In this paper we evaluate the labour market value of basic skills in the UK, focusing on the wage and employment returns to having better literacy and numeracy skills. We draw on literacy and numeracy assessments undertaken by all cohort members of the UK 1970 British Cohort Study. The data used are very rich and allow us to account for potential…

Over 400 e-learning grant applications from Australian primary schools were analysed to determine the nature of the proposed ICT based projects in literacy and numeracy. Three key dimensions emerged from the teacher descriptions: ICT infrastructure, motivation and ICT use, and pedagogy and innovation. The three dimensions, and the interactions…

The purpose of this guide is to provide analyses and advice that help philanthropists determine where their capital can have the greatest impact in the lives of U.S. disadvantaged students. To meet this objective, three critical questions were addressed: What is a meaningful change to target? What activities lead to that change for at-risk…

A program to train literacy providers to help empower women was developed with funding from the United Nations Development Program. The training program is based on a manual titled "Educate to Empower." The manual, which is designed to train material developers to prepare gender-sensitive learning kits on various topics related to…

This bibliography of research in adult literacy and basic skills is selective, covering research undertaken in industrialized countries in the 20 years between 1972 and 1992. It concentrates primarily on research into basic skills undertaken in English-speaking countries, although it also has a European dimension. Entries are categorized under 18…

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…