Changing policy discourses: Constructing literacy inequalities

This paper explores the ways in which policy discourses have constructed rationales for addressing adult literacy over the last 50 years. In particular, we examine how policy positions the literacy learner as citizen within discourses of rights and equity. Taking the case of the UK, we compare two key documents produced at different historical moments. Our discourse analysis reveals a long standing discourse of individual deficit within a functional model of literacy. This is now overlaid by a discourse of social exclusion that views adult learners as entrepreneurial global citizens who must compete within a market economy.

► This paper uses discourse analysis to examine how policy positions the adult literacy learner as citizen within discourses of rights and equity.
► It compares two key documents from the UK from different historical moments.
► It demonstrates a long standing discourse of individual deficit within a functional model of literacy.
► A new discourse of social exclusion views adult learners as entrepreneurial global citizens competing within a market economy.
► The findings illustrate wider trends, whereby global governance now functions to shape national educational policies.