an adult literacy and numeracy curriculum … adult literacy and numeracy curriculum framework for...

An Adult Literacy and NumeracyCurriculum Framework for Scotland

Foreword

Introduction 7

Part One: Principles

1. What is the curriculum? 112. What do we mean by adult literacy and numeracy? 133. What is the theoretical basis for the curriculum? 154. Key principles of learning and teaching 195. What is the relationship between learning and assessment? 21

Part Two: Practice

1.1 The Curriculum 271.2 The Wheel 291.3 Breaking down the complex capabilities of ALN 35

Literacy 36Numeracy 39

2. Learning 412.1 Cognitive and metacognitive strategies 432.2 Organising individual and group learning 452.3 Integrated and dedicated approaches 512.4 Resources 57

3. Individual Learning Planning 653.1 The process of individual learning planning 653.2 Initial discussion and assessment 673.3 Tools and tasks for initial assessment 713.4 Individual learning plans 773.5 Ongoing review and formative assessment 853.6 Progress indicators 893.7 Summative assessment, review and evaluation 91

References 95

Appendices 97

1. Illustrative examples of using the wheel 992. Alerting Tools 1093. Individual and Group Learning Plans 1174. Specific Learning Difficulties 1555. Read with Understanding Matrix 1596. Literacy tasks assessed against the Core Skills Framework 1617. Numeracy tasks assessed against the Core Skills Framework 175

Acknowledgements

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Contents 3

The Scottish Executive’s strategy for raising literacy and numeracy levels acrossScotland is set out in the Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland report,published in July 2001. A key recommendation in the report was that ‘the quality ofprogrammes should be improved through a new curriculum framework’.

This Adult Literacy and Numeracy Curriculum Framework for Scotland is afundamental part of the way forward for tutors and learners. Building on ‘Literaciesin the Community: resources for practitioners and managers’, the Frameworkadvocates the Scottish approach to adult literacy and numeracy learning andteaching. This social practices approach puts the learner at the centre, working toa curriculum negotiated around his or her own uses and contexts for literacy andnumeracy, and aims to promote independence and critical awareness.

The new framework document has been described by a practitioner as:

‘key both to supporting practitioners and delivering a quality service to learners.It combines what is available to be taught with a set of practices that fit thecurrent Scottish context.’

By addressing both theoretical and practical aspects of the curriculum, we believethe Framework will enable practitioners to develop and reflect on their work withadult literacies learners.

During the development of the Framework extensive consultation was carried out.We would like to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of all those who, throughthe Adult Literacies Partnerships and other organisations, gave their time to thevarious stages of the consultation process. This feedback fundamentally shapedthe final document, which is firmly rooted in existing practice and reflects the highquality of adult literacies provision available. Particular thanks are also due to thosetutors, learners and others who gave assistance by providing case studies andexemplars for the document.

We commend this Framework to all working in the field of adult literacies inwhatever context, and trust that as you use it you will echo the feelings of thepractitioner who sees it as ‘more than a curriculum framework as we traditionallyknow one – it’s a reference manual for the whats, hows and whys of literacieslearning in Scotland today.’

Malcolm Chisholm Allan WilsonMinister for Communities Deputy Minister for Enterprise

and Lifelong Learning

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Foreword 5

WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND TO THIS DOCUMENT?These guidelines set out an Adult Literacy and Numeracy Curriculum Frameworkfor Scotland. Our work arises out of the Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland(ALNIS) report of 2001 that recommended that ‘the quality of programmes shouldbe improved through a new curriculum framework’ (p3). These guidelines also buildon Literacies in the Community (2000): resources for practitioners and managers(the LIC pack). That document set out the good practice framework that has beenadopted for Scotland and provided a guide to tutoring and guidance and staffdevelopment and training. These guidelines are informed by the principles set outin LIC for designing and delivering learning which are:• promoting self-determination• developing an understanding of literacy and numeracy• recognising and respecting difference and diversity.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT?• to promote the Scottish philosophy and approach to adult literacy and numeracy

in whatever context they are delivered • to show how this can be done with the learner at the centre of the process• to improve the quality of Scottish adult literacy and numeracy provision.

We hope it will be useful for:• tutors – to stimulate reflection and ideas about their work• managers – to introduce wider possibilities for organising provision• workers in all sectors, to promote discussion about how adult literacy and

numeracy are learned and taught, and what is learned and taught.

WHAT ARE THE ORGANISING PRINCIPLES BEHIND OUR APPROACH?We have five organising principles:

1) The research and theoretical base for the curriculum should be explicit andtransparent.The reason for this is that practitioners who understand what they are doing can bemore effective. People who have only been trained in the mechanics do not have aclear understanding of the underlying philosophy and values.

2) Teaching should be focused on the application of skills and knowledge, notsimply their acquisition.The focus in the guidelines is on learners applying their knowledge – whether in theworkplace, family or community involvement. The application of their skills andknowledge is an integral part of the assessment of learning. Measuring progressrelates to learner goals and reflects a commitment to a lifelong learning approachrather than a deficit model.

3) To gain flexibility and responsiveness to the particular needs of particulargroups of learners, a broad national framework is needed, supported by local andindividual development of plans and programmes.Our approach to the curriculum is to construct a framework that providesleadership and direction, but we believe that it is inappropriate to specify all thedetails of what is to be taught and learned at a national level. Within a national

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Introduction 7

broad framework, informed and supported local leaders and practitioners can offera curriculum to meet particular, rather than general, needs.

4) A national framework needs to make explicit for learners and for practitionerswhat is to be learned and what good performance will look like.Rather than relying just on test results or qualifications for assessing what has beendone well, this curriculum strongly emphasises self-monitoring and awareness ofthe learning that has taken place.

5) There are no quick fixes: a comprehensive and flexible system takes time tobuild and commitment over time to support and refine.This is just the beginning of the curriculum framework. To build a system that learnsrequires that practitioners and learners be involved in the development of thecurriculum. The result of this will be a more effective framework that will link withexisting models of teaching and learning used by tutors and learners.

HOW ARE THESE GUIDELINES ORGANISED?The guidelines are in two parts. Part One summarises some of the main findingsfrom research in order to identify the key principles of learning, teaching andassessment that should underpin the adult literacy and numeracy curriculum. PartTwo addresses the practical implications of implementing these key principles andincludes case studies of current ALN practice.

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PRINCIPLESPA

RT ONE

This document sets out an adult literacyand numeracy curriculum for Scotland.There are different understandings ofthe term ‘curriculum’ and differentapproaches to defining a curriculum. Atone end of the spectrum, the definitionof a curriculum involves a detailedspecification of content to be covered oroutcomes to be achieved. At the otherend, it means explaining the processesundertaken by learners and tutors toidentify, plan, carry out and reviewlearning programmes for individuallearners. The approach adopted in

these guidelines is strongly orientatedtowards a process-based view of thecurriculum, while recognising thatlearners and tutors may welcome someguidance on possible content oflearning. The emphasis is on the waythat the curriculum is negotiated withlearners and builds creatively on theirexisting knowledge and skills and thecontexts they experience in their private,family, community and working lives. Themore open the curriculum is the easier itis to adapt it to the needs and learningaims of learners.

1. What is the curriculum?

2. What do we mean by adultliteracy and numeracy?

3. What is the theoretical basisfor the curriculum?

4. Key principles of learning andteaching

5. What is the relationshipbetween learning andassessment?

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1. What is the curriculum? 11

The ability to read, write and usenumbers, to handle information, expressideas and opinions, make decisions andsolve problems, as family members,workers, citizens and lifelong learners(ALNIS, 2001).

The definition tells us that:• To be literate and numerate is not

only to have the mechanical skills ofencoding and decoding symbols butalso the knowledge, skills andunderstanding that enable us to dowhat we want to do in our private,family, community and working lives.

• The key life areas and social contextsin which literacy and numeracy areused are important in deciding onwhat is to be learned.

• Literacy and numeracy skills arealmost always employed for apurpose – such as making decisionsor solving problems – and in aparticular social context. The use ofliteracy and numeracy in everydaylife is closely linked with socialpractices that have their own socialpurpose and meaning. The incidentallearning that happens in suchcontexts is as important as plannedand deliberate learning within thelearning programme. It is importantthat learners not only develop skillsin a particular context but alsobecome proficient in other contextsin order to broaden and transfer theirlearning.

We are using a social practicesaccount of adult literacy and numeracy(Barton, 2002). Rather than seeingliteracy and numeracy as thedecontextualised, mechanicalmanipulation of letters, words andfigures this view shows that literacy andnumeracy are located within social,emotional and linguistic contexts. Manyliteracy and numeracy events in life areregular, repeated activities, such as

paying bills, sending greetings cards orreading bed-time stories and someevents are linked into routine sequencesthat are part of the formal proceduresand expectations of social institutionssuch as workplaces, schools andwelfare agencies. The more informalexpectations and pressures of the homeor peer group structure other eventswhere there are expectations about theright way to do things (Lave andWenger, 1991). For example, thepractices associated with cooking arequite different in the home and in theworkplace – supported, learned andcarried out in different ways. Thedivision of labour is different ininstitutional kitchens – the scale of theoperations, the clothing people wearwhen cooking, the health and safetyprecautions they are required to take,and so on. Literacy and numeracypractices integrate the routines, skillsand understandings that are organisedwithin specific contexts and also thefeelings and values that people haveabout these activities. If you are worriedthat you can’t do something then youare going to find it more difficult in apublic or workplace context than if youare at home in a relaxed situation.

Reading and writing are complexcognitive activities that also depend ona great deal of contextual (ie social)knowledge and intention. For example,someone reading the main news story ina newspaper is not just decoding wordsbut also using knowledge of theconventions of newspaper writing, ofthe local/national focus and the politicaland philosophical orientation of thenewspaper. In fact they are ‘readingbetween the lines’ (Bransfield et al,1999). In the same way, adults in asupermarket are not just using numberskills when making price comparisonsbut also taking into account their priorexperience with brands, family likes and






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2. What do we mean by adult literacy and numeracy? 13

dislikes and perhaps ethical concerns(eg organic, GM-free, not made withchild labour, or Fair Trade).

Literacy and numeracy learning takesplace in particular social contexts(Wenger, 1998) and so it is important tounderstand the nature of people’sinformal learning strategies. People haveinsights into how they learn, have

theories about literacy, numeracy andeducation and use particular strategiesto learn new literacies. Thisunderstanding of literacy and numeracyis a key aspect of people’s learning,and their theories, even if they are notvery explicit, guide what they do(Gillespie, 2002c).

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It is important to think about the theoriesof knowledge that underpin ourunderstanding of how people learn sothat we can teach and assessappropriately.

Behaviourism is a theory thatconceives of learning as a set of skillssuch as recognising and reproducingletters, signs and symbols that areacquired through the tutor or others insociety reinforcing the approvedresponses. These theories tend to seethe learner as relatively passive andthere is an assumption that therepetition of skills will aid learning. Thisapproach is particularly common in theteaching of numeracy where it isassumed that learners will understandthe four operations (+,–, x,÷) by doingmany examples of similar calculations.This theory makes a strong distinctionbetween right and wrong answers andassumes that knowledge existsindependently of both tutor and learner.Few tutors nowadays consciously usebehaviourist theories. However, aspectsof behaviourism still have an influenceon teaching practices (Bruner, 1986), forexample, reinforcing a skill by lots ofrepetitive practice through worksheets.

Constructivism, on the other hand, is atheory that sees learning as an activeprocess of gaining understanding inwhich learners use their priorknowledge and experience to shapemeaning and acquire new knowledge(Glaser, 1992). It is based on researchrelated to the development of expertisein thinking. This approach emphasisesthat human beings are active problemsolvers who learn in order to makesense of the world around them. Peopleexplore, solve problems and remember.Learning activities are undertaken notjust as ends in themselves but as ameans of achieving larger objectivesand goals that have meaning in the

wider communities that the learner ispart of. This means that knowledgeemerges out of the problem solvingactivities that the learner engages in. Sothe learner has a central role ininterpreting what is being taught in waysthat are meaningful in his/her owncontext rather than depending on theexpert tutor as the sole source ofknowledge. For example, learners havetacit knowledge of how they learn to donew things gained from experience ofdoing a particular task such as takingmoney out of a cash machine or findingtheir way around a new area. Tutorsneed to help learners think about whatstrategies they use in this kind oflearning and how they can transferthese strategies to other kinds ofnumeracy or literacy tasks. Activelearning also emphasises theimportance of transferring the learningthat takes place in the learningprogramme to the learner’s everydaylife. If this doesn’t happen, literacy andnumeracy learning becomes divorcedfrom these broader purposes and doesnot have real meaning for learners(Daniels, 2001).

This theory also shows how important itis for tutors to build on the priorknowledge of learners by helping themto identify what they already know abouta particular topic (Gillespie, 2002a).Tutors should understand fully the rangeof prior knowledge and experience thatsome learners might bring, includingthose from minority backgrounds whohave faced prejudice and discriminationbased on gender, race, age or disabilityor their capacity to learn. This existingknowledge can then be built on in orderto help learners to achieve a moreexpert understanding. For example, in afamily learning programme tutors canask what parents already know abouttheir children’s education, directly buildon this to identify gaps and then






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3. What is the theoretical basis for the curriculum? 15

address any misunderstandings.Research shows that if tutors do notinvolve learners in naming andanalysing their existing understandings,learners may not grasp new concepts,such as new ways of understandingmaths, and revert to what they alreadyknow. This research also highlights theimportance of developing learners’critical thinking and encouraging themto question their assumptions. Ifassumptions go unchallenged thenmisconceptions persist and learners getstuck and find it difficult to move on tonew knowledge and understanding(Gillespie, 2002b).

The research literature also highlightsthe importance of a focus on cognitiveand metacognitive strategies (Greeno etal, 1997). Learning strategies can bedivided into two basic types. Cognitivestrategies help us to remember andorganise content information. Forexample, when we read we might applya cognitive strategy to skim the title,pictures, and headings of a text to getthe gist of what we will read. We mighttake notes to help us remember themain points. An expert reader will alsoknow when it is possible to skip oversections of a text and when it isimportant to read every word carefully.When learning a large number of facts,a good strategic learner will ‘studysmarter’ by working to understand the‘big picture’ and then dividing the factsinto categories through a classificationscheme, diagram or outline, for examplemind maps (Gillespie and Nash, 2002).

Metacognitive strategies consist ofknowledge about one’s own thinkingprocesses. They are the ‘executivemanagers’ of knowledge and involveplanning, monitoring, evaluating andrevising one’s own thinking processes.Good metacognitive strategy usersengage in an ongoing process of

identifying what their prior knowledge ofa topic is, what they don’t know, andwhat they need to learn. Metacognitivestrategies enable learners to plan andself-regulate their work and to judgeunder what conditions to apply whichcognitive strategies.

Tutors can help learners to learn theseskills by enabling them, firstly, toexamine their prior knowledge and toconstruct new knowledge in the light oftheir past experiences through reflectingon the knowledge, skills and learningstrategies that they use to complete aparticular task. Secondly, tutors can asklearners to think about how this specificlearning might transfer to other parts oftheir lives and to use this informationand their thinking processes to monitor,develop and alter their understanding.Finally, tutors can help learners toidentify what barriers they feel interferewith their learning and revise theirassumptions about these in the light oftheir own growing independence.

