Adult education, learning and skills providers are familiar with the longstanding national challenge of poor adult basic skills, and many providers use their Adult Education Budget funding to offer English and math classes for adults. In recent years, there has been a focus on supporting unemployed adults to achieve the good literacy and numeracy…

Three aspects of problems, issues, and questions facing curriculum development teams, local authority advisors, and teacher trainers interested in helping teachers in the United Kingdom (UK) construct and shape an effective economics curriculum are examined. First, in an investigation of the curriculum context dimension, the paper predicts that…

With a much greater awareness in schools of conditions like dyslexia, dyspraxia and autism, and the effects they have in the context of the educational curriculum, schools are becoming better placed to help children access a curriculum that takes account of the diverse needs of its learners. It has been predicted that as people move through the…

This report describes certain assumptions and tentative conclusions made by an Advisory Group of the Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit (ALBSU) about work with the mentally handicapped from a nonspecialist perspective. With the basic education organizer in mind, the report addresses six major issues. A definition of the term mentally handicapped…

Intended to introduce educators in secondary schools and colleges to discussion promoting economic literacy for all students, this paper offers a critique of the typical economics curriculum, a rationale for economics education, and a working definition of economic literacy. The first section reviews and critiques current curriculum planning in…

This report describes the development work of the Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit since 1980 and indicates useful strategies and approaches. Chapter 1 focuses on new styles of adult literacy provision. These include drop-in centers, short courses, open learning systems, and media-assisted learning. Chapter 2 concerns provision of adult…

This "think piece" on ways to increase demand for learning in the United Kingdom is designed to stimulate debate among policy makers and managers in the new learning and skills sector. Section 1, on context, addresses these issues: low skill levels; delivering skills to employers; low adult participation; and negative attitudes. Section…

Possible ways of conducting research examining the changing context of workplace basic skills policy in the United Kingdom were explored. First, workplace literacy was examined from the perspective of its role in the U.K. government's lifelong learning agenda, and existing research in workplace literacy policy and related studies were reviewed.…

This document presents advice from the United Kingdom's Basic Skills Agency regarding developing local action plans. The first 20% of the document defines basic skills and discusses the following action plan components: (1) an estimate of the area's need for basic skills training; (2) a target to reduce the area's estimated scale of need; (3)…

Research on adult basic skills in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the English-speaking world was reviewed. The most-researched areas of adult basic skills were literacy, numeracy, English for speakers of other languages, information and computer technology, and oracy. Oracy skills for monolingual English speakers and numeracy skills for…

Research on adult basic skills in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the English-speaking world was reviewed. The review focused on the following aspects of adult basic skills education: the scale of need and impact of poor basic skills; learner characteristics; motivation, attendance, dropping out, and progression; provision and programs; tutors…

This document contains the proceedings of a conference on family literacy that was attended by representatives of community-based literacy and family literacy programs in Newfoundland and Labrador. The document begins with an executive summary of the conference activities. The texts of the following keynote addresses are presented: "A…

This basic math skills teaching and learning guide contains practical advice and resources for British vocational teachers who have little formal mathematics education training and for beginning teachers. The document has five sections on these topics dealing with numeracy instruction: (1) overview of the basic skill and its application to other…