Adult literacy skills update

See also Adult learning update (covers more general news on adult education issues)

CBI skills audit – basic skills are still a concern

The CBI has published results of a new annual audit of the nation’s skills. The survey, 'CBI/Edexcel Education & Skills Survey 2008', examining 735 firms, employing 1.7 million people between them. It identified skills gaps in the workplace and revealed the skills employers value the most.

Two-fifths of employers had serious concerns about employees’ basic literacy and numeracy skills. On the literacy side, the main problems are not being able to write in sentences, spell correctly or use accurate grammar. On the numeracy side, the key issue is the inability to spot simple errors or rogue numbers.

While most employers (63%) described staff in high skilled roles as ‘good’, fewer did so for those in intermediate level jobs (43%) and even fewer for lower skilled staff (35%).

Poor basic skills have a serious impact on customer service according to two-fifths (40%) of employers, and lower productivity according to a third (34%). Both issues have damaging implications for business performance and around a quarter of employers are investing in remedial literacy and numeracy training.

The CBI’s Deputy Director-General, John Cridland, said: "Being skilled is all the more important in an increasingly global economy, and our message to students is that your hard work to attain the right skills and good qualifications is essential to securing quality, well-paid jobs after school, college or university.”

(CBI, 18 April 2008)

Poor maths and literacy skills cost £800m a year, survey finds

The Guardian has reported on reserach from Learndirect which has said that poor mathematics skills cost British adults more than £800m a year, according to a survey of 1,000 adults. It also revealed that one in three workers - 14.6 million people - admit their inadequate numeracy and literacy skills have lost their company money. Half those questioned felt their basic maths and English skills let them down. Many said they did not know the difference between basic words or homophones such as there and their. Learndirect said £823m is lost each year due to inadequate basic skills - enough to pay the starting salaries of more than 40,000 new teachers.

The Guardian interviewed Judi James, a workplace expert, who said that around a third of people surveyed said they feel embarrassed, panicked or afraid when their basic skills let them down. Learndirect also estimated that 1.4 million workers in the UK believe they have missed out on a promotion, or even lost a job, due to a lack of basic maths or English skills.

(Guardian, 21 February 2007)

Further education trainees fail to meet literacy standards

The training of some further education teachers is being held back by their inability to read, write and use ICT properly. Although all were highly-motivated, the report by the Schools' Inspectorate, indicated that a lack of teaching experience meant that many were not well prepared for working with students. Ofsted found that trainees were not only unable to make use of their own skills to teach, but that a few were "constrained by weaknesses in their own literacy and numeracy or a lack of effective study techniques". This meant that many trainees were unable to address errors in student assignments. Although training for vocational teachers was good or better in half of the providers studied, the inspectors said that as many as half gave too little attention to key aspects of applied learning. Ofsted found that there were "unacceptable variations" in the quality of training plans and needs assessment of individual trainees from school to school.

(The Times, 19 January 2007)

12m workers have the reading age of children

Up to 16 million adults - nearly half the workforce - are holding down jobs despite having the reading and writing skills expected of children leaving primary school. MPs on the Commons Public Accounts Committee claim that a major government scheme costing billions of pounds has done little to improve the quality of adult literacy and numeracy teaching.

The Department for Education is on course to have spent almost £6bn on its Skills for Life scheme by 2010, but its first few years have produced little evidence of improvement in provision in colleges or on-the-job training by employers.

The committee examined progress made improving the literacy, language and numeracy skills of adults in England, expanding learning provision and improving its quality, and targeting adults who need to improve their skills. It looked in depth at the effectiveness of Skills for Life, which was launched in 2001 with a target to improve the skills of 2.25 million adults by 2010.

But it suggests that much higher spending is necessary to deliver real improvements. Although the DfES has spent at least £3.7bn, the committee concluded that was "likely only to mark the start of a long-term programme. Estimated further expenditure of over £2bn could be needed to sustain the strategy until 2010."

The report highlights poor quality of provision and teaching as a major reason for lack of progress. "The quality of provision for adults is still too low. An extensive review of quality and standards by Ofsted and the Adult Learning Inspectorate found widespread weaknesses. People in the greatest need were getting the worst provision, and even in colleges, provision of literacy, language and numeracy was poorer than the provision for other areas of learning. In the first three years of the strategy, inspections have shown little evidence of improvement."

The skills minister, Phil Hope, said: "Tackling the huge legacy of poor adult literacy and numeracy skills is a key priority for this government. Poor skills may cost the country as much as £10bn a year and our continuing investment reflects this. Already, 3.7 million adults have taken the first step to engaging in learning, with over 1 million of these going on to achieve first qualifications."

