The purpose behind the (ongoing) work reported on in this paper is to develop a productive educational response to the problem of older learners who return to formal schooling after a period of absence, or enter it for the first 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, to discuss ways in which to assess learning outcomes in preliterate learners and, secondly, to question various approaches to the problem of older learners and formal schooling. As regards our empirical findings, we conclude that, as a group, the learners show encouraging signs of benefiting from schooling.
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