This is just a little observational post about some of the contextual influences on learners who enter the classroom in which I teach.
Most of the people who are referred to the service I offer, are referred by the national government body which ‘manages’ unemployed people. This body can and does REQUIRE people to have their literacy levels assessed.
Fortunately, it can’t make them actually ATTEND CLASSES – I say ‘fortunately’ because having truly unwilling participants in the class would be a nightmare.
Indeed, it cannot MAKE them actually turn up for the assessment interview, either, but it can MAKE an assessment appointment for them, and expect them to attend it.
As you might expect, the majority of booked assessments never show up.
I’d say that about 1 in 3 assessments are actually carried through, by the person showing up and being willing to participate in the assessment (by a very friendly person – not me).
Out of those who are assessed, about 1 in 2, or 1 in 3 will actually show up for classes.
For the most part, therefore, those who actually end up attending classes, are the ones who wanted to do something about their literacy, anyway………
but there is a big difference between entertaining the idea that you think you want to do something about your literacy – and actually being mentally ready and willing to make an effort to learn – and that applies to all of us and to learning anything.
Learning is change, and change is potentially threatening.
Turning up with any vague regularity (i.e. meeting the attendance requirements, that the government sets in order for the government to be willing to keep funding each participant’s training) is one way for an unemployed person to avoid having to get a job; indeed, it is a way to avoid having to even look for a job.
I am lucky, in that most people who are ‘working the system’ have such an attitude that they rarely make it as far as my classroom – and if they do, they don’t usually stay.
Over the past year, in retrospect, I have had 2 people who shouldn’t have been in the class. Both of them were only 17 years old. Both had highly developed strategies for avoiding doing anything constructive. As a class group, we tolerated both for far longer than we should have.
It is my nature to:-
1) give people the benefit of the doubt and
2) always question myself, rather than allocate ‘blame’ (i.e. responsibility) elsewhere.
I can be a real slow learner in this regard. I would always rather err on the side of seeing the best in people. Unfortunately, by the time my view, in such situations, is crystal clear, a lot of damage can get done.
That’s it for my observations, for today.
I had really hoped to put up a Christmas tree for myself, today – but was unable to buy one, so now I will try to aim to do this on Saturday.
1 Comment
5 December 2008 at 3:40 am
Just FYI – your stats look very familiar. The learners I meet aren’t mandated to attend classes, and only very rarely receive extra compensation. However, many potential learners have somebody else pushing them forward (a parent, a partner, a government service source). That means the number who actually start class is much smaller than the number who – to satisfy someone else – make that first contact.