International Literacy Day 2020: The Present Need For Technological Literacy

International Literacy Day 2020 focuses on “Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond,” especially on the role of educators and changing pedagogies.

The theme highlights literacy learning in a lifelong learning perspective, and therefore, mainly focuses on youth and adults.

The recent Covid-19 crisis has been a stark reminder of the existing gap between policy discourse and reality: a gap that already existed in the pre-COVID-19 era and negatively affects the learning of youth and adults, who have no or low literacy skills, and therefore, tend to face multiple disadvantages.

During COVID-19, in many countries, adult literacy programmes were absent in the initial education response plans, so most adult literacy programmes that did exist were suspended, with just a few courses continuing virtually, through TV and radio, or in open air spaces.  What is the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on youth and adult literacy educators and teaching and learning?

International Literacy Day 2020 provides an opportunity to reflect on and discuss how innovative and effective pedagogies and teaching methodologies can be used in youth and adult literacy programmes to face the pandemic and beyond. The Day will also give an opportunity to analyse the role of educators, as well as formulate effective policies, systems, governance and measures that can support educators and learning.

In a world where around 773 million young people and adults are still lacking basic literacy skills (UIS), the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences of its lockdown are only magnifying the already existing literacy challenges.

In line with this year’s theme of the upcoming International Literacy Day and UNESCO International Literacy Prizes, ‘Literacy teaching and learning during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond’, we are looking into how former Prizes laureates have been coping with the unforeseen crisis.

The We Love Reading (WLR) programme from Jordan received the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize in 2017, and since then, it has gone on reaching children in 55 countries around the world.

WLR is a grassroots community Programme which prides itself to fostering the love of reading among children and youth; empowering youth and adults to become change makers through reading aloud in their communities; and creating resilience among children, youth and adults through reading.

And rightfully so, the WLR programme has proven to reduce stress and anxiety in the past and boosting mental health and resilience among vulnerable populations such as refugees or people with low socioeconomic status.

The programme aims to tackle the fact that the majority of children around the world don’t read for fun. It builds on the logic that without reading for pleasure, children won’t reap the real benefits of reading, such as widening their imagination, increasing their vocabulary, heightening their empathy, confidence and resilience.

Since the beginning of COVID-19, the programme launched a specific ‘We Love Reading plan for Corona’.

“The plan for Corona is about local volunteers reading aloud to children in their neighbourhoods or at home in the context of COVID-19. Reading aloud is a way to motivate them to love reading and in this way become lifelong learners,” explains Ms Rana Dajani, the Founder of We Love Reading.

“All these benefits become especially important when education is compromised. Reading for pleasure becomes a placeholder until learning goes back to normal. Maybe it is the only way of learning during this crisis,” says Ms Dajani.

Other initiatives of the programme during the COVID-19 crisis have included posting free audio and textbooks online in English and Arabic; recordings of WLR ambassadors reading stories aloud, and WLR ambassadors posting inspiring social media messages from around the world to testify how they are coping and dealing with the crisis.

The ‘Collectif Alpha Ujuvi’ (CAU) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was awarded the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy in 2011 for its programme ‘Literacy for the peaceful coexistence of communities and good governance’.

The programme’s objective was to train trainers in literacy techniques, inform communities about illiteracy, elaborate coordination among literacy centers, and supervise and evaluate their work.

The province in North Kivu has suffered long-term political instability and massive displacement of   populations. This led to permanent insecurity and a lack of peace for the population. Under the direction of Ms Sister Deodata Bunzigiye, the programme used literacy to prevent and resolve tensions and conflicts among individuals and communities in the region. Peace huts combined with literacy learning brought more security to the politically unstable communities.

Since receiving the Prize in 2011, the CAU invested the Prize money in a large field which they named “AZINA – Confucius” or “Confucius’ treasure”. It provided and still provides room for the schooling of several poor and vulnerable children in the region, who have either dropped out of school before or never attended any learning.

However, the COVID-19 crisis and its consequences have put the children and the programme in a vulnerable position.

