Reframing adult literacy and numeracy course outcomes: A social capital perspective

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.

Social capital outcomes have recently been added to the more traditional human capital outcomes of knowledge and skills as possible benefits of education and training. By social capital we mean 'networks, together with shared norms, values and understandings which facilitate cooperation within or amongst groups' (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS] 2004, p.5). Social capital outcomes from course participation are concerned with changes in the nature of the connections that students have in existing or in new social networks and which lead to more involvement in society.

The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate for the first time the social capital outcomes experienced by students as a result of participation in accredited adult literacy and numeracy courses conducted through the vocational and education (VET) sector. The study showed that the social capital outcomes produced were highly valued by students and teachers alike and played an important role in improving the student's quality of life. Yet, currently social capital outcomes are not being formally assessed and reported.

In addition to identifying social capital outcomes, the study considered their value, which was judged in terms of the contribution they made to the socioeconomic wellbeing of the student and/or other members of the community. The study also identified the teaching/learning practices that seemed to be most conducive to the generation of social capital and concluded with implications for both educational practice and framing of outcomes reporting.

Interviews seeking information about participation in adult literacy and numeracy courses were conducted with 57 students and 18 teachers in four courses, one each in the Northern Territory and Queensland, and two in New South Wales. Included in the participant group were students from non-English speaking backgrounds, Indigenous students, youth and mature-aged (45 and over) students. The data were coded using two frameworks and cross-referenced. Data were coded for the presence of 12 indicators for social capital adapted from the ABS (2004) framework for measuring social capital. Indicators sought changes that students believed were attributable to course participation in four aspects of the networks in which they interacted: network qualities, network structure, transactions within networks and network types.

Data were also coded for evidence of course participation exerting socioeconomic impacts on the students themselves or on other members in the community. Impacts were assessed using the eight areas for socioeconomic concern as identified by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD 1982). These are: health; education and learning; employment and quality of working life; time and leisure; command over goods and services; physical environment; social environment; and personal safety.

To determine how course participation produced social capital outcomes, students and teachers were asked about their classroom and other course-related activities. Practices that led to social capital outcomes were identified and subsequently grouped into several broad categories.

The study found that almost 80% of the students interviewed had gained social capital outcomes as a result of participation. These outcomes were largely realised as a result of changes in network structures and/or changes in network transactions. Changes in network structures were attributable to the changed attachments students had in their networks, while changes in network transactions resulted from changes in the way students sought, received or gave support, and in the ways they negotiated and shared information and skills.

Interestingly, student characteristics, such as English speaking background, Indigeneity and age, seemed to influence the kinds of social capital outcomes experienced. For example, Indigenous students in this study derived social capital outcomes principally from changes in their transactions in networks. This was in contrast to students of non-English speaking backgrounds whose social capital outcomes came primarily from changes in network structures.

The study suggests that social capital outcomes are indeed a valuable result of participation in adult literacy and numeracy courses, contributing to the student's quality of life. The OECD categories of socioeconomic wellbeing indicated evidence of social capital outcomes impacting on areas such as the student's social environment; education and learning; employment and the quality of working life; their use of time and leisure; and their command over the goods and services available in society. In fact, in more than 50% of student examples in which at least one socioeconomic impact was evident, there were also identifiable social capital outcomes.

Some of the examples students gave of how the course had impacted on their lives made it clear that it was social capital outcomes and not improved literacy or numeracy skills that had made the difference. For example, one young man had experienced no improvement in literacy skills but, as a result of the course, he had established new networks, which had positively changed the way he interacted with adults. This, in turn, had led him to approach prospective employers and secure a job.

However, changes in student quality of life were more usually a result of a combination of different kinds of course outcomes. Socioeconomic impacts tended to result from a combination of both social and human capital outcomes, such as increased literacy and numeracy skills; interpersonal skills and intrapersonal skills; and attributes such as self-confidence.

Social capital outcomes in adult literacy and numeracy courses do not appear by accident. Key to the learning experience and contributing significantly to the social capital outcomes experienced by students were the three new networks to which students gained membership as a result of participation in the course. These were: the network of fellow students; the network the individual created with the teacher(s) and other staff; and the network that operated as a 'class', comprising teachers and the student group as a whole. The interaction that occurred in these networks produced the resources, that is, knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs that led to social capital outcomes and/or human capital outcomes, such as literacy and numeracy skills, and the more elusive intrapersonal skills and attributes, for example, confidence and esteem. In teaching/learning terms, social capital outcomes were generally a prerequisite or a co-requisite for human capital gains, such as improved literacy and numeracy skills.

Although the study was limited to a small sample of courses and students, the findings have potential significance for teaching, learning and the reporting of outcomes in adult literacy and numeracy courses. Social capital outcomes are frequent enough and important enough to be acknowledged.

Placing the student at the centre of practice is the dominant principle informing teaching/learning in adult literacy and numeracy courses. Placing students at the centre of networks also has the potential to influence the way in which social capital outcomes, and arguably other outcomes, including literacy and numeracy skills and intrapersonal skills and attributes such as self-confidence, are produced.

Current reporting frameworks, such as the National Reporting System, do not specifically take account of social capital outcomes. Reporting social capital outcomes would assist in aligning the teaching/learning strategy, the outcomes experienced, and the outcomes reported. Recognising the importance of social capital 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 at large.