Griffith University

Visiting Scholar Seminar - Professor Mary Hamilton

20 November, 2002

GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
CENTRE FOR LITERACY AND LANGUAGE EDUCATION RESEARCH

VISITING SCHOLAR SEMINAR

Changing Faces: Dialogue from the United Kingdom and Australia on changes in adult literacy policy and provision over the last quarter century

Professor Mary Hamilton
Lancaster University, UK

Abstract:
The "Changing Faces" project takes a historical look at policy and practice in the field of Adult Basic Education in the UK. By bringing together the perspectives of the main stakeholder groups on basic skills policy, the study will be able to identify the key issues and mechanisms that have driven change in the field. By assessing the relevance of the policies to the changing context of basic skills in everyday life, it will be able to contribute to the effectiveness of future policy and practice in ABE.

Discussants will be Dr Jean Searle whose PhD focused on a history of adult literacy in Queensland and Dr Geraldine Castleton who has just completed a research project for ALNARC on accounting for recent initiatives in adult literacy policy and research.

Presenter:
Mary is Professor of Adult Learning and Literacy based in the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University, England. She is a member of the Lancaster Literacy Research Centre and is course director of a new postgraduate Diploma in Adult Literacy, Numeracy and ESOL. Lancaster is part of the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy.

Mary's involvement with adult literacy started in the late 1970s when she was a volunteer and then a part-time tutor in London. She was a founder member of the national network, Research and Practice in Adult Literacy (RaPAL). Mary has always seen professional development as central to the idea of making links between practice and research.

In her current research Mary is trying to make sense of policy in Adult Basic Education. She is working on a 30 month Research Council (ESRC) funded project called Changing Faces: A Critical History of Adult Literacy, Numeracy and ESOL in the UK 1970 - 2000. Recent books have included: Local Literacies" (with David Barton), "Situated Literacies" (edited with David Barton and Roz Ivanic), and "Powerful
Literacies" (with Jim Crowther and Lynn Tett).

If you will be attending, please advise Lenore Taylor by Friday 15th November 2002
e-mail: Lenore.Taylor@mailbox.gu.edu.au or phone: 3875 5947.
Should you require further details, please contact Dr Jean Searle,
Phone: 3875 5712/21117 Email: J.Searle@mailbox.gu.edu.au

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