Literacies work with young people touches many areas of work, linking principally with adult literacies and youth work. Young adults were identified as a priority target group in the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Report 2001. This started the exploration into how best to engage young people with literacies, leading to a number of reports and materials being produced to support this emerging area of work.
Youth Literacies is a developing area of work and is attracting increasing interest from adult literacies and youth sector practitioners. Literacies work with young people also relates to many recent initiatives, including Curriculum for Excellence, More Choices More Chances and 16 + Learning Choices.
A number of reports on youth literacies are available on Adult Literacies Online including:
- Youth literacies Practice in Scotland: an initial exploration (2004) Learning Connections established a rolling focus group, working with David Wallace from the University of Strathclyde, to explore the emerging area of literacies work with young people.
- To the Max (YouthLink Scotland 2005) Learning Connections funded a national collaborative project with YouthLink Scotland called "To the Max". The aim of the project was to raise the profile and understanding of literacies for young people, particularly within the youth work sector. The report also includes a CD of resources that were developed as part of To the Max.
- Mapping Youth Literacies Practice With The 16 - 25 Age Group (2007) Learning Connection commissioned The Scottish Centre for Research in Education to research youth literacies in Scotland, in 2007. The aim of the research was to carry out a mapping exercise, capturing examples of effective youth literacies practice. The research also explored similarities to Scotland from the National Research and Development Council's (NRDC) research ' Success factors in informal learning: young adults' experiences of literacy, language and numeracy'. A copy of the research is available from the NRDC website.
- Big Plus for young people DVD
A DVD to promote youth literacies was produced to show examples of young people involved in five different types of youth literacies provision. This DVD contains footage of young people, talking about their own experience of involvement in literacies learning, within; a young offenders institution; a further education college; a training agency and two community based projects.
More information about the national media campaign is available from the Big Plus website. - Literacies Matters: young people speak out about literacies DVD In 2008 Learning Connections invited young people who were involved in literacies learning, to attend a conference called Write 2 Speak: young people speak out about literacies. The aim of the conference was to gather young people's views on literacies. The discussions were facilitated in 'World Café' style and young people shared some insights into their involvement with literacies learning. The afternoon provided workshops, demonstrating different styles of youth literacies practice and gave the young people the opportunity to test it out with interactive workshops.
A video diary experience gave young people an opportunity to share their views, the Literacies Matters DVD captures views and ideas, providing a resource for practitioners to use in awareness raising of literacies with young people. Copies of the DVD are available from Sheila Doogan.
Networking and communication in youth literacies
There are a number of opportunities to get involved in discussion and sharing practice on supporting literacies with young people, including:
Communities of Practice Adult Literacies (COPAL)
A youth literacies section, providing information and discussion on youth literacies, has been developed for the Communities of Practice Adult Literacies (CoPAL). This area provides a space for sharing practice, ideas and reflections.
CoPAL can be accessed by password, which can be generated by contacting Sheila Doogan.
Youth Literacies Network
Learning Connections recognises that there is significant benefit to be gained from sharing effective practice. In order to avoid organisations duplicating effort, and to support developments in this field, a Youth Literacies Network has been in operation for a number of years. The network brings together practitioners from youth service and adult literacies backgrounds, who have expressed an interest in youth literacies. The Youth Literacies Network meets twice a year to share practice and to find out about developments relevant to literacies support to young people.
Notes from the meetings are posted on the youth literacies section of CoPAL.
Further details are available from Sheila Doogan.