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This study examined the social capital outcomes experienced by 57
students as a result of their participation in accredited adult literacy
and numeracy courses undertaken through the vocational
education and training (VET) sector. Social capital outcomes are concerned with
changes in
students' connections with people. The study also examined how these outcomes
contributed to the socioeconomic wellbeing of students, and considered the implications
for educational practice and reporting of outcomes from language, literacy and
numeracy courses.
- Participation in accredited adult literacy and numeracy courses
produced social capital outcomes for 80% of the students interviewed,
even though
improved literacy and numeracy skills were not necessarily present.
- Students reported changes in the number and nature of attachments
they had to existing and new social networks and spoke of changes
in
the way they interacted with people in their networks.
- Students
valued social capital outcomes highly because they contributed
to their socioeconomic wellbeing.
- There was evidence that social capital
outcomes had a positive impact on students' social environments,
education and learning, employment
and quality of working life.
- Literacy and numeracy improvement often required the social capital
outcomes noted above as a prerequisite or co-requisite. For example,
students' literacy skills improved when their membership of networks
provided them with opportunities to learn, or to implement what they
had learnt.
- Social capital outcomes were realised as a result of specific
teaching strategies, such as promoting interaction with peers, and
through the
new networks and relationships experienced in the course. Reframing
adult literacy and numeracy teaching/learning to include the idea
of the student as a member of networks would make the social capital-building
function of the courses more explicit.
- Current reporting frameworks,
including the National Reporting System for language, literacy and
numeracy, do not specifically account for
social capital outcomes. Recognising the importance of those outcomes,
and perhaps reporting them, is likely to result in a more accurate
picture of the contribution that adult literacy and numeracy courses
make to
individuals and communities.
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