NLT policy

Bridging the literacy gap between education and business

1 Dec 2008

In November 2008, the National Literacy Trust hosted a policy breakfast, Bridging the literacy gap between education and business. At the event, business and education leaders debated the literacy skills needed in the workplace and highlighted a number of areas that need further development and debate.

Gail Rebuck, chief executive of Random House and a National Literacy Trust trustee, led the discussion. Participants included representatives from corporates including UBS and law firm Slaughter and May, and from education bodies including the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and St Matthew’s Academy, a school specialising in business and enterprise.

Background

Following huge investment over the past decade, school results are at historically high levels. The last couple of years have seen the rate of improvement stall, but there are still greater numbers of UK young people with better GCSEs, A-Levels and degrees than at any other time.

However, employers often complain that their employees do not have basic literacy skills such as reading and writing, and that other functional literacy skills such as speaking and listening are not taught effectively at school, despite the recognition of their importance in the workplace.

The extent of business concern was illustrated in a 2008 report from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which showed that 41 per cent of employers are worried about the basic literacy skills of their new recruits.[1] There were sector specific concerns, but all sectors, including recruiters of high-end graduates, were concerned about basic literacy. For example, 20 per cent of financial employers were concerned about new employees’ literacy. Common concerns included sentence and paragraph structure, as well as the ability to spell correctly without using a spell checker. Many-school leavers simply do not have the basic reading, writing, speaking and listening skills required to enter the workplace.

 

Consensus on early years

Despite the education and skills gap manifesting at later ages, there was a consensus among the group that the early years of life are key to laying the foundations for strong literacy skills.

It is essential that communication skills are embedded in the first few years of a child’s life, as that is the period when most brain development takes place. As children move on from their pre school provision into more formal educational settings it is essential that good literacy practice is continued. Some schools do work with children of all ages and this consistency throughout a child’s school life should help to embed literacy. For schools that do not deal with children of all ages it is fast becoming a policy priority to develop links with other schools to foster this sense of continuity.  

Early communication is not based on formal reading and writing skills, but on speaking and listening.

 

Speaking and listening skills

Interestingly, speaking and listening skills are something that businesses value highly. In 1999 a QCA report, Talking, Reading and Writing at Work reported on interviews with employers and employees about the literacy requirements of different jobs. The importance of speaking and listening skills in the workplace was repeated by many interviewees. Some employers went as far as to say that effective communication skills in interview could outweigh formal qualifications when they made a decision.

However, these skills are often considered as separate from traditional literacy skills. This perception means that there is a tendency to focus literacy programmes on reading and writing, while assuming speaking and listening will develop organically.

There is also an inherent difficulty in assessing more fluid communication skills. Traditional testing regimes can assess a student’s reading and writing skills, but there are a number of issues surrounding speaking and listening. Ensuring quality of assessment and a fair system is difficult, as consistency can be hard to maintain across the system.

There is a growing realisation of the need to embed speaking and listening skills in the curriculum. This has now translated into action and assessment of these skills will be brought into schools in the near future. The Children’s Plan announced that from 2011 that there will be a functional skills aspect to English GCSEs.[2] Furthermore, the Interim report from the Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum has highlighted the need to embed communication across the primary curriculum.[3] 

 

Closer partnerships with business and education

Good links between employers and schools could help pupils to see the relevance of what they are being taught. For instance, employers from different sectors could visit schools and explain the practical uses of literacy taught in the classroom. This could take the form of talks given to local schools, or possibly running workshops with the children.

Many employers understand the ideas behind work experience and having school children come into the workplace. However, they are often too busy to dedicate time enough time to make the experience worthwhile, and believe that businesses visiting schools could be more effective. Beyond visits and talks, partnerships and participation can flourish in different ways. For example, some qualifications are designed with input from businesses to make the skills acquired more relevant for those entering the workplace. For literacy, these range from ensuring pupils have a basic knowledge of technical letter writing, to practice with customer service skills such as holding eye contact.

Workplace learning

The growing use of functional skills is part of a wider realisation in education that young people need to see the relevance of what they are being taught. Pupils are more motivated learners if they believe that what they are taught in school affects their lives and future in a direct way. As well as potential changes in curriculum design there is an opportunity for employers to take a lead in this area.

Employers can make a conscious effort to highlight the ways that literacy is used, even indirectly, in the workplace. This could be as simple as reading receipts, taking orders over the phone or writing well-written emails. These are examples of essential literacy skills, learnt in school and required in the workplace. It is this application of those skills that needs to be made clearer to young people, in order to keep literacy relevant.

 

Reconciling different perspectives

Though graduates have been found to have poor literacy skills for the workplace, it does not necessarily imply that they have failed at school. It is important for both bodies to appreciate that there will always be different literacy requirements in school and the workplace.

Schools do have various programmes to help those struggling with literacy skills catch up. However, an understanding of the importance of literacy is not always embedded clearly across the curriculum. Assessment in most subject areas is free from literacy requirements and this allows students to progress in many disciplines, including some that are entirely reliant on essays without having their grammar corrected. The fact that formal literacy is not always enforced means that pupils sometimes fail to realise its importance, and allow less formal uses to slip into their work. This is reflected in examiners reporting a rise in ‘text language’ from pupils, something that is not appropriate in school or the workplace. There is a belief that cross curricular assessment of literacy would help to reduce basic skills issues.

 

Conclusion

The disparity between improving school literacy results and persistent concerns from employers about their new recruits is an issue that demands attention and strategic solutions.

As the primary statutory agency in preparing young people for a life in employment, it is important that schools understand the needs of employers. In turn it is important that employers are willing to work closely with the education system to ensure that the skills they require are considered in curriculum design.

Despite the current gap there are promising signs from both sides. The education system is undergoing changes, with a redesigned primary curriculum and the addition of a functional aspect to GCSE assessment. New qualifications are also designed with employers in mind and are aiming to bridge the gap. For their part, businesses have shown a willingness to train their employers, and largely recognise that they do have a role in the skills of their workforce. The CBI and others have helped in the design of qualifications.

The opinions expressed at the National Literacy Trust policy breakfast demonstrate that business leaders have a comprehensive understanding of the situation, while the solutions debated show that there is scope for progress and change. 

 

George Dugdale, policy adviser

National Literacy Trust, December 2008

Downloadable copy of this paper: Bridging the Literacy Gap

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[1] CBI (2008), Taking Stock: CBI education and skills survey

[2] DCSF (2007), Children’s Plan

[3] Jim Rose, (2008), The Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum

Tags: Adult Basic Skills, Early years sector, Policy, Schools & teaching, Social inclusion

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