Final Report: Outputs

The outputs from this project are intentionally varied. As well as publishing our own analyses it has been a central aim of the project to find ways of assembling and storing the data in forms so that it will be accessible to future historians and participants in the field of ALLN. The data we are generating in the project is exceedingly rich and we are identifying many specialist themes that it will not be possible to pursue within the remit of the project. This makes the archiving of our data especially significant as a resource for further research.

Datasets: We have captured rich and inflected stories from three main stakeholder groups in ALLN across a crucial period of social change. These new data are being archived for future researchers and participants in ALLN. X Interview transcripts will be deposited with the Qualidata archive. 78 transcripts with adults from the NDCS cohort study will be separately deposited with the Centre for Longitudinal Studies.

Documentary archive: We have also catalogued and archived 50 themed boxes of documentary evidence. The documentary archive, cross-referenced to the oral history accounts, will be deposited in Lancaster University library with an electronic database interface accessible through our website. This archive will complement the interview data to be deposited with the ESRC Qualidata archive. The organization of the archive is described in detail on our website at: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fss/projects/edres/changingfaces/archive.htm

Website: We have developed an interactive website through which we can communicate the progress of the research. This is also a place where people contribute their experiences of ABE if we are unable to interview them face-to-face.

Book: We have a book contract with Trentham Books (outline attached). The aim is for the book to be a research resource for practitioners and researchers in the field, rather than a straightforward factual history. In addition to the book itself, we plan to publish an archive catalogue and a “source” book which will contain factual material assembled during the project, signposting readers to other libraries and archives relevant to adult basic education.

Published Articles: We have published a number of articles, listed in Appendix 2.

Conference papers and Presentations: We have carried out workshops and given papers at a number of national and regional conferences to publicise the project and invite discussion about our findings as they emerge. These are listed in Appendix 2 .

Professor Hamilton gave two presentations about the project as part of a lecture tour of Australia in November 2002 (at the University of South Australia and Griffith University, Brisbane) and held discussions with historians of the Australian Adult Language and literacy field with a view to developing comparative analyses.