Spaces of literacy: from diversity of learners to significant learning models

Salgado, Lucília; Soeiro, Dina; Rufino, Isabel; Paulo, Maria Manuela; Rolo, Maria da Conceição; Carvalho, Vera

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/47545

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Authors

Rolo, Maria da Conceição

Carvalho, Vera

Abstract(s)

The Project Literacy for Democracy aimed at educating youngsters in the exercise of citizenship and involved several communities, stakeholders and institutions. The Project became a part of the practices occurring in each context, adopting an approach of research-action. It tried to generate knowledge about the manner how it is possible, in each selected site, to work and organise education for citizenship. During the local projects lifetime it was tried to, locally and collectively, define concepts while deepening and enlarging the theoretical search that would give a direction to the ongoing practices and, at the same time, generating new and leading knowledge. Lifelong Education. This Symposium has allowed the analysis of current practices in community premises of Oeiras (projects Literacy in Navegadores and Literacy for Democracy) with African-descent communities; with Roma women in cooperation with ALEM; with senior citizens in rural areas (ICreate) and young adult students (of the Higher School of Education in Coimbra); and with children and adults (Barafunda in Benedita). While working with vulnerable communities it was necessary to characterise their own ways of participation and the dominant knowledge in each domain. For that reason, knowledge about getting literate, literacy and the corresponding processes became a constant factor in each group, taking into account their specific ethnic, age and social traits. The same can be said regarding new vulnerabilities, either economic (in contexts of crisis) or connected to environmental sustainability. We understand that the need to accede to new knowledge with regard to economic and environmental vulnerability can enrich the process of literacy and that was only possible due to the development of such ability. Based on the understanding that citizenship only develops through the very practice of citizenship, we concluded that our action should not isolate the youngsters out of their community and also that the work with any of the selected groups required the parallel development of the others, be it groups of seniors, adults, youngsters or children. While implementing such a methodology the Project products would then emerge in a constant dialectic process, forcing us, at any moment, to redefine direction. As we acquired new knowledge we had to define new objectives and to restructure our practices and follow new paths. As a remarkable example we can refer to the pandemic situation that erupted at a crucial stage of the Project and inevitably led to new practices of citizenship and to new literacy approaches.