12/13/2012
Update on Functional Context Education in Adult Education Programs
Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education
The Functional Context Education (FCE) principle which calls for integrating basic skills instruction into occupational or academic content area courses where such content may offer difficulties for students has recently found new interests.
One indicator of the resurgence of interest in Functional Context Education comes from Canada at the Centre for Literacy Summer Institute 2012. At that Institute a report was presented entitled Towards an Integrated Model to Support Skills /Competencies Development of adults in Canada. The report states: quote:“For the longest time, most literacy programs have focused solely on improving certain basic skills (reading, writing, numeracy, computer use). ...Very few adult education services attempt to develop more than one type of skill–in an integrated manner–under a single initiative.”end quote
The report then goes on to present a discussion entitled: Thomas Sticht. His view on integrated training. The report states: quote:“This integration of literacy and mathematics training serves several purposes. First, by teaching basic skills within the context of technical course content, students can understand the functional utility of reading and mathematic concepts. Hence, they are motivated to increase both their technical skills and their literacy and math skills. Just as technical topics are connected with something students already know about. Second, the presentation of technical and basic skills instruction together eliminates the need for remedial courses students might need to take before receiving technical instruction. Combining the two types of training shortens total training time. This is of special importance for out of school youth and adults because it permits them to move out into the labor market sooner, and it gives learners less time to get frustrated and drop out of training. » (Sticht, T., Functional Context Education; Making learning relevant)”end quote Interestingly, the cited report was the manual used in a workshop presented at the Centre for Literacy in 1997, fifteen years before the 2012 Summer Institute at that same Centre in Montreal.
A second indicator of the renewed interest in FCE occurs in a December 2012 report entitled Core Principles for Transforming Remedial Education: A Joint Statement. In this report the Charles A. Dana Center, Complete College America, Inc.,Education Commission of the States, and Jobs for the Future call for major changes to college developmental (remedial) programs.
Commenting on the need to change developmental (remedial) programs, the report states: quote:“With its one-size-fits-all curriculum, remedial education does not provide solid academic preparation for the programs of study most students pursue. As a result, remedial education too often serves as a filter — which sorts students out of college — rather than as a funnel — guiding them into a program of study.7 Although the approach is new, there is growing evidence that contextualizing instruction and focusing on the skills students need to succeed in their program of study is much better than the one size fits all approach currently used in remedial education.”end quote The report goes on to state one of several principles for change:quote: ‘Additional academic support should be integrated with gateway college-level course content — as a co-requisite, not a pre-requisite.”end quote
A final recent report that draws upon the FCE principle of integrating basic skills and academic or occupational skills training comes from the U. S. Education Department, Office of Adult and Vocational Education. Entitled Policy to Performanc: State ABE Transition Systems Report: Transitioning Adults to Opportunity, this November 2012 report calls for the use of accelerated programs of ABE in which contextualized, integrated ABE and academic or occupational certificate or diploma programs are used in instructional design, development, implementation, and evaluation of adult education programs.
For additional information on recent applications of FCE principles to the design and development of contextualized and integrated ABE and academic or occupational programs go online to the Long Island Regional Adult Education Network (LI-RAEN)web page at www.li-raen.org and access the files for Dr. Tom Sticht's Functional Context Education workshop (January 24, 2012)Parts 1, 2, 3, &4.