About US
The Festival of Literacies is an initiative to bring adult literacy practice and research together to address challenges facing learners and practitioners. In the current climate of prescriptive program outcomes and accountability measures adult literacy learners and practitioners face increasing challenges to their teaching and learning relationship. The recent withdrawal of federal funding has led to the closure of a number of federal and provincial literacy organizations, virtually eliminating networks and repositories of practice-based expertise and learner engagement in policy activism and program decision-making. What does this all mean to those who work and learn in adult literacy education?
For researchers, practitioners and learners interested in social justice, participatory democracy, and policy dialogue in relation to adult literacy, this is a great opportunity to explore possibilities for participatory research and community development projects.
The Festival plans to run various activities throughout the year to encourage dialogues among learners, practitioners and researchers to achieve social justice and equity in our communities. These activities include those organized by the Festival Collective based at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), which includes students, alumni and faculty, as well as those initiated by practitioners and learners from the community-at-large. We hope our collaboration with a shared interest in adult literacy will bring about the much-needed social change.
The main activity for the Festival is the offering of two full-day events each year; one in Spring and one in Fall. The event is hosted by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. We invite practitioners, learners, volunteers, and researchers to join us for discussions and stories. We share stories from the field as the starting point to connect practice and research through an active participatory day of dialogue. We hope that we can create and renew connections between research and practice and from there, we will forge ahead with new initiatives.
Mary Brehaut at Parkdale Project Read gave us a great summary on the Festival: "The Festival of Literacies was a really interesting group at OISE - funded to bring together literacy practitioners and academics to discuss pedagogy and research related to literacy and adult learning. These gatherings in the 7th floor Peace Lounge were well attended, lively discussions - spaces for practitioners to get together and talk about the work we do and how it's connected to research and the bigger picture. These gatherings have been sorely missed - so this initiative is really exciting."
Festival of Literacies Collective | We're a group of students and faculty members from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto who share an interest in advancing social justice through adult education and also in bringing together practitioners from the field and researchers from academia to collaborate on participatory research and community development initiatives.
Click here to learn about the history of the Festival of Literacies.
For researchers, practitioners and learners interested in social justice, participatory democracy, and policy dialogue in relation to adult literacy, this is a great opportunity to explore possibilities for participatory research and community development projects.
The Festival plans to run various activities throughout the year to encourage dialogues among learners, practitioners and researchers to achieve social justice and equity in our communities. These activities include those organized by the Festival Collective based at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), which includes students, alumni and faculty, as well as those initiated by practitioners and learners from the community-at-large. We hope our collaboration with a shared interest in adult literacy will bring about the much-needed social change.
The main activity for the Festival is the offering of two full-day events each year; one in Spring and one in Fall. The event is hosted by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. We invite practitioners, learners, volunteers, and researchers to join us for discussions and stories. We share stories from the field as the starting point to connect practice and research through an active participatory day of dialogue. We hope that we can create and renew connections between research and practice and from there, we will forge ahead with new initiatives.
Mary Brehaut at Parkdale Project Read gave us a great summary on the Festival: "The Festival of Literacies was a really interesting group at OISE - funded to bring together literacy practitioners and academics to discuss pedagogy and research related to literacy and adult learning. These gatherings in the 7th floor Peace Lounge were well attended, lively discussions - spaces for practitioners to get together and talk about the work we do and how it's connected to research and the bigger picture. These gatherings have been sorely missed - so this initiative is really exciting."
Festival of Literacies Collective | We're a group of students and faculty members from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto who share an interest in advancing social justice through adult education and also in bringing together practitioners from the field and researchers from academia to collaborate on participatory research and community development initiatives.
Click here to learn about the history of the Festival of Literacies.
