3. DISEÑO METODOLÓGICO
3.7. Resultados y Discusión
3.7.1. Análisis Evaluación Diagnóstica a Estudiante
Evaluation studies have revealed that FALP has been instrumental in com- bating illiteracy among adult women. To date, over 85,000 young girls and women have directly benefited and most have developed better reading, writing and critical thinking skills than graduates of mainstream adult litera- cy courses. Additionally, participating in FALP has improved female learners’ social status, autonomy, self-esteem and family cohesion. As a result, women are increasingly participating in decisions, family matters and community-building as the following testimonies reveal:
■ “I wouldn’t go to the parent meetings. I was very ashamed in front of the other parents as I couldn’t sign the attendance list. There was a parent meeting at my son’s school today. As the meeting finished, they asked us to write our names and sign. I was proud to have written it. I was very happy. My friends noticed that my hands were trembling from the excitement.”
■ “As I got on the bus, I would shyly ask the driver if the bus passed through where I wanted to go. I would never know at which stop I should get off. Now I can read the bus numbers. I can go wherever I want, without asking anyone.” ■ “I couldn’t go to the hospital alone before. As I couldn’t read, I couldn’t find the department of the hospital that I needed to visit. I was afraid to ask… Now I can find the hospital departments without asking anyone. First I check the entrance to see which floor I need and which way I should go, and then when I get to the right place, I read the door plates.”
■ “My greatest wish was to learn phone numbers. When somebody gave me their number I couldn’t write it and I felt miserable. Yester- day I got a phone call. They wanted
to talk with my husband. I said that he wasn’t at home and wrote their phone number down. I am so happy.” ■ “Before, I couldn’t go out alone. When I went somewhere, I had to take someone with me. Now I can go everywhere by myself. I gained self-confidence. My son joined the army. I came to this course so I could write to him. Yesterday I sent my first letter to him. He will be very sur- prised. I am very happy.”
FALP has also enabled women to actively participate in and contribute towards the development of their families and communities, as well as to lead more independent lives. In ad- dition, women are more enlightened about their reproductive health and civic rights, and more aware of the need to provide their daughters with access to education. Overall, FALP has improved women’s self-confidence, self-esteem and status within their communities.
CHALLENGES
One of the difficulties faced was the low number of available volunteers, especially in the small provinces of East and South-East Anatolia where girls receive little schooling and the number of high-school graduates to volunteer for the programme is therefore limited. Women are also prevented from volunteering for the programme due to cultural beliefs and practices which discourage wom- en from venturing outside the home. Due to a shortage of manpower, it is therefore difficult to satisfy the huge demand from learners.
In smaller provinces, the programme is experiencing difficulty in securing adequate learning spaces (buildings). The definition of literacy has proven problematic: in Turkey, literacy courses are designed exclusively to teach basic skills to illiterates. Even if (complete) illiteracy were eradicated, therefore, efforts to target semi-lit- erates or people with low levels of literacy will continue to represent a significant challenge.
There are also problems related to effective learning. The regulatory 120-hour course duration (stipulated by the MoNE) remains a limitation for
a number of reasons. The recom- mended time needed to develop effective literacy skills is 250-300 hours. Furthermore, participants often live in difficult conditions, with minimal opportunities for study or support at home, limited one-to-one tutoring opportunities and few post-literacy activities.
SUSTAINABILITY
AÇEV remains committed to provid- ing disadvantaged women and girls with educational opportunities. It is also committed to reaching larger numbers of illiterates and is working to employ television as a new and important teaching medium. AÇEV will also continue to work with the Ministry of Education to develop and improve national education policies with regard to literacy.
Furthermore, AÇEV is working on improving volunteer recruitment and retention strategies through awareness-raising and marketing campaigns. In order to reach more illiterates, television will be used as an additional teaching tool, as well as a number of other models that employ distance and face-to-face learning techniques. AÇEV also aims to intensify its post-literacy activities and increase the variety of volunteer work, one-to-one tutoring and reading groups.
LESSONS LEARNED
Mutually beneficial partnerships with academics, public and private groups are essential to improving adult litera- cy programmes as well as maximizing resource usage. AÇEV collaborates with public and private bodies to reach a larger number of beneficiar- ies. AÇEV’s primary partner is the Ministry of Education’s Non-formal and Apprenticeship Directorate, which provides certification, admin- istrative support and physical space. AÇEV also partners with local NGOs who provide volunteers to be trained by AÇEV, physical space for courses or mobilise beneficiaries and com- munities. International and national NGOs and private companies provide funding for the implementation of courses. By tapping into existing resources such as public facilities and
94
Learning Families – Intergenerational Approaches to Literacy Teaching and Learningvolunteer training initiatives, AÇEV has been able to reduce its opera- tional costs without compromising programme quality.
SOURCES
■ Ayhan Aksu-Koc 2007: Evaluation of a Family Literacy Programme (MO- CEP): The Turkish Example
■ S. Bekman. Family Literacy Pro- grammes: Examples from Turkey, Boğaziçi University,
■ S. Bekman. 1998 b: Fair Chance: An Evaluation of the Mother-Child Education Program. İstanbul: Moth- er-Child Education Publications ■ S. Bekman. 2003: From Research Project to Nationwide Programme: The Mother-Child Education Pro- gramme of Turkey, in T.S. Saraswathi (Ed.), Cross-cultural Perspectives in Human Development ( pp. 287-325). India: Sage Publications,
■ Hülya Kartal: The Effect of Moth- er-Child Education Program which is One of the Early Childhood Education Programs on Cognitive Development of Six Age Children
■ Aylin Kocak, Sevda Bekman: Mothers Speaking: A Study on the Experience of Mothers with Moth- er-Child Education Programme. Paper presented at the European Conference on the Quality of Early Childhood Education (9th, Helsinki, Finland, September 1-4, 1999). ■ Ç. Kağıtçıbaşı, D. Sunar, S. Bek- man, Z. Cemalcılar. 2005: Continuing effects of early intervention in adult life: Preliminary findings of Turkish early enrichment project second fol- low up study. Istanbul: Mother Child Education Foundation Publications. ■ Mehmet Kaytaz. 2004: A Cost Benefit Analysis of Preschool Educa- tion in Turkey, [2]
CONTACT
Deniz Senocak AÇEV
Büyükdere cad. Stad Han. No: 85/2 Mecidiyeköy
34387 Istanbul Turkey