There are three kinds of metacognitiveknowledge: which strategies arerelevant, how to apply the right strategyand why these strategies are useful.This means that when someone isacquiring a new skill the tutor needs tobreak the complex task down intosmaller steps, help the learner to seehow to do each one, and then show howto put the individual pieces backtogether again. This means that effectivetutors should be aware of how toexplain the individual parts of anyactivity, should understand how tostimulate the learner’s thinking about theproblem and know how to explain theprocesses of thinking at the level thelearner can understand and employ.

Another key concept is that of‘scaffolding’ (Vygotsky, 1986):

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The role of the tutor is, through guidedparticipation, to build bridges from thelearner’s present understanding andskills to reach a new level of knowledge.This collaborative process moves thelearner along the developmentalcontinuum from novice towards expert.Scaffolding helps to do this by providingtasks that are slightly above thelearner’s level of independentfunctioning yet can be accomplishedwith sensitive guidance. In the processof jointly performing a task, a tutor ormore skilled peer can point out linksbetween the task and the ones thelearner already knows, helping thelearner to stretch his or herunderstanding to the next developmentlevel. Within the ALN curriculum, thetutor’s role is to first structure the taskand the learning environment so that thedemands on the learner are at anappropriately challenging level. Then therole is to continually adjust the amountof intervention and the range of tasks tothe learner’s level of independence andfluency.

The idea of scaffolding is a key one andto be effective it should be based onpractices that:

• give ownership of the activity to belearned to the learner

• are appropriate to the learner’scurrent knowledge

• provide a structure that embodies a‘natural’ sequence of thought andaction

• result in collaboration between tutorand learner

• result in internalisation via thegradual withdrawal of the scaffoldingand the transfer of control.

The tutor is always a member of thelearning community and so should makeit clear that s/he is also a learner andthat learning is a shared responsibility.

Learning is not just about cognitivedevelopment; it is also about values andfeelings and so the emotional andsocial dimensions are equallyimportant (Illeris, 2004). Becauseliteracy and numeracy skills haveassumed enormous significance incontemporary Western society thediscourse surrounding adult literacy andnumeracy tends to focus on whatpeople lack rather than what they haveand emphasises their deficits, not theirstrengths. Learners internalise thisemphasis on individual failure ratherthan thinking about the circumstancesand structures that might make learningdifficult.

This means that many learners have lowself-esteem and may be unwilling totake the risk of learning in new ways(Crowther et al, 2001). At school theymay have used the strategy of nottrying new ways of learning becausethey were afraid of failing. Sticking towhat they knew may have seemed safereven if their old ways were of little help.People learn early on at school thatfailure is to be avoided and so maysimply withdraw rather than show thatthey do not understand something.This is why it is important that tutorswork with learners to draw on theirexisting knowledge, skills andunderstanding as this emphasisesstrengths rather than weaknesses.

This in turn leads to learners becomingmore confident about what they knowand can do and so better able to learnand grow in self-esteem (Beder, 1999).It is also important to recognise thatbarriers to learning may be erectednot only by learners but also by tutors,barriers based often on unwittingstereotypes and assumptions about thecontexts and capabilities of learners.






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The research findings enable us to set out some key principles of learning andteaching for adult literacy and numeracy.

1. Learning is a purposeful, goal-directed activity. Ongoing goal setting and self-assessment are central to effective learning.

2. Purposeful learning builds on learners’ prior knowledge and experience to shapeand construct new knowledge. It should always be remembered that those whohave faced prejudice and discrimination based on gender, race, age, sexuality ordisability may have internalised some of these negative ideas about their capacityto learn.

3. Learning is a social activity embedded in a particular culture and context.Learning occurs through engaged participation in the activities of knowledgecommunities such as workplace colleagues or family members.

4. Effective transfer of learning from one context to another requires that the learnerunderstand not only the facts but the ‘big picture’ – underlying principles, patternsand relationships – that is acquired through the application of knowledge.

5. Knowing when and how to apply what has been learned (procedural knowledge)is central to expertise, and can be acquired only through practice.

6. Teaching involves informed interpretations of, and responses to, learners’approaches to learning. Tutors should always be aware of the effect of prejudiceand discrimination based on gender, race, age, sexuality or disability.

7. Metacognitive strategies (knowledge about one’s own thinking processes) canbe taught. Through monitoring and assessing their own progress, learners candevelop metacognitive awareness and strategies.

8. Scaffolding instruction helps learners to develop their fluency, independence andrange as they move from being a new learner to becoming an expert learner.






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4. Key Principles of Learning and Teaching 19

Assessment is a process that helpslearners to identify their current skillsand knowledge, to plan their futurelearning and to know how well they aredoing in achieving their own learningneeds and goals. It identifies, describesand demonstrates evidence of aperson's current skills and knowledge.It can also be used to recognise andrecord learners’ achievements and toassist in identifying how teaching andlearning processes can be improved.Assessment is usually focused onparticular areas – it doesn't tell useverything that someone can do, onlywhat we ask about. It is also time-bound: it tells us what someone knowsand is able to do at a given point oftime (Stites, 2002).

The term ‘assessment’ may, in the mindof the learner, be associated withexaminations and certification. In usingthe term, therefore, tutors should besensitive to these associations and theirpotentially negative connotations,making clear that assessment is simplypart of the learning process.

There are six broad purposes forassessment:• identifying the existence of a general

learning need (alerting)• identifying the broad level at which a

learner should be working (placing)• identifying learning needs

(diagnostic assessment)• supporting and managing the

process of learning and teaching(formative assessment)

• recognising or certificating learnerachievement (summativeassessment) and

• identifying the strengths andweaknesses of learning processesor programmes (evaluation).

These are distinctive purposes,but not necessarily distinct activities.

A particular tool or assessment activitymay be used for more than one of thesepurposes. Also, it is unlikely that anylearning programme would try (or need)to address all of these purposes. Somepurposes may be more suitable in onesector (eg FE) than another (egcommunity learning and development).

• Alerting tools are very simpleinstruments designed either to helpidentify whether someone might havea literacy or numeracy learning needor to enable someone to raise thesubject of their literacy or numeracyneeds. They are particularly useful incontexts such as Job Centres or thePrison Service, where staff have todeal with large numbers of clientsand the time available does notpermit an in-depth assessment ofneeds. Where a general learningneed is identified, the learner shouldthen have an opportunity to take partin a more detailed assessment ofneeds.

• Placing tools give an indication tolearners and tutors of the level ofliteracy or numeracy class that wouldbe most appropriate for theindividual learner. Placing tools areuseful in contexts such as FEcolleges in determining in whichclass a learner should be placed.A more detailed assessment ofneeds may then be undertaken inconjunction with the class tutor.Placing tools are often computerisedand generally do not providedetailed feedback to learners ontheir learning needs. Thesecomputerised tools would generallynot be found useful in contexts suchas community learning anddevelopment where the tutor is morelikely to engage directly with theindividual learner at the initialassessment stage.






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5. What is the relationship between learning and assessment? 21

• Diagnostic assessment assistslearners and tutors to develop anindividual learning plan by identifyingthe skills and knowledge alreadypossessed by the learner and, byimplication, areas of learning that thelearner might wish to focus on.Diagnostic assessment may beconducted as a one-to-one processwith the support of paper-basedmaterials. However, computeriseddiagnostic assessment tools are alsonow available. Diagnosticassessment is central to the initialassessment process. Alerting andplacing may aid learners in getting tothe starting point of a new learningexperience but diagnosticassessment is essential in helpingthem to plan the learning experiencethey want and need.

These first three purposes may bereferred to collectively as initialassessment.

• Formative assessment includeshelping learners and tutors tomonitor their learning progress. Alllearners and tutors should beinvolved in this kind of assessment.Results are needed quickly in orderto be useful, and they must bedetailed enough to help tutors andlearners plan teaching to meetindividual learner needs. Formativeassessment must be based closelyon the learner’s identified goals oroutcomes. Formative assessment issimply an integral part of effectivelearning and teaching.

• The purpose of summativeassessment is to show that learnershave met their learning goals orcompleted a course of study andreached a certain standard ofperformance. It should be for thelearner to decide whether she or he

wishes to be summatively assessedand if so what form the summativeassessment should take. Thisquestion can be kept under reviewthroughout the learning process.Where summative assessment isbeing used for certification, objectiveexternal judgements are required andany assessments made by the tutorand learner will be moderated byothers. The assessment will relate toagreed national standards, so therewill be a need to relate the individual’slearning goals to these standards.Where the aim is to recognise theattainment of learning goals moreinformally, summative assessment canbe a joint activity between learner andtutor. An independent learner shouldhave the skills to decide that his/hergoal has been met and the learning iscomplete.

• Evaluation is a process ofassessing the strengths andweaknesses of the learning processor programme. All those that areinvolved – learners, tutors, managers– should play a part in the evaluation.It may be a relatively informalprocess that has the aim of helpingtutors and learners to identify howthey might improve the process orprogramme next time. In this casethere should always be anopportunity for learners to commenton how they felt about theprogramme and how it helped themto achieve their own goals. It can bemore formal, for example, wheninformation on learners, their learninghours and the learning outcomesmay need to be submitted to theorganisation. Where evaluation is tomeet the requirements of publicaccountability, a disinterestedevaluation of the programme as awhole is required. Judgements mustfollow agreed and consistent criteria,

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and must allow aggregation ofresults for reporting purposes. Thisform of assessment does not need tobe done frequently, and there is noneed for quick results. Nor do alllearners need to take part – aproperly drawn representativesample will suffice.

In ALN the results of learning thatmatter most are applications ofknowledge, understanding and skills inthe real life situations of private, family,

community and working life. Recentstudies in adult learner ‘persistence’(retention in teaching-learning) suggestthat learners are more likely to persistand more likely to achieve in anassessment that they see is closelyrelated to their learning and life goals(Comings et al, 1999; 2000). This meansthat all assessments should try to reflectthe context in which the knowledge orskills are actually applied. This researchprovides the basis for the followingprinciples of assessment:






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1. Assessment should be closely integrated with teaching and learning activities.Learners can learn from their assessment experiences.

2. Having set their own learning goals, learners should regularly review their ownprogress.

3. Assessment should be challenging for learners and involve creativity, strategicthinking and problem-solving.

4. Assessment should allow learners to see the connections between what they arelearning and the real-life applications of that learning.

5. Everyone (tutors, learners, programme co-ordinators) should see clearly what isbeing assessed, how it is being assessed, and what the results of the assessmentimply for planning future learning and teaching.

6. Wherever possible, activities used for assessment should be chosen or designedby learners.

7. The methods used can include portfolios of work, problem-solving scenarios,performances and computer simulations as ways of modelling the learners’realities.

And, particularly where assessment is for certification purposes:

8. Assessments should be valid so they are appropriate to their purpose, provideadequate coverage of all the elements of learning and are accessible to all.

9. Assessments should be fair so that they provide results that are accurate for alltypes of learners in the system (especially in the case of summative assessmentleading to certification).

10. Assessments should be practical and not too costly, too time-consuming, or toodifficult to implement with the human and material resources available.

These principles are generallyapplicable to initial and formativeassessment (where the purpose is toassist the process of learning) andsummative assessment (where thepurpose is recognition or certificationof learner achievements). However,because of the need to ensure thatsummative assessment for certificationis based on the authentic unaided workof the learner, it is not always possible

to integrate the assessment intoongoing learning activities. It is alsonecessary to ensure that theassessment task is consistent with theassessment criteria of the awardingbody and this may place someconstraints on the design of the task.In most other respects, however,summative assessment tasks can bejust as learner-centred as those usedfor formative assessment.

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PRACTICE

PART

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The curriculum is based on three principles. It should:

• Promote self-determination among learners, helping them to make informedchoices about how and what they learn and to take responsibility for theirlearning. It should also do this by making sure that literacy and numeracylearning is seen as part of an individual's lifelong learning journey and keepingabreast of changing demands of the new literacies as society and technologyrequire. It is not a quick remedial input.

• Develop an understanding of literacy and numeracy with particular emphasison critical awareness of how and why communications of all sorts are producedand how they are intended to have an effect on us. This involves consideringwho produced the communication in whatever form (text, statistics, graffiti, etc),who the intended audience was, what message the producer was trying to getacross both explicitly and implicitly and how the reader might be affected by it.De-coding communications in this way enables tutors and learners to see thatall communications have a purpose and none are neutral.

• Recognise and respect difference and diversity through making sure thatprogrammes are responsive to learners’ preferred uses of literacy andnumeracy and their values and contexts.

Encouraging critical literacy is a major strand of literacy practice in one area. It is notconsidered an advanced skill for abler learners; rather every opportunity is taken to openup discussion. For instance, one learner was asked why he always wrote Doctor and Teacherusing initial capital letters. An interesting discussion ensued about important people in thecommunity and how we write about them.Tutors are encouraged to use local and nationalnewspapers, current pictures and those resources which encourage discussion and opinion-giving. It is acknowledged that tutors and learners may feel more secure practisinghandwriting and spelling skills but monthly volunteer meetings and regular supervision fortutors encourage creative and critical practice.

1. The Curriculum

1.1 The Curriculum

1.2 The Wheel

1.3 Breaking down the complexcapabilities of ALN

Literacy

Numeracy

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Respecting language diversityA group comprising six men, a tutor and two volunteers worked on individual projects forthe first hour of their session, then the tutor led the rest of the session.

One of the volunteer tutors introduced one of the learners as having a family from theScots travellers’ community.The tutor asked about the man’s knowledge of the Cant (secretlanguage of the travellers derived from Roma).The learner mentioned a few words but allthe men in the group knew them as Edinburgh dialect words.The tutor explained thehistoric background to land enclosure and the arrival of gypsies in the 16th century asitinerant harvesters to the south and east of Edinburgh as a reason why so many Cant orRoma words were in the dialect.

He asked everyone to contribute Edinburgh dialect words and made a list on the board ofthose words which were also Cant or Roma. Some of the words are also of Hindi origin asidentified by a Hindi speaker in another group.Thus the group made a linguistic connectionbetween working class Edinburgh and India over a period of 500 years.

Cant/Roma or Hindi words in Edinburgh dialectchore – thief or to steal (Cant/Roma/Hindi)peeve – a generic term for alcoholic drink (Cant/Roma/Hindi)shan – bad (Cant/Roma)barry – beautiful/good (Cant/Roma/Hindi?)chavvie – son/young man (Cant)raj – mad /angry (Cant/Roma/Hindi?)manashae –- woman (Cant)deekin – looking (Cant/Roma Hindi – deco)gadgie – man (Cant)giddie – children (Cant)hornie – policeman (Cant)tam – beernaggings – pal/friend

This session was extremely energised and productive, the words tumbling out.The menwere amused and proud of their own dialect, and enjoyed sharing and remembering it.They gave examples of using some of the words:

“I felt really barry when Celtic won the match at the weekend. My manashae went raj whenshe smelt the tam in my claes.”

“My naggings is a barry chavvie.”

