Editing Literacy (section)

=== Lifespan development and promotion efforts ===
While informal learning within the home can play an important role in literacy development, gains in childhood literacy often occur in primary school settings. Continuing the global expansion of public education is thus a frequent focus of literacy advocates.<ref name="Wagner-2016" />{{rp|103–104}} These kinds of broad improvements in education often require centralized efforts by national governments; however, local literacy projects implemented by NGOs can play an important role, particularly in rural contexts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Beckman |first1=Paula J. |last2=Gallo |first2=Jessica |date=October 2015 |title=Rural Education in a Global Context |url=http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/article/view/238 |journal=Global Education Review |volume=2 |issue=4 |page=7 |issn=2325-663X |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625015250/http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/article/view/238 |archive-date=25 June 2016 |access-date=23 May 2016}}</ref>

Funding for both youth and adult literacy programs often comes from large international development organizations. [[United States Agency for International Development|USAID]], for example, steered donors like the [[Gates Foundation]] and the [[Global Partnership for Education]] toward the issue of childhood literacy by developing the Early Grade Reading Assessment.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bartlett |first1=Lesley |title=Routledge handbook of international education and development |last2=Frazier |first2=Julia |year=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-138-07076-9 |editor-last=McGrath |editor-first=Simon |chapter=Literacy and Development |editor-last2=Gu |editor-first2=Qing}}</ref> Advocacy groups like the [[NIACE|National Institute of Adult Continuing Education]] have frequently called upon international organizations such as UNESCO, the [[International Labour Organization]], the [[World Health Organization]], and the [[World Bank]] to prioritize support for adult women's literacy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Eldred |first1=Janine |last2=Robinson-Pant |first2=Anna |last3=Nabi |first3=Rafat |last4=Chopra |first4=Priti |last5=Nussey |first5=Charlotte |last6=Bown |first6=Lalage |date=2014-07-04 |title=Women's right to learning and literacy: Women learning literacy and empowerment |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057925.2014.911999 |journal=Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=655–675 |doi=10.1080/03057925.2014.911999 |s2cid=143260440 |issn=0305-7925 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701135029/http://www.learningandwork.org.uk/sites/niace_en/files/document-downloads/womensrighttoliteracy_web.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-01}}{{Moved resource|date=September 2023}}</ref> Efforts to increase adult literacy often encompass other development priorities as well; for example, initiatives in Ethiopia, Morocco, and India have combined adult literacy programs with vocational skills trainings in order to encourage program enrollment and address the complex needs of women (and other marginalized groups) who lack economic opportunities.<ref name="Kairies-2013">{{Cite book |url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002225/222588e.pdf |title=Literacy programmes with a focus on women to reduce gender disparities: case studies from UNESCO Effective Literacy and Numeracy Practices Database |year=2013 |publisher=UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning |isbn=978-9-282-01182-9 |editor-last=Kairies |editor-first=Jan |location=Hamburg |access-date=2023-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712193531/http://unesdoc.unesco.org:80/images/0022/002225/222588e.pdf |archive-date=2018-07-12 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2013, the [[UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning]] published a set of case studies<ref name="Kairies-2013" /> on programs that successfully improved female literacy rates. The report features countries from a variety of regions and differing income levels, reflecting the general global consensus on "the need to empower women through the acquisition of literacy skills."<ref name="Kairies-2013" />{{rp|7}} Part of the impetus for UNESCO's focus on literacy is a broader effort to respond to globalization and "the shift towards knowledge-based societies" that it has produced.<ref>{{Cite book |last=UNESCO |url=http://www.unesco.org/education/GMR2006/full/chapt7_eng.pdf |title=Education for All Global Monitoring Report |year=2006 |chapter=Mapping the Global Literacy Challenge |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607022405/http://www.unesco.org/education/GMR2006/full/chapt7_eng.pdf |archive-date=2019-06-07}}{{Moved resource|date=September 2023}}</ref> While globalization presents emerging challenges, it also provides new opportunities. Many education and development specialists are hopeful that new [[Information and communications technology|ICTs]] will expand literacy learning opportunities for children and adults, even in countries that have historically struggled to improve literacy rates through more conventional means.<ref name="Wagner-2016" />{{rp|112}}

Although most people acquire literacy during childhood, it continues to develop throughout life;<ref name="Lechner-2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Lechner |first1=Clemens M. |last2=Gauly |first2=Britta |last3=Miyamoto |first3=Ai |last4=Wicht |first4=Alexandra |date=2021-10-01 |title=Stability and change in adults' literacy and numeracy skills: Evidence from two large-scale panel studies |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886921003652 |journal=Personality and Individual Differences |volume=180 |pages=110990 |doi=10.1016/j.paid.2021.110990 |issn=0191-8869}}</ref> literacy is not a skill that is fixed once a person leaves school but remains malleable across the entire lifespan. Among adults, both gains and losses in literacy occur in roughly equal measure, sometimes over relatively short periods of a few years.<ref name="Lechner-2021" /> Even adults with very low literacy levels can acquire literacy over time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wicht |first1=Alexandra |last2=Durda |first2=Tabea |last3=Krejcik |first3=Luise |last4=Artelt |first4=Cordula |last5=Grotlüschen |first5=Anke |last6=Rammstedt |first6=Beatrice |last7=Lechner |first7=Clemens M. |date=2021-03-12 |title=Low Literacy is not Set in Stone |url=https://www.beltz.de/fachmedien/erziehungswissenschaft/zeitschriften/zeitschrift_fuer_paedagogik/artikel/46091-low-literacy-is-not-set-in-stone.html |journal=Zeitschrift für Pädagogik |language=de |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=109–132 |doi=10.3262/ZPB2101109 |issn=0514-2717}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Brandt |first=Deborah |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/literacy-in-american-lives/A6CD534DE3AB84520D9F269781245B4B |title=Literacy in American Lives |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-78315-6}}</ref> Whether a person experiences gains or losses depends on a range of factors, and one of the key factors are the demands and opportunities to engage in literary practices in the workplace, home, or other contexts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wicht |first1=Alexandra |last2=Rammstedt |first2=Beatrice |last3=Lechner |first3=Clemens M. |date=2021-01-02 |title=Predictors of Literacy Development in Adulthood: Insights from a Large-scale, Two-wave Study |journal=Scientific Studies of Reading |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=84–92 |doi=10.1080/10888438.2020.1751635 |issn=1088-8438 |s2cid=219100241}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Reder |first1=Stephen |last2=Gauly |first2=Britta |last3=Lechner |first3=Clemens |date=2020-06-01 |title=Practice makes perfect: Practice engagement theory and the development of adult literacy and numeracy proficiency |journal=International Review of Education |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=267–288 |bibcode=2020IREdu..66..267R |doi=10.1007/s11159-020-09830-5 |issn=1573-0638 |s2cid=219050030|doi-access=free }}</ref>