For further information on adult skills levels see the NLT key skills explanation

The full Public Accounts Committee report Skills for Life: improving adult literacy and numeracy is available at - www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506

(Guardian, 24 January 2006)

Screening in Welsh colleges shows up basic skills deficiency

Screening new students in Welsh colleges has exposed deficiencies in basic numeracy and literacy. But on a standstill budget they are struggling to cope with the fall-out. John Graystone, chief executive of the colleges body Fforwm said that when screening was introduced in 2004 by the former funding body ELWA, it identified 'a huge need'. Mr Graystone added: "I'm hearing figures of around 50 to 60% across the board, far greater than many of us realised. You can't ignore it. Yet we haven't the funding to respond."

In last year's skills action plan, the Assembly government revealed that 24% of the working-age population lacked level 1 literacy skills and 53% level 1 in numeracy. In Wales, 20% have no qualifications compared with 14% across the UK.

(TES Cymru, June 30 2006)

Skills for work are not enough

This TES article by Professor John Bynner, project director with the NRDC, at the Institute of Education, London, discusses the acquisition of skills beyond qualifications in light of the Leitch Review, and compares the UK with other developed countries. To read this article in full visit: www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2259493

(TES, June 7 2006)

Reading is passive. Writing is where the action is.

Ursula Howard, director of the NRDC at the Institute of Education, discusses the overemphasis on reading in the literacy curriculum. To read visit: http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,1785315,00.html

(Guardian, 30 May 2006)

The report was particularly critical of skills programmes in prisons, stating that over half of prisons investigated offered "inadequate" provision. The report said "too many" managers in prisons were failing to correct faults and weaknesses pointed out by inspectors. There also needed to be greater awareness among all prison staff of the role they played in developing skills.

The inspectors said Skills for Life was not achieving its key aim of helping people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. "There has been a depressing lack of improvement and a failure effectively to tackle weaknesses over the past four years," its annual report said. "This is despite an extraordinary injection of funds and capacity building from the Government's Skills for Life campaign."

However, the report did acknowledge a "dramatic improvement" in work-based training over the past four years, with inadequacy rates falling from 58% in 2001/02 to 25% in 2004/05.

David Sherlock, ALI's chief inspector, said adult education colleges were being forced to make up for the shortcomings of state schools. He said, "We cannot get away from the fact that the adult learning sector is distorted to deal with the shortcomings of our schools system. Until we deal with our failure to properly equip so many young people for adulthood, let alone successful careers, we cannot hope to build a world-beating adult skills strategy."

Skills minister Phil Hope acknowledged that there was much more to be done, but said the report had highlighted major improvements in the quality of training. He said, "The report will be a spur to help us identify what needs to be done to raise the quality of provision across the board. More than a million adults have improved their skills and gained a first qualification since we launched the Skills for Life programme. We are on course to meet our target of improving the skills of 2.25 million adults by 2010."

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4506410.stm December 2005)

Adult basic skills staff crisis

A shortage of specialist teachers is jeopardising the Government's attempt to help more people with basic literacy and numeracy, according to its own inspectors. The Office for Standards in Education says shortages of teachers with the necessary expertise and qualifications in literacy, numeracy and English for speakers of other languages (Esol) remain in all types of college.

In its report about the Government's "Skills for Life" strategy to to improve adult basic skills, Ofsted says: "The Skills for Life strategy has yet to deliver significant improvements in the quality of provision. The proportion of unsatisfactory provision for literacy, numeracy and Esol is unacceptably high in general further education colleges.

"The lack of skilled teachers is at the heart of the continuing difficulties with effective implementation of the Skills for Life strategy."

The Ofsted findings mirror the results of a survey carried out last year by The TES and the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace), which drew an angry response from the then skills minister Ivan Lewis.

The report revealed that the quality of courses for English for speakers of other languages has actually deteriorated, with nearly a third unsatisfactory compared with 26 per cent a year ago. Their report said: "A significant minority of vocational teachers have weak literacy and numeracy skills themselves.

Skills for life in colleges: one year on www.ofsted.gov.uk

(TES, 7 October 2005)

Teenagers with GCSEs lack basic skills

Teenagers with top-grade GCSE passes in maths and English are having to be tested again when they look for a job because so many lack basic skills. A report reveals a growing number of school-leavers with GCSEs lack the skills even to write a business letter or do basic sums.
It suggests that time should be set aside in the school timetable to coach youngsters in specific skills such as letter-writing.