“Our students who have already been reintegrated, risk dropping out of school again,” says Ms Sister Deodata Bunzigiye, Executive Secretary of the Alpha Ujuvi Collective.

“One of the major challenges is that of confinement. It is followed by the problem of immense poverty in a post-conflict situation. The vast majority of households with no stable economy live from day to day. We see that domestic violence is becoming more frequent, and the closure of schools increases the rate of homelessness and sexual exploitation of young girls. We are observing a huge challenge with an increased number of children, particularly underage girls, living on the streets of the city of Goma,” says Ms Bunzigiye.

To cope with and adapt to the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis, the CAU has taken numerous measures to protect the children during the pandemic and continue literacy learning in other forms.

UNESCO Steps Up For Development of Literacy

1. The international community has set an ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with education and learning central to its achievement. The vision of the Incheon Declaration,  Education 2030, is fully captured by Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all ”. Education 2030devotes considerable attention to literacy and adult learning including through Target 4.6 and related indicative strategies.

2. By 205 EX / Decision 6.III, the Executive Board requested the Director-General to review,  update and improve the vision and strategy for literacy to contribute to SDG 4 - Education 2030. In line with the decision, the draft Strategy for Youth and Adult Literacy (2020-2025), contained in annex I, was presented to  the Executive Board at its 207th session, with a view to transmitting it to the  General Conference for approval at its 40th session. The Strategy was developed through an  inclusive and participatory process, including research and analysis of key trends, online consultation with Member States and partners, as well as an expert meeting.

3. The Strategy pays special attention to the member countries of the Global Alliance for Literacy within the Framework of Lifelong Learning (GAL) - the 20 countries with an adult literacy rate below 50% and the E9 countries where the largest number of non-literate adults live. It is structured aroundfour strategic priority areas, which are broadly related to policy and planning, equity and inclusion, innovation and accountability:

(i) supporting Member States in developing national literacy policies and strategies;

(ii) addressing the learning needs of disadvantaged groups, particularly women and girls;

(iii) leveraging digital technologies to expand access and improve learning outcomes; and 

(iv) monitoring progress and assessing literacy skills programs.

4. At its 207th session, the Executive Board strongly supported the draft UNESCO Strategy for Youth and Adult Literacy (2020-2025), including its vision, four strategic priority areas, management and monitoring approach.  The Board stressed the crucial role of literacy as part of the right to  education and lifelong learning, and appreciated the Strategy's alignment with SDG 4 in view of  mobilizing stronger political and financial commitment.

5. The Board also highlighted the importance of giving increased attention to digital literacy skills, promoting mother language-based literacy, the capacity development of ministries and educators in the Strategy's implementation and to ensuring links between literacy and other knowledge, skills and competencies, including global citizenship, vocational skills and media and information literacy. The role of the Global Alliance for Literacy within the Framework of Lifelong Learning (GAL), as a platform for coordination, advocacy and partnership, in the implementation of the Strategy was  emphasized. In addition, the Board stressed the need to  foster partnerships with multiple actors,  including multilateral organizations, parents, libraries and the wider community, among others.

6. Through its 207 EX / Decision 6.I (Annex II), the Executive Board expressed its appreciation for the draft UNESCO Strategy for Youth and Adult Literacy (2020-2025) and invited the Director-General to submit it to the General Conference at its the 40th session for approval. It also invited tea Director-General to present an action plan with a budget for the implementation of the Strategy to the Executive Board at its 209th session. The full text of the draft Strategy is available in Annex I to this document (document 207 EX / 6.I). 

7. An estimated 750 million people worldwide cannot read and write at the basic level of  proficiency, two-thirds of them being women. The proposed UNESCO Strategy for Youth and Adult Literacy (2020-2025) is a strategic framework which aims to step up UNESCO's coordinated and 40 C / 25 - page 2 targeted support, in particular to the 29 GAL countries, among which 17 are from Africa and seven in conflict or post-conflict situations, and to facilitate cooperation among them.

