Reframing adult literacy and numeracy: a social capital perspective

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates the capacity of stand-alone adult literacy and numeracy courses to produce social capital outcomes and assesses the value of such outcomes. The study also identifies the pedagogical practices that seem to be the most relevant to social capital production and concludes with implications for both pedagogy and the framing of outcomes reporting. The study found that almost 80% of the students interviewed experienced social capital outcomes from participation in adult literacy and numeracy courses. These outcomes mainly came about from changes in network structures and from changes in network transactions. Student characteristics such as English speaking background, Indigeneity and age impact on the type of social capital outcomes experienced. Further, technical skill outcomes (human capital) often require social capital outcomes as a pre-requisite or co-requisite in order to be acquired and/or to be applied. Finally but importantly, social capital outcomes are found to have a role in the impact that participation in adult literacy and numeracy courses has on the socio-economic well-being of the participant and/or the community.