Views And Attitudes Of Adult Literacy Learners, Adult Educators And Policy Makers Regarding The Adult Literacy Programme In The Caprivi Region Of Namibia

Abstract

This study investigated views and attitudes of adult literacy learners, adult educators and policy

makers regarding the adult literacy programme in the Caprivi Region of Namibia. It aimed at

addressing four major questions that were regarded as pertinent in understanding the significance of

the National Literacy Programme in Namibia (NLPN) in the lives of the participants. These

questions looked at the views of adult literacy learners and adult educators regarding the following:

curriculum content, the skills and knowledge needed to function effectively and efficiently, the

barriers to literacy learning, educators’ training needs, conditions of service, and the policy makers’

views on the effectiveness of the policy guidelines of the NLPN.

A stratified sample of 100 adult literacy learners from four districts in the Caprivi Region, plus a

purposeful stratified sample of 30 adult educators and 5 policy makers (on a national level) were

selected. Three research instruments in the form of an adult literacy learners’ interview schedule, an

educators’ questionnaire and a policy makers’ questionnaire were used after a pilot study was carried

out.

The findings exposed the following, first that the perceptions regarding NLPN in the Caprivi Region

were related to the benefits derived from the programme. Second, the majority of the adult educators

lacked training in both theory and practice. Their inadequate training contributed to lack of technical

skills to handle certain topics and adapt local materials when teaching literacy. Third, poor

conditions of service, the lack of classrooms and proper learning materials all contributed to the

learners’ and educators’ negative perceptions regarding NLPN in the region.

The study also compared two models of literacy and presented the inadequacies of the traditional

(autonomous) model in Namibia and other developing countries on how benefits derived from

literacy can be conceptualised. It advocated a paradigm shift from the need to learn, to the value of

learning and the use of acquired skills as a measure of progress in the NLPN. The study offered an

alternative to suggest a new integrated approach to literacy learning and identified the deficiency of

a conventional approach that sees literacy as a pre-requisite for national development. Thus, an

Integrated Model of Literacy was proposed to help the programme evaluators to conceptualise the

significance of literacy education in the lives of the participants, to give direction on how the

programme could be revamped, and make it responsive to the needs of the participants.