Doing advocacy, activism and awareness-raising about the underlying causes of educational inequity is absolutely critical if literacy programs are to ever fulfill their mission: creating a more empowered, literate and just society.
Many literacy programs are working for social change. For change-oriented programs, it is important to understand the social issues and policies that create a need for literacy services. Understanding the real-life issues that affect learners and the wider community is crucial because these social issues impact learners at least as much as low literacy skills do. In fact, these other social realities actually help produce lower literacy skills. And conversely, low literacy skills exacerbate these other social issues. So, addressing reading and writing in isolation -- without considering the other factors that adversely impact learners' lives -- is a limited and short-sighted strategy. Because of this, SCALE strongly encourages campus-based literacy program participants to become involved in advocacy, activism, and awareness-raising on social issues related to literacy education and learners' lives.
But what are advocacy, activism, and awareness-raising?
Advocacy means voicing one's concerns, beliefs, and desires to powerful people or institutions in order to affect changes on behalf of others or oneself.
Essentially, advocacy means voicing one's concerns, beliefs, and desires to powerful people or institutions in order to affect changes on behalf of others or oneself. Advocacy can also mean arguing in favor of a cause, idea, or policy through active support and involvement. Whatever your definition, "doing advocacy" requires an understanding of the realities of power and decision-making in society. When people are effective advocates, they are able to influence decision-makers to support or oppose specific initiatives. Advocacy can focus on any issue, any group of people, or any cause, although SCALE is most interested in the issues, people and causes that create greater justice and equality in society.
Activism means taking concrete steps to affect change on your campus and in the wider community, state, nation, and world.
Activism means taking concrete steps to affect change on your campus and in the wider community, state, nation, and world. Activism can also happen within literacy programs -- for example, speaking out against program policy changes that do not meet learners' needs or respect their perspectives. Typically, activists involve others in social change work and recruit them to join in activist efforts. Activism can entail agitation, challenging the status quo, questioning authority, and employing critical thinking skills.
Clearly, advocacy and activism are related. Both advocacy and activism involve giving voice to those who are otherwise ignored, empowering the marginalized, and working to change the structures, policies, and practices that dehumanize people. So when SCALE speaks of activism, we are principally talking about efforts beyond tutoring learners or managing your literacy program (we call this work action instead). Part of SCALE's mission is to encourage literacy practitioners to take action outside of their teaching; we want those involved in campus-based literacy programs to see themselves as activists. Ideally, all participants in your program -- tutors, teachers, coordinators, and learners and their families -- will see a role for themselves in larger movements for literacy and social justice.
Awareness-raising is an essential part of advocacy and activism, and these three practices are deeply linked. The goal of awareness-raising activities is to build understanding in the wider community about literacy and social justice issues, to highlight your work and its importance, and to persuade others to become involved as concerned individuals, allies and activists themselves.
Our nation is divided into two different worlds. In one world, adults have the skills and sense of empowerment to find and keep good jobs, to help their children in school, and to actively shape their communities. Adults in the other world have had less opportunity to develop these skills and sense of empowerment, and they and their families are perpetually falling further and further behind. Children who struggle with reading, writing and language today will continue to struggle with all aspects of their education; these children are then likely to become disenfranchised adults with limited opportunities, in a continuing cycle of injustice.
Doing advocacy, activism and awareness-raising about the underlying causes of educational inequity is absolutely critical if literacy programs are to ever fulfill their mission: creating a more empowered, literate and just society.
