UST Graduate School Asst. Dean Prof. Camilla Vizconde, Ph.D., and Graduate School faculty member Asst. Prof. Gina Lontoc, Ph.D., presented their research paper titled “Weaving family learning with agricultural livelihoods: a focus on women farmers and their families in the Philippines,” at the International webinar on Family Literacy and Indigenous and Local Learning held from December 9 to 10,2021.
The members of the UNESCO Chair partner institutions from Malawi, Ethiopia, Nepal, and the Philippines, together with their colleagues from UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), presented their findings from their recent research studies during the first day of the webinar which took the form of a public conference.
The aim of the presentations was to explore the potential of family literacy in enhancing the learning prospects of both adults and youth. Presenters underscored various ways in which children and adults learn together as they share knowledge and skills in everyday life.
Discussions also centered on the roles of parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, and caregivers and members of the wider community in intergenerational learning. This also provided the opportunity to share their recent research projects, policies and practices relevant to family literacy, indigenous knowledge and new ways of learning.
The participation of Vizconde and Lontoc was part of the Global Research Translation Award (GRTA)-funded project on family literacy and indigenous learning.
According to Lontoc, who also teaches at the College of Education, the Country Project Lead of Family Literacy Research Team in the Philippines, said that based on their research, learning within families in the context of the Philippines is tightly linked with sustaining livelihoods. It is a learning process that could be best described as intergenerational knowledge transfer and “modelling.”
Among their participants, local knowledge forms a core part of sustaining livelihoods. They also added that family members and their immediate community engage with a diversity of texts as part of their everyday life and livelihoods; thus, creating literacy-rich environments.
On the second day of the webinar, the virtual World Café format was utilized which engaged key policy makers and practitioner in discussions which could develop policy implications. Lontoc served as the co-chair of Dr. Catherine Jere from the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia (UEA). This session aimed to build on the discussions from Day 1 and to explore how participants could take forward the research and practice insights that emerged from the previous day.
This international webinar was organized by the UIL, UEA, and UNESCO’s Section of Youth, Literacy and Skills Development.
