Adult basic skills training no boost to economic competitiveness
03 April 2009
Short, sharp basic skills courses designed to improve adult literacy and numeracy are a waste of time and money, a leading education economist will warn at a conference today (Friday 3 April).
Since the early 1990s, the government has launched initiatives to increase the reading, writing and maths skills of people who find them difficult – 20 per cent of adults in England have severe literacy problems and 40 per cent have trouble with numeracy – in efforts to boost the country's economic competitiveness. Figures from the National Audit Office show that £995 million were spent on one such programme, Skills for Life, in 2006–07, with an average spend per course of £500.
Yet the UK remains in the bottom half of international basic skills league tables produced by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Professor Anna Vignoles, from the Institute of Education, London, will confirm at the Institute for Fiscal Studies conference.
Professor Vignoles will contend that good basic skills are crucial in boosting earning power, but they must be learned early. "It is well known that an individual's basic skills level affects how much they earn, but research shows that the three Rs are best acquired in childhood," she will say. "Policies and qualifications to help adults develop them have proved largely ineffective."
She will add that there may still be a place for short training programmes of up to 20 hours, as they can reach people who are not engaged in other learning. There is also evidence that adults who take basic skills training are more likely to take up formal education courses.
"But," she will argue, "The array of low-level qualifications available to adults has not boosted productivity and earnings. Gains from workplace courses are particularly small."
She will suggest that adult programmes can potentially build literacy and numeracy skills, but only if they are lengthy and intensive, as adult learners need between 100 and 150 hours of instruction. This would have cost implications.
"Adult basic skills training might increase equality of opportunity, but unfortunately it won't boost economic competitiveness," she will conclude.
Ends
For further information or to arrange an interview with Professor Vignoles, please contact Helen Green, 020 7612 6459, 07734 540 870, h.green@ioe.ac.uk.
Notes for editors
1. The OECD provides a setting where governments of countries committed to democracy and the market economy can compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practice and coordinate domestic and international policies.
Their annual publication, Education at a Glance, is a collection of internationally comparable data on education and learning.
2. One government initiative in this area is subsidised workplace-based basic skills training. Professor Alison Wolf (King's College London) and others have evaluated this initiative and found that "Workplace literacy courses produce very small average gains in performance…" This is partly because the training involves relatively few contact hours of teaching ( http://www.tlrp.org/dspace/retrieve/3704/wolfRB59final.pdf). The government has also emphasised the role of National Vocational Qualifications in improving adult skill levels, particularly at level 2. Yet extensive evaluation of NVQ2 qualifications by Vignoles and others ( http://cee.lse.ac.uk/cee%20dps/ceedp89.pdf) has shown that these low level qualifications do little to improve individuals' skills and earnings.
4. The National Audit Office's report can be found at http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/0708/skills_for_life_progress_in_i.aspx?alreadysearchfor=yes
3. The Institute for Fiscal Studies promotes effective economic and social policies by understanding better their impact on individuals, families, businesses and the government's finances.
4. Anna Vignoles is professor of education and director of the Institute of Education branch of the Centre for Economics of Education – the other branches are based at the London School of Economics and the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
5. The Institute of Education is a college of the University of London, specialising in teaching, research and consultancy in education and related areas of social science and professional practice.