The research, which was carried out among leading employers in the City of London, will refuel the debate over exam standards - and whether secondary schools are putting enough effort into improving standards in the basic subjects. "Some recruitment consultancies working on the employers' behalf test for literacy and numeracy - or offer further training in these areas - even where candidates hold the relevant GCSEs," it concludes. "This does not necessarily imply 'dumbing down' or a lowering of standards at age 16 although a few employers did have concerns in this area.

"It was more the case that the qualifications were thought not to equip recruits with particular basic arithmetic skills or business English for letter-writing and other professional communications."It adds: "Recruiters stated that candidates for administrative and secretarial, clerical and customer-support positions often lack basic skills and soft skills, as well as lacking in confidence and presentation skills." Soft skills are defined as an ability to communicate or engage in team work. It recommends more public-speaking opportunities.

The report also recommends the introduction of specialist coaching in business English and maths in schools - and adds that pupils should be persuaded to study traditional academic subjects rather than vocational qualifications.
It will make gloomy reading for ministers who rejected the call from the inquiry headed by the former chief schools inspector Sir Mike Tomlinson to replace the GCSE and A-level system with a single diploma to give more credibility to vocational qualifications.

This report shows that - while the two are separated - employers pay scant attention to vocational qualifications. The researchers said that employers "stuck to their traditional beliefs in the GCSE and A-level system and didn't necessarily move with the times".

(Independent, 29 June 2005)

Social groups that would arguably benefit most from adult education remain the least likely to try it, according to a survey published in May 2005. And a gender gap may be starting to open up, as the proportion of women learning grows while male participation declines, notes the study carried out for Niace, the National Institute for Adult and Continuing Education. Despite campaigns that promote the advantages of learning, the proportion of adults saying they have done none since leaving full-time education has stubbornly remained at around 35% since 1996, when the Niace surveys began.

More than half those in full or part-time employment are currently learning or have done some learning in the past three years, compared with 40% of the registered unemployed. The upper and middle classes are roughly twice as likely to be pursuing adult education as unskilled workers and people on limited incomes (socioeconomic groups D and E). Overall, almost one in five (19%) adults are doing some learning, a drop of 4% since 1996. "The economic pressures on publicly funded adult learning opportunities make it likely that this trend will be difficult to reverse in the next three years," comments the introduction to the 2005 Niace survey on adult participation in learning.

Some of its findings are encouraging. Despite the gap in participation between groups ABC1 and the Ds and Es, participation among all socioeconomic classes has increased by 2 or 3%. This increase has been most notable among group C1, skilled manual workers. In 1996, 33% of them said they were engaged in learning or had been in the previous three years. The proportion in the latest survey is 40%. Though the proportion of adults actually involved in learning at the time of the survey has dropped by 4% in a decade, the proportion of them added to those who have undertaken some education in the previous three years has risen slightly, to 42% over the past 12 months.

The survey was carried out for Niace by the research organisation RSGB, which interviewed more than 5,000 adults, aged 17 or over, during the last two weeks of February. The definition of learning it used was wide. It included "practising, studying or reading about something" as well as being taught, instructed or coached. It did not have to head to a qualification, nor did it have to last very long. In general, the older people are, the les likely they are to take part in learning. While, for instance, 52% of the 25-32 age-group are presently learning, or have done so in the past three years, that proportion drops to 32% in the 55-64 age group and 17% in the 65-74 group.

The intention to learn in the future also declines with age, particularly among the over-55s. Young adults, aged 24 and under, and older adults, aged 65 plus, are less likely to say they intend to take up learning in the future than they were three years ago. "An older population, with longer periods of active retirement, gains real health benefits from participation in learning - yet this survey offers no cheer on the impact of learning outside the world of work", the report says.

The latest survey confirms again that the later a person full-time education, the more likely they are to pursue learning in adulthood, Only 30% of those leaving school as early as possible are current or recent learners, compared with 60% of those who complete full-time education at 21 or older.

(Guardian, 24 May 2005)

Thousands of adults are being turned away from basic skills courses or put on long waiting lists because of staff shortages. Half the 100 colleges and 60 independent training providers in the national annual staffing survey said they had cut back basic skills programmes because of a lack of trained staff. Nearly a third had to postpone or cancel classes and a quarter had put learners on a waiting list, according to research by the TES and National Institute of Continuing Adult Education (NIACE). The survey was carried out to coincide with Adult Learners' Week, in late May 2005.

