RECENT NEWS
BALID at 2nd GALACST Conference, Manila, Philippines
Members of BALID were pleased to participate in a couple of events as part of 2nd International Conference on Gender, Adult Literacy and Active Citizenship for Social Transformation (GALACST) last March 25-26, 2022 via Zoom. GALACST was hosted by the University of Santo Tomas and co-hosted by BALID Institutional Member Transformare in the Philippines. It was also conducted in collaboration with the University of East Anglia UNESCO Chair which is also a BALID Member.
The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Bolstering intergenerational learning toward inclusive, innovative, and sustainable communities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic”. Chris Millora, BALID Chair, delivered a plenary talk entitled ‘Learning and active citizenship: intergenerational insights from youth social action’ based on some findings from his PhD and current postdoc project. Ian Cheffy, Katy Newell-Jones and Tara Furlong (BALID and RaPAL) co-facilitated a World Café during the 2nd day drawing on the findings from the BALID/BAICE project on Adult Learning and COVID-19. Ian presented the project while Katy shared the findings from the UK case study and Araceli Amarles (Transformare) and Gina Lontoc presented findings from the Philippine case study.
We congratulate UST, Transformare and the UEA UNESCO Chair for a stimulating and insightful conference!
Welcome to Dr Mar
y-Rose Puttick!
We’re delighted that Mary-Rose Puttick has joined the BALID Committee and look forward to her contribution to the work of BALID! Mary-Rose lead the first Informal Literacy Discussion (ILD) of 2022 on 3rd March – “‘Seeing and Sensing’: Using Visual and Sensory Literacies in Refugee Research and Practice”. Mary-Rose has strong interest in adult and community education and her research focuses on family literacy in the refugee third sector from the perspectives of mothers from asylum seeking and refugee backgrounds.
BALID AGM 2021
On December 6th, we met for a time of reflection on BALID activities over the past year and the BALID Annual General Meeting – not a dry, administrative event but an opportunity to share in small groups, hear from BALID members and learn from one another. We considered the questions:
- How can BALID members better engage with one another?
- What strategies can BALID implement to better bridge theory and practice on literacy?
- What topic would you like for the first Informal Literacy Discussion in 2022?
How would YOU answer those questions? We’d love to hear from you. Write to us at and let the BALID committee know!
New research on COVID and adult learning launched! 
We are pleased to share that the synthesis report and the country reports for the BAICE-funded project on COVID-19 and Adult Learning and Education in Afghanistan, the Philippines and the UK. The report is here
Since 2020, BALID (represented by committee members Ian Cheffy, Chris Millora, Katy Newell-Jones, Tara Furlong and Naeim Maleki) has been leading this project with partners in Afghanistan (Afghan National Association for Adult Education led by Abdul Bashir Khaliqi) and the Philippines (Transformare, led by Gina Lontoc) supported by RaPAL (Tara Furlong) and UEA UNESCO Chair (Anna Robinson-Pant and BALID president Alan Rogers as critical friends). The UK team also included Simon Fuller of Islington Council, Adult Community Learning.
THEORY AND PRACTICE IN LITERACY AND DEVELOPMENT
IN 2017 WE PUBLISHED the second edition of our BALID book, Theory and Practice in Literacy and Development, which is freely downloadable. This is a compilation of articles based on the presentations given by literacy experts at our series of Informal Literacy Discussions in London, UK, from 2011-2015. Edited by Dr Juliet McCaffery and Professor Brian Street, the book offers helpful and varied insights into issues of literacy, focusing mainly on the social practice view of literacy for families and adults. We have a few hard copies available: they cost £15 (plus £2.25 for UK packaging and postage) and can be ordered from Dr Ian Cheffy at