8. The Strategy builds on previous initiatives, namely the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012), for which UNESCO was the lead coordination agency, and UNESCO's Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (2006-2015), as well as substantial regional and country-level interventions, with a  particular focus on Africa and Asia and the Pacific. It represents UNESCO's strong commitment to literacy, which is a key area in the Medium-Term Strategy 2014-2021 and draft Program and  Budget for 2020-2021, and was also highlighted as one of the priority areas for accelerating progress on SDG 4 by the 2018 Global Education Meeting.

9. To achieve the literacy vision in today's world, in which demands of knowledge, skills and  competencies are fast-evolving, going beyond the basic reading and writing skills, UNESCO will  implement the Strategy, considering four dimensions. These include learning that is

(i) lifelong, for all age groups and throughout one's life;

(ii) life-wide, through different learning settings throughout life and work;

(iii) intersectoral, through embedding literacy in efforts for sustainable development in other sectors; and

(iv) universal, an issue for least developed, developing and developed countries. Through the Strategy, the Secretariat will also continue to advocate for literacy and literate  environments to support Member States in enhancing capacities for policy formulation, program implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

10. Following the approval of the draft Strategy, the Secretariat will develop an action plan for its implementation during the period of 2020-2025, which will be presented to the Executive Board at its 209th session (spring 2020). The development of an accountability and result matrix is ​​also  underway, including specific indicators, for effective progress tracking and monitoring, the results of which will be presented as part of a mid-term review in 2022.

The Director-General also wishes to point out that, while some basic functions related to the implementation of the Strategy can be fulfilled within the existing regular budget, further extrabudgetary support will be needed to fully implement the Strategy for greater impact in Member States.

Technology is a ubiquitous part of children's lives. It is transparent. Most homes have connected computers or Internet-enabled devices. As prices of technology drop, computers and digital devices may replace television as we know it. When pioneering educational technology advocate Jan Hawkins wrote an essay for Edutopia in 1997, "The World at Your Fingertips: Education Technology Opens Doors," about how technology brings the tools of empowerment into the hands and minds of those who use them, she couldn't have known her words would be even more relevant today.

More and more studies show that technology integration in the curriculum improves students' learning processes and outcomes. Teachers who recognize computers as problem-solving tools change the way they teach. They move from a behavioural approach to a more constructivist approach. Technology and interactive multimedia are more conducive to project-based learning. Students are engaged in their learning using these powerful tools, and can become creators and critics instead of just consumers.

Another reason for technology integration is the necessity of today's students to have 21st century skills.

These 21st century skills include

• personal and social responsibility
• planning, critical thinking, reasoning, and creativity
• strong communication skills, both for interpersonal and presentation needs
• cross-cultural understanding
• visualizing and decision making
• knowing how and when to use technology and choosing the most appropriate tool for the task

The Edutopia article "Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many" offers this summary: "Integrating technology into classroom instruction means more than teaching basic computer skills and software programs in a separate computer class. Effective tech integration must happen across the curriculum in ways that research shows deepen and enhance the learning process. In particular, it must support four key components of learning: active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts."

Technology helps change the student/teacher roles and relationships: students take responsibility for their learning outcomes, while teachers become guides and facilitators. Technology lends itself as the multidimensional tool that assists that process. For economically disadvantaged students, the school may be the only place where they will have the opportunity to use a computer and integrate technology into their learning (for more about equity, access, and digital inclusion, check out our Digital Divide Resource Roundup.)

There is a growing body of evidence that technology integration positively affects student achievement and academic performance. The Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology (CARET) found that, when used in collaborative learning methods and leadership that is aimed at improving the school through technology planning, technology impacts achievement in content area learning, promotes higher-order thinking and problem solving skills, and prepares students for the workforce.

The possession of skills to use appropriate technology to communicate and search for information, and to be able to critically evaluate the accuracy and currency of the information obtained and integrate it in the synthesizing of new information.

Technology literacy is the ability to effectively use technology to access, evaluate, integrate, create and communicate information to enhance the learning process through problem-solving and critical thinking.