Accountability in Adult Literacy Programs in the UK

1. Accountability in adult literacy, language and numeracy in England;with reference to the other UK countries Dr Janine Eldred Associate Director NIACE

2. The UK policy context • The Skills for Life Strategy, England • The National Basic Skills Strategy, Wales • The Scottish Adult Literacy and Numeracy Strategy • Northern Ireland – Essential Skills Strategy

3. The Skills for Life Strategy • Launched 2001 • 4 key areas: boosting demand… and capacity, improving the quality of teaching and learning… and learner achievement • Priority groups: unemployed people, offenders, low-skilled employees, those at risk of exclusion including speakers of other languages and those in disadvantaged communities.

4. Skills for Life Strategy • £1.5bn investment over 3 years • Targets – learners to have moved up one level • 750k learners achieving by 2004 • Further investment to £3.5bn • 1.5m learners achieving by 2007 • 2.5m by 2010

5. What’s been done? • Teacher standards and qualifications • Core curricula including pre-entry • Pathfinders, materials, resources, guidance and websites • Research and development • Assessment – initial, formative and summative • Continuing professional development (CPD)

6. Development and diversity • Literacy – reading, writing, speaking and listening • English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) • Maths4Life – or numeracy? • Learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities • Family learning, literacy and numeracy

7. Development and Diversity • Financial learning/literacy • Embedded approaches • Voluntary and community sector • Workplace • Unionlearn; Sector Skills Councils • ICT as the 4th Skill for Life

8. Achievements • By 2007 2m learners had gained first qualifications in literacy, language or numeracy • 1.7 million learners achieved a first level 2 qualification • 25,000 teachers had been involved in CPD and qualifications updates

9. Accountability to key stakeholders • Government including treasury • Planning and funding body, Learning and Skills Council • Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) • Providers, practitioners • Learners • Employers • Tax payers

10. Accountability – government agencies • Government – achieve national test at EL3, L1 or L2 • LSC – agency of government – to plan and fund in order to achieve • Ofsted – effectiveness, achievements, quality, leadership and management

11. Levels of learning • Pre-entry • Entry level 1 • Entry level 2 • Entry level 3 – similar to pupils at 11 years • Level 1 – similar to pupils at 14 years; 1st national vocational qualifications for young people and adults (NVQs) • Level 2 – similar to pupils at 16 years (NVQ 2)

12. Accountability – providers and practitioners • Shaped by planners, funders, inspectors • Engaged in leading and managing • Driven by teaching and learning • Committed to learners • Issues of historic perception, partiality, protection?

13. Accountability – learners • Overcoming barriers to learning - participation • Linked to reasons for learning – family, work, personal, educational • Assessed by - before…and after • Judged by application - living and working • Confidence

14. Accountability - employers • Interested in performance of employees • Willing to harness tacit learning • Less interested in qualifications • Literacy and numeracy skills linked to customer service and problem solving • Impact on the ‘bottom line’?

15. Accountability – tax payers • How does the tax payer assess? • How discriminate between different sources of information? • Quantitative data – size, dimension, • Qualitative data - personal, complex, illustrative, informative • Economic modelling – possible 8% return on investment

16. Measuring Success • Do qualifications mean improvement? • Planning Learning, Recording progress and Achievement (PLRA) • Recognising and Recording Progress and Achievement (RARPA)

17. Measuring Success • Initial, diagnostic, formative and summative assessment • Individual learning plans • Portfolios • Where do multi-choice, on-line marked tests fit in?

18. Accountability problematised • Reconciliation of multi-purposes for learning and a common assessment • Reconciliation of teaching and learning approaches to a final test • Teaching to the test? • Hierarchy of achievement?

19. Accountability problematised • Is there a common conceptualisation of what we mean by literacy, language and numeracy? • Can any system capture all aspects of achievement? • Not all learners count • Do we count what we can count and not that which really counts?

20. …And other UK countries? • Scotland – “Success should be measured on learners’ goals..their improvement, building on the core skills framework and progress file.” Literacy policy Scotland • Wales – “ …measures are intended to encourage adults to join programmes; some are about increasing the number of adults improving basic skills as part of their involvement in a local community group; and some are about self-help.” • Development of tests with expectation of learners, “…working towards them.”The National Basic Skills Strategy for Wales (all age)

21. …And other UK countries? • Northern Ireland – ‘Success through Skills’ • Essential Skills, based upon standards and curricula from England • Bank of tasks eg on all 4 literacy skills, externally set, internally assessed and externally moderated.

22. Does one size fit all? • Differentiated forms of accountability for different purposes and audiences – unitised, credit –based qualifications • Holistic approach to evidence gathering – assessments, witness statements, performance • Inform and educate stakeholders about nature of literacy, language and numeracy • Harness technological solutions • Self regulation

23. Ultimate accountability • Does it do what it says on the tin? • What difference to learners? • Must be trust and integrity • ‘The first step is to measure whatever can be easily measured…The second step is to disregard that which can’t easily be measured or to give it arbitrary quantitative value. This is artificial and misleading. The third step is to presume that what can’t be measured easily isn’t important. This is blindness. The fourth step is to say that what can’t be easily measured really doesn’t exist. This is suicide.’ Charles Handy, The Empty Raincoat 1994

24. www.niace.org.uk • janeldred@niace.org.uk