The man who was of travelling folk had the natural authority as a Cant speaker and therewas clearly a lot more language and lore the group could explore.

28

We have chosen a wheel to represent the ALN Curriculum because we want thecurriculum to revolve around the learner.

The curriculum is represented as concentric circles on a wheel to act as a visualreminder for tutors and learners of what is available to be taught and learned inALN and the principles that should inform them.

1.2 The Wheel

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In the centre of the wheel is the learnersurrounded by his or her differentcontexts for learning: private life, familylife, community life and working life(circle 1). These contexts reflect theimportance of the learner's real life andeveryday practices that are central tothe Scottish approach to adult literacyand numeracy. They provide themotivation for learning. Teaching andlearning resources will be drawn fromthese contexts and learners will assesstheir progress in terms of the changesthey have made in them.

It is expected that learner and tutor willwish to develop the complex capabilitiesof adult literacy and numeracy. Workingin ALN will always involve a mix of thepractice of reading, writing andnumeracy skills, the discussion andacquisition of knowledge about literacyand numeracy and the development ofcritical understanding (circle 2). Criticalunderstanding involves awareness ofthe power relations between the writerand reader, knowing how they can beused to manipulate us and ways we canuse them effectively. It also reminds usthat we should always be aware of whatour purposes are for using literacy andnumeracy and who our audience isgoing to be. Further information aboutskills, knowledge and understanding ofliteracy and numeracy can be found inPart 2, section 1.3.

The ALNIS report recommended thatthe measurement of progress should bebased around learner goals anddistance travelled, building on the CoreSkills Framework. This is why these skillsreflect the SQA Core Skills ofCommunication and Numeracy(circle 3). Detail about what is expectedin each Core Skill can be found in therelevant SQA unit descriptor; thecomplex capabilities of ALN arediscussed further below. The fourth

circle reflects the remaining SQA CoreSkills. It highlights the social andeducational activities which facilitateand support literacy and numeracylearning and reflect their ‘real-life’ use.In the 21st century the new literacies ofICT are given enhanced prominence.

The outer circle of the wheel reminds usof the principles which underpin thecurriculum framework. Promoting self-determination reminds tutors that theyare working towards the independenceof the learner. This is done by keepingthe learner and the learner’s goalscentral to the learning process, bynegotiating goals and by encouraginglearners to make choices about whatthey work on and how their work will beassessed.

Lifelong learning within this circleencourages tutor and learner to valuetheir learning as part of a lifelong andlifewide process. This will includeencouraging progress to learning inother areas, formal and informal, andpossibly to consider gainingaccreditation for their literacy andnumeracy work or to work towards someother qualification.

The wheel emphasises that no oneelement is studied in isolation. It may behelpful to imagine each circle turninglike the discs on a combination lock toline up a rich and appropriate learningexperience for each learner.

HOW DO WE USE THE WHEEL?Using the example of a hypotheticalliteracy and numeracy learner who hasrecently become a member of amanagement committee, the diagramsbelow explore some of the knowledge,skills and understanding which arepotentially needed in that role. A fullerbreakdown is contained in Appendix 1.

30

The Communication and NumeracyCore Skills have been analysed in detailunder the headings:

Write to convey information, ideasand feelingsRead with understandingSpeak so others can understandListen/observe effectivelyApply numerical skills to solveproblemsUnderstand and apply numericalskillsInterpret numerical information Communicate numerical information

Information in circles in the diagramsrepresents numeracy andcommunication broken down under theabove headings. Rectangles representthe other SQA Core Skills in the fourthcircle of the wheel.

The tutor can use the wheel as amemory jogger in the process ofconsidering what is available to betaught to that learner. If we look at theexample of reading minutes, the wheelwill remind the tutor that the learner andher uses of literacy are at the heart ofthe literacy and numeracy curriculum,and that the process of negotiation,planning, evaluation and assessment iscentral to the process of learning. Itcould also remind the tutor to analyseminute reading in terms of skills,knowledge and understanding; toensure that approaches are used whichwill increase critical awareness; that thelearner will need to reflect on theminutes and evaluate their accuracyand may need to use negotiating skillsin suggesting amendments; that shemay want to use email to communicatewith the secretary of the managementcommittee, or use the Internet to findout more about issues raised in theminutes. This in turn could lead toconsideration of approaches to reading

information on the Internet, andcomparing them with approaches usedin reading minutes.

The wheel therefore enables the tutor tothink laterally – to broaden what isavailable to be learned from makingsense of what is being said in theminutes, to being able to reflect criticallyon the content and take actionaccordingly, and to apply readingstrategies to other contexts and toreflect and extend the learner’s real-lifeuses of literacy.

An example of the numeracy that sucha learner might want to work on couldbe interpreting numerical information –making sense of the project’s budget.Again the tutor would identify the skills,knowledge and understanding thatwould be required. By looking at thewheel she might also consider: usingICT to get information about budgetingin the context of voluntary organisations;learning through researching thisinformation; using critical approaches tointerpret the information presented andlistening actively. Additionally the learnermight want to be able to explain orjustify the budget in conversation withusers of the organisation, so working onorganising ideas and speaking might beincorporated into the plan.

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write to conveyinformation, ideas

and feelings

read withunderstanding

understand and applynumerical skills

interpret numericalinformation

apply numerical skills to solve

problems

communicatenumerical information

listen/observe effectively

speak so others can understand

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solve problems and make decisions

use ICT tocommunicateinformation

reflect and evaluate

learn through research

resolve conflict and negotiate

WORKING ON AMANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

skimming, scanning,close reading

reading minutes,letters, notices etc

using email

using internet dictionary skills

decoding

SKILLS

read between the lines what is missed out? which

items on agenda arerecorded in most detail?

that minutes are aselective account of

proceedings

that minutes can be usedas proof of decision making,

can carry weight

significance as arecord, read by

people who weren’tthere

whose view is reallyrepresented

that committeemembers can ask for

amendments to be madeto minutes

specialisedvocabulary,

abbreviations

where to getfurther information

conventions ofminutes

KNOWLEDGE

UNDERSTANDING

33

solveproblems and make

decisions

resolveconflict andnegotiate

use ICT tomanage

information

learnthroughresearch

use ICTto learn and

practise skills

READ WITHUNDERSTANDING

Sometimes it is helpful to break downthe complex capabilities of ALN to seewhat is available to be learned andtaught. For this reason further ideasabout the skills, knowledge andunderstanding that are involved in usingliteracy and numeracy are listed below.These complex capabilities are adaptedfrom ‘Literacies in the Community’. Theyare not intended to be a checklist, norare they meant to suggest any order inwhich things should be taught. The listsare too unwieldy for use with learnersand are intended for tutors to use as areference tool for their lesson-planning.Tutors can pick and choose theappropriate learning activities for theirlearners' goals, mixing activities forworking on skills with those whichexplore knowledge and understandingabout literacies. It can be useful torecord ideas for lesson plans on aspider diagram (see, for example,Appendix 1).

For ease of use, skills, knowledge andunderstanding have been teased apart.However, all three capabilities overlapso that working on a skill (eg skimminga text) will inevitably involve knowledgeof how texts are structured and whatclues to look for, while the tutor's skillmay be needed to prompt discussionof who constructed the text, and whythey wrote it that way. All learners canbe engaged with all three of thecapabilities whether skimming a poster,a website or an academic article.Similarly skills, knowledge andunderstanding can all be woven intocomposing a group letter or emailarranging a group outing, or anindividual's letter to school.

1.3 Breaking down the complex capabilities of ALN

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LITERACY SKILLS

The skills of:

READING• recognising signs, symbols and social sight words (eg push, fire exit)• matching letters and sounds• using strategies for reading unfamiliar words• using pictures and graphic clues to recognise texts and find information• using layout and headings to navigate through a text• skimming and scanning• reading for particular purposes (eg reading for particular information, to get the

gist, for enjoyment) • reading for understanding• reading critically• reading aloud• using alphabetical order• using reference material to find meaning of unfamiliar words • accessing a variety of reference material (eg the internet, magazines, textbooks,

library collections).

WRITING• using layout, paragraphing and headings to navigate through a text• using sequence and links to make meanings clear• using language to express attitudes, opinions and degrees of certainty• using sentence length and complexity appropriate to purpose • using language appropriate to intended purpose/reader• word-processing and texting –

using word-processing facilities for planning, drafting, composing, editingand proofreading

• spelling –choosing and using strategies for learning spellings and working outhow to spell words

• punctuation –choosing and using appropriate punctuation, upper and lower case letters

• handwriting• using dictionaries, a thesaurus and spellcheckers.

KNOWLEDGE OF LITERACIESThe knowledge that:• we do not have to read a text from start to finish but can use headings, or select

particular pieces according to our purpose• sometimes we need to read a text in detail• using our knowledge and experience together with cues and clues from the text

can help us work out the meaning• in English, letters or groups of letters may sound differently when combined into

different words • spoken and written language are different and that we need to organise them

differently, including choosing punctuation

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• we use language differently in different contexts (eg formal letter, text message)• different kinds of text have different structures (eg menus, chapters,

‘pages’/layers in hypertext)• there are many sources of information that can be accessed in different ways

(eg internet, library, individuals)• there is a process to writing that includes:

- thinking what we want to say, why we want to say it and who will be readingwhat we write

- planning, organising and sequencing our meaning - making decisions about the length and detail of text- selecting the language and style appropriate to purpose- drafting- editing so that:

the writing achieves its purpose sentences make sensethe writing is grammatically appropriate for purpose and audience (egsubject and verb agree and tenses are consistent)

- proofreading.• English has evolved from a mixture of languages: this can be both a help and a

hindrance in spelling it• there are some patterns and rules which can help us work out how to spell

words• it helps to use visual, auditory and other memory methods as well as repetition

when learning to spell• it helps to develop personal dictionaries and lists of keywords for our own

purposes • we can write impersonally and in a detached way or we can address the reader

directly• we can use language to achieve different purposes (eg to inform, amuse,

persuade)• there are some writing conventions (eg for a narrative, for a report, for

instructions or for emails) which can be learned and used.

UNDERSTANDING LITERACIESUnderstanding that:• it is important to work out who wrote a text and why in order to evaluate its

message• it is useful to test what the text says against our own knowledge and experience

of a topic• sometimes the writer’s message may be explicit and sometimes implicit or both• what is left out of a text is sometimes as significant as what is included• sometimes it is important to read and write accurately and perfectly and

sometimes it is not: it depends on the context• writing is constructed according to conventions and the writer can choose

whether or not to follow these conventions. Sometimes, however, in certainenvironments there are set formats to be used (eg timesheets, job sheets, birthcertificates or, in the workplace, business letters)

• IT and other technologies (such as texting) are increasingly changing the wayspeople use literacy

• different people at different times have used literacies in different ways

• writers need to consider choosing presentation tools which are appropriate tothe purpose, for example a pen or word-processor for business letters and jobapplications.

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How a learner might broaden learning from concentrating on skills to working onknowledge and understanding as wellWhen Marion first went to a dedicated literacy class it was ‘Just my spelling, really’ that shewanted to work on. Knowing that it's important to have a context for working on spelling,the tutor asked what sort of writing Marion did at present and what she wanted to spelland write.This took quite a lot of teasing out, starting from ‘nothing in particular’ to a shortlist of shopping lists, benefit forms, texts to a soldier son and letters to school for adaughter's absence.

Marion agreed to start with a template letter to school which could be used to adapt to allsorts of illnesses.They would use that to look at the spelling.

To get it down on paper in the first place, however, took quite a lot of prompting anddiscussion, which covered more than just spelling skills.They talked about what to say andthe order it needed to be said in, the right sort of tone and the right layout for herpurpose.

The tutor encouraged Marion to ‘just write it down and we can sort the spelling later’. Butit was still difficult for Marion to start so the tutor asked her just to speak out what shewanted to say.The tutor repeated it to Marion and she wrote some of it down and thetutor wrote the rest.Then they read it back and changed some of the language to make itmore formal.This approach to letter writing, with all the literacies knowledge that itinvolved, was new to Marion who said she usually just signed what her daughter wrote. Shewas, however, still keen to get to the spelling!

The tutor asked her to identify any words she had misspelled and, working with thedictionary and a spellchecker, they set some of them right.Together they discussed howMarion might learn them and tried a few memory techniques to see what might work forher.

The next week they took the draft and talked about how to rewrite and present it neatly.The tutor offered to show her how to lay it out and type it up on the computer for her ifshe wanted, but Marion really wanted to know why, a hundred years after the phone wasinvented, school still wanted absence and other sorts of notes.They talked about who sawthem at school, what happened to them after they'd been read and instances they knew ofwhen the note had been important.

The discussion of the legal status of some bits of writing and their importance as a recordof a transaction led Marion to mentioning other letters she wanted to write, particularlyone to complain about the repairs to her house not getting done.

NUMERACY SKILLSUsing the following skills to accomplish everyday tasks:• recognising numbers

- spoken words - written figures

• concepts and language for time, weight, distance, comparison andmeasurement

• counting, in 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s (eg with money and five-minute intervals on theclock)

• using number bonds• addition, including larger numbers and addition with carrying; subtraction,

including larger numbers and subtraction by decomposition• place value (understanding two and three figure numbers and the significance

of zero in them)• multiplication (times two and 10, tables, methods to use with larger numbers,

decimals and fractions)• division (as the opposite of multiplication, sharing, using tables to divide)• how and when to use a calculator• decimals (recognising and understanding decimal money, using addition and

subtraction and understanding their relationship to fractions)• fractions (recognising and understanding them in real situations, how to write

them and recognise equivalent fractions and recognising their relationship todecimals)

• percentages (recognising that they are fractions of a hundred and identifyingpercentages in real situations and knowing the value of some more commonamounts)

• estimation and approximation• ratio and proportion• probability and statistics within context• graphs, charts and tables

- making sense of them (reading, understanding and using)- constructing them

• measurement- measuring using different tools- choosing the appropriate units of measurement

• recognising, drawing and constructing simple shapes• using formulae, for example in spreadsheets• comparing numerical information (eg loan offers)• operating a bank account• budgeting.

KNOWLEDGE OF NUMERACYKnowledge that:• maths has its own language and sometimes processes and relationships are

shown by symbols• maths has its own vocabulary and different words can be used for the same

processes (eg subtract, take away, minus)• informal methods may work as well as formal pen-and-paper ones in real life• our common sense can often tell us when a calculation is incorrect

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• we don't always need to be absolutely accurate – it depends on thecircumstances

• estimation and approximation are useful in certain circumstances, for exampleto get a rough idea of quantities or cost

• some calculations, like long division and manipulation of fractions, are rarelyused in real life

• some calculations are better done on a calculator• charts, tables and graphs are important and common ways of communicating

numerical information.

UNDERSTANDING NUMERACYUnderstanding how:• numbers work (eg place value or the relationship between multiplying and

dividing).

Understanding that:• new ways of showing numerical information are developing all the time• numerical information needs to be presented appropriately for the audience,

and there are conventions for doing this• different people at different times have done maths in different ways• sometimes getting the exact answer and using a particular method matters and

sometimes it doesn't depending on the context• we need to understand a problem fully before we can decide which of the four

operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) we need to use to solve it

• mathematical calculations can be used to come up with an answer to a practicalproblem (eg calculating how much paint to buy or how much a car journey willcost)

• numbers are used for different purposes and we need to ask how and whypeople are using them before evaluating them

• sometimes what is left out of numerical information is as significant as what isincluded – advertisements are a good example of this

• in maths, as in real life, we have to use it or lose it.

