alm-15, philadelphia, july 2. 2008 the numeracy framework for adults – learning at the workplace:...

ALM-15, Philadelphia, July 2. 2008

The numeracy framework for adults – Learning at the workplace: The Programme for Basic Competence in Working Life

Senior adviser Svein KvaløVox, National Institute for Adult Learning


The framework for basic skills

• It is divided into competence targets in three levels for:

– Literacy

– Numeracy

– ICT skills

– Oral communication


The three numeracy levels are divided into main topics

• Numbers, measuring and statistics (and probability on the most advanced level).

– To exemplify where the framework can be applied, each level is divided into arenas:

• In private and social life, In working life and In education and training

There will be an English translation of the numeracy framework by early September 2008 on www.vox.no

http://www.vox.no/


The Programme for Basic Competence in Working Life

• The programme is directed towards developing basic competence for employees and would-be employees.

• The idea is to fund and monitor basic learning projects in enterprises and for people not presently employed.


The programme has been up and running since 2006

• The programme concentrates on literacy, numeracy, and ICT skills.

• Any enterprise in Norway, private and public, can apply for funding from the programme.

• The programme started in 2006. For the second programme

year, 20 million NOK (appr. 4 mill USD) was allocated to 70 enterprises, and in 2008, 25 million NOK (appr. 5 mill USD) was granted to 78 different enterprises.

• The funding of projects within the Programme for Basic Competence in Working Life presupposes that the learning activity is based on the frameworks for basic skills.


Why is numeracy always lagging behind literacy and ICT skills as for participation rates?

• Adults with little formal education do not see the need to improve their numeracy skills. (Lundetræ, Gabrielsen et al. 2006, p. 45 – 49.)

• Such results have also been confirmed by the second Vox Barometer 2007 “Befolkningens holdninger til opplæring og egen kompetanse” (Attitudes to training and own competence in the population) (Vox 2007).


What motivates adults to come to numeracy classes?

• John Swain et. al (Swain 2005) have interesting findings on which factors that motivate adult learners to come to numeracy classes.

• The main triggers are: – succeeding in a subject where learners have previously

experienced failure – helping their own children – understanding – involvement and enjoyment – and getting a qualification for further educationVery few learners come to numeracy classes in order to

understand their everyday life better.


Vox follow some projects

• Vox is responsible for following up and supervising some of the projects we support financially

• The purpose is to create pedagogical

models and also ways of recruiting adults who have dropped out of school.


Three case projects (2007)

• The first project focused on recruiting “drop-outs” to attend basic skills training and simultaneously providing job training opportunities for the participants within processing industries

• The second is to create a pedagogical model suitable for adult immigrants who work as cleaning personnel in Bergen Municipality. These learners have little school experience and have quite poor language skills in Norwegian.

• The third one is to try out a pedagogical numeracy model for workers employed in a builders’ supplies / DIY centre in Bergen.


The “Drop outs”-project. Project stakeholders:

• Xtrata Nikkel

• Educational Office for Technology subjects in Vest-Agder

• Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration

• A teacher for special needs


Challenges and provision• Finding relevant locations for job training.

• Facilitating basic skills training.

• Supporting the participants financially

• Nine were recruited, picked by the Educational Office for Technology subjects in Vest-Agder.

• The local office of the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration supported the participants financially. Appr. (1100 $ + paid public transportation) monthly.


Total training period: 12 weeks

• Basic skills training: Literacy, numeracy and social science. One day a week.

• Job training: In the processing industry. Four days a week.


