NIACE Annual Review 2011-12Annual Review 2011-12

Life skills

Why we do itImage copyright Caters Photographic

‘Life skills’ underpin lifelong learning and enable adults to participate fully in society. We are committed to widening access to these skills, particularly among the least advantaged groups in society, as well as to improving the range and quality of provision in this area.

What we do

We aim to make a positive impact on national policy in adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL, and in digital, civic, health and financial capabilities (‘life skills’) across England and Wales. We develop curricula, resources, standards and effective practice to support life skills provision. Through a range of activities, we infuence the attitudes to life skills provision of policy-makers, stakeholders, individuals, society and the media, and create opportunities for learners and NIACE members to influence developments in policy and practice.

Our achievements in 2011-12

  • To promote the improvement of literacy and numeracy skills in the workplace, we worked with unions to deliver training sessions to enthuse employees and their colleagues about maths, produced a booklet for intermediaries, and developed a reading group toolkit to encourage reading groups.
  • We ran a successful ‘Making the Transition to Functional Skills’ course and are now rolling this out for a range of practitioners. Alongside, we produced a range of support materials, including a short flm on YouTube of learners talking about their experiences.
  • We produced BBC Skillswise materials to support reading for pleasure and a phonics tool for use with adults. We also advised BBC Learning on Secrets and Words, a series of TV dramas to inspire adults with literacy issues to return to learning.
  • We continued to promote Quick Reads books to a wider range of intermediaries, helping adults with low levels of confidence in lieracy to engage in literacy learning and develop their skills. We have increased the number of and range of partners and levered funding from UNISON and BBC Learning to support our activities.
  • We coordinated the Wales ESOL advisory group which supports the Welsh Government on the development and implementation of policy. We also delivered ESOL training to over 100 practitioners, providing learning materials and practical advice to support those teaching learners with entry level ESOL skills who wish to apply for UK citizenship.

Our key objectives for 2012-13

  • Use the knowledge gained through NIACE’s inquiries into literacy and numeracy, and other major commissions and research, to provide advice to government on the development of their policies in these areas.
  • Deliver conferences and training to share best practice in a range of ‘life skills’ elements including the introduction of functional skills (in England), digital learning, maths, literacy and ESOL.
  • Produce and disseminate new resources to help providers with digital learning, functional skills, maths, intensive literacy, ESOL and financial capability.
  • Ensure that research findings are effectively disseminated and built upon, through a range of publications and events in order to improve the English and maths skills of adults.
  • Lead a national maths campaign to improve the public understanding of the positive links between maths/numeracy and their benefitsfor individuals, community and society.

Work, Society and Lifelong Literacy

On International Literacy Day, 8 September 2011, we launched the findings of a year-long NIACE-supported independent inquiry into adult literacy, making a number of recommendations to government. The report – Work, Society and Lifelong Literacy – argued that adults’ literacy needs must be regarded as a moral imperative if the cycle of intergenerational diffculties with literacy is to be broken. The inquiry, chaired by former education minister Lord Boswell of Aynho, also called for more teachers to be trained and more innovative and cross-sectoral partnership to help the many millions of adults who do not have the literacy skills for everyday life.

The report followed the NIACE-led review of adult numeracy, which published its final report in February 2011. It argued that the government needed to adopt a new approach to numeracy that focused on how adults use maths and numbers in everyday life. The two reports have proved influential in the shift in policy from Skills for Life to Functional Skills.

 

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