Contemporary adult literacy models

Abstract

In the past decades people have been facing increasing demands for participation in the lifelonglearning process in all of its forms of manifestation. European educational policy documents are emphasizingthe crucial role of literate people in accomplishing and sustaining economic growth and social cohesion ofevery country. Labour market demands people with high literacy skills which exceed basic literacy, and areintegrating functional, emotional, critical and other literacies required for active participation in the knowledgebased societies.This paper aims to provide a comparative view of successful literacy models and the literacy modelused in the Republic of Macedonia. Successful practices that Paulo Freire’s critical literacy model applies arestepping outside the conventional literacy approaches, based primarily on adults’ interests and motives forinvolving in any kind of educational activity. The results are pointing to the fact that it is necessary to createand implement an appropriate literacy model which will surpass the barriers of formal educationalmanifestation.Conclusions and recommendations offered in this paper are pointing towards future steps andchallenges that Macedonian adult educational system should undertake in order to place solid base ineradicating this “educational plague”.