The Wheel
Adult Literacy and Numeracy (ALN) Curriculum Framework for Scotland
Part Two: Practice
2. The Wheel
Link to online version of The Wheel.
We have chosen a wheel to represent the ALN Curriculum because we want the curriculum to revolve around the learner.
The curriculum is represented as concentric circles on a wheel to act as a visual reminder for tutors and learners of what is available to be taught and learned in ALN and the principles that should inform them.
In the centre of the wheel is the learner surrounded by his or her different contexts for learning: private life, family life, community life and working life (circle 1). These contexts reflect the importance of the learner?s real life and everyday practices that are central to the Scottish approach to adult literacy and numeracy. They provide the motivation for learning. Teaching and learning resources will be drawn from these contexts and learners will assess their progress in terms of the changes they have made in them.
It is expected that learner and tutor will wish to develop the complex capabilities of adult literacy and numeracy. Working in ALN will always involve a mix of the practice of reading, writing and numeracy skills, the discussion and acquisition of knowledge about literacy and numeracy and the development of critical understanding (circle 2). Critical understanding involves awareness of the power relations between the writer and reader, knowing how they can be used to manipulate us and ways we can use them effectively. It also reminds us that we should always be aware of what our purposes are for using literacy and numeracy and who our audience is going to be. Further information about skills, knowledge and understanding of literacy and numeracy can be found in Part 2, section 1.
The ALNIS report recommended that the measurement of progress should be based around learner goals and distance travelled, building on the Core Skills Framework. This is why these skills reflect the SQA Core Skills of Communication and Numeracy (circle 3). Detail about what is expected in each Core Skill can be found in the relevant SQA unit descriptor; the complex capabilities of ALN are discussed further below. The fourth circle reflects the remaining SQA Core Skills. It highlights the social and educational activities which facilitate and support literacy and numeracy learning and reflect their "real-life" use. In the 21st century the new literacies of ICT are given enhanced prominence.
The outer circle of the wheel reminds us of the principles which underpin the curriculum framework. Promoting self-determination reminds tutors that they are working towards the independence of the learner. This is done by keeping the learner and the learner?s goals central to the learning process, by negotiating goals and by encouraging learners to make choices about what they work on and how their work will be assessed.
Lifelong learning within this circle encourages tutor and learner to value their learning as part of a lifelong and lifewide process. This will include encouraging progress to learning in other areas, formal and informal, and possibly to consider gaining accreditation for their literacy and numeracy work or to work towards some other qualification.
The wheel emphasises that no one element is studied in isolation. It may be helpful to imagine each circle turning like the discs on a combination lock to line up a rich and appropriate learning experience for each learner.
How do we use the wheel?
Using the example of a hypothetical literacy and numeracy learner who has recently become a member of a management committee, the diagrams below explore some of the knowledge, skills and understanding which are potentially needed in that role. A fuller breakdown is contained in Appendix 1.
The Communication and Numeracy Core Skills have been analysed in detail under the headings:
Write to convey information, ideas and feelings
Read with understanding
Speak so others can understand
Listen/observe effectively
Apply numerical skills to solve problems
Understand and apply numerical skills
Interpret numerical information
Communicate numerical information
Information in circles in the diagrams represents numeracy and communication broken down under the above headings. Rectangles represent the other SQA Core Skills in the fourth circle of the wheel.
The tutor can use the wheel as a memory jogger in the process of considering what is available to be taught to that learner. If we look at the example of reading minutes, the wheel will remind the tutor that the learner and her uses of literacy are at the heart of the literacy and numeracy curriculum, and that the process of negotiation, planning, evaluation and assessment is central to the process of learning. It could also remind the tutor to analyse minute reading in terms of skills, knowledge and understanding; to ensure that approaches are used which will increase critical awareness; that the learner will need to reflect on the minutes and evaluate their accuracy and may need to use negotiating skills in suggesting amendments; that she may want to use email to communicate with the secretary of the management committee, or use the Internet to find out more about issues raised in the minutes. This in turn could lead to consideration of approaches to reading information on the Internet, and comparing them with approaches used in reading minutes.
The wheel therefore enables the tutor to think laterally - to broaden what is available to be learned from making sense of what is being said in the minutes, to being able to reflect critically on the content and take action accordingly, and to apply reading strategies to other contexts and to reflect and extend the learner?s real-life uses of literacy.
An example of the numeracy that such a learner might want to work on could be interpreting numerical information - making sense of the project?s budget. Again the tutor would identify the skills, knowledge and understanding that would be required. By looking at the wheel she might also consider: using ICT to get information about budgeting in the context of voluntary organisations; learning through researching this information; using critical approaches to interpret the information presented and listening actively. Additionally the learner might want to be able to explain or justify the budget in conversation with users of the organisation, so working on organising ideas and speaking might be incorporated into the plan.
Spider Diagram Example 1
Spider Diagram Example 2
