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Abstract
Slade and Dickson explore the delivery of English for Speakers of Other Languages’ (ESOL) classes to a cohort of migrants living in an area of Glasgow which is densely populated and multi-cultural. In stark contrast to other areas of the UK, the Scottish Government actively encourages migration; migrants are valued and considered important to help mitigate against Scotland’s declining population and an aging demographic. The case study revealed that the migrant adult learner is at the core of delivery, and the staff value, respect and encourage the learners regardless of cultural background or academic ability. The community-based adult educators made no claims as to the learner-centredness of their approach to adult education, but these principles underpinned practice at all levels of delivery.
The book addresses the lack of research on how LCE is used in adult education as a tool for social change across different national contexts. This comparative approach is crucial for exploring the complex global, regional, national and local dynamics that account for varying implementations (or non-implementations) of LCE in different settings, for appreciating the thin or wide differences in practices of implementation, and for assessing the successes, failures and needs for improvement of diverse LCE programmes. The book’s primary focus on migration as a social process, and migrants as active citizens is useful in unravelling the convergences and divergences of different national and urban settings where migrant adult learners live as citizens, or as non-citizens, and how this intersects with their experiences as learners.
This research is contextualised in a larger political context. What emerges from the parting reflection is a European scenario marked by ambivalent and contradictory relations with migrants, and an educational intervention that is located somewhere between the assimilationist-integrationist dialectic. The four cases presented (Estonia, Malta, Scotland and Cyprus) generally respond to the learners’ needs on the ground while rarely problematising the ideological stance of the state in relation to the educational plight of migrants. The final chapter introduces and elaborates on a new concept, Emancipatory LCE, to help generate a deeper analysis.
The book addresses the lack of research on how LCE is used in adult education as a tool for social change across different national contexts. This comparative approach is crucial for exploring the complex global, regional, national and local dynamics that account for varying implementations (or non-implementations) of LCE in different settings, for appreciating the thin or wide differences in practices of implementation, and for assessing the successes, failures and needs for improvement of diverse LCE programmes. The book’s primary focus on migration as a social process, and migrants as active citizens is useful in unravelling the convergences and divergences of different national and urban settings where migrant adult learners live as citizens, or as non-citizens, and how this intersects with their experiences as learners.
This research is contextualised in a larger political context. What emerges from the parting reflection is a European scenario marked by ambivalent and contradictory relations with migrants, and an educational intervention that is located somewhere between the assimilationist-integrationist dialectic. The four cases presented (Estonia, Malta, Scotland and Cyprus) generally respond to the learners’ needs on the ground while rarely problematising the ideological stance of the state in relation to the educational plight of migrants. The final chapter introduces and elaborates on a new concept, Emancipatory LCE, to help generate a deeper analysis.
Abstract
The first chapter of the book sets the background for the comparative exploration of learner-centred education (LCE) in language learning programmes for adult migrants in four European countries (Cyprus, Scotland, Malta, Estonia). It presents the rationale of the research project, upon which the book is built, its objectives, the research methodology and the comparative approach adopted. The design of the four case studies, the research questions as well as a brief introduction to the concept of learner-centred education, as a policy and practice, and its constituting elements, are discussed. The chapter concludes with a synopsis of the content of the book.
Contributors are: Sharifah Salmah Binti Abdullah, Thi Bogossian, Lauren Bouttell, Lidiane Nunes de Castro, Anyela Nathalie Gomez Deantonio, Preeti Dagar, Raquel Galeano Giminez, Ksenija Joksimović, Kainat Khurshid, Robert Livingston, Peter Mayo, Sonia Medel, Yunah Park, Zainab Sa’id Sa’ad, Bonnie Slade, Gameli Kodzo Tordzro, Agnieszka Uflewska and Aisara Yessenova.
Contributors are: Sharifah Salmah Binti Abdullah, Thi Bogossian, Lauren Bouttell, Lidiane Nunes de Castro, Anyela Nathalie Gomez Deantonio, Preeti Dagar, Raquel Galeano Giminez, Ksenija Joksimović, Kainat Khurshid, Robert Livingston, Peter Mayo, Sonia Medel, Yunah Park, Zainab Sa’id Sa’ad, Bonnie Slade, Gameli Kodzo Tordzro, Agnieszka Uflewska and Aisara Yessenova.