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Paulo Freire and radical adult literacy
During the anti-apartheid era, and especially during the 1980s, a range of agencies allied to the African National Congress (ANC), the black consciousness movement and many churches were involved in adult education and literacy work. The most influential theorist across these agencies was Paulo Freire, whose radical adult literacy approach emerged from his work in Brazil in the 1960s but inspired adult education in sites of struggle all over the world. ‗Of all thinkers in the field of adult education in general and literacy education in particular, Freire‘s ideas have had the most potent and rallying appeal‘ (Lyster, 1992:37-38). Historically, literacy has been a potent tool in maintaining the hegemony of élites and dominant classes in certain societies, but in Freire‘s framework, expansion of literary skills was viewed as a means for poor and politically powerless groups to claim their place in the world (Scribner, 1984:11-12). Briefly, the Freirian listening-dialogue-action approach is based on a key problematic situation, which is then developed into a curriculum; this in turn triggers group dialogue on strategies to address the problem (Wallerstein, 1992:752) The approach offered an appealing alternative to what Freire termed the banking system of education, which resulted in passivity and dependence (Freire, 1972). Freire‘s concepts of conscientization, dialogue, reflection, action and a communal focus on a germane theme or ‗code‘ resonated in the apartheid context of struggle and poor resources. Conscientization is achieved through dialogue, a dialectical process between learner-teacher and teacher-learner. Dialogue, reflection and action ideally harmonize into higher-order practices or action, which Freire termed ‗praxis‘. The syllabic literacy method, which involves breaking down a key word or code into syllables and then using those to build new words, was initially advocated in Portuguese. It also worked extremely well in local, syllabic African languages. Freire‘s approach made political sense, encouraged collective action, and could work with limited resources. Yet much of the provision was marginal and not of the quality deserved by adult learners. Essential needs, such as for paper, pens, chairs, tables, reading matter, even light, and especially for safe transport, were not met. Many adult learners expressed a longing for a proper place to learn, real books, the chance to attend a university, and especially for the best possible learning opportunities for their children (van Heerden, 1990:23-49). Even now, the work of Freire retains a moral appeal, but has been subject to criticism as an approach to practice. The method is extremely demanding on facilitators, who themselves need an advanced level of critical consciousness, rendering the approach difficult to implement on a large scale (Lyster, 1992:39). The method/approach is especially demanding on people who have themselves only been exposed to a very authoritarian education, such as in apartheid South Africa. Freire has also failed to explain how conscientization translates into action, or how understanding oppression leads to transformation (ibid:39). Perhaps the essential limitation of Freire is the primary conscientizing agenda itself and its place in the new South Africa – a topic for another thesis. Nevertheless, even if Freire‘s work does not provide a complete approach for AET, it continues to enlighten practice. The concept of praxis is an accessible tool for encouraging connections between theory and practice, and for nurturing a regard for theory, in the training of educators. Secondly, the concept of dialogue, which was an aspect of the work of Plato, was entrenched in AET by Freire.
Dialogic processes
Notions of dialogue or dialogic processes have become central to adult education practice. Followers of Freire continue to advocate a process of engagement, much like dialogue, not only between people but with established subject matter as well:
Rather than to view knowledge as static and objective, or as something that exists out there, it must be conceived of as an active process of engagement and involvement between the learner and that which is being learned. …It must be related to the categories of understanding which learners bring to the learning environment (Goduka, 1999:45).
