Title: 'Popular education for empowerment in adult literacy campaigns'

Associate Professor Bob Boughton, University of New England

All over the western world, literacy practitioners who began their working lives inspired by the theories of Paulo Freire are feeling frustrated, as national policy settings in Australia, Canada and many other places march to the beat of the dominant human capital drum. My presentation will focus on mass literacy campaigns, which take a different approach to the problems of low literacy from the one currently favoured in most advanced capitalist countries, but which are still commonly used in countries of the Global South.

I will begin by tracing the way that mass literacy campaigns grew out of the tradition of Freirian popular education. Then I will describe and reflect on two recent examples. The first is the national literacy campaign which began in Timor-Leste in 2006, utilising a Cuban-developed model called Yes I Can. The second is a pilot of the same approach currently being conducted with Aboriginal communities in western NSW.

In discussion, I will draw out lessons which can be applied by practitioners in programs in WA, including insights into teaching and learning practices that reflect the ethos and intent of popular education campaigns.

Bob Boughton originally came into adult education through working in community development roles in Aboriginal communities in NSW and Central Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. He has taught in adult literacy and basic education courses in Aboriginal community-controlled colleges, and more recently has taught undergraduate and postgraduate adult education students at the University of New England in rural NSW, where he is an Associate Professor. He was on the evaluation team of the Timor-Leste national literacy campaign from 2006-2009, and is now evaluating the Australian campaign pilots in NSW.