“How people read and write and they don't even notice”: everyday lives and literacies on a Midlands council estate

an article by Susan Jones (University of Nottingham) published in Literacy Volume 48 Issue 2 (July 2014)

Abstract

This article presents data from a British Academy-funded study of the everyday literacy practices of three families living on a predominantly white working-class council housing estate on the edge of a Midlands city. The study explored, as one participant succinctly put it, “how people read and write and they don't even notice”. This alludes to the ways in which everyday practices may not be recognised as part of a dominant model of literacy.

The study considered too the ways in which these literacy practices are part of a wider policy context that also fails to notice the impact of austerity politics on everyday lives. An emphasis on quantitative measures of disadvantage and public discourse which vilifies those facing economic challenge can overshadow the resilience and resourcefulness of individuals and families in making meaning from their experiences.

Drawing together consideration of everyday lives and the everyday literacies which are part of them, this article explores the impact of the current policy context on access to both economic and cultural resources, showing how literacy, as part of this context, should be recognised as a powerful means not only of constricting lives but also of constructing them.

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The literacy practices for assessment in the vocational curriculum – the case of Hospitality

an article by Richard Edwards and Sarah Minty (University of Stirling, UK) and Kate Miller (University of West of Scotland, Ayr, UK) published in Journal of Vocational Education & Training Volume 65 Issue 2 (June 2013)

Abstract

This article explores two case studies of the literacy practices of assessment in the vocational curriculum. Previous studies have identified learning in the vocational curriculum as being assessment-driven and that subjects often associated with limited levels of literacy actually require multiple literacy practices from students.

Drawing upon studies of the literacy practices of assessment in the teaching of Hospitality, the study explores the academic and occupational forms of reading and writing required of students.

These literacy practices are often invisible to both students and staff and yet are central to the success of students in relation to attainment.

The article suggests that vocational subjects may actually be more demanding in the range of literacies required for assessment than is often considered to be the case.

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