In order not to waste the time of the people working hard and sacrificing to become literate, literacy must offer them a real opportunity to change their life situation. Although many literacy programs are designed to fit the everyday lives and situations of their students, the same is not true for programs that teach arithmetic. Most adults…

The six articles in this publication provide information on how basic skills education and training can contribute to corporate profitability, using case studies and examples from corporations that promote employee training. The following articles are included: "Laying the Foundations for a Competitive Advantage: Emson's Skills Enhancement…

This information sheet describes Numeracy and Mathematics, one of four streams or subject areas offered in the Certificates in General Education for Adults (CGEA) in Australia. The learning outcomes are organized into four different categories or domains according to different purposes and functions of using mathematics: numeracy for practical…

Scouting is an expanding worldwide youth movement, with more than 16 million members in 169 countries and territories. Its goal is to contribute to the physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual development of young people. Since participation in development is one of the cornerstones of their program, scouts cannot ignore the challenge that…

A study was conducted to show the effect that participation in workplace committees has on committee members. The subjects were 34 members of Workplace Education Center (WEC) projects of ABC Canada who work on establishing and maintaining workplace literacy initiatives; they were interviewed by phone or in group discussions. The study found that,…

This information sheet describes Reading and Writing, one of four streams or subject areas offered in the Certificates in General Education for Adults (CGEA) in Australia. The stream is organized around the four main social contexts in which individuals function within society: family and social life, workplace and institutional settings,…

This information sheet describes Oral Communication, one of four streams or subject areas offered in the Certificates in General Education for Adults (CGEA) in Australia. The stream is organized around some purposes for which oral language is used in social life: active listening, practical purposes, and problem solving and exploring issues. Each…

This second issue of "Education for All: Status and Trends" focuses on the interactions between basic education and certain demographic and socioeconomic phenomena. It examines significant correlations between selected indicators and the trends in those indicators over a decade or more. It also presents projections of certain indicators to the…

This publication presents the National Adult Literacy Goals and Action Plans developed at the Fourth National Adult Literacy Congress. The goals and action plans are intended for use in national, state, and local initiatives to support adult students as they become part of the solution to the illiteracy problem in the United States. A list of the…

African Americans are underrepresented in adult literacy programs. African-American adult literacy students were interviewed on their reasons for program attendance and nonattendance. Timing was the most important factor determining attendance. Subjects believed the educational system made learning difficult for them, and increased literacy would…

This report summarizes a series of national forums on adult education and literacy sponsored by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education. The first part contains profiles of the four national forums in Seattle, Washington; St. Louis, Missouri; Charleston, South Carolina; and Newark, New Jersey. Each profile consists of brief descriptions of…

A number of counter-assumptions can be posited to challenge the usual basic assumptions of the professional literacy establishment. These counter-assumptions include the following: (1) literacy is not just a technical skill neutral across all cultures; (2) culture refers to basic questions about truth and knowledge and varies from one society to…

Literacy materials are either for illiterate people or for neoliterate people (those who have attained limited literacy but might easily relapse if they do not practice reading with appropriate materials). Thirty-five kinds of prototype materials for neoliterate persons have been developed by the Asian/Pacific Joint Production Programme of…

Changes in colleges of further education over recent years, including the involvement of a much wider range of students, mean that provision of basic skills has become an important issue for most colleges in England and Wales. Some colleges provide no basic skills support for students; others have some support for students; and still others also…

The importance of research in literacy is that it provides some routes to greater efficiency in literacy provision. Research from the past shows how important reading and writing have been over the centuries. Literacy was often invested with social and moral power as well, and religious literacy was the predominant form of reading and writing from…