Literacy and numeracy: Global and comparative perspectives
- PDF / 536,604 Bytes
- 11 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 11 Downloads / 230 Views
Literacy and numeracy: Global and comparative perspectives Anke Grotlüschen1 · Richard Desjardins2 · Huacong Liu1 Published online: 12 August 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
The overall aim of this special issue is to contribute to the international discourse around literacy, numeracy, adult education and basic education. It engages with numeracy and mathematical literacy, New Literacy Studies, adult education, and lifelong learning in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), both from theoretical perspectives and from an empirical viewpoint. Education affects people’s lives in ways that go far beyond what can be mea sured by labour market earnings and economic growth. Education contributes to a wide range of social outcomes such as better health, higher levels of civic and social engagement, as well as addressing other socially relevant domains of concern, such as crime, anti-social behaviour and poverty (Schuller and Desjardins 2007).1 In the midst of the ongoing global pandemic, individuals who suffer the most, economically, psychologically and socially, are those who are the most disadvantaged in accessing quality education. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the need to take a more holistic approach towards education and learning than merely emphasising skills for employability. The broader approach towards education and learning and the concept of sustainability are already embedded in the history of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). They are reflected in the instrumental role UNESCO has played since the end of the Second World War in expanding the right to education to include adults. The call within the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education 1
Schuller, T., & Desjardins, R. (2007). Understanding the social outcomes of learning. Paris: OECD.
* Anke Grotlüschen anke.grotlueschen@uni‑hamburg.de Richard Desjardins [email protected] Huacong Liu huacong.liu@uni‑hamburg.de 1
Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
2
Department of Education, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
128
A. Grotlüschen et al.
and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (UN 2015)2 has awakened hope among many for a stronger role for adult education in global education agendas and policies (Elfert 2019).3 Among the targets within SDG 4,4 the one which is of particular relevance to this special issue is SDG target 4.6: By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy (UN 2015, SDG target 4.6). Despite the collective efforts among various stakeholders to achieve progress in working towards the targets of SDG 4, several problematic issues remain, even as we are already five years into implementing the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The current pandemic arrived on top of these. The challenges involved in developing indicators to monitor progr
Data Loading...
