1 Research, adult literacy and criticality: catalysing hope and dialogic caring Dr Vicky Duckworth and Dr Rob Smith This is a draft copy of a published chapter. Citation: Duckworth, V. and Smith R. (2019) Research, criticality & adult and further education: catalysing hope and dialogic caring. In Hamilton, M and Tett, L. 2019. Resisting the neo- liberal discourse in Education: local, national and transnational perspectives. London: Policy Press. This material is subject to copyright Vicky Duckworth and Rob Smith Abstract This paper draws on a longitudinal UCU research project: FE in England - Transforming Lives and Communities to explore transformative teaching and learning in adult literacy education and to argue for the place of research in affirming localised understandings of education that cut across the grain of contemporary educational reform. In the context of the dominance of a ‘skills’ discourse in further education in England, this research project focused on literacy education as a creating a discourse community offering ‘differential space’ (Lefebvre 1991) that is emancipatory for many learners at the local level of family and community. The research data illustrate that adult literacy education can be disruptive of the rigid linearity of a model of ‘learning progression’ that sorts individuals according to a qualification/age matrix. Instead, it can offer organic tools for resistance – through consciousness-raising and transformation by acting as a hope catalyst for changes in learners’ lives and teachers’ practice. Positioning Literacy and Hope In the UK and internationally, the current discourse around literacy is driven by international surveys that have become increasingly important over the last twenty-five years (e.g. those produced for the Programme of International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC)). Produced and promoted by a range of agencies including the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD), UNESCO and the European Union, national