing on learning objectives and outcomes depend on the design of training materials. Material drafts may be reviewed by several persons of whom they can go through several revisions to match the learning outcomes based on the assessed needs of learners. Training resources objectives relate to activities and experiences like;
Identify stated educating objectives.
Define the learning domain and the outcome involved.
Determine the method of instruction to help students complete the stated learning objectives.
For successful adult literacy education program, a well-planned and smooth operational planning is essential. Planning is the main driving force in the adult education course, where teaching is a two-way communication between the teacher and the student. The survey is the first task of the planning process.
Planning For Adult Literacy Program
Several factors influence the way people work together to carry out planned activities. The rules in the society and the resources available to carry out the planned activities are factors that influence co-operative efforts for literacy. Funding determines the effectiveness of an adult literacy program. Funds are essential in a situation where the program for a minor language group communicating in a previously unrecorded language will be planned differently from one with extensive written practice and an extensive range of reading resources. Another factor that influence planning, is the way people think about literacy and what they believe on how a program should be led. There are several matters concerning to general nature of the program that planners need to reflect before they begin developing the plan for application. The guiding principle would be goals as well as objectives, program size, language used and the kind of classes that will be established.
General statements that instruct the actions and behaviors of those involved in planning, executing and supervising literacy programs are referred to as guiding principles. Where the program is learner focused, the guiding principles are the results of discussion amongst representatives of all the participant groups. A guiding principle for a society-wide adult literacy program may be; learner's life experience should be affirmed through instructional methods and reading materials.
Program goals : it describes the hope of the participants with what would be the outcome of the literacy program, the intended long-term significance for the learners, the society, learning system and for the whole nation. The program goals define a perfect future but are accurate so that participants will be encouraged as they view themselves creating advancement. Goals for students in the literacy programs are compatible with national guidelines and strategies in addition to the educational goals of the probable learners, their cause for waiting to be knowledgeable. Having knowledge, skills, and motivation to find and keep gainful employment might be a goal formulated by learners who are in a city-wide literacy program for out-of-school or unemployed youth. Another objective of the program is to reduce the crime rate among the youth. Seeking agreement between the participants begins the process of setting goals at each level of implementation on the need for the program. The discussion is meant to solve the problem and achieve an agreement concerning the overall resolution of the objective. Community goals for literacy may be framed through formal assemblies and informal deliberations with the potential learners, society leaders and with local government organizations as well as NGOs.
Program objectives: they are the particular targets that are to be attained within a period concealed in the program strategy. In the process of achieving the program's long-term goals, program objectives are the clear statements on which the program will occasionally be evaluated. The flexibility of objectives makes them adjustable if the assessment shows that they are unrealistic or they are not attending to the purpose of which they were intended. Community objective summaries the literacy program for out-of-school youngsters linking to some learners that would complete a program (Wolf, Rivera, Pilar, & Harrison, 2016). The objectives in local level may outline the number of instructors that would be educated within a particular period or number of training institutions that will be opened. The procedure of articulating objectives needs awareness of the resources and accomplishments that are essential for the program to be persistent. Other necessities include awareness of the resources that are already accessible and the events that are already ongoing.
Types Of Adult Literacy Class To Be Established
In planning literacy classes that are established to attend to the particular needs of learners and to instill the abilities they hold, various issues should be considered;
Basic literacy; learners who have little or no previous formal or non-formal education but their personal profession goal need literacy and proficiency are enrolled in primary literacy classes. In basic literacy classes, there are well-developed natural languages, instruction methods, reading materials, and curriculum are built on the learner's needs and culture.
Fluency; learners who have attained the necessary level of knowledge combine and enlarge their uses of reading, writing, and skill through fluency classes to achieve their growing educational goals. Establishment of fluency classes may also be used to help a lot of literate adults change into formal learning arrangement or into programs of vocational training through organizing them for examination enrollment or familiarizing them to the educational materials they are expected to use in the ongoing learning program.
Transitional literacy; transitional classes are made for persons who are expert readers in their mother tongue and need to transfer their literacy abilities into a second or third language. The word ‘transition' implies that the student can speak the second language and is ready to advance in learning and write the said language.
Post-literacy; the opportunities at post-literacy classes allow readers to carry on with their education in the vocational or formal method and also through special interest classes, clubs for reading and other opportunities for education in the local societies. Varieties of learning materials that are motivating and significant to adults are equally important to them who have attained the post-literacy period.
Prospective learners own valuation of their capability to use literacy to accomplish their goals is best when they are founded on the choice of the type of classes that will be established. For instance, out-of-school youngsters who had achieved a basic learning capability in primary school may have reverted to semi-literacy when they left the formal organization (Hock, & Mellard, 2011). They could be assisted to recover and enlarge on what they had learned earlier through fluency classes to organize them for additional education or aid them in learning particular abilities for occupation. Transition classes are appropriate in a society where members are already literate in their native language but want to know their second language.
Recruiting And Training Literacy Personnel
Adult Literacy program recruitment involves recognizing the events that will be happening in implementation and maintenance of the program, defining the experiences required by the individuals responsible for the said accomplishments (Wolf, Rivera, Pilar, & Harrison, 2016). Through training, individuals are helped to gain inspiration, capabilities, and skills to function productively and effectively in their positions.
Recruiting literacy workers ; the program guiding principles, goals and objectives influence the process of establishing credentials and selection of people for various positions and the framework in which different activities will be implemented. Individuals for adult literacy program necessitate exceptional personal aspects as well as their technical and certified qualification at each stage of implementation. In their specific situations, they should be creative in adapting ideas and information as well as appreciate the people with whom they work. There should be an appreciation of social, cultural and linguistic backgrounds of various groups of students and commitment to assisting persons and societies attain their learning goal. Approaches for recruitment include;
To identify the events for which individual will be needed at each stage of enactment.
Based on the realistic assessment of the people that might be available, there should be determining criteria at each level for recruiting workforce for each position.
Different person's requirements should be identified to support and finance the project.
Method of recruitment should be planned following the procedures and policies of the community.
Conclusion
Planning adult literacy program for sustainability has always been the difficult and complex task, but that complexity has not been continuously acknowledged. There have been various attempts with different points of success focusing on social changes, problem-solving, self-resolve or political act as final component convincing sustainability. The planners of learning have attained experience and proficiency in addressing the educational consequences of the adult literacy program, discovering the dire importance of adult education as the crucial resources in executing and sustaining the programs that are destined to help them.
References
Hock, M. F., & Mellard, D. F. (2011). Efficacy of learning strategies instruction in adult education. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 4 (2), 134-153. doi:10.1080/19345747.2011.555291.
Jedličková, I. (2014). Introduction to adult education . Retrieved from http://inpdf.uhk.cz/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Introduction-to-adult-education.pdf.
Johnson, R. (2012). Effective adult learning . Retrieved from https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/evaluation/documents/effective-adult-learning-a-toolkit-for-teaching-adults.
Sabatini, J. P., Shore, J., Holtzman, S., & Scarborough, H. S. (2011). Relative effectiveness of reading intervention programs for adults with low literacy. J ournal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 4 (2), 118-133. doi:10.1080/19345747.2011.555290.
Wolf, T., Rivera, P., Pilar, W., & Harrison, A. (2016). Adult education and family literacy guidelines for program. Retrieved from http://www.education.pa.gov/Documents/Postsecondary-Adult/Adult%20Basic%20and%20Family%20Literacy%20Education/AdminDocs/Guidelines/Adult%20Education%20and%20Family%20Literacy%20Guidelines%20PY%202016-17.pdf.
