Reconsidering UK adult literacy in an international context

1. Reconsidering UK adult literacy in an international context Peter Lavender National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE)

2. Overview In the UK • What do we know about participation in learning? • Which specific groups need attention? • What could be done? • What do we know about adult literacy? • What’s being done? In the South • What’s the challenge? • What is being done? What might we do together?

3. What do we know about participation in the UK?

4. Participation in adult learning – 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2006 compared Base: all respondents

5. Current /recent participation in adult learning, by socio-economic class (2006) Base: all respondents

6. Current /recent participation in adult learning, by employment status (2006) Base: all respondents

7. Current /recent participation in adult learning, by age (2006) Base: all respondents

8. Current /recent participation in adult learning, by terminal age of education (2006) Base: all respondents

9. Future intentions to learn, by learning status (2006) Base: all respondents who have finished full-time education

10. The skills strategy and social inclusion

11. Policy issues around adult learning that need researching • Globalisation and technological change • Poverty • Well-being and happiness • Sustainability • Nation states and citizenship • Demography • Private, public and voluntary • Policy tension

12. Productivity + Competitiveness Social Inclusion

13. What do we know about adult literacy in the UK?

14. Characteristics of people with Entry Level 3 literacy or lower • 52% own their own home • 18% English as a second language • 25% from a minority ethnic group • 51% no qualifications • 38% good health • 56% were working • 30% earned less than £10,000 pa • 24% received JSA, income support or IB The Skills for Life Survey, 2003

15. ‘Our priority groups’ (DfES) • Low-skilled people in employment • Unemployed people, benefit claimants, Jobseekers • Public sector employees • Young adults • People who live in disadvantaged communities • Prisoners and those supervised in the community • Parents • Other groups at risk of exclusion

16. And…? • Adults with disabilities or mental health difficulties • Refugees and asylum seekers • Part-time and temporary workers • Those employed in businesses which are “cool to training” • Workers aged over 45 - often neglected when it comes to training and development • Migrants • Women – especially from ethnic minority communities • The existing workforce needing to strengthen skills

17. What’s the problem generally? • Diverse but not yet equal society • Barriers: cultural, social, psychological • ‘Not for the likes of us’ • Peer group views • Perceived risks

18. What’s the problem about literacy and numeracy?

19. What learners say • Family reasons – to help children and to understand better what their children are learning at school • Work – to get a better job and improve their performance at work • Personal – to improve knowledge and skills, pursue interest, overcome stigma • Move on – to get a qualification, or move on to more demanding things • Contribute – to communities, eg immigrants, asylum seekers and migrant workers

20. Triggers that lead to learning • Compulsion or requirement • Life change or crisis • The desire to help children • Involvement in community action or in voluntary or community groups • Locating learning nearby or in well-used places • Example and encouragement of other people • A successful experience

21. What’s being done in the UK? • Boosting demand for learning • Ensuring capacity • Raising standards • Improving learner achievement

22. PSA Delivery Agreement 2: Improve the skills of the population Government’s long-term vision by 2020: • 95 per cent of adults to achieve the basic skills of functional literacy and numeracy • Exceeding 90 per cent of adults qualified to level 2 • 68 per cent qualified to level 3 • Increasing apprenticeship to 500,000 a year • Over 40 per cent of of adults qualified to level 4

23. In the South: Education for All?

24. International literacy • Education for All - 6 goals adopted 2000 by 164 countries in Senegal • Some successes but in universal primary education (UPE) • 100m children not enrolled in primary, 55% are girls • Fees payable for primary in 89 countries (of 103) • 2005 gender parity target missed: 94/149 countries • Quality is too low • Tension between UPE and adult literacy

25. Adult and youth literacy • Essential to achieving all other goals • A right denied to 20% of the world’s population • A societal and an individual issue • Crucial for economic, social and political participation and development • Key to enhancing human capabilities, with critical benefits

26. The literacy challenge • Particular effects: • Poor • Women (88:100) Men • Marginalized groups • Greater than we think Direct testing of literacy suggests that the global challenge is much greater than the conventional numbers, based on indirect assessments, would indicate, and that it affects both developed and developing countries. Literacy for Life EFA Global Monitoring Report 2006

27. GMR asks for… • Political leaders to commit to action • Active government policy responsibility • Clear national frameworks to manage • Increased budgetary and aid allocations • Better assessment and teaching – basing teaching on learners’ demands &motivation • Curricula built on these demands, with clear learning objectives and learning materials • Adequate pay, status, and provision • Appropriate language policies.

28. What’s the problem? • Bilateral aid: most goes to post-secondary level • Few bilateral donors specifically mention literacy in their aid policies • Poorest countries need predictable, long-term aid • Dominance of Fast-Track Initiative (World Bank); a FTI for UPE but not a FTI for EFA! • Multi-lateral aid has tough strings attached.

29. What’s the problem? • Bilateral aid: most goes to post-secondary level • Few bilateral donors specifically mention literacy in their aid policies • Poorest countries need predictable, long-term aid • Dominance of Fast-Track Initiative (World Bank); a FTI for UPE but not a FTI for EFA! • Multi-lateral aid has tough strings attached.

30. What is being done? • Understanding literacy and literacies • Getting better evidence • Making societies more literate • Better schooling • Well organised campaigns • Better policies • National language policies • Literate environments

31. How might we do this together? • Include Family Literacy programmes for parents as part of basic education support • Support literacy and numeracy where we support enterprise development • Train health workers to incorporate literacy and numeracy into their programmes • Support and work with the British Council to develop exchanges for adult literacy workers • DFID to actively support inclusion of adult literacy in education sector plans submitted to FTI, and argue for the FTI to genuinely be a EFA FTI • Support governments to do new national surveys.

32. Thanks! peter.lavender@niace.org.uk