Time and learning

The purpose behind the (ongoing) work reported on in this paper is to devel op a productive educational response to the problem of older learners who r eturn to formal schooling after a period of absence, or enter it for the fi rst time;'older' in the sense of being at least three years older than the norm for the Foundation Phase. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, t o discuss ways in which to assess learning outcomes in preliterate learners and. secondly, to question various approaches to the problem of older lear ners and formal schooling. As regards our empirical findings, we conclude t hat, as a group, the learners show encouraging signs of benefiting from sch ooling.