Basic skills teachers say they are struggling to get the training they need because there are not enough courses and funding is in short supply. Managers and lecturers responding to the survey said teacher training courses were often not available in their area or were full and had long waiting lists, especially at levels 3 and 4 (A-level and higher education equivalent). Even when funding is available, colleges struggle to find cover for those who do it. Alan Tuckett, director of NIACE, warned that people who had plucked up the courage to ask for help with literacy and numeracy might not return if turned away. "Even if only 10% of colleges are turning people away, they may never come back," he said.

The Department for Education and Skills is aware of the problem, admitting progress is "patchy" around the country. Barry Brookes, head of the DfES Skills for Life unit, said the south-west in particular was "really challenging" because of its large rural areas and lack of universities. But he insisted the Learning and Skills Council was getting to grips with the problem. Since 2001, new subject-specific teaching qualifications in basic skills have been established. There is also a new national curriculum for basic skills and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), and new materials. He said: "A year or two ago, you would be talking about people saying there are no courses, but now we have people being trained and more on the waiting list."

The TES/NIACE survey shows colleges are being creative about dealing with staff shortages. Three-quarters of respondents use staff development programmes to recruit and retain basic skills teachers, as well as improve the skills of existing staff. The same proportion offer full-timers time off for training, although this falls to half of respondents fro fractional staff and a quarter fro hourly-paid staff. A quarter offer payment for attendance at training sessions.

(TES, 20 May 2005)

Poor literacy costs £1bn a year

The Dyslexia Institute estimates that poor literacy and basic skills resulting from dyslexia that goes undiagnosed costs the UK economy around £1bn per year. The figure is a conservative estimate based on the 10% incidence of dyslexia in the UK, and the higher incidence of dyslexia among the prisons and probation populations and among the long-term unemployed. The £1bn total refers to money likely to be spent on dyslexics in these areas.

Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the institute, took part in a series of national and local radio interviews in September 2004 and will ensure that charity staff spread the message via one-to-one chats with the relevant MPs. She also hopes the message will appear in literature published by the charity's many government agency partners, such as Job Centre Plus. Cramer added that a minimum of £368m per annum is spent on people in prison and on probation who have unidentified dyslexia.

(Third Sector, 29 September 2004)

Survey suggests shortage of suitably qualified teachers holds back adult literacy

One in seven colleges and adult training centres depends on hourly-paid staff to run their entire basic literacy, numeracy and language courses, according to a national survey by the TES and the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education.

More than half of all the institutions responding to the survey said hourly-paid staff did at least 40% of the work. The overwhelming majority also depend on part-timers who are often on short contracts and hired through agencies.

The main findings were:

• 38% of institutions have a large gap in their Skills for Life (literacy, language and numeracy) provision as a direct result of under-qualified staff
• 22% reported large gaps in their ESOL provision
• 29% said they use part-time/hourly-paid staff for their Skills for Life programmes
• 17% employ staff without the necessary qualifications at levels 2, 3 and 4 (GCSE, A level and degree equivalent)
• 32% said there were not enough training opportunities for staff at these levels.

(TES, 14 May 2004)

Union learning reps boost basic skills on shopfloor

Unions and employers are celebrating the success of learning reps in improving the basic skills of shopfloor staff. Course enrolment has trebled to 25,000 in the year since union learning reps were given legal rights in April 2003 to spend time helping their colleagues to get trained.

This new status is liable to increase recruitment to unions. Industry accepts this as a small price to pay for cracking the basic skills problem which had frustrated human resources departments. The reps enjoy the same rights in Wales where the scheme is directly funded by the Welsh Assembly.

In the rail industry there are signs that the skills agenda is bringing competing unions together in an unprecedented way as they pool resources to tackle their members' skill levels.

But with 80% of private-sector workers not in union membership, and question marks over the adequacy of funding for basic skills through the further education system, the limitations of the scheme are beginning to show. The Confederation of British Industry stresses there are plenty of Government-funded alternatives but admits that, without a union to advise them, many employers simply d0 not understand how to get their hands on the cash - even if they are aware of its existence.

The Learning and Skills Council remains a little-known brand in small and medium-sized firms despite its size. It spends almost £9 billion a year on FE and work-related training in England. Industry points out that it sends £23.4 billion a year on staff training, nearly three times as much as the LSC.

But the CBI says union branches are often in the best position to tackle the toughest job in staff development - convincing employees that they need basic skills help.

