British employers' perceptions of the key skills needed by young workers and all employees were examined through a national study that involved a large-scale survey of 193 employers and in-depth interviews with a subsample of 46 employers selected to be representative from the standpoints of firm size, sector, region, and employment of young…

This instructor's manual for workplace trainers contains the materials required to conduct a course in pre-statistical process control. The course consists of six lessons for workers and two lessons for supervisors that discuss the following: concepts taught in the six lessons; workers' progress in the individual lessons; and strategies for…

This second of three volumes of the 1992 Australian Council for Adult Literacy (ACAL) Conference Papers includes 12 papers from workshops, with a national focus. The "Welcome Speech" (Marie Perrson) is followed by "Literacy: An Ecological View" (David Sless) that shares a view of literacy as an interdependent component in a much larger…

A project was conducted in Australia to put together guidelines for developing gender-inclusive, ethnic-inclusive, and nonagist material in adult literacy curricula. Another purpose was to develop examples of adult literacy curricula exemplary in the use of nonsexist, nonagist, and nonracist material. This document combines the executive summary…

In fall 2003, the Head Start Bureau began implementing the Head Start National Reporting System (NRS) to systematically assess the early literacy, language and numeracy skills of all 4- and 5-year-olds enrolled in Head Start. In addition to child progression on a designated set of outcomes during the year preceding kindergarten, the data will…

This paper defines active citizenship as a fundamental aim of democratic society that enables all citizens to participate as fully as possible in cultural, economic, political, and social life. Adult education is recommended as a forum for promoting active citizenship and, since participatory democracy is learned through practice, should be an…

This paper describes a case study in which one woman in a focus group of 11 women recounted her use of numerical and mathematical tools in her personal and work life. According to the researcher, the subject's experiences engendered strong feelings and revealed that aspects of her self-identity were bound up with her use of tools and feelings…

This report summarizes a survey of participants in a teacher training program for the First Steps project, which provides additional support for development of literacy and numeracy among "at-risk" students in Western Australia schools. The training program was to assist teachers in implementing the program in their schools. Respondents…

A survey of 150 schools in Western Australia asked principals, teachers, and parents about the extent to which the First Steps program literacy component was operating in their schools and their perceptions of the results of the implementation. The First Steps program is designed to support the development of literacy and numeracy among…

This guide is designed to help workplace trainers and curriculum writers to understand the role that language plays in vocational education and training, and to provide strategies to address language, literacy, and numeracy as part of the training provided. The guide is organized in four sections that cover the following: (1) learning about…

This document resulted from a project undertaken to develop a set of program-specific and occupationally relevant performance (learning) objectives for the Ontario Basic Skills/Formation de Base de l'Ontario (OBS/FBO) program. It describes project activities, including a literature review in three related areas: understanding what literacy means,…

This booklet, which was written for literacy educators in Australia, examines selected research on adult literacy practices in rural families and communities and the implications of that research for adult literacy practice. The booklet begins with a discussion of literacy as social practice. The role of case studies in identifying factors…

This is the fourth paper published by The Centre for Literacy in its Working Papers in Literacy series, which present new perspectives on literacy-related issues relevant to researchers, to practitioners, and to policy-makers. This paper was written in 1998 as an advisory document to the UK Qualifications and Curriculum Agency (QCA) which manages…

A longitudinal study examined developments in preschoolers' understanding of literacy and numeracy, comparing learning models based on adult-child interactions or on children's learning processes at preschools with varied reflectivity levels. Children's understanding of symbols related to literacy and numeracy. Developments in their understanding…

This investigation examines school-family partnership relationships in rural and remote settings. The study highlights the teaching-learning relationships of classroom teachers, parents as instructors/supervisors, and students as they make sense of numeracy and literacy outcomes in distance education contexts. The case study data provide insights…