Target group – a study of seven counties in the south-east part of Norway

• 2/3 of learners in upper secondary school had achieved a university admission certification or a certificate of completed apprenticeship after five years– this implies that 1/3 drop out from Upper secondary school

• The drop outs constitutes a complex group of learners.– Some failed to pass the exam in the theoretical

subjects such as maths, Norwegian and English – some may lack only one subject, others may lack many

– Some simply quit school

(Markusen Løseth, Lødding and Sandberg 2007)


Possibilities for those who fail to achieve a certificate of completed

apprenticeship Completed apprenticeship Competence on a lower level

Contract of apprenticeship

Apprenticeship position

Limited contract of apprenticeship

Training position

Apprentice Limited apprentice

Apprentices final examination A test of parts of the apprentices exam

Certificate of apprenticeship Competence card – constitutes only parts of a certificate of apprenticeship

Educated chef Breakfast cook


70,8 % of those who sign a contract of apprenticeship achieve a certificate of apprenticeship

• 29,2 % of all students who signed a contract of

apprenticeship failed to achieve a certificate of apprenticeship – thus all these students have per definition achieved competence on a lower level involuntarily.

• This group of learners constitute a large number and they become adults. It is important to utilize the competence they have in order to build adequate learning programmes.


Pedagogy – embedded learning

• During their job training sessions, the participants learn to operate a fork lift

• This requires understanding a safety table for fork lifts; heights and weights.

– Understanding transitions between units such as mm, cm, m and kg and g and so on


Visiting the project


5500 800 600 400 200

5000 1300 1100 900 700

4500 1800 1600 1400 1200

4000 2200 2000 1800 1600

3500 2500 2300 2100 1900

500 600 700 800

Height above floor level measured in mm

Depth of cargo in the fork measured in mm

The table shows how many kg a fork lift can lift safely. As you can see, this depends on how the cargo is placed on the fork and also on the height of the lift.

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/767/123457.JPG


Tasks connected to work practice

In this working drawing the screw is drawn in the scale of 10 : 1

What will be the real measurements of this screw?

Make a working drawing of the screw in the scale of 4 : 1.

This example of a working drawing was used by the teacher.


The metal board is drawn in the scale of 1 : 10

What is the size of the metal board in reality?

How can the centres of the holes be localized on the real metal board?

What is the size of the radius of the three holes?

This example of a working drawing was used by the teacher.


Examples of job training experienced by the project participants.

In this factory, Rotator, they produce valves for the oil industry.


What was the aim of the project• Build confidence among the participants.

• Adjust to the demands of working life – these are the demands that the participants meet on a daily basis in work training and schooling.

• Sign apprentices’ contracts – In order to attain the final certificate of completed

apprenticeship the learners have to do mathematics

– This implied that numeracy had an important place in this particular project.

• Sign limited apprentices’ contracts– Functional numeracy is an important part in such

training. Especially in the processing industries.


Outcomes• Number of participants who actually signed an

apprenticeship contract: Two have signed contracts. • One has extended his trainee contract with a possibility to

sign a apprenticeship contract in the near future.

• One will sit Apprentices final examination during June 2008

• Two have signed limited apprenticeship contract.

• One has been sent back to school due to poor language skills

• Two have been offered summer jobs.

Source: The Educational Office for Technology subjects in Vest-Agder


Media attention:

Several newspaper articles.

This particular article was published in a periodical for members of Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise

The general executive for the Xstrata Nickel Industries has decided to export the idea, to all the Xstrata plants, of training “drop-outs” in basic skills and simultaneously give them job training opportunities.


Cleaning personnel within the Bergen Municipality

• Target group: Immigrants – potentially several hundred course participants –:

– Only 27 were tested in numeracy tasks by a dynamic approach.

– Approx. 25 participated in separate literacy-, numeracy- and ICT classes. First literacy, then numeracy and finally ICT.

– Since the learners were immigrants, literacy was integrated in the numeracy classes.


The numeracy classes - pedagogy

• Five 40-hour courses – number of participants was different in each class

• Language and concepts learning playedan important part

• The numeracy themes and tasks were basically picked from the course participants’ daily work experience – e.g. measuring the correct amount of detergent, calculation of area etc.

