Programme

Future educators, educational designers and dedicated teacher for adult learners-of age, different skills and usually discontinuous training experiences – need tools of assessment of competences validated and aimed at supporting the implementation of flexible educational strategies for continuously directing learning activities according to learners’ needs.

The adult literacy workshop is intended to enable students to deepen existing examples, tools analysis-methodologies-the elements necessary to the understanding of educational-pedagogical work characteristics to play with adult learners. The course also aims, through individual and small groups work, to develop students’ skills related to the design, formulation and revision of open-ended questions and formulated answers literacy assessment in adulthood.
In particular, the course aims to develop students ' knowledge and skills associated with the following contents:
-most relevant international comparative surveys on adult skills assessment;
-theoretical and methodological foundations of international comparative surveys on adult learning with specific reference to the literacy and to the definitions provided in the framework of investigations;
-the preparation and administration of the questions (types of stimulus and response, administering paper and pencil and computer based, review mode, encoding open-ends);
-the results of the major international comparative surveys on adult skills assessment, with particular reference to the OECD survey PIAAC;
-diachronic perspectives in the analysis of the data available on a worldwide scale in relation to the skills of the adult population (OECD, UNESCO, World Bank data collections and surveys). In particular, it will propose a comparison between surveys IALS, ALL and PIAAC;
-the relationship between functional literacy and ICT at the national level: critical analysis of the impact of technology on literacy and how informal and non-formal learning in adulthood.

The seminar "Sources for Adult Education" will take place in the second semester and will consist of reading and commenting on the text "The Sources of a Science of Education", a work in which the pedagogist and philosopher John Dewey fights those who discredit pedagogical study because they argue that success in teaching and moral guidance of students are only the result of intuition and improvisation. For this reason, he suggests adopting methods that allow an analysis to be made of what the competent teacher does intuitively, so that his best practices can become an integral part of a shared knowledge.

Core Documentation

Mandatory readings:
Vertecchi, B. Percorsi di ricerca educativa. Gli editoriali di Cadmo, Milano, Angeli, 2014, pp. 41-59.
Isfol, Bastianelli M., Mineo S., (2016). Il Secondo Round dell’indagine OCSE-PIAAC: le competenze per vivere e lavorare oggi, Roma, Isfol Research Paper, 34.

Please note that the mandatory readings must be studied entirely unless otherwise indicated. The slides discussed in class and related to the main topics of the course will be available on the e-learning platform.

Further readings:
OECD (2016), The Survey of Adult Skills: Reader’s Companion, Second Edition, OECD Skills Studies,OECD Publishing, Paris.
Di Francesco G., Amendola M., Mineo S., I low skilled in Italia. Evidenze dall’indagine PIAAC sulle competenze degli adulti, in “Osservatorio Isfol”, VI (2016), n. 1-2, pp. 53-67.

Please note that the further readings are not mandatory. However, it is advisable for both attending students and non-attending students to undertake the study of these didactic materials.

Considering the different topics covered in the lessons, the lecturer will provide, as a stimulus and aid to study, handouts, articles, essays and research reports on the course website.

Reference Bibliography

OECD (2016), The Survey of Adult Skills: Reader’s Companion, Second Edition, OECD Skills Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris. ISFOL, PIAAC OCSE (2014). Rapporto nazionale sulle competenze degli adulti, Temi e ricerche n.5. UNESCO (2016), 3rd Global Report on Adult Learning and Education, Hamburg, Germany. ANPAL (2016), XVIII Rapporto sulla Formazione Continua. Annualità 2016-2017.

Type of delivery of the course

During the lessons, students will be involved in activities that will allow them to turn into practice what they have learnt and to receive immediate feedback from the professor.

Attendance

The course consists of a cycle of lessons (18 hours) that will take place in the first semester. There will be methods of carrying out study and laboratory activities at a distance for students who are not able to participate in the meetings. Lessons attendance is not mandatory.

Type of evaluation

The final exam will be an oral test.