40

PUTTING THEM BACKTOGETHER AGAINThe lists that have been detailed aboveare shown to illustrate how the skills,knowledge and understanding involvedin using literacy and numeracy can bebroken down. Of course most tutors areworking on all these separated partstogether in response to the wishes oftheir learners. Section 3.6 shows how

working on skills, knowledge andunderstanding in a context relevant tothe learner’s goals can be linked toassessment, and in Appendix 5 there isan example of a possible framework forrecording progress. The rest of thisdocument shows how tutors can thinkabout learning and individual learningplanning in ways that are responsive tolearners and their learning contexts.

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Our aim is to develop an adult literacyand numeracy curriculum thatencompasses all sectors of educationand training in which adults learn andthe various ways in which this learningis organised. However, it is alsoimportant to recognise that thesevarious settings create some particularopportunities and constraints and that,while the principles may be universal,the ways of applying them in practicemay need to vary.

The ALN curriculum is designed for usein the community learning anddevelopment sector, voluntaryorganisations, further educationcolleges, workplaces and prisons. It isintended to be applicable in a range ofsettings, including one-to-one tuition,drop-in centres, integratedliteracy/numeracy (whereliteracy/numeracy learning is subsumedwithin other learning purposes), anddedicated literacy/numeracy (whereliteracy/numeracy learning is theprimary and explicit purpose).

This section addresses some of the keyissues involved in the development ofeffective learning and teaching practice.Wherever possible, ideas on effectivepractice are supported by case studiesdescribing what tutors in various sectorscurrently do. However, there are not cutand dried answers to all the questionswe may have about adult literacy andnumeracy learning. These guidelinesare a contribution to an ongoingexploration of what constitutes effectivepractice.

Developing effective practice involves(among other things) attempting toanswer the following questions:• How are cognitive and metacognitive

strategies taught and learned?• How do we organise individual and

group learning?• Should learning be integrated or

dedicated?• What can be used as resources?

2. Learning

2. Learning

2.1 Cognitive and metacognitivestrategies

2.2 Organising individual andgroup learning

2.3 Integrated and dedicatedapproaches

2.4 Resources

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In the first part of these guidelines weshowed that effective learners activelymake and interpret knowledge byintegrating new information andexperiences into what they alreadyknow. Everyone has some areas in theirlife where they are an expert but mostALN learners do not see themselves inthat light, often due to their low self-esteem. This is why it is important towork with learners to find out what theyalready know and what strategies theyuse to learn. Many adult learners comewith existing mental models ofthemselves as unable to learn and theseform internal barriers that need to beovercome before new learning can takeplace. Tutors can help learners tochange their mental models byconnecting literacy and numeracy tosuccessful learning strategies thatlearners use in other parts of their lives.This might be an ability to remember ashopping list or an ability to work out thenumbers needed to win at darts. Boththese examples involve learners inthinking about their successful learningstrategies in one context and then being

helped to transfer these strategies to thenew context of literacy and numeracy.

Tutors should always encouragelearners to think about how they learn.This can start in a small way withlearners thinking about what workswhen they are trying to remember aspelling or how they go about doing acalculation. Once learners begin to talkabout the methods they use they cansee what works for them. In terms ofspelling some will mention the visualimportance of colour underlining, otherstalk about saying it a funny way as infeb-ru-ary. Others may find that simplydiscussing with others what theirstrategies are can lead to trying out newways of learning. Tutors need to workwith learners on finding out what theirparticular expertise is and then build onit so that learners can develop newknowledge. In developing cognitive andmetacognitive strategies, tutors shouldbe alert to the cultural cues and cluesregarding the individual learner’sexperience.

Effective learning involves not onlyacquiring knowledge, skills andunderstanding but also their activeapplication. Learners are not alwaysable to easily identify what they arelearning when it is applied to aparticular context so tutors need to helpthem do this. For example, learners maydemonstrate the core skill ‘understandand apply numerical skills’ through asimulation of a DIY store in the collegesetting but not realise that they have the

ability to apply these skills in their familyand community lives as well. So, after anactivity, learners should discuss whatthey have learned and how they canapply it in the various roles they play. Forexample a group that was developingnumeracy skills for work had beenlearning to measure in order to calculatethe floor space required for a DIY shop.Learners were able to see how theunderpinning knowledge of how tomeasure and calculate could be applied

A group of learners, working on spelling, shared strategies for learning words and agreed toexperiment using each others’ ways of learning, with the purpose of identifying their ownpreferred learning styles. Paired, then group discussion of some of the myths surroundingspelling led the group to the conclusion that one of the essential factors contributing tosuccess was that they had to be active in their learning rather than passive recipients ofinformation.

2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive strategies

2. Learning




2.4 Resources

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in their family life to work out the amountof paint required for a room to beredecorated. They could also use thisknowledge to help children with theirhome-work and, for one learner, to helpout with the refurbishment of his church hall.

Encouraging learners to think aboutwhat they need to know and be able todo is also important. For example if thetask a learner wants to undertake is towrite letters then the first step is toexamine why, to whom and in whatcontexts they need to send letters. Oncethis is clear then the tutor can move onto decide on a learning activity that willallow learners to practise the basic skillsassociated with letter writing. Whilstpeople are learning they can reflect onand think about the skills they aregaining such as how to organise andtailor what is written for different kinds ofaudiences. Learners can also beencouraged to think about how theknowledge learned in one context canbe transferred to a new context. Forexample they might consider together

how what they have learned aboutwriting formal letters could be applied towriting personal letters or sendingemails to friends.

Another aspect of cognitive andmetacognitive strategies is encouraginglearners to see themselves as peoplewho construct knowledge themselvesrather than relying on ‘expert’ teachers.Designing a learning environment that isknowledge-centred involves creatinglearning opportunities that focus on thedevelopment and practice of skills thatlearners want so they can carry outactivities and gain their goals. It alsoinvolves learners working as acollaborative team to identify and solveproblems together since this takes thefocus from individual expertise tosomething that is shared.Communication and shared problemsolving bridge the gap between old andnew knowledge and between thedifferent understandings of partners(tutor, learner, peers) as individualssearch for the common ground ofshared understanding.

A mixed ability group of learners decided that they would all like to try doing crosswordsas the focus for group work for a term. Using a ‘spider’ diagram they identified that theyalready knew quite a lot about doing crosswords, and in the process also raised severalquestions which they wanted to answer, such as ‘How do you know what the clue means?’and ‘What does it mean when there’s a comma between two numbers after the clue?’ Forthe next three weeks the group worked on crosswords together, exchanging ideas aboutthe clues offered within clues, working with a dictionary and thesaurus (and discovering thedifference between them) and helping each other to work out clues. Discussion also tookplace about what individuals look for in a dictionary and the wide range available. Onelearner decided to spend some time looking at dictionaries in a bookshop to find out whatwould suit her best, and another thought that working on dictionary skills would be usefulfor him as part of his reading goal.

At the end of term the learner who had originally introduced the topic felt ready to join inwhen a group of her café customers were doing their crossword. Another group membertook the crosswords home to complete with his wife and son, and bought himself a bookof crosswords for the family to while away the time on a transatlantic flight.

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We know that effective adult literacy andnumeracy learning should relate toindividual goals but we also know thatadults learn from others when workingin groups. Drawing up ground rules witha group of learners can provide tutorswith a useful opportunity to encouragethe whole group to challengediscriminatory language andstereotyping. This can also be a way ofpromoting a working culture of mutualrespect and support.

There are four advantages of learning in a group:

• Groups provide a supportiveenvironment for learningWhen people work together on a sharedtask it provides encouragement toeveryone and an atmosphere can begenerated that enhances the learners’self image and encourages them togreater effort. The sense of solidaritycreated can provide the securitynecessary to take risks and experimentin a safe environment, helping toovercome individual anxieties andgenerate confidence.

• Groups provide a challenge for learnersIn a group new ranges of views,prejudices and experiences are met, allof them calling for learning changesand widening horizons. The group canprovide a stimulus for change, forincreased awareness and criticalreflection helping adults to becomemore conscious of, and more effectivein, their learning.

• A group can provide resources to build richer and more complexstructures for learningThe group can draw upon the variety ofexperience and resources possessedby its members, and so present a widerrange of possible solutions to problems.The participants have their own learningstyles so the methods available in theteaching-learning process are greatlymultiplied. The resources that both thelearner and the tutor can call upon aregreatly increased by the existence ofthe group.

• The group dynamicThe group has a life and momentum ofits own. It creates and maintainsmotivation, aids retention and sets apace of learning that is satisfying tomost of its members. Loyalty to thegroup will often bring about greatereffort at particular times than anydemand the tutor can make.

2.2 Organising individual and group learning

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This curriculum encourages a variety ofmodes of learning – one-to-one andgroups – but encourages groupprovision wherever practical. Withingroups, however, practitioners may findit hard to balance individuals' goals andneeds with those of the group. Groupmanagement skills, thoughtfulpreparation and appropriate resourcescan help, but it remains, as manypractitioners testify, ‘a hard nut to crack’.Also, clustered one-to-one or flexiblelearning may remain preferable forlearners with lifestyles influenced, forexample, by mental health difficulties orby childcare demands.

In literacy and numeracy groups, thetutor may wish to organise the workdifferently according to whether thegroup or the individual’s agendapredominates.

Where the group activity is the prioritythis could come first, with individualsand pairs working on their own goals inthe second half.

If the group activity generates theindividuals' learning tasks the tutorneeds a good and handy collection ofresources and the ability to select fromthem quickly and confidently.

Context and purpose for learning One of the men in a group of literacy and numeracy learners is a farmer who is on thecommittee of an association which arranges ploughing competitions.The post of Chair tothe committee is allocated on a rotational basis, and his turn would be coming round in acouple of months. He felt nervous about his inability to speak in a group setting and to takecoherent notes.The group discussed this and agreed that, as well as joining forces to helpthe farmer, they could turn the activity into a learning project for everyone.

After discussion the group decided to work as a 'Fundraising for Charity' group. Everyone inthe group adopted a post on the committee, and wrote up reports relevant to their post.The fundraising function of the committee introduced a substantial numeracy element intothe curriculum for this group, and the focus for their work has been the fundraising ideassuggested by committee members.

Since the group started work on this project, the farmer has done a lot of writing andtalking in the group, and is now not at all worried either by taking notes or speaking in agroup setting. He feels more confident and understands the need to pace himself and notaim too high in terms of vocabulary used. He also reckons that ‘there's a lot of bluff in thischairing lark’.

The tutor's final comments: ‘I've been quite surprised and pleased by the effects of theproject, not only on our chairman, but on all members of the group – a vindication of the“student-led” approach.’

• Individual or paired work

• Tutor chooses from resource bank

• Tutor tailor-makes resources forindividual’s task

Group task generates learning tasks for

individuals

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Where learners have not yet coheredround an issue or where new membersneed to be integrated, the tutor maychoose to prepare individual worksheetsfor the first half of the session and thenbring the group together for anenjoyable group activity at the end.

With this model the tutor will have toprepare individual work as negotiated atthe previous session.

In both models a coffee break is usefulnot only for social interaction andresource-browsing but also for aconcentration break. In one group,where coffee is not free, collecting andrecording payment is used as a learningactivity.

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2.4 Resources

Group activities and individual programmesThe four learners in the ‘Super Shopper’ group were supported by a group tutor and twovolunteers.They worked on their own individual programmes for the first hour asnegotiated the previous week.There is a varied bank of practical, paper and IT resourcesavailable from which tutors and volunteers select and adapt.Two learners used worksheetsto practise the operations while another practised weighing with both balance and digitalscales in preparation for an SQA unit. A fourth identified and counted coins for a shoppingtask.

A break for coffee provided opportunities for real money transactions before the groupchanged to its joint activity of identifying best buys in fruit juices.This was part of an ongoingsequence of work which has included shopping for light bulbs, chocolate tasting,examination of supermarket wars, food additives, as well as value for money in newspapers,CD and video cassettes.These topics have come from group discussions and involve a greatdeal of work on time, weights and percentages as well as reading information anddeciphering graphic information.Visits out to the shops naturally involved planning,estimating and recording results.

Critical literacy and numeracy are major features in group work discussions, including thelanguage of advertising and special offers and the way packaging can deceive!

The group enjoyed identifying (from their own experience) what had been left out of theadvertising blurbs for cheap flights and tried to make out the message of the extremelysmall print at the bottom of the adverts. Another activity which promoted critical commentwas identifying the language of special offers like ‘Three for two’, ‘Family packs’ and ‘Buy oneand get one free’.They discussed the power of these phrases and compared theirexperiences of buying (and storing!) such offers.

During their visit to the local supermarket, researching value for money topics, there hadbeen a chance to compare different shapes of shampoo bottles which contained similaramounts of shampoo.This resulted both in arguments on whether packaging is made todeceive or merely to attract and quizzical studies of other fancily packaged products likedeodorants.

• Individual tasks

• Paired work

• Tasks negotiated at previoussessions

Group activity –may or may not be related to individual

goals

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Where tutor assistants are used,mostly in community learning anddevelopment, they may be asked towork one-to-one with a particularmember of the group or move aroundthe group as appropriate. Sometimesthey might prepare the work for

individuals; at other times they use thematerials prepared by the tutor. Usingassistants can allow for both individualand group needs to be addressed andfor learners to make a transition fromembarrassed individual to confidentgroup participant.

Group programmes and individual tasksA group of literacy learners decided, having been sent a newsletter from another group,that they wanted to produce their own newsletter.

The learners used their writing for the newsletter to concentrate on the skills needed toachieve their individual goals, while work as a group enabled them to address issues aroundknowledge and understanding. Some of the individual work included organising writing intoparagraphs, work on spelling, reflecting on the process of having a letter scribed, selectingand organising information about that process which might be of interest to other literacylearners, proofreading writing concentrating on missing small words, using a personaldictionary to record words to use in writing and using examples of short forms to helpwith construction of a form.

Group work covered during the term included:• looking at examples of newsletters from various sources – church, school, literacy group,

union – to consider audience, purpose, content, use of language, layout• deciding content – identifying what the group read first in magazines/newspapers, to

select content of interest to other learners• discussion of differences between speaking and writing• planning writing – brainstorming ideas, selecting, organising, ordering ideas• vocabulary extension – using the group as a thesaurus, and consulting published

thesaurus• discussion about English as a continually evolving language• editing and proof reading each others’ contributions, with emphasis on writing that made

sense to the reader• choosing a title for the newsletter• negotiating and agreeing layout: the group did not have access to ICT, so were unable to

use a computer themselves to produce the newsletter, but they decided on font stylesand size, illustrations and order, bearing in mind their audience, and took part in the finalpasting-up session.

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Where space allows, tutors haveexperimented with clusters of one-to-ones in one room under the supervisionof a group tutor who may graduallyinstitute some group activities. Onceagain a coffee break can be a usefulfirst step to building a group.

