Curriculum Development for Functional Adult Literacy in Plateau State

This study examined the curriculum development processes and outcomes for functional adult literacy programmes in Plateau State, North Central Nigeria. Functional literacy curricula must respond to the diverse livelihood, cultural, and communicative contexts of learner communities, yet curriculum development in Nigerian adult education has historically been insufficiently participatory and contextualised. The study employed a descriptive-evaluative design involving 70 curriculum developers, senior facilitators, and programme participants from three local government areas. Document analysis of existing curriculum frameworks, structured questionnaires, and learner needs focus groups formed the data collection approach. Findings revealed that existing functional literacy curricula were largely adapted from national templates with minimal local contextualisation, resulting in content that learners found poorly relevant to their daily lives and livelihoods. Farmers, traders, and artisans consistently identified gaps between curriculum content and the practical literacy demands of their occupations. Community consultation prior to curriculum development was minimal in most zones reviewed. The study documented exemplary practices from two community-designed curriculum pilot sites that demonstrated significantly better learner engagement and completion outcomes. Recommendations include mandating participatory community needs assessments as a foundational stage in all future curriculum development cycles, training facilitators in curriculum contextualisation techniques, establishing local curriculum review committees comprising community members, facilitators, and subject matter experts, and piloting occupationally differentiated literacy curricula in select communities before state-wide roll-out. Keywords: curriculum development, functional literacy, adult education, Plateau State, contextualisation.