Mallows, David;
dos Santos Costa, Graça;
(2024)
Todos pela Alfabetização (everyone for literacy): lessons for adult literacy policy from Bahia, Brazil.
International Journal of Lifelong Education
10.1080/02601370.2024.2408334.
(In press).
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Abstract
In this article we describe and reflect on a large-scale regional adult literacy initiative in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Bahia, Todos pela Alfabetização (Everyone for Literacy), known locally as TOPA, was active between 2007 and 2014. In Brazil 7% of the adult population (11 million people), are illiterate; in the state of Bahia the rate is 11% (over 1m people). A common approach to addressing such a challenge is to launch national or regional campaigns, often with heavy involvement of volunteers, to identify and ‘teach’ adults to read and write. In Brazil there have been a number of such initiatives. TOPA was underpinned by Freirean principles and committed to promoting adult education in Bahia, to ensure participants‘ social, political, economic and cultural inclusion. Despite substantial investment, TOPA had limited impact on Bahian literacy levels. Despite this, a new state-wide programme is in development, drawing on the approach and methodology of TOPA. Through a review of academic literature and policy documents we analyse the historical context and development of TOPA, reflecting on the challenges of delivering such a programme at the scale required. We conclude by identifying the lessons to be learnt from TOPA to inform future adult literacy initiatives.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Todos pela Alfabetização (everyone for literacy): lessons for adult literacy policy from Bahia, Brazil |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/02601370.2024.2408334 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2024.2408334 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
| Keywords: | Literacy, illiteracy, campaigns, adult education |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Culture, Communication and Media |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10197964 |
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