An alternative to the establishedgroup/one-to-one or cluster models ispossible with suitable premises,substantial hours and adequate staffing.Adult literacy/numeracy study centreswith large open-plan accommodationcan set up a ‘Community of Learning’.This might provide individual tuition withopportunities for group work where anumber of learners are interested inlooking at a similar idea (such ashandwriting, magazine work, spellinghints and tips). Only those wishing tostop their individual work wouldparticipate. The element of choice hereis an important factor in emphasisingthe learner’s ownership of the learningexperience while the move from non-

participation to participation is anobservable stage in the new learner’sdevelopment.

Learners can drop in rather than join agroup fixed by time, duration ormembership. They can choose to learnflexibly with short frequent input frompaid tutor and/or gaps for learners towork alone. Learners can attend forseveral sessions per week: a modelwhich research suggests can boostachievement.

In this setting, the skills of the tutor arecrucial in maintaining a dynamic withinwhat could be a silent world of study.On the other hand a learner can choosea degree of private space and avoid thestress of being interrupted or even ofbeing allocated a personal tutor. Thereis no need for artificially created topicsfor the purpose of working together –learners share the same environmentand discussion is a day-to-day part ofthe experience.

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2.4 Resources

Using tutor assistantsIn a voluntary sector project for recovering/stabilised drug users there is literacies provisionthat is a voluntary element within a compulsory 12-week course. Learners make a self-assessment of their abilities and then choose particular aspects of literacies that they wouldlike to work on within the group setting. Although some of the work is group based, usingvolunteers makes it possible for the learners to work on individual tasks. Each learnerdevelops a portfolio of work to take away with them and decides which work (if any) theywould like to include in a group booklet.

A range of tools and methodologies are used:

1. Individual Learning Plan: a variety of Plans are used, from the very brief three questions toa more detailed format that may take several sessions to complete.These are reviewed atthe end of an agreed period.

2. Evaluation of progress: again a range of methods is offered and learners choose themethod they feel works best for them.This will involve a review of the Individual LearningPlan but it may be in the form of a tape recording, a letter, production of a portfolio, acompleted form, a post-it note, etc.

3. Literacy/numeracy diaries have been used by some learners to provide a starting pointfor understanding current uses and identifying potential uses.

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Effective ALN learning should be rootedin the social contexts and purposes ofthe learner. Integrated literacyapproaches are strong in this respect.We also know that the learner should beexplicitly aware of his/her literacylearning so as to be able to reflect onand review his or her learning process.It is sometimes easier to achieve this

focus in dedicated literacy approaches.It may be better to consider integratedand dedicated literacy as a continuumrather than entirely distinct types ofprovision. Nevertheless, the termsremain useful in distinguishing twobroad approaches to literacy learningand are used in the following section.

Integrated literacy is often offered inshort courses where the subject matter(eg first aid, song writing, reminiscenceor IT) may be the learners' first concern.Courses may be advertised with a clearsubject base, for example ‘Local historyproject’ or ‘Healthy eating for yourchildren’, but with a clear indication of

the literacies tasks to be tackled. Thesemight include writing and laying out ahistory booklet or reading and workingon menus and charts. Tutors shouldseek opportunities in short courses torecognise and promote diversity interms of students’ prior learning andexperience.

Offering the continuum of integrated and dedicated literacy provisionThe Learning Support unit of an FE College offers a drop-in facility for learners on both aself-referred and a referred (by social workers, addiction units, homeless units) basis.Discussion begins on a one-to-one basis with a learning support tutor, followed by coreskills profiling. Learners’ own interests are used as a starting point for development ofliteracy/numeracy skills. Many of the learners wish to improve their literacy/numeracy skillsfor family reasons such as their children starting school whilst others start because theyneed to take on new roles. An example of this is a retired man who was asked to becometreasurer of a bowling club. He came to college to improve his accounting skills (numeracy)and his communication skills (attending and taking part in meetings, for example). In additionhe developed IT skills (word-processing).

Another person attending the drop-in facility is an ex-offender who wanted to enrol on theplumbing course aimed at adults, but did not have the necessary qualifications or skills. Hewas keen to develop IT skills, so he started with this and he also used his IT work toimprove his literacy skills, and went on to achieve his ECDL. His ambitions then changed sothat he subsequently enrolled on an IT course.

Learners usually attempt certificated units (Core Skills) at Access 2 or 3 level. Many moveon from the ‘drop-in’ facility to full or part-time courses, such as Return to Study.

2.3 Integrated and dedicated approaches

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In this case, negotiating the curriculum isfocused firstly around the subject matterand then later the literacy and numeracyskills, knowledge and understandingrequired for that subject. Group aims andtasks are established before individualones. The Group Learning Plan providedin Appendix 2 might be of use innegotiating and recording this.

Learners can be encouraged to sharetheir strategies through, for example,reading food tables or spelling difficultnames. This allows everyone tocontribute and opens up the possibilitiesof what could be learned. In latersessions the tutor can begin to work withindividuals establishing their ownlearning goals and setting appropriatetasks. These are likely to lie within thecontext of the group's subject focus.

These courses are useful both to attractnew learners into literacy learning and toprovide a way forward for those whoneed to move on from dedicated literacy.

Tutors offering integrated literaciescourses need to be confident both in thesubject matter of the course and in waysof introducing the skills, knowledge andunderstanding of literacies into it.

Examples of integrated literacy• Driving theory courseA six-week course offered to youngpeople aged 17-25, working towardspassing the driving theory test, withsupport for reading and understandingthe test language.

• Cooking and literacyA four-session course offered to learnersalready attending literacy provision;learners used recipes to produce avariety of dishes, looked critically at howrecipes and recipe books are writtenand produced, and identified what theywould look for if they were buying recipebooks for themselves.

Promoting critical awareness in a reminiscence and literacies groupA short course in reminiscence and literacy aims to maintain and develop the literacycapabilities of frail elderly learners in a residential home in Edinburgh by reading, sharing,discussing, recording and writing their reminiscences. Discussion is often stimulated byreading together from the published collections of other reminiscence groups.

To start off a discussion about holidays and daytrips the group read these two accounts ofpre-war day trips to Ratho from Edinburgh, organised and paid for by a city councillor.

‘I once got a ticket to Barrie’s trip and I took it home and my mother says – take the ticketback.That’s for children much worse off than you. Children whose dads are not working. Iwas right disappointed.’ Minnie Goodall Pleasance Day Centre

Taken from Memories of Edinburgh Streets: the City Image Living Memory Association,November 2001.

‘The Courant fund would send children away for picnics to Ratho.We’d assemble down byMilton House School and march up with a pipe band, up the Royal Mile, along Jeffrey Streetto the Waverley.The song then was

I’m no goin’ on Barrie’s tripI’m no goin’ againI’m no goin on Barrie’s trip George Flannigan and David AndersonIt always comes on rain Taken from Kiss me while my lips are tacky WEA, 1988.

The group discussed what each writer thought about the trip and why they should have suchdifferent stories to tell.They talked about the different ways they told their stories. Later theywere asked whether they had ever been on such a trip and what was their memory of it.

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• Family learning groupsGroups for parents and carers of youngchildren, looking at how children learn,brushing up on their own learning andlearning new skills, finding out whatgoes on in schools, and discussinglearning both in and out of school.

• Workplace groups Groups working on a project relevant totheir work, eg home helps learn toresearch and present information ondepression and dementia in elderlypeople.

• Accredited coursesLiteracy and numeracy work integratedinto childcare units on ChildDevelopment and Child Health courses.

Where one tutor does not feel confidentabout offering both the subject of thecourse and the appropriate literacysupport integrated provision can beoffered in a variety of ways. Theseinclude co-tutoring and a variety ofdrop-in models.

CO-TUTORING Here a literacy/numeracy tutor workswith a subject tutor (say for Social Careor core numeracy) tutoring in the classtogether. This is expensive and thereforemay not be sustainable but it allows forindividual coaching, interviews andsupport within the group. Tutors involvedin this need to:• appreciate each other's ethos and

approaches • have agreed the aims of the class

and how they will work together• be offered joint preparation and

liaison time• have discussed the ownership of the

group and the paperwork involved.

This model works well in integratedliteracy/numeracy and is used in allsettings, including colleges. But there isa danger that learners perceive literacyas something set apart and the provinceof the ‘spelling expert’!

Critical awareness in an integrated literacy short courseA group of learners already attending literacies provision attended a four-session course oncooking and literacy/numeracy.

At the initial meeting when the content of the short course was negotiated withparticipants, the learners identified as one goal ‘being able to read recipes’.The group used avariety of written recipes to do their cooking – some typed by the tutor, some photocopiedfrom books/magazines.

At one session the group worked in pairs, each pair looking at a different recipe, and using aseries of questions to help them to think critically about how the recipe was presented:

What is the purpose of a written recipe?What do you notice about this one?What do you like/not like about it? Why?How well does it achieve its purpose?What would you change if you were presenting it?

The pairs then fed back their findings to the rest of the group. Identifying the features ofparticular recipes such as content, language and style, layout, and pictures led tocomparisons between different formats and discussion about personal preferences. At theend of the discussion each learner drew up a list of what they wanted from a cookerybook. One of the group planned to buy herself a new book, armed with her list to help herto make the choice.

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DROP-INSWhere larger learning centres want tooffer integrated literacy but do not havestaff skilled in both their subject and inliteracies support, the problem can beaddressed by establishing drop-insalongside the main subject provision.Either the learner or the tutor can drop in.

Many colleges operate literacy andnumeracy support from well-resourcedlearning centres. Learners may referthemselves or be referred for one

session or many. Expert tuition will beavailable but it relies on strong learnermotivation to seek out the support.

Other colleges offer a tutorial slot inwhich a subject tutor for (say) numeracywill be invited to drop in to work withindividuals while the rest of the groupdoes other work. This can be felt tostigmatise those who receive the drop-intutor's help but reduces the need forstrong individual motivation.

While using a drop-in centre for those recovering from mental health difficulties, membersshowed interest in learning to use computers, but there was uncertainty and some lack ofconfidence about writing. A group slowly evolved, aiming to produce a high qualitynewsletter to voice their own issues and experience and to campaign for appropriateinformal educational opportunities.

This group was co-tutored by an IT specialist and a literacies tutor with a background increative writing. A publication of very high-quality design and content was the end result. Intheir review of their work the group valued the power a high quality product gave them,the opportunities for social interaction in the group and the writing and IT skills they hadlearned from both tutors.

Team teaching In a medium sized FE College NQ Sport and Fitness is delivered by staff in the Sportssection with Communication units delivered by a specialist Communication tutor.The tutorsworked together to develop and use more ‘sport and fitness relevant’ materials inCommunication units and to develop literacy skills (oral and written) required forCommunication units by completing assignments for Sports units.Timetabling was arrangedso that the tutors taught consecutive two-hour classes, with one tutor being ‘free’ whilst theother was teaching.This enabled the Sports tutor to observe the learning programmeactivities taking place during Communication and vice versa.

The tutors integrated their work in a variety of ways. Reading interpretation exercises wereused as ‘open book assessments’ in Sports units, to prepare learners for assessments for theCommunication unit.The ‘Content of Sports’ unit was used as a basis for practising essay-writing skills for Communication unit. Finally the presentation of lesson plans in the Sportsunit gave opportunities for practice for the oral Communication unit.

This method of team teaching produced not only a better than average attendance patterncompared with previous years but also a better than average achievement rate with mostof those learners who completed the course achieving the Communication units.

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Dedicated literacies provision focusesexplicitly on literacy or numeracylearning goals. Taking learners’ ownuses and contexts for literacy andnumeracy as a starting point, learnersand tutors negotiate the learningprogramme. Learners have individuallearning plans and record and evaluatetheir work regularly. Dedicated provisionis delivered successfully via all sorts oflearning models.

Examples of dedicated provisioninclude:• community learning and

development roll-on-roll-off groups orstudy clubs where the learnersdiscuss and agree individual andgroup learning goals with the tutor toenable them to gain skills,

knowledge and understanding inreading, writing and numeracy

• short courses for learners such as‘Improve your reading’, ‘Writingletters’ or ‘Looking at everydaynumbers’

• a group of learners taking an SQACommunication unit

• one-to-one support in college

• drop-in provision for learners whomay not be able to access regulargroups or who may wish to make useof additional learning opportunities.

• some workplace groups focusing onparticular workplace literacy tasks.

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2.4 Resources

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WHAT CAN BE USED AS RESOURCES?Anything and everything can be a resource for learning and it’s important to thinkimaginatively about what is available. All resources need to be approachedcritically and seen in their context.

Below are just a few of the things that might be used:

2.4 Resources

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2.4 Resources

Real measuring jugs, coins,scales etc

Words and letters to movearound

Modelling clay

Concrete

Exemplars tocritique/copy/compare

Real forms/letters/timetables etcto work on

Literacy to relax with – books,crosswords etc

Worksheets

Reference material

Pictures

Mind maps

Paper-based

Literacy software

Internet

Word

Excel

Desktop publishing

Office packages

Laptops

ICT

Illustration of work

Literacy diary of self or others

Stimulus for writing

Photography

Phones

PDA (Personal Digital Assistant)Mobile

Stimulus material

Creation

Learning material

Storyboarding

Video

Role playing

Script writing

Responding

Drama

Writer in residence

Adult learning groups – art, drama, reminiscence etc

Friends

Community groups

Local celebrities

People

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Resources should include visual (usingphotographs, colours, ICT, mindmapping, videos) kinaesthetic(drawing/modelling, concrete resources,role playing) and auditory (video,speakers, discussion, CDs) so that arange of learning preferences can becatered for.

Where necessary, resources should beadapted to accommodate learners with

visual or auditory impairment, physicalor learning disabilities, for example byinstalling a hearing loop, using voicesoftware, text enlargement, speakingscales or offering sign languagesupport. Resources for teaching andlearning should also includeaccommodation, which should be fullyaccessible, suitable for adults and be ofa standard which will contribute to thelearner’s feelings of self-worth.

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CHOOSING RESOURCESDeveloping the learning programme is ajoint activity between learner and tutor;so too is the provision of resources.Tutors should always encouragelearners to bring along the texts, forms,calculations and tasks that they want totackle for themselves. Sometimes thetutor can provide or organise resourceslike tape recorders, computers, andflipcharts. Often the most usefulresources will be a person or a facilityoutside the usual learning environment.

But between them they can collectresources which:• reflect the learner’s own uses of

literacy and numeracy• are relevant to the learner’s interests• are appropriate to age and skill level• promote respect for diversity and

difference• promote self-determination• use a variety of learning media,• are well-produced.

In choosing resources, tutors may findthe following checklist helpful:

1. Relevant to the learner• Is it appropriate for adults?• Will the learner find it interesting and relevant?• Are you using real life materials?• Is it up-to-date eg forms, timetables?• Does it relate to materials suggested or supplied by the learner?

2. Relates to learning needs and learning goals• Is it at the right level?• Does it relate to the learner’s goals?• Does it link with his / her preferred learning style?• Are you able to adapt it if necessary to make it easier or more challenging?

