Ade-Ojo, Gordon O. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1098-0765 (2009) Socialising young literacy learners into a discourse of failure: Dominant discourses in literacy teaching and assessment and their impact on the progression of young literacy learners into employment. Occasional Papers in Education & Lifelong Learning, 3 (1-2). pp. 95-112. ISSN 1755-6902

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Abstract

This paper argues that contemporary literacy programmes are a mismatch for the expectations of both the government and employers as well as the goals of learners. It submits that the dominant discourses in literacy provision have led to the emergence of a learning culture which not only fails the learners but is also incapable of meeting the aspirations of both the government and employers. To support this argument, the paper reports a small scale research project that analyses the perceptions of learners, teachers and employers who were involved in a work placement scheme for young literacy learners in a college of further education. Data for the study were collected through focus group and face to face interviews and analysed using the framework of discourse analysis provided by Gill (2000) with findings codified and analysed thematically. The study found that teachers were aware that their learners were not adequately prepared for the world of work because of the demands of the dominant discourses of quality and performance measurement which were most obviously manifested in their assessment, teaching methods and the attitudes of learners. It found that employers perceive young learners as inadequate in terms of the workplace expectations. Learners in the study revealed that their workplace culture and expectations were totally different from the culture to which they had been socialised in their studies. The study concludes that unless the dominance of these discourses is ameliorated, young literacy learners will continue to be socialised into a discourse of failure.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Paper of this title also presented at 7th International Conference: Comparative Education and Teacher Training," organized by the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society, held 29 June - 3 July 2009, Sofia and Tryavna, Bulgaria (see also - http://gala.gre.ac.uk/3267/).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	literacy, teaching/learning, skills for life, employability, dominant discourse
Subjects:	L Education > LC Special aspects of education > LC5201 Education extension. Adult education. Continuing education
Pre-2014 Departments:	School of Education School of Education > Department of Lifelong Learning & Teacher Education
Related URLs:	Publisher Organisation
Last Modified:	05 Jun 2019 13:39
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/1759

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