• A textbook especially developed for immigrants was used by the learners.Parts of this book has been translated to English: http://www.statvoks.no/emma/downloads/migramaths_in_English.pdf

http://www.statvoks.no/emma/downloads/migramaths_in_English.pdf

http://www.statvoks.no/emma/downloads/migramaths_in_English.pdf


The course participants were asked what they liked about the numeracy classes.

Here are some of the responses: I learned to measure detergents correctly, In addition to

learning maths I learned the Norwegian language at the same time.

I learned new words, now I can do measurements and I have learned to understand ml.I like the intellectual challenge just to understand maths. To show that I can do maths

I want to do more numeracy. I would like to learn more about costs of travelling, domestic economy, time piece and time.

I need to do numeracy in order to get a certificate of apprenticeship. That is my aim for the future.


Numeracy and language

Gal et al.: Adult Numeracy Development, The Numeracy Challenge, page 21 - 23

In order to be able to solve problem solving tasks, which is quite common for adult numeracy tasks, the learner has to endeavor to understand the text. An important side effect the effort put into solving a numeracy task is language learning.


The Adult Education centre in Bergen

• Three learners from the group with the poorest numeracy and literacy skills were given a 15 hours numeracy course divided on 1,5 hours each week

• They had just a few years of schooling from their home country. Two from Thailand and one from Somalia (She was illiterate)

• The numeracy offered was on the lowest level of the framework

• Due to poor language skills the teacher chose to have as little text as possible in the numeracy tasks.


Topics• Read numbers. Familiar with concepts such as the highest,

the lowest, more than, less, large/small – use direct comparison between items e.g. more than/less than.

• Counting. Connected to concretes such as money. More concept learning than maths/numeracy learning.

• Subtraction and addition. In connection with everyday life experience such as rough estimation when shopping. Again: concept and language learning

• Measurements. Length, area and capacity.– Since they work as cleaner, measuring capacity and dealing with

units such as ml and litres was relevant – connected to detergents.– Describe capacity – full/empty – holds more than, holds less than– Measure length of walls in order to calculate area of rooms.


How did they perform

• The course participants enjoyed the classes and they showed a positive attitude to learning numeracy.

• They did their homework and made good progress.

• The illiterate one was the only one who struggled– She is, today, a regular learner at the adult education centre in

Bergen municipality

• The two from Thailand: Their have some numeracy skills. – They are familiar with money – unfamiliar with the concepts such

as how Norwegians refer to specific notes and coins.– Counting items– Keeping track of time– Travel tasks


Workers employed in a DIY centre

• The aim of the project: Test numeracy learning at workplace

• Pedagogical model for workers employed in a builders’ supplies / DIY centre in Bergen


Tests and briefly about the course

• 20 employees – 17 were tested

• They performed well and they were offered a numeracy course on level 3 (the highest level)

• All the employees were offered this course– 2 times 1,5 hour a week. The course lasted for 10

weeks

• Seven started and six completed the course


Preparing for running the course

• A teacher from the Adult Education Centre in Bergen municipality

• She visited and talked and listened to employees in the different departments where the potential learners worked

– In order to get a picture of what kind maths the employees did in their work tasks


Examples on the maths some of the employees deal with

Lindefjeld’s angle

Roof angles – The employees use tables

Calculate the length of the roof board -

Techniques to make sure that two sides make a straight angle

Carpenters

Brick layers

The length of the

roof board

http://mikelindstrom.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/3-4-5-triangle-with-lines.jpg


Topics

• Calculating perimeter, area, and capacity of different geometrical shapes. Conversion of units such as from cm to m.

• Pythagoras. Angles. How does brick layers and carpenters reassure that angles between to adjacent sides are perpendicular. Roof angles.

• Percentages and the use of a calculator

• The use of formulas


The Futur• The Programme for Basic Competence

in Working Life has recently been established as a permanent programme funded by the National Budget.

• This will give us at Vox many opportunities to study ways of facilitating numeracy learning– for employees in the work place and– and for would be-employees who are

unemployed Thank you for your attention