Lifelong literacy: Towards a new agenda

Preparing the way for the United Nations’ sustainable development agenda, two seasoned experts on literacy, Ulrike Hanemann (senior programme specialist at the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, UIL) and Veronica McKay (acting executive dean of the College of Education at the University of South Africa, UNISA) jointly guest-edited a special issue of the International Review of Education – Journal of Lifelong Learning (IRE), entitled “Lifelong literacy: Towards a new agenda”.

An expanded vision of literacy

Under the United Nations’ 2000–2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), literacy was embedded in the goal to “achieve universal primary education”. Under the 2015–2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be adopted at the upcoming United Nations summit in New York City 25–27 September 2015, literacy is more closely aligned with an explicit lifelong learning framework. Goal 4 of the SDGs calls for action to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.

Issues, challenges and opportunities for literacy post-2015

With contributions from renowned international scholars and activists, this issue of the IRE (61:3 2015) is essential reading for everyone who aims to understand literacy from a lifelong learning perspective. Contributions:

• Lifelong literacy: Towards a new agenda (Ulrike Hanemann and Veronica McKay);
• Literacy in the 21st century: Towards a dynamic nexus of social relations (Aaron Benavot);
• Lifelong literacy: Some trends and issues in conceptualising and operationalising literacy from a lifelong learning perspective (Ulrike Hanemann);
• Learning and literacy: A research agenda for post-2015 (Daniel A. Wagner);
• A tangled weave: Tracing outcomes of education in rural women’s lives in North India (Malini Ghose and Disha Mullick);
• Measuring and monitoring in the South African Kha Ri Gude mass literacy campaign (Veronica McKay);
• The potential of community libraries in supporting literate environments and sustaining literacy skills (Sanjana Shrestha and Lisa Krolak).