Article

More than 2.25 million adults achieve first qualifications in basic skills

DEPARTMENT FOR INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES AND SKILLS News Release (035/2008) issued by The Government News Network on 23 June 2008

2010 Skills for Life target achieved two years early as Denham pledges continuing focus on skills and training

An ambitious target for 2.25 million people to achieve their first national qualification in basic skills such as reading and writing has been achieved two years early, John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills announced today.

Since 2001, 2,276,000 learners have achieved their first Skills for Life qualification in literacy, language or numeracy, improving the life chances of millions of people and in many cases paving the way into work or improving job prospects.

Skills for Life provides free literacy, language and numeracy tuition for adults in England who have skills below Level 2 (broadly equivalent to a GCSE at grades A* - C.). An external study found that Skills for Life has set the standard for government-led intervention and is seen as the benchmark against which other countries measure their own commitment and achievements.

Mr Denham said:
"These qualifications give people so much more than just a certificate. Gaining basic skills like reading and writing are a vital step towards getting a better job and life.

"Better skills improve the life chances of not only the learners but also their families and children. Skills help people get into and on at work, provide a stepping stone to further qualifications and can also help parents with basic tasks like supporting their children with their homework or reading them a bedtime story."

Research from the National Research and Development Centre for adult literacy and numeracy published in May 2008, found having basic skills had a direct impact on the achievement of children in particular that:
* Poor basic skills, such as literacy and numeracy, transfer from one generation to the next;
* Parents' basic skills have a significantly greater impact on their child's cognitive ability than other factors such as the family structure, household income, a parent's education and socio-economic group;
* Parents' literacy skills have the most significant impact on the cognitive ability of young children. Five-year-olds from families with good literacy perform up to 65% better in cognitive tests than those who are from families with the lowest levels of literacy.

Achieving basic skills can also have a direct affect on the likelihood of people increasing their job prospects and the amount of money they earn. Indeed, a lack of literacy, language and numeracy skills can often trap people into low-skilled, poorly-paid jobs. 45% of those with literacy Level 1 or below in work earn less than £10,000 a year, this compares to only 25% with literacy skills at Level 1 or above.

Research also shows that 98 per cent of jobs are closed to people with basic skills below entry level with 50 per cent of jobs closed to people with basic skills below level.

The Government plans to improve the functional literacy and numeracy skills of one million adults over the current comprehensive spending review period with targets for 390,000 numeracy and 597,000 literacy achievements over the next three years. This will be backed by a further £3.9 billion in government funding between 2007/08 and 2010/11.

Mark Haysom, Chief Executive of the Learning and Skills Council, which plans and funds Skills for Life courses, said:
"The early achievement of the 2010 PSA target is a direct result of the hard work, effort and energy of our learning and training providers. They are to be congratulated for enriching the lives and employability of individuals by giving them the necessary literacy and numeracy skills. Starting the journey of self improvement from the lowest levels whilst not easy, can bring a wealth of rewards to the individual as their confidence grows and in turn to the British economy as our skills base is raised. With this fantastic achievement now under our belt we must continue with our crusade to eliminate poor literacy and numeracy within England."

Notes to editors

1. The 2010 Skills for Life Public Service Agreement (PSA) target was for 2.25 million people to have improved their skills by one level by achieving their a first qualification in Adult Literacy, Numeracy or ESOL at Entry Level 3, Level 1 or Level 2, from April 2001 to July 2010. The target measures first achievements only - there is no double counting. So if a learner moves their skills up by two levels, only one achievement is counted towards the target. There have now been 2,276,000 million achievements meaning the target for 2.25m achievements by July 2010 has been met two years early.

2. The Skills for Life Strategy was launched in 2001 to tackle the legacy of adults with poor literacy, language and numeracy skills within England. The strategy aims to help create a society where adults have the basic skills they need to find and keep work and participate fully in society, through:
* Boosting demand for learning
* Ensuring capacity of the learning provider delivery system
* Improving standards of teaching and learning
* Increasing learner achievement

3. The Skills for Life National Needs and Impact Survey of Literacy, Numeracy and IT skills, published in October 2003, estimated that in England, 5.2 million adults aged 16-65 have literacy levels below Level 1 (broadly equivalent in difficulty to an English GCSE at grades D-G), and 6.8 million have numeracy skills below Entry Level 3 (the level expected of 11 year olds). The full survey is available at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research.

4. In November 2004 the Government met and exceeded the target to ensure that 750,000 adults improved their skills and gained a qualification by 2004. In February 2007 the Government met and exceeded the target to ensure that 1,500,000 adults improved their skills and gained a qualification by 2007.

5. It is estimated that an individual with good literacy and numeracy could earn £50,000 more over a working life than someone with poorer skills. And although achieving the most basic levels in numeracy and literacy does not always increase earnings or job prospects in the short term, the increased self-confidence and motivation learners gain from completing a course is of huge personal value and helps them start the process of transforming their lives.

6. The then Department for Education and Skills commissioned a study, Benchmarking the Skills for Life Strategy, Tribal Education and Technology (October 2006), benchmarking the key components of the Skills for Life strategy against approaches to improving the literacy and numeracy skills of young people and adults within the United Kingdom and internationally. The study found, that compared with approaches in other countries, the Skills for Life strategy was highly developed and distinctive in the breadth of its scope and the application of its systems. It presented a national end-to-end adult teaching and learning infrastructure comprising: standards, courses, teaching requirements, learning support, assessment and qualifications that were not matched anywhere in the world.

7. The LSC's "Get On" campaign, which was first launched by the then Department for Education and Skills in 2001, is part of the Government's Skills for Life strategy. The campaign encourages the millions of people in England who experience difficulties with literacy, language and numeracy skills, or would benefit from 'brushing up' on these skills, to enrol on a free course by calling 0800 66 0800.

8. The Government's consultation over a new legal right for workers to request time to train was launched on Wednesday 18 June and can be found at: http://www.dius.gsi.gov.uk