UK Learning and Work Institute, October 2021.
The Learning and Work Institute in the UK has recently published a briefing paper analysing the evidence base on the basic skills challenge and sets out a call for action by exploring:
- The role of basic skills: including the employment, economic and fiscal impacts of basic skills and their links to personal and social outcomes
- Basic skills needs, participation and funding: the proportion of adults with literacy, numeracy, ESOL and digital skills needs, how this compares to other countries, current participation in basic skills learning and Adult Education Budget (AEB) investment for basic skills from 2010 to date
- What works for adult basic skills provision: a review of best practice and key recommendations for improving adult basic skills.
This is the executive summary:
Basic skills – including literacy, numeracy, ESOL and digital skills – are key to supporting adults’ life chances, and the need to widen access to them is increasing. Higher level and technical skills are important, but basic skills are both essential in their own right and provide people with the tools to thrive in life and work and progress on to further learning.
Research indicates that learning below Level 2 can result in a 7pp increase in individuals’ employment rate and supports learners in accessing better quality work, including increased job satisfaction, pay and security. The economic case for basic skills is equally strong with a social return of £17 for Entry Level and £22 for every £1 invested in Level 1 provision, in the case of younger learners (19-24 years old).
Participation in basic skills learning has been shown to result in a range of positive personal and social outcomes for adult learners, including improved self-esteem and well-being and more confidence to complete everyday tasks.
Despite the importance of basic skills and the evidence available on its positive impacts, there are high levels of basic skills needs across literacy, numeracy, ESOL and digital skills in England. An estimated 9 million working-age adults in England have low basic skills in literacy or numeracy, of which 5 million have low skills in both. These are skills as fundamental as understanding the dosage instructions on an aspirin packet. An estimated 11.7 million people lack digital ‘life’ skills. England is 15th out of 31 OECD countries in literacy skills and 19th in numeracy skills.
The high level of basic skills needs is compounded by adult participation in English, maths and ESOL plummeting by 63, 62 and 17 per cent respectively since 2012. Participation has fallen across every Mayoral Combined Authority in England. On current trends it would take 20 years for all adults with low literacy or numeracy to participate in learning.
In part this reflects the Government halving the Adult Education Budget from 2011-12 to 2019-20. Funding in England fell from £2.8 billion in 2011-12 to £1.5 billion in 2019-20, a 52 percent fall in real terms. At the same time, funding rates per learner were frozen and funding for organisations who would often refer adults to basic skills provision, such as local authorities and community groups, was reduced too.
While much policy is focused on Level 3 and above, 18 percent of adults aged 19-64 are not qualified to at least Level 2. A foundation of basic skills is both a good thing in its own right and an essential underpinning to progress in higher learning.
The paper highlights the importance of a clear ambition that every adult should have the basic skills they need for life and work. This demands we urgently reverse declining participation in adult basic skills learning. We need a clear strategy to improve adult basic skills across England, backed by a focus on investment, policy and practice to raise awareness, engage adults and deliver high quality learning that makes a difference.
The paper’s key findings on what works for basic skills participation are as follows:
- Tailored recruitment and engagement are effective approaches to driving up basic skills participation: using specific motivations that are relevant to each learner group as hooks, addressing learners’ barriers, using ‘learner champions’ and taster courses are examples of effective practice in engaging with learners
- Addressing learners’ wider needs is key to building motivation and securing retention: providing social and practical support to learners (e.g. childcare and transport) to address barriers to learning is key.
- Adult basic skills provision must be tailored to learners’ interests and needs: tailoring course content, promoting flexibility and adapting learning settings to meet different groups’ needs are best practice in driving up continued participation.
- Working with employers to offer basic skills provision is vital to support the high proportion of low-skilled adults who are in employment: tailoring marketing to employers’ motivations, identifying a model that works for employers and employees and including basic skills as part of the organisation’s training and development plans are central to incentivise employers to offer provision. 28 6. What works for adult basic skills participation?
The authors conclude:
- There are positive relationships between most measures of economic and employment success and increased levels of basic skills, with 71 percent of learners already in employment prior to basic skills learning noting some form of improvement to their job satisfaction, security and progression.
- Basic skills learning results in a range of positive, personal and social outcomes for adult learners, including improved self-esteem and well-being and more confidence to complete everyday tasks.
- Adult basic skills enable learners to progress onto further courses. Half of English learners (50 per cent) and 48 per cent of maths learners attended a subsequent course during the year after completing their Skills for Life funded course, with many of these learners progressing onto higher level courses.
- Across England 9 million working-age adults have low literacy or numeracy and 5 million have low skills in both. This is compounded by high demand for ESOL provision – with 73 per cent of providers reporting significant demand in their areas – and low digital skills – with 22 percent of adults lacking the digital ‘life’ skills required to participate in a digital world.
- England is 15th out of 31 OECD countries in literacy skills and 19th in numeracy skills.
- Over the last decade, participation in adult basic learning in England has fallen significantly. Adult participation in English, Maths, and ESOL learning has declined by 63, 62 and 17 percent, respectively, from 2012 to 2020.
- The Adult Education Budget in 2019-20 was approximately half the size (52 percent smaller) of the budget in 2011- 12. This was compounded by a nine percent decrease in real terms funding per basic skills learner from 2013-14 to 2019-20.
- There are key measures which can drive up adults’ participation in basic skills learning. These approaches focus on recruitment and engagement, motivation and retention, individual needs and workplace basic skills provision.