Introduction

As co-facilitators in the VALTA Project, Judy, Mary and I share a belief about addressing the impacts of violence on learning through acknowledging the presence of violence and through using creative approaches to support holistic learning. We also believe that no education setting or practice can disregard the presence of those who have experienced violence and that education and training at all levels must recognize and address the impacts of violence on learning. We have come to see that addressing violence and learning creates programming that is effective and interesting for all participants.

We had less clarity about what applying these beliefs would look like in the design of the VALTA course and workshops¹¹ but had many insights from previous research and practice, including my research studies on violence and learning (Horsman, 1999); projects which put the learning from that research into practice in adult education programs, especially the New England project (Morrish, Horsman, and Hofer, 2002); and Mary and Judy's explorations of using art, movement and singing to invite women into learning about themselves (Norton and Murphy, 2001).

As we came to put these insights into action in the VALTA Project we continued to explore the nuanced balance of ingredients that support learning for all. We wanted to model and explore approaches which might be useful in literacy programs so that when VALTA participants considered changes to try in their programs, they would have experienced these approaches themselves. In this chapter, I describe some of these approaches and our reasons for introducing them. In later chapters, you'll read how VALTA participants introduced similar approaches in their Changing Practices projects.