The Association of Colleges has urged the Government to loosen the rules about which basic skills courses are eligible for public funding, so that more attractive packages can be offered to workers who would be loath to admit they are learning to read and write.

(TES, 30 April 2004)

Adults needing help with literacy and numeracy are being turned away from colleges because the Government's basic skills drive is running out of cash.

Colleges have called on ministers to loosen the funding rules so that they can help more adults who struggle to read a bus timetable or cope with household finances. John Brennan, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said increasing numbers of principals have told him they have been forced to axe the kind of basic skills courses which attract reluctant adult learners - including taster courses which do not lead to qualifications. These include courses which combine literacy and numeracy with other vocational areas - such as using computers.

Other basic skills courses, while qualifying for cash, are nevertheless a drain on budgets, he said, because they do not contribute to level 2 (GCSE A-C equivalent) targets which have a higher funding priority. As a result, they are vulnerable as colleges are forced by local learning and skills councils to priorities.

The AoC argues even level 2 targets are at stake if colleges are unable to get enough adults literate and numerate enough to cope with everyday life. The Government needs to grasp the relationship between basic skills and level 2 achievements if its strategy is to succeed, Mr Brennan said.

The AoC says the aim of getting more adults qualified in basic skills and to level 2 will be missed without a more relaxed funding regime and more cash.

(TES, 26 March 2004)

Basic skills teachers 'lack knowledge of grammar'

In 2002, 11 universities and colleges launched pilot schemes to train teachers to teach literacy, numeracy and English for speakers of other languages, following the recommendations of 1999's Moser report. The verdict on these schemes was delivered by the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC) in March 2003.

NRDC's research review tells us of the general surprise "at the low levels of personal numeracy and literacy among both practising teachers and new entrants [to the profession]." The review reports "a lack of grammatical knowledge even among practising teachers of many years' experience". It quotes one teacher trainer: "Many graduates come with absolutely no subject knowledge. They are native speakers of English who were not taught grammar at school."

The problem is worse in maths: some groups of trainees include "no mathematics graduates", and less than a quarter of the trainees surveyed are qualified beyond GCSE.

New initial teacher education programmes for teachers of literacy, numeracy and ESOL 2002/3: an exploratory study is available from www.nrdc.org.uk.

(Guardian, 2 March 2004)

Adult basic skills have a long way to go but literacy is improving

Half the adults in England are so bad at maths they would fail to score even the lowest grade at GCSE, the most authoritative survey of their skills so far reveals. The Government backed research by BMRB International says that 15 million workers struggle to grasp basic calculations and many also have functional literacy problems.

The study forms part of the Government's Skills for Life campaign and was commissioned in response to continuing concern over low standards of reading and writing among British adults who lag behind the rest of Europe.

The survey has found that the country has made great strides in tackling adult literacy problems. Only 5.2 million adults would fail to pass an English GCSE now - compared with slightly more than 7 million indicated in the Moser report three years ago.

The latest study involved more than 8,700 adults in England aged 16 to 65 who were given basic tests by the researchers. These included interpreting a bar chart, calculating a percentage price reduction, or picking a phone number from a list provided.

The survey concluded that 1.7 million (5%) of adults have literacy skills below Entry Level 3, the standard expected of 11-year-olds, and 5.2 million (16%) below level 1 (less than a D-G GCSE). In numeracy, 6.8 million (21%) have skills below Entry Level 3, and 15 million (47%) below Level 1.

(Guardian, 31 October 2003)

Adult literacy levels - what do they mean?

Literacy levels by age

Literacy levels by region

More information from the Literacy and Social Inclusion project

Survey critique

International adult literacy consultant Thomas Sticht produced a critique of the Skills for Life survey on behalf of the Basic Skills Agency. He stated that the Department for Education and Skills was wrong to conclude that the survey indicated success for the Skills for Life strategy. He wrote: "There are major differences between the International Adult Literacy Survey tests used to determine the estimate of 7 million adults with poor literacy skills in 1997 and the estimate of 5.2 million adults with poor literacy skills in the Skills for Life survey of 2003 which render comparisons of the results of the two surveys invalid."

The full critique is available on the New Zealand Literacy Portal website at www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz.

Pathfinders are located in:

• West Yorkshire
• East London and Lewisham
• South-east coastal counties
• Brunley and Pendle
• Walsall and Birmingham
• Buckinghamshire and Norfolk
• Exeter and Plymouth
• West London
• South Thames
• Liverpool, Blackburn and the Wirrall
• The Army
• The Prison Service