Gravett (2001:36) describes an optimal process of ‗dialogic teaching‘ for local adult educators which ‗is neither content-, learner-, nor teacher-centred, but learningcentred, with the teacher serving the agreed-upon role of guide, facilitator and mediator.‘ The educator retains an authoritative voice: ‗However the tone of teacher utterances can either elicit dialogue or silence learners,‘ (ibid:37). Dialogue and the analysis of the multiple dialogic identities that people bring into multi-cultural situations are advocated in multicultural study (Rogers & Tan, 2008:15-16). Another contribution, dialogic space, also contextualizes the concept in local AET. Rule (2004) characterizes emancipatory adult education projects as dialogic spaces – social and educational sites that enable dialogue – because they feature dialogue at a number of related levels: between different people, institutions and disciplines; between the programme and broader society; and between the past and the future (Rule, 2004:325). Dialogic space is distinct from the more Utopian notion of a dialogic site, following the work of Habermas (Rule, 2004:326):
I prefer to see it as a process that involves conflict, tension and growth; an unfolding of selves within particular contexts. This unfolding or ‗breaking through‘ is enabled by learning spaces that provide a safe environment, encourage openness and trust, and facilitate critical engagement within and among participants, and between participants and their worlds (Rule, 2004:326). Learning new content does not displace dialogic space: ‗The projects, as sites of dialogue, reflect the interests and accents of their different participants, and these are recast in the specific discursive practices of the projects, generating new meanings that reflect the contestation and co-creation of project participants‘ (ibid:325). Conversely, the notion that dialogue represents the purest learning ethos is also problematic. It makes two assumptions: that all necessary content knowledge is present in the learning group, which is simply not true, especially in formal disciplines; and that a balance of dialogic efficacy exists across a group of individuals, automatically generating productive outcomes for all. Nevertheless, the concept has wide possible applications. Within the mining industry, ‗technology transfer‘ is viewed as an unresolved challenge, i.e. that training and innovations are not carried into the workplace (Willis & Hamilton-Attwell, 1998 and 2002; Macfarlane, 2001; van der Heever, 2002). Many research reports are available on the website of the Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee (SIMRAC) on the transfer of specific technologies and innovations. The concept of dialogic space could be valuable in invoking a collective sense of ownership of the technology or idea at stake. Such engagement is critical as no programme plan can anticipate what every adult brings or elects to bring to training, or what barriers he/she anticipates facing in the workplace after training. Dialogic space provides an opportunity for individual workers to engage with content and all other issues related to the programme or H&S generally. Gravett (2001:13) argues that the accumulated experiences of adult learners provides a frame of references that be both a resource and yet also obstruct learning:
Consequently, learners‘ existing knowledge and experience play a crucial role in learning‘ (ibid). She outlines a dialogic approach for the actual adult learning classroom which suggests exploring learners‘ existing knowledge, linking new learning to such knowledge, acknowledging existing knowledge that may impede learning and addressing the need for immediacy of application of learning (ibid:14- 16). The challenge lies not in embracing the idea, but in maintaining the conditions required. The process demands time and trust. I have been present when adult learners turned to a zealous new ‗facilitator‘ who was insisting on ‗their input‘ and asked, ‗If you have nothing to tell us, why are you here?‘ Rule suggests the following conditions: These conditions included: a basis of trust (there can be no dialogue without trust); an attitude of openness towards learning from one another; a physical place where participants could meet in relative safety; a project ethos that encouraged participants to express themselves; and a commitment to solving problems through meeting, discussion, reflection and consensus rather than
coercion (Rule, 2004:330).