3. Difference and diversity• Does it take account of your learner’s values and culture?• Is it reinforcing stereotypes – eg by choice of picture?• Does it include any sexist or racist language?

4. Layout• Does it look attractive?• Is layout good – not too much on one page?• Are the instructions clear?• Will your learner be able to read it easily?• Is it word processed or typed?• Would bigger print or an enlarged photocopy help?• Does it need a title?• Does the learner need space to write the answer?

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RESOURCES WHICH FIT THEPURPOSEOnce the learner’s goals have beenestablished and the programmeplanned, tutor and learner can choosethe resources from the domains whichinterest them and which suit theirpurposes. So, to develop literacy andnumeracy skills they might turn to penand paper, skills practice worksheets,

both commercially published and homemade, practical equipment for weighingand measuring, calculators, wordprocessors or software packages. Tobuild knowledge of literacy andnumeracy, they might seek exemplarmaterial of layouts and styles forreports, websites, timetables and letters,reference sheets, short stories,multiplication tables and bank forms.

Learners in a numeracy group redesigned a worksheet, having decided that a publishedresource didn’t really help them.The group was working on percentages and had aworksheet with 30 questions, which used a mixture of units of measurement such ascentimetres and metres, pence and pounds.

In the course of discussion to evaluate their work, the learners decided that it would beeasier at this stage to do the calculations if all activities referred to the same units ofmeasurement, so that they could concentrate on the process involved.They designed aworksheet displaying the formula they were using at the top, plus information about theunits of measurement they were working with – that is, the relationship betweenmillimetres, centimetres and metres.

The learners’ hypothesis was that by the time they reached the end of the worksheet, theywould have to refer less frequently to the information at the top of the page.

One college has developed a non-certificated pack that covers everyday English.The packwas developed to support community based IT learners to develop literacy skills. It isintegrated with IT programmes, has links to BBC Skillswise,Yellow Pages online, etc. Learnerscan dip in and out of the pack to support their learning needs, and having used it canchoose to progress to an appropriate certificated course if they wish to.

Once the resources have been selectedthen the tutor can encourage the learnerto reflect on each item used, to expressan opinion about the resource and touse this knowledge when choosing newresources to work with. Together,learners and tutors could build up abank of questions to consider whendiscussing resources. Some startingpoints might be:

• How does this resource relate to mylearning goal?

• Did I come away from itunderstanding more?

• What did I like/not like about it?• Why is it like this?• Did it reflect my experience?• What would make it a better

resource?• Would I recommend it to others?

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When problem solving, the tutor maychoose resources that support learnersto use literacy skills in real-lifeactivities. These might include jobapplication forms and the help of aninterviewer, a cookery room withweighing scales, timers and cookers, aselection of timetables and a trip to thetrain station to study the arrivals anddeparture boards, or a session surfingthe net for answers to a particularquestion. Recording and building on

learners’ ideas and opinions mayrequire flipcharts, pens, wordprocessors, video- or tape recorders.And while the ideas of the groupmembers themselves are a majorresource for promoting criticalawareness, resources like the Internet,public and private texts, speakers, tripsto public meetings, photographic andgraphic material can all be used to getpeople thinking and arguing.

One partnership made a video for awareness-raising. It was not aimed at learners but atother agencies.The idea was to make explicit a learner’s journey and to show the range oflearners and their successes. Four volunteer one-to-one learners were brought togetherfrom different places and different tutors.The organiser went over the questions she wouldask and invited comment and discussion.The learners, previously strangers to each other,opened up. It was, she said, ‘a brilliant session’ in which the enthusiasm and stories ‘justpoured out’. She attributes its success to the clear focus on telling a story through a videoand the learners’ awareness that they alone could narrate it.

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2.4 Resources

Developing an understanding ofliteracy and numeracy might call for aselection of texts, text messages, videos

and screen pages for discussion andcomparison as well as catalogues andadverts.

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Decoding a photograph: surveying issues in the communityA group of male learners was asked to look at two photographs: one of young peopleloitering in a local subway as a lone woman was walking towards them, and the second of agroup of young people drinking outside the leisure centre.

The tutor led the group through a series of planned questions to stimulate discussion;responses were recorded on a flip chart.

What are all the things you see in the pictures?

drugs, graffiti, lights, alcohol, gangs, stairs, subway, woman, adverts, bottle, teenagers, trees,nightlife, litter, trainers, rucksack, jeans, baseball cap, handbag, trousers, sports centre,Fountainbridge Complex

Some words were about abstract ideas rather than things:

fashion, apprehensive woman, muggings

How is the woman in the picture feeling?

The group talked about a lone middle aged woman coming through a subway with a groupof young people drinking and loitering:

intimidated, worried

What are the young people doing or feeling?

There was a lively exchange about young people and all the men expressed fears withregard to groups of young people. Some of the words generated included:

bored, loitering, shifty, mixed up + drink = violence, hash, fear of young women, media

Why do young people behave like this?

bored, poor, angry, hanging out, fun, growing up

The group was then asked to write on a strip of paper a statement that they would like tomake with regard to the discussions, in a phrase or a sentence.They were asked to work inpairs and help each other, and the tutor and volunteers also helped the men make theirstatements, as follows:

‘In the subway was standing about mixed up teenagers’‘The woman was heading towards the teenagers and to her they were looking a bit shifty’‘Drink is the main cause of violence in Scotland’‘Teenagers spend too much time loitering on the streets’‘Woman is worried going through the subway’‘Young people smoke hash to get high’‘Why do people feel intimidated by young people who are just hanging out’‘Fashion makes us slaves’

Decoding these images and writing the statements took less than an hour, and provoked avery lively discussion where everyone contributed. In this session the group did not get onto interpretative questions, such as ‘Why are the young people hanging about?’, ‘Who ownsthe leisure centre?’, ‘Who uses the leisure centre?’, ‘Why is the woman afraid of youngpeople?’, ‘How does the media depict young people and why?’. Other questions would helpthe participants to reflect on their own lives and connect with the issues being raised. Fromthese sorts of discussions the learners become animated and motivated to express theirown ideas and feelings through writing, and begin to see the value and process of sayingtheir own word, while simultaneously increasing their technical skills.

By engaging in group debate they practise the social skills required to make themselvesheard effectively.

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Finally, to have some fun with literacylearning and encourage working withothers, groups have used games and

play readings, shared leisure activities,and planned video-making, socialevents and visits to local amenities.

It’s often helpful to go on visits outside ofthe usual context, either to practiserecently learned skills in a real-life context(post offices, shops, train stations), toprovide material for future work(storytelling workshops, council offices) orat the end of a particular topic.

KNOWING WHAT IS AVAILABLEThere is a vast amount of material thathas been specifically produced for usein an adult literacies context. If youwould like to see and evaluate some ofthe commercially produced resources,Learning Connections has a number ofresource bases across Scotland(currently Edinburgh, Aberdeen and

Paisley/Glasgow) that stock a widerange of books, journals, software, multi-media resources, videos, software andconcrete resources. The collections areexpanding rapidly, and you are welcometo borrow any text-based or multi-mediaitems for up to a month. ICT resourcescan be used on-site and practitioners,managers and learners are all welcometo try things out and find what works forthem. The stock includes practicalresources, theory and research, tutor-training packs, programme support andmore! Please look at the LearningConnections website(www.lc.communitiesscotland.gov.uk) formore details.

A mixed ability group used the local library to research places of interest in theneighbourhood. Each learner chose a place of particular interest to research and write up,using this writing as the focus of her literacy learning. At the end of term the group had anouting round the neighbourhood, and each learner acted as a tour guide for the particularfeature that she had researched, using her written work to remind her of key points.

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3.1 THE PROCESS OF INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLANNING An Individual Learning Plan (ILP) is:• part of the learning and teaching process, negotiated by the learner and tutor• a written record of the planning process and ongoing and exit reviews drafted

by the learner and tutor or guidance worker• focused on the individual’s literacy and numeracy work (but may include other

learning content in integrated literacies)• recorded in the learner’s own words where possible• the property of the learner and goes on with them when they leave the provision• a document about teaching and learning containing information of interest to

the learner and tutor.

An Individual Learning Plan will:• record the learner’s contexts and goals, what they want to learn and how they

want to learn it• include a record of initial discussions about learning and of assessments

carried out• identify issues which may affect a learner’s access to provision and strategies

for dealing with them• set measurable goals so that the learner’s progress can be assessed• provide a reminder for the learner of what the learning will involve (and details of

the time and place of provision)• encourage reflection on the effectiveness of learning • be developed over several sessions with a learner• help a tutor to focus on the individual’s learning goals• often be accompanied by various information leaflets for the learner, eg the

rights and responsibilities of tutors and learners• comply with the requirements for ILPs of external bodies, eg the Scottish

Executive.

3. Individual Learning Planning


3.1 The process of individuallearning planning

3.2 Initial discussion andassessment

3.3 Tools and tasks for initialassessment

3.4 Individual learning plans

3.5 Ongoing review and formativeassessment

3.6 Progress indicators

3.7 Summative assessment, reviewand evaluation

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The concept of individual learningplanning is central to effective ALN

practice. It may be thought of as acycle.

Move on to newlearning

A LEARNING CYCLE

Carry out learning plan

Set new goals

Set realistic goals

Negotiate alearning plan

Identify learninggoals(initial

assessment)Exit learning

Review andevaluate progress

(summativeassessment)

Review, reflect onand record

learning (formative

assessment)

Negotiated Learning

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The first stage in developing anIndividual Learning Plan is the initialpre-course discussion and assessmentprocess. As well as providinginformation about available learningopportunities, options, approaches andpractical details, these interviews allowfor an exploration of learners’ currentliteracy and numeracy practices acrossprivate, family, community and workinglife, and present self-definedcapabilities. This process of self-assessment can be aided by sampletexts or tasks, although these need tobe relevant to the practices andcontexts of the learner and need to beintroduced sensitively, if at all at thisstage, to avoid raising anxiety. Learnersare also encouraged to discuss their

learning goals and aspirations and, ifpossible, to begin to break these downinto the short and longer term.

Many potential learners need support inidentifying learning goals andinformation generally about what isinvolved in being a learner before theyjoin a group (eg talking to otherlearners, using worksheets/exercises,working at home between each session,etc). This support can be given byproviding short induction courses whichoffer potential learners the opportunityto demonstrate their commitment tolearning, to explore their expectations ofadult learning, to consider the rightsand responsibilities of tutors andlearners and to learn about study skills.

An initial meeting may be used toreassure the learners, gather informationand identify longer-term goals, and thisinformation can be used to place thelearner in the most appropriateprovision. An example of some of the

questions that might be asked to elicitinformation at this stage is illustrated inthe box overleaf. (NB: an interviewerwould choose questions as appropriatefrom this selection.)

An urban literacy and numeracy programme encourages new learners to attend a four-week induction course with the following learning outcomes:

• participate in their literacy/numeracy group with confidence

• plan and record their learning in their literacy/numeracy group

• make choices about how to go about their learning

• discuss their plans and progress with their tutor

• consider joining other literacy/numeracy short courses as well as their regular group.

A group tutor reported that ‘anyone joining the group who’s done the induction course fitsin much more quickly than other learners – they’re much better prepared and I don’t haveto try to cover all the bits of learn-to-learn individually with them.They come to the groupwith a good idea of what they want to work on, and also tend to find it much easier to pickup record-keeping and evaluation and to see the point of it straight away’.

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Introductory questions• What kind of information do you need to understand?• When do you come across reading, writing or numbers at the moment?• What kinds of situations and people are involved?• What do you want to change about using writing, reading or numbers in these

situations?• What do you hope to do in the future?

Talking about the learner’s present literacy practices

• How do you feel about reading?• What sorts of things do you read at the moment?• Do you read with other people?• Do you read easily?• What do you do if something is difficult to read?• How easy do you find it to get ideas down on paper?• How do you feel about writing?• What sorts of things do you write at the moment?• Do you write with other people?• Do you write quite easily?• What do you do if you have something difficult to write?

Talking about numeracy• How do you feel about numbers?• What sorts of things do you use numbers or maths for at the moment?• What do you do if some number work is difficult?

Information about previous learning experiences• How did you feel about school?• Did you get any certificates there or later?• Have you done any learning recently? At work/training/on the computer/night classes?• How did you feel about that?• Was there anything that you particularly enjoyed or found effective?

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This sort of information is of vitalinterest to the partnership and to thetutor and thus needs to be recorded onsome personal record sheet and keptconfidentially with other records aboutthe learner. It is probably not necessaryto include it on the ILP, since this isinformation already well known to thelearner, but this baseline informationabout the learner may be used at future reviews.

If there appears to be a discrepancybetween what a potential learner canactually do with literacy and numeracyand their general abilities, it might beuseful to ask some initial informalquestions to explore the possibility ofspecific learning difficulties (seeAppendix 3).

Initial assessment – community based provision In one area the development worker for literacy and numeracy has an initial discussion withthe learner about her or his learning experience, current uses of literacy and numeracy andgoals – both short- and long-term.This information, along with the learner’s availability, isused to place the learner in a group.

At the learner’s first session, the development worker meets her/him and they join thegroup at coffee time, when introductions are made and the new learner can get some ideaof what other learners are working on.The first part of the session will have been spentworking together as a group. During the rest of the session the learner carries out simpleassessment tasks with the development worker, and a starting point is identified for futurework.The tutor may also be involved in this assessment, and joins the learner anddevelopment worker to discuss what the learner would like to start working on.

The advantages of this model are:

• the learner is attending his/her first session with someone already familiar• it removes for the learner the anxiety of finding the right room and introducing

her/himself to an unknown tutor• the tutor has time to spend with the new learner, having ensured that the other learners

in the group have work to carry on with from the first part of the session.

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The process of discussion andnegotiation may be assisted by the useof structured assessment tools. Asoutlined in Part One, these may bealerting, placing or diagnostic tools.

ALERTING TOOLSSome institutions, like Job Centre Plusand the prisons, want to offer literacytuition to their clients, but need to targettheir offer appropriately. For them analerting tool designed for use with those

who have no formal qualifications canbe helpful. The idea is to open thediscussion with the learner about theiruses of literacy and numeracy and atthe same time to give them anopportunity both to demonstrate whatthey can do and to speak about whatthey can't. It should be emphasised thatthe alerting tool is not a ‘test’. There isno ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ nor will it offer anyindication of Core Skills levels.

Case Study – MickMick, 55, had recently been made redundant, having worked for his last employer for 15years. He had worked as a painter and decorator since leaving school. An appointment wasmade for him to attend a new jobseeker interview. At the interview, the adviser establishedthat, although Mick had never really been unemployed since leaving school, he had alwayssecured employment through word of mouth, never having to apply for jobs. He was keento find work again as a painter and decorator as this was his trade, but was finding it difficultas he was not used to completing application forms.

The adviser acknowledged Mick’s comments and suggested he fill in a short form toestablish what areas, if any, he was having difficulty with. Mick reluctantly agreed and theadviser issued the Thinking Ahead Screening Tool to identify Mick’s learning needs.Theadviser asked Mick to fill in the form and once he’d looked at it for a moment, asked if hehad any questions before starting. Mick asked to take the form away.The adviser quicklyexplained that it would only take a couple of minutes and that help would be provided.Mick hesitated, stating that he couldn’t read the questions, as he didn’t have his glasses withhim.The adviser offered to read out the questions for Mick, but he was still reluctant tocomplete the form at that time.The adviser then assumed that Mick had aliteracy/numeracy need and gently mentioned the Big Plus adverts on TV.

