Living Adult Education: Freire in Scotland (International Issues in Adult Education)

The Adult Learning Project in Edinburgh, affectionately known as ALP, is a sustained experiment in applying the principles of the Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, in a European post-industrial urban environment. Because this book explains so sensitively the theory and rationale of Freirean education, and describes so carefully the Freirean process at work in a Scottish setting, it will hearten and inspire all those who fear the iron hold of mechanistic and passive approaches to learning. Lalage Bown From 1979 to 2011, ALP has written a new chapter in the history of popular education, locally and globally, honouring the brilliance of the 'onelie begetter' of this approach, Paulo Freire, whose writings have inspired us all. Colin and Gerri Kirkwood The fundamental concern in all of Paulo Freire's work is to assert the possibility and potential of human agency, by challenging the passivity and fatalism of ordinary people, intervening purposefully in their lives and enabling them to lever themselves out of 'immersion' in the 'culture of silence'. Through its pedagogy and curriculum, ALP has made a significant contribution to enabling the often marginalized voices of Scottish communities to be heard. For educators the world over who share similar aims and values, the experience of ALP is insightful, instructive and inspirational. Jim Crowther and Ian Martin The period since 1990 has been momentous in the life of ALP, in the sense that ordinary people became involved in an extraordinary political process which changed the life of Scotland forever. Vernon Galloway, Stan Reeves and Nancy Somerville This book will be of interest to educationalists, social scientists and psychologists throughout the world, and in particular to practitioners, students, teachers and promoters of schooling, adult, further and higher education, community development, practical and liberation theology, health and wellbeing, and counseling and psychotherapy. Cover 1 Living Adult Education: Freire in Scotland 4 Contents 6 List of illustrations 7 Acknowledgements 8 Acknowledgements for the second edition 10 Preface 12 Preface to the second edition 14 Introduction 20 CHAPTER 1: The story of ALP 24 Origins and aims 24 Gorgie Dairy: The place and the people 25 The ALP workers 28 The ALP process 29 Secondary source investigation 29 Primary source investigation 29 Finding co-investigators 31 Co-investigation 31 Building codifications 32 Decoding 33 Building the curriculum 35 Learning progra mmes 36 Action outcomes 37 The evolving process 37 The story o f ALP 38 Phase one: the cauldron (1979-82) 38 Phase two: the bridge (1982-85) 41 Phase three: maturity (1985-88) 44 CHAPTER 2: Ideas and contexts 49 The British context 49 The education context 51 Community Education in Scotland 52 The life, ideas and methods of Paulo Freire 55 Life 55 Writings 57 Ideas 57 Consciousness 59 Words and themes 61 Education 62 Literacy work 63 Codifications and decoding 65 Post-literacy work 67 Limit situations 68 Note of acknowledgement 69 CHAPTER 3: Investigations and learning programmes: case studies 70 1. Investigation: living in Gorgie Dairy 71 Finding co-investigators 72 Co-investigation 73 Building codifications 74 Recruititng for decoding 74 Decoding 75 Issues arisingfrom decoding 86 Building the curriculum 87 Learning programmes 88 The Family Today 88 You and the School 89 On Being Scottish 90 Action outcomes 90 Issues arising f r om learning programmes 90 2. Investigation: health and well-being 91 Co-investigation 91 Building codifications and decoding 93 Unemployed 93 Loose End Activity Centre 94 Women 94 Women and Well-being 95 Review 99 Issues arising from Health and Well-being 101 3. Investigation: parents and authority 102 Choosing the theme 103 Co-investigation 103 Summary of themes emerging 106 Building codifications 108 Decoding 108 Building the curriculum 112 Learning programme 113 Attachment 116 Giving and receiving affection 116 Stimulation 116 Identity 117 Groups 117 Responsibility 117 Back home 121 Action 122 Issues arising fr om Parents and Authority 122 Note of acknowledgement 123 CHAPTER 4: Action outcomes and workshops: case studies 124 Play in the Terraces 1982-83 124 Tit for Tat: the Skills Exchange 1982-87 129 The Parents Centre 1986-87 133 Gorgie Dairy Writers Workshop 1981-87 135 The Photo Workshop 1982-87 137 Action outcomes and workshops: issues arising 140 CHAPTER 5: The influence of ALP 142 Influence on participants 142 Recruitment 143 First impressions 143 Saying what you think 144 Listening and re-presenting 144 Learning from others 144 Feeling different 145 Taking responsibility 145 Leading a group 146 Teaching and learning 146 Action 146 Applying the lessons of ALP 147 A sheltered life? 148 Conclusion 148 Training participants 148 Influence on the ALP workers 150 Influence on fell ow professionals 151 The Freire in Britain seminar 151 The Practitioners' Skills Exchange 151 Community education workers' training 152 Collaboration with Adult Basic Education (ABE) 153 Other consultation and training 154 CHAPTER 6: Reflections 156 What has made ALP thrive? 156 Innovation and the mainstream 157 Location and management of innovative projects 157 Authority and responsibility 158 Experience and knowledge 158 Theory and practice 158 Languages 159 Structure and spontaneity 159 Oppression and alienation 160 Ethical, religious and political implications 160 CHAPTER 7: ALP since 1990: A flowering of cultural action 162 A developing conjuncture 163 Codifying the teaching/learning process 165 Student research: students investigate the subject in their daily lives 166 Knowledge input: teachers problematise existing knowledge 166 Integrative dialogue: students and teachers construct newknowledge 166 Future orientation: imagining the future 167 Keeping learning social: the ALP Association 168 Learning programmes 170 Traditional music, song and dance 171 Learning the land 173 The History Workshop 174 The Democracy Group 178 Women in ALP 181 Women's Planning Group 183 ENACT 185 The Welcoming: orientation and sharing culture 187 Football and literacy 189 Praxis and the learner/activist 190 References 192 Glossary 194 Select bibliography 201 Digest of statistics 202 Index 207 Supplementary index 212 Biographical notes by the authors 214 9460915507,9789460915505,9460915515,9789460915512 Springer 2011 Front Matter....Pages i-xxii The story of Alp....Pages 1-25 Ideas and Contexts....Pages 26-46 Investigations and learning programmes....Pages 47-100 Action outcomes and Workshops....Pages 101-118 The influence of ALP....Pages 119-132 Reflections....Pages 133-138 ALP since 1990....Pages 139-170 Back Matter....Pages 171-192