CHAPTER: 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
1.1 Introduction
The research problem
1.2 The research
Aim and purpose
Research questions
Parameters
1.3 Framing the study
Elements of the topic
Conceptual framework
Ethical framework
1.4 Research process
Integrative literature review
Appropriateness of a literature study
Selecting the literature
Engagement and analysis
Research outcome
1.5 Significance of the study
Relevance of the topic
1.6 Limitations
Maintaining the focus
CHAPTER 2: MINE HEALTH AND SAFETY CONTEXT
2.1 Introduction
Scope and purpose of the chapter
2.2 South African mining industry
Significance of the sector
Employment in the sector
2.3 Working conditions and culture
Migrancy
Hierarchies and control
Production bonuses
Masculinity or machismo
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE)
Contracts
Multinationals
2.4 Health and safety context
National context
Industrial context
Effect of the contexts
2.5 Overview of mine health and safety
Introduction
South African mining conditions
Health and safety divide
2.6 Mine safety
Safety hazards
Causes of mine accidents
Mine safety rates
Comparative safety rates
2.7 Occupational health
Occupational health burden
Health hazards and risks
Tuberculosis (TB)
Silicosis and dust
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL)
2.8 Small mine sector
2.9 Policy and legislation
Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA)
Compliance and monitoring
Other policy developments
Health and safety representatives
Compensation
2.10 Conclusions
CHAPTER 3: UNDERSTANDING SELF-EFFICACY
3.1 Introduction
Scope of the chapter
Introducing the concept
3.2 Development of the concept
Origins of self-efficacy
Social modelling and vicarious learning
Symbolic and para-social learning
Reciprocal determinism
The Agentic view
Self-regulation
3.3 Consolidating self-efficacy
Perception of efficacy
Context and task specificity
Sources of self-efficacy
3.4 Collective efficacy
Triadic model
Dynamics of group efficacy
Group efficacy and change
3.5 Criticisms of self-efficacy
Causality
Incompleteness
Ethnocentricity
Triviality
3.6 Final comment
Endorsement
Conclusion
CHAPTER 4: ADULT EDUCATION AND TRAINING (AET) IN SOUTH AFRICA
4.1 Introduction
Overview
Multidisciplinary study
Organization of literature
4.2 Adult literacy in South Africa
Adult literacy approaches
Literacy and salvation
Literacy and repression
Functional approach
Paulo Freire and radical adult literacy
Dialogic processes
4.3 National adult education and training (AET) policy
Prior to 1994
Adult education, policy and democracy
Conceptual confusion
Outcomes-based education and training (OBET)
The state and the rights of adult learners
4.4 Ideological approaches to adult education
Malcolm Knowles and andragogy
Participatory, empowerment and transformational learning
Moral tendency
4.5 Conclusions
CHAPTER 5: EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN THE MINING SECTOR
5.1 Introduction
Scope and purpose
5.2 Current legislation and policy
MHSA
Logic of H&S training
Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA)
Competing policies and priorities
5.3 Public evidence of training
Challenges
Compliance with the MHSA
Task- and operator-focused training
Induction and in-service training
Dedicated H&S training
5.4 Education and H&S
Under-education
Formal education of mineworkers
The ABET response
Impact of ABET
5.5 Language issues
Communication
Fanakalo
Language policy
5.6 H&S culture
Introduction
South African mining
Modifying H&S culture
Self- and team efficacy
5.7 Other approaches
Hazard identification and risk assessment (HIRA)
Computer-aided learning
Other issues
5.8 Conclusions
CHAPTER 6: HEALTH PROMOTION, EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION
6.1 Overview
Introduction
Occupational health delineated
Mining and worker health
Self-efficacy and health interventions
6.2 Lung health
Research
Mineworker perspectives
6.3 HIV/AIDS
Predominance of studies
Mining and HIV
HIV and training
6.4 Possible approaches
Social capital
Peer learning
Support for peer educators or representatives
Competing beliefs and interpretations
Risk perception
The ABC approach
6.5 Reviews
Sectoral, local and international reviews
Integrating models and approaches
6.6 Conclusion
CHAPTER 7: FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Findings that inform conceptual approaches to training
Key formulations
Support for the self-efficacy concept
Mastery and new learning
Risk perception and management
Existing and associated logics
Team ethos or social persuasion
Maintaining new learning and practice
Dialogic aspect
Summing up
7.3 Formal requirements of the study
Recalibrating self-efficacy
Explanation of the framework
The role of frameworks and models
The research questions
7.4 Findings that have wider training relevance
Introduction
Policy effects of the NQF
Logic and rationale of H&S training
Health and safety representatives
Policy priorities
Policy to practice continuum
Pejorative tendencies
7.5 Perspectives on the findings
Validity
Significance
7.6 Concluding comment
Summarizing the findings
Critical perspectives
Health and safety as a core focus
H&S training: A business opportunity
Professional research, development and accountability
Training opportunities for workers who lack formal education
Critical conclusions and propositions
REFERENCES
