Literacy Development Centre
The key research areas within the Literacy Development Centre at WIT include:
- Adult Literacy Teaching Methodologies
- Teacher Training programmes for Adult Literacy Practitioners
- Workplace Literacy
- Family Literacy
- Literacy as Social Practice
During the year 2007-2008 the Literacy Development Centre had a number of on-going funded and in-house research projects addressing the above areas.
Funded research included participation over a 24 month period (2006-2008) in an EU Grundtvig project that examined best practice, content and methodologies used in teacher training in adult literacy across a number of European member states. A comparative analysis of models of teacher training in adult literacy was conducted and a modular programme for practitioners working in the adult basic education field was developed. This research will now be used to inform models for teacher education in adult basic education, particularly adult literacy, in Europe. The aim of this programme will be to address the adult literacy problem (highlighted in the OECD International Adult Literacy Survey in 1996 and subsequently in 2004) through the professional development of literacy teachers.
An examination of Workplace Literacy training in organisations has been underway since early 2007 and this research is attempting to identify and quantify the benefits of the provision of Workplace Literacy programmes in an organisational setting. The context for this research is the National Skills for Work initiative and the strategy set out by the Expert Future Skills Group addressing the need to up-skill our workforce in Ireland and in particular the requirement to move 500,000 employees up one level in terms of their qualifications on the National Framework of Qualifications in order to meet the skills requirements of organisations by 2020.
An in-house action-research project has also taken place during 2007 that examined the practice of literacy tutors, their understanding of literacy and how this impacted on their work. Themes explored included to what extent tutors feel consulted about issues such as definitions of learner progress, the voices that count, the value base underpinning the national literacy service and the ownership of literacy. This research is being used to identify teaching methodologies employed within the literacy service and how the Literacy Development Centre can address the professional development requirements of literacy tutors through its portfolio of programmes.
Key thematic areas for post-graduate students include:
- Adult Literacy Teaching Methodologies – development of models of best practice
- Literacy as Social Practice
- Economic and societal benefits of improved literacy levels among adults
- Workplace Literacy – an examination of the impact of low literacy levels among staff on an organisations economic performance
- Family Literacy
- Digital Literacy
For further information on the Literacy Development Centre please click here.
Contact: Ms. Helen Murphy Email: hmurphy@wit.ie