Mick had seen the adverts but wasn’t sure how beneficial it would be for someone of his ageand said he had got this far without needing help.The adviser acknowledged this but pickedup on Mick’s earlier concerns about completing application forms and highlighted howbeneficial he might find help to improve his reading, writing and number skills, stressing it wasnever too late to learn and would improve his chances of getting back to work. Mick agreedbecause he didn’t want to stay unemployed for any length of time and asked what would beinvolved.The adviser explained that a further assessment would help to identify if he wouldbenefit from some training on improving his skills and that this could be arranged quite easily,through an independent assessor, and would only take about forty minutes to an hour.

After further discussion, Mick agreed to go for the assessment the following day.The advisermade the appointment and also arranged for Mick to come back for a follow-up adviserinterview.The Thinking Ahead Screening Tool was placed in Mick’s file to be retained locally(in the Jobcentre) for 14 months.The independent assessment results confirmed that Mickhad a literacy and numeracy need. At the follow-up interview, the adviser discussed theresults with Mick and outlined the options available, through community learning and earlyentry to New Deal 25 Plus. Mick joined New Deal 25 Plus and started on a BasicEmployability Training (BET) course which also attracted an extra £10 per week.

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Case study – Piloting the alerting tool in the Prison ServiceIn the Scottish Prison Service we wanted to introduce an alerting tool, grounded in thephilosophical approach of the social practices model of literacies education, which couldidentify whether or not prisoners might benefit from literacies learning.We also wanted tofilter out any prisoners who would not need literacies provision, so that resources could beconcentrated on those who would most benefit from it.We based our alerting tool on thetemplate produced by the Curriculum Project, adapting it to include feedback fromproviders and learners.

The original template was constructed for use with jobseekers, and two main pointsemerged in the feedback: the need to contextualise the tool to suit the prison context, andthe importance of accessibility to the reader.These were addressed by redrafting thequestions requiring a written answer, making some changes to the ‘What are you good at?’questions, and changing the layout from landscape to portrait.

This version of the tool was piloted, and feedback indicated that learning centres felt thatwhile there was scope for improving the tool, it did do the job – it gave an indication ofneed for literacies provision, and enabled discussion to open up about literacies learning.Prisoners liked using the tool because it was shorter than the one used in the past, and‘doesn’t feel like a test’.

At a meeting with learning providers further suggestions were made for improving the tool:• gender-free suggestions for writing (changing from football, horse racing, films,TV to

sport, fashion, food, music, films or TV) • clarification of ambiguous questions in the ‘What are you good at?’ section• changing the numeracy questions to suit the prison context, for example

A half-ounce of tobacco costs £2.65 while a 2-ounce tin costs £9.00. How much do yousave by buying the 2-ounce tin?

This version of the tool is now being piloted and the final version will take account offeedback from this pilot.

Examples of alerting tools are includedin Appendix 2. In one tool, for example,the tasks that the client undertakes are:

• two short answers to demonstratereading and appropriate writtenresponse

• a chance to demonstratecompetence in the four numberoperations

• a short piece of free writing

• and an opportunity to declareconfidence or lack of it withappropriate literacy tasks.

It is crucial that this rather basic set oftasks be contextualised appropriately. If,for example, it were being used by aSocial Care training agency thechecklist might relate to writing a shortincident report and filling in a timesheet, while the numeracy task mightrelate to doing a client's shopping.

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This alerting tool is designed to do justthat, to alert both learner andinterviewer to whether or not a fullerdiagnostic assessment might be usefulor literacy tuition offered. It may not beappropriate to use it where, say, a clientrequests literacy support unprompted.Moreover, where a client is clearlyuncomfortable with it, help should beoffered or it should be swiftly removed.

Guidelines and training on administeringand interpreting the tool wouldencourage awareness of the Scottishapproach to literacy and numeracylearning, and increase staff confidencein approaching the issue.

PLACING TOOLSPlacing tools help to identify the level ofliteracy or numeracy learning that isappropriate for an individual learner.Such tools can be useful in contextssuch as FE colleges where there is aneed to identify the most appropriateclass for a learner to join. A moredetailed assessment of learning needs may then be facilitated by theclass tutor.

Two of the most commonly used placingtools are computerised: the PlatoDiagnostic Core Skills Toolkit and CTADTarget Skills.

Use of the Plato diagnostic tool in two FE collegesThe Plato diagnostic tool is an online assessment tool available for the Core Skills,Communication, Numeracy and Information Technology.The results of the test place learners atIntermediate 1, Intermediate 2 or Higher level in each of the Core Skill areas.

At one FE college, students were originally screened on induction in a new academic year,using paper-based assessments for Communication, Numeracy and Information Technology.Since the advent of the Plato diagnostic tool, this college now conducts assessment ofstudents’ levels in Numeracy and Information Technology using the Plato tool. Staff areconfident that the levels at which the students are placed in these two curriculum areas,using the Plato tool, are sufficiently accurate. However, students are still assessed for theirCommunication level using the paper-based assessment, as this involves ‘free writing’.Whilstthe Plato tool can assess a student’s ability with regard to spelling and punctuation, staff atthe college consider that these two areas alone are not sufficient to ‘place’ students at thecorrect level in Communication.

The student profile which is generated by this diagnostic process is passed on to theLearning Support team, which then identifies appropriate support.The profile is also passedto the Core Skills teaching team, to help them place students in appropriate classes.

Students were asked to evaluate the method of diagnostic assessment and the feedbackwas positive. Students particularly liked the online screening format.

At another college, students are again assessed for their level, this time in all three subjects(Communication, Numeracy and Information Technology) using the Plato diagnostic tool.This takes place at induction. Results of assessment are sent to the Heads of Programmes(courses) and are used for academic guidance by guidance tutors, initially, followed byidentification of learner support where required. Again, students respond positively to onlineassessment.

In both examples given above, adequate technical assistance needs to be readily available, asthose administering the tests may not be equipped to deal with any problems associatedwith the online assessment.

The Plato tool for assessing students’ levels in the Core Skills, Communication, InformationTechnology and Numeracy was funded by the Scottish Executive and was made availablefree of charge on a CD ROM to all Scottish Further Education Colleges.









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The process of ‘Skills Profiling’ using CTAD Target SkillsA large FE college has been ‘screening’ students to identify levels of literacy and numeracyfor many years.This process has taken many different forms, from paper-based assessmentsto face-to-face interviews.The college saw the need to refine their screening process as akey priority.The Learning Support team along with the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Co-ordinator felt ICT screening software would perhaps appeal to the younger 16–25-year-oldstudent cohort who had reacted unfavourably to previous methods of screening.

In August 2003 the college piloted a package created by the Cambridge Training andDevelopment Agency (CTAD) entitled ‘Target Skills Initial Assessment’ with the summerintake of entry level students. It assesses learners against standards that are the rest-of-UKequivalent of the Access and Intermediate levels.The package allowed them to ‘screen’groups of 20 students in a two-hour period (including a break) with a detailed printout ofliteracy and numeracy levels generated instantly. Responses from students and staff wereextremely favourable and the college continued to use this package with two furthercohorts of students.

After discussion with various members of staff it was decided to change the name of thescreening process, as it was perceived to have quite negative connotations, to ‘Skills Profiling’.During their Induction Week, all entry level students are timetabled for a two-hour slot of‘Skills Profiling’. On arrival it is explained to students that their literacy and numeracy skillswill be profiled in order to identify any support required during their time at college.

As many students are adult returners who need to brush up on their ALN skills and manymore are young people who were not regular school attenders, the general perception ofthe ALN Skills Profiling process is a positive one. Learners are keen to do well at college onthe various courses on which they are enrolled (ranging from Bricklaying to Basic IT) andare generally in favour of accessing additional support with their literacy and numeracy inorder to improve their prospects.

Following the two-hour Skills Profiling session in a computer lab, students all experience aone-to-one interview with a member of the ALN, or Learning Support Teams. During thistime their results are discussed and students can talk openly about their feelings regardingtheir ALN skills.

Students who indicate an interest in additional support are invited to attend various literacyand numeracy groups which run on a weekly basis in the college.The ALN team also offerintegrated support for one session per week per class, where ALN specialists team-teach ina classroom or workshop slot in order to support learners who wish to improve their skills.

All students who request ALN support negotiate an Individual Learning Plan with their ALNtutor, which is based on the highly specific results produced by the Target Skills packagealong with information gleaned from the one-to-one interview.

During pre-exit guidance interviews with ALN staff, all learners who engaged in ALNsupport admitted that without a timetabled Skills Profiling session and the one-to-oneinterview at the start of their course they would never have sought support for theirliteracy and numeracy skills.

Undoubtedly the process of ‘screening’ or ‘assessing’ prospective ALN learners has its criticsin the world of literacy and numeracy. However the experience at this FE College has mostcertainly been a positive one.

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In other circumstances computeriseddiagnostic tools can be used althoughthere are at present none that havebeen customised for Scotland. Onediagnostic tool that appears to be quiteuseful is the ‘Skills for Life DiagnosticTool’, produced by the Department forEducation and Skills. It provides anelectronic assessment tool covering the English standards from Entry 1 toLevel 2. It has four sections which aresubdivided as follows:

Literacy: Reading, Writing, Speakingand Listening

Numeracy: Number, Measuring, Spaceand Shape, Handling Data

ESOL: Reading, Writing, Speaking andListening

Dyslexia Support

The tool comprises graded contextualisedassessment activities that may beplanned and selected by tutor andlearner. The software provides records oflearners’ progress and enables tutors totrack and manage the records.

Free writing tasks can also be used for initial assessment Will you write something now? Something which will be OK to write about?

Perhaps about yourself:your job or familya hobby or interesta TV programme you love or hateyour last holiday?

We can use it to discuss what you want to work on and how you want to go about it.

A tutor can then consider :• the writer's ideas and the way s/he structures them• the accuracy and clarity of information• the ease and fluency with which it was written• the sophistication of language including choice of vocabulary, linking ideas, sentence

structure and grammar• the choice of language and style in relation to the purpose of the writing• the accuracy of spelling and punctuation• legibility and maturity of the handwriting.









DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENTBy this term we mean detaileddiscussion with learners to identify theirparticular learning needs. In communitylearning contexts, diagnosticassessment is normally conductedthrough a one-to-one interactionbetween tutor and learner, as an integral

part of the process of individuallearning planning.

Some tutors ask a learner to writesomething to give them both a chanceto discuss the learner's skills andknowledge of writing.

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After initial assessment the next stage isto work with a tutor to explore currentuses and capabilities, learning stylesand learning goals in more depth. Theculmination of this stage is to jointlyproduce an Individual Learning Plan.The ALNIS report recommends that‘Individual Learning Plans shouldbecome the standard means ofrecognising needs and goals anddeveloping learning pathways’.

The Individual Learning Plan shouldoutline:

• the agreed learning goals • the steps needed to achieve them• how progress towards these will be

measured (eg weekly record keepingand agreed assessment instruments,usually based on a real-life situation)

• the nature of the learning undertaken(eg group, individual and homework;preferred learning style)

• suggested activities and resources.

Learning plans will vary enormouslydepending on how specific or wide-ranging the learning goals are, thedistance between current capabilitiesand desired outcomes and the limitationsof the learner’s own time-scale.

It is important that the learnerunderstands the purpose of thelearning plan and that it is usedthroughout the learning cycle ofplanning, learning, reflecting, reviewingprogress against goals and setting newgoals or adapting existing ones. It isalso important that the learnerunderstands the language on the form.

Individual Learning Plans – group discussionA tutor introduced learning plans to a group of learners starting a new block of work.Threeof the learners had worked for three months with the tutor and had already completedlearning plans for that period; the other four learners were new to literacies learning.

The tutor had drawn on the flipchart a ‘spider’, with the subject ‘learning plans’, andsurrounded by questions – What? Why? Who? How? When? She explained that they weregoing to start the session by thinking about Individual Learning Plans – and wanted to findout what they already knew about them.The group considered each question on the spider,and volunteered answers.With very little prompting from the tutor, the group memberscame up with many of the key points about learning plans (see spider diagram below). Inparticular they were quite clear about the importance of identifying a learning goal, so thatthey could look back at the end of the block of learning and check on their progress.Thetutor pointed out that she relied on learning plans to keep her focused on what thelearners wanted to do.

Group work for the next couple of weeks concentrated on discussion of some sections ofthe learning plan – group and individual goals (which helped learners to look at otherpossibilities of learning), different methods of learning, the kinds of resources that they mightbring with them, and their own and their tutor’s responsibilities in the learning and teachingprocess. Comments and points were recorded on the flipchart, so that when learnerscompleted their plan they could select the words or phrases that were relevant to them.

The group also discussed smart goals as a group, but the tutor and volunteer tutor helpedthem to complete this part of their learning plan, as well as identifying with the learnerswhich methods and resources they would use.

During the next two months the tutor repeated the process, using ‘record keeping’ and‘evaluation’ as the headings for spider diagrams. By the end of the block of learning, thelearners had referred several times to their learning plans, and had a clear idea of the cycleof learning – planning, action, recording and evaluation of work done, leading to furtherplanning for the next block of work.

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Piece of paper we fill in

Says what wewant to do

To have an aimTo decide what to

do

To keep us ontrack

Me and tutor

Every six weeksdepending on work

Write it yourselves or tutor will write

down what you want you want to say

Other bits fill in with tutor

Will talk about some bits as a group

(tutor input: tokeep me on track)

So you know ifyou’ve done it

What? Why?

Who?

How?(tutor input)

When?(tutor input)

Learning Plan

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Reading, writing and using number arenot skills adults exercise for their ownsake, but activities firmly rooted ingetting things done in the different roleswe play as private individuals, familymembers, citizens, workers andlearners.

Once we focus on using literacy andnumeracy in adult life, we can see theimportance of recognising the capacityto use literacy and numeracy asinvolving knowledge, skills andunderstanding.

Learners work on literacy and numeracyin order to make changes in their lives.The tutor and learner need to know howthe learner is using literacy andnumeracy at present. Then they canidentify existing strengths and thechanges that the learner wants to make,and set realistic and meaningful goals.An example of a grid that could help atutor and learner to think about thevariety of literacy practices in the fourdomains of working, private, public andeducational life can be found inAppendix 3. It might be useful for thetutor and learner to explore this togetherover a number of weeks.

The Individual Learning Plan forms partof the process of gathering informationand exploring and negotiating alearning programme. This processwould be expected to take place overmore than one meeting.

What and how the learners want tolearn, and what existing skills, abilitiesand experience they bring with them,are established in the course ofmeetings between learner and tutor, andmay be recorded in the IndividualLearning Plan. They might be written bythe learner, scribed by the tutor orrecorded by both on an audio-tape.(Some examples of Individual Learning

Plans used in various contexts areattached in Appendix 3. It is expectedthat providers would adapt these to suittheir particular circumstances.)

NEGOTIATIONNegotiating the ALN curriculum with alearner is a process, not an event. It willbegin from the first meeting andcontinue during the whole time ofcontact with him/her. The outcomes ofthe negotiation will be recorded in anIndividual Learning Plan. In somesettings, eg in a college communicationdrop-in, negotiation will take place atevery meeting, while in others, forinstance an issue-based group, it mightoccur every two or three weeks.

It is taken for granted that negotiationmeans just that – tutor and learnerdiscussing what is available for learningand working towards agreement on howit will be tackled. Negotiation is notbeing told by your tutor what yourproblem or even what your level is!

The elements of the curriculum that canbe negotiated include:• the literacy and numeracy skills,

knowledge and understanding whichwill be developed

• the context in which they will bedeveloped

• the goals the individual or grouphave set

• the resources which the learnermight use.

Learners might want to negotiate any orall of these. For example one may wantto produce a poster for his bowling club,thinking about its wording and layoutand producing it on a computer. Thiswould allow him to play his part in hischosen community. Similarly a collegelearner might want to structure a reportand phrase it appropriately for herSocial Care course.









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In integrated literacy and numeracy, thecontext strongly influences the choice ofskills, knowledge and understanding tobe covered. So, if learners have joined a‘Keeping up with the Kids’ course or aworkplace literacy/numeracy course,expectations have been set about thecontext. The content can then be:• brainstormed and negotiated with

the group

• from that an analysis of the literacyand numeracy tasks, skills,knowledge and understanding canbe devised and a group agreementmade about where to start

• individuals can then be given achance to indicate which elements ofthe work they are happy with andwhich they want to work on.

In dedicated literacy, some negotiationsmay:• begin with the outcomes required

and the context of the request (forexample I want to apply forpromotion and be able to deal withthe paper work I shall face)

• move on to the skills, knowledge andunderstanding the learners wouldneed

• prioritise and choose a starting point.

Others may focus much more closely ona particular task or piece of work suchas a driving licence application or acollege essay. Learner and tutor must

A workplace literacy class was provided for staff in a large Housing Department. All fiveparticipants, wardens in council accommodation for the homeless, had a one-to-one interviewto identify areas they would like to work on.These were mainly linked to work-based skills andthe information collected was used to make a group plan for the course.Within each session,learners worked on individual areas as well as participating in group tasks. Areas of workcovered in one session included: free writing based on a photograph, followed by learnersreading out their work and discussing tone and content; strategies for remembering spelling;work on sentences using examples from learners’ own writing, and discussion of a new councildocument which the group would all need to be able to use in their work.The sharing of acommon job informed the choice of other work such as report writing and form filling.

In a big FE college a literacy tutor works with full classes of young trade apprentices(mechanics and hairdressers) who have been screened after acceptance (like most of thecollege's learners) with a standardised cross-college Core Skills Screening in IT, Numeracyand Communication. All learners on substantial courses do this.

She describes her approach:

‘I access screening papers as a starting point with the learners I work with and negotiate alearning plan, based on what they need to learn/do for their courses, eg pass an entry testfor apprenticeships, and areas they want to improve.

I can use the free writing part of the screening paper to discuss anything they want to dorelating to writing.

Usually I then use a checklist/self assessment to negotiate what we can work on.

This is the most effective way I’ve found to work with large groups when there is no timeto do a lengthy one-to-one interview. From discussion about the checklist, we identifyshared priorities and agree a plan for a period of time.

For other learners, where I have the opportunity, I can undertake a more extensive initialinterview similar to what we use in Community Education provision.’

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tease out from there what they need totackle and in what order they will do it.

One of the difficulties with negotiating thecurriculum can be that the learner is notaware of what is available to be learnedand talks in broad terms of ‘improving myspelling’ or ‘tidying up my handwriting’.Such requests need to be skilfullywrapped in an appropriate context.

A list of prompt questions can be useful:• What are you writing and spelling just

now?• How do you feel about your writing

just now?

• What sorts of things do youhandwrite?

Some questions can lead towards adiscussion of a desired outcome:• What would you write if you felt OK

about your spelling?• What part of your life would you like to

see benefit most from working on yourwriting – work, family, going on to othercourses, joining local groups?

Often taking part in group work canbroaden an individual’s horizons.Watching what others are working oncan often stimulate new ideas.

Negotiating a specific goalAt Gordon’s initial interview with an adult literacies provider he said he wanted to brush up onEnglish and Maths. From a discussion of where he was currently using literacy and numeracy inhis daily life it emerged that he was both confident and competent in his uses of both. His mainaim in coming forward for tuition was to help his grandchildren with their schoolwork. Hisgranddaughter was now bringing home project work which went beyond the early stages ofreading, writing and arithmetic where he had successfully supported her in the past.

Gordon agreed to join a small local ALN group and to prepare for the first session byidentifying the kind of things he might want to work on.

When Gordon met his tutor for the first time he was able to describe the project that hisgranddaughter was working on. It involved carrying out a survey of the different wayschildren and teachers travelled to school and the distance and times of the journeys.Thearea that Gordon was unsure of was how to calculate percentages and how to make atable.The tutor and Gordon talked through what he already knew about percentages andwere able to establish that he had a good working understanding of what the commonpercentages meant and how they are used in everyday life, but that he did not have amethod for calculating percentages other than the easiest ones.

They discussed the fact that fractions and percentages were different ways of representingthe same information and how presenting the information in certain ways made it mucheasier to understand.

Gordon decided that his first priority wasto learn how to calculate percentages both by using a calculator and by a paper andpencil method.

Other goals were:to learn how to put information into a chartto try using a computer within the class.

Long-term goals might be:using the computer in the local libraryfinding out about other courses available locally.

In the first session the tutor and Gordon made a start on some work on percentages andGordon took away some examples to practise at home. He undertook to find someexamples of information presented in charts and graphs on a recent traffic survey whichthey could discuss at the next session.









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A variation of the literacy log (ie a diaryin which the learner records everythings/he has read in a specified period) canthrow up issues and is particularlyuseful in a group. Learners are invited todo a ‘quick think’ about what, when andwith whom they have written or read inthe last day or so. This is recorded on aflipchart. A final column can be used tonote any issues that come up – be theypersonal or social issues or literacyones. This last column can provide thecontext in which the group works.

SETTING MEASURABLE GOALSLong-term goals are often difficult forlearners to articulate. Questions such as‘Why have you come?’ and ‘What do youwant to learn?’ open up discussionabout learning goals. These can then bemade realistic and measurable by aprocess of breaking them into learningtasks and steps. One way of doing thisis to identify the skills, knowledge andunderstanding involved.

The tutor and learner can break eachtask into three aspects:• that of developing certain skills and

technical abilities (eg spelling,handwriting, mathematicaloperations)

• acquiring knowledge about theappropriate conventions to use (egletter layouts, appropriatevocabulary)

• developing critical understanding ofhow and why the literacy is beingused, and for whose purposes (egfor recording, persuading,entertaining, influencing).

So, for example, a car mechanic whowants to fill in his job sheets more

confidently may identify with his tutor theneed to work on:

• the skills- of spelling the parts of the cars

and handwriting legibly in thelimited space allowed by the jobsheet, using both upper andlower case letters

- measuring and recording timespent on the task

- using a parts catalogue- totalling the cost of parts

• the knowledge, deciding- which bits of information go in

which boxes- what is the most important part of

the form - which, if any, abbreviations are

appropriate

• understanding of the uses ofliteracy, discussing- how the forms are used to

generate customers’ bills andmechanics' wage packets

- their significance as evidence inthe case of customer complaints

- their contribution to the publicimage of the garage.

They would work on all three aspects atthe same time but break these tasks intosmaller steps and follow the interests ofthe learner. So, for example, one sessionmight include practising the spelling of‘carburettor’ and discussing how thework on the carburettor could beworded on the form. The learner mightpractise fitting the wording into theavailable space. This might lead on todiscussions of how to describe otherjobs accurately and the reasons for theimportance the garage attaches to this.

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Another session might tackle recordinga major service on the job sheet,including:• estimating, measuring and working

out the time spent • identifying and recording any extra

work carried out• finding out how this is costed and

billed to the customer• calculating and adding VAT.

Later the learner might choose to fill outa job sheet accurately on his own withina certain time limit. This ultimate goalwould be a form of self-assessment.(See Appendix 3 for completed versionof this learner’s ILP.)

Other examples showing how workcould be linked into SQA’s Core Skillsunits can be found in Part 2 Section 1 ofthese guidelines, where the skills,knowledge and understanding are laidout as spider diagrams. This is aparticularly helpful visual way ofplanning as it allows tutor and learner tosee how the curriculum buildsorganically.

A GROUP LEARNING PLAN A Group Learning Plan may be useful inan integrated literacies group where thelearners’ first priority is not the literacieslearning (for instance a family learninggroup, a reminiscence or a newsletterproduction group).

Negotiating a Group Learning Plan will,as in the case of an Individual LearningPlan, be part of a process:• the aims, curriculum and activities of

the group might first be negotiated• from that information the

literacy/numeracy associated withthe proposed activities couldgradually be identified by learnersand tutor and agreed

• the group could negotiate thoseareas that they would like to do somework on/share strategies about

• over time individualliteracy/numeracy goals may beelicited and worked on

• by the end of the course individualsmay have arrived at the point ofdeveloping their ownliteracy/numeracy goals and bewilling and able to express them inan Individual Learning Plan.

The Group Plan could be photocopiedand given to each learner as a record ofthe planning and reviewing process.









84

DATA PROTECTIONThe following information on DataProtection should be regarded asguidelines only.

An Individual Learning Plan sitsalongside a set of documents forcapturing information needed by thepartnership, including:• a profile of the learner’s strategies

and confidence in using literacy andnumeracy

• such information (eg aboutmembership of target groups) as thepartnership may require for theiraudit trail

• a proforma for collecting ‘distancetravelled’ information.

These will need to be signed by thelearner and kept securely to comply withdata protection requirements.

Partnerships need to keep personaldata about the learners for auditing andreporting purposes. This includes nameand address and ‘any information whichrelates to a living person who can beidentified from the data’. Some furtherinformation may be ‘of a sensitivepersonal nature’. In this latter categoryis information relating to:• racial or ethnic origins• religious beliefs• trade union membership • physical or mental health conditions.

These categories of information arecovered by the Data Protection Act 1998and need to be kept securely. Learners

need to give their consent to yourprocessing it and this should include adiscussion of:• why you keep this information• who you might share it with • for what purposes you are sharing it.

If you share information at all (eg avoluntary organisation sending inmonitoring reports to the partnership) itmust be ‘anonymised’ in a way thatdoes not allow the learner to beidentified. You may report that you haveseven learners with health problems, orsix in a class run for a particular tradesunion, but you may not identify thoselearners by name. Unlawful disclosure isa criminal offence.

For reasons of data protection,therefore, many agencies keep, for eachstudent, an Individual Student Recordwith vital personal and sensitive data foraudit purposes. This has been agreedand signed by the learner for dataprocessing. From this they can extractand anonymise information to share withthe partnerships. Information aboutoutcomes of learning (what differencethe learning has made to the learner'slife) needs to be available to thepartnerships so may be recorded on anILP, and would also need to beanonymised before being shared.

Information on learners should only bekept for a reasonable period of time. Forfurther advice, please contact the DataProtection Helpline on 01625 545745.

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At an appropriate point in the learningprogramme, learner and tutor will needto set aside time to discuss how thelearning is going. They will want to lookover the work they have done, discusswhat progress has been made towardsthe initial goal and what still needs to bedone. Perhaps they will set a new goalbut certainly they will want to discuss

what has worked and what has notworked for the learner and what hasbeen enjoyable and useful. Thus, in arelaxed way they will follow theexperiential learning circle by reflectingon their experience and planning newgoals and activities in the light of theirconclusions.

Each learner (in an inclusive group) is invited to assess his or her own progress towards thegoals which were identified and noted over the first few weeks of work.Tutors believe thatoften at the beginning learners ‘don’t know what they don’t know’ and covertly observeothers to see what is available for learning. After a few weeks they become more able toarticulate what they want to learn. Individual termly reviews are held and new goals set indiscussion. Progress towards, or achievement of, SQA units is particularly valued but so toois one learner’s comment, ‘I look at the cost of the Cokes now and I said to the wife, “Don’tbuy that one. It’s not worth it!”

3.5 Ongoing review and formative assessment









A couple for whom English is an additional language had as their immediate goal, tounderstand instructions on medicine labels. One session was spent working on the words‘before’, ‘after’ and ‘with’ in relation to mealtimes, and when medicine should be taken. Theselearners assessed their own progress outside the learning programme – when they coulddo something that they couldn’t do before, they moved on to another short-term goal.Before working on instructions on medicine bottles, the husband had worked on makingappointments at the surgery by telephone, which he could now do without difficulty. Thetutor working with these learners recognises the importance of tackling immediate urgentneeds, but is also working with them on language acquisition in broader areas.

86

When reviewing, tutor and learner maylook over learner’s ILP to:• remind themselves of the learner’s

contexts and motivations which havedriven the work

• look again at the goals the learner set • discuss the work done towards these

goals.

They can reflect on the learning thathas gone on by asking the learner:• what was the biggest bit of learning

for him/her• how he/she learned it and what

worked best for him/her• what he/she enjoyed• what had been most useful• what had been difficult.

Together they may assess progress by:• asking whether the goal, or part of

the goal has been reached and howthe learner knows this

• looking through recorded work whichevidences this and/or

• asking the learner to demonstrate askill on which he/she has beenworking, eg reading and carrying outinstructions

• asking what difference the learninghas made in the learner’s private life(including education and training),family life, community life andworking life

• discussing what is left to be done toachieve the goal.

Then they will plan the next steps bydiscussing:• what the learner wants to do or learn

next• how the learner wants to learn it• who can help with it • where learner and tutor can get the

information.

The whole process can be a mix ofgroup discussions, paired work andindividual writing. Flipcharts or laptopswith data projectors can be used to

record group discussions, whileindividuals’ comments might be notedon their ILPs, checklists, worksheets orpost-its on wall-posters.

A group of learners in a sheltered workshop in Glasgow had completed an accreditedliteracies course and were conducting their review.They had been granted further trainingtime by their employers and were keen to continue working on their literacies at the sametime as developing their use of a variety of enabling technologies.

Together with the tutor, they decided to write a newsletter for and about their workshop.Roles and tasks were apportioned according to their various interests, abilities anddisabilities. After this first publication they joined an initiative run by the National Library ofScotland and a national newspaper to learn more sophisticated design and editing skills. Forthis they had to travel through to attend workshops in Edinburgh.

One tutor divides an A4 sheet into four. In a circle in the centre she writes the learner’sgoals. Each quarter is headed with one of the domains: private, community, work or familylife. All the work done, all the differences noted and all the plans made are noted downunder one of the domains.This keeps the work focused on the learner’s goals and contexts.

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Where a learner is aiming forcertification, the formative assessmentprocess should be similar to thesummative assessment process so thatthe learner becomes comfortable withthe assessment process. Indeed,frequently – for example, wheresummative assessment is based on aportfolio of evidence created by thelearner – the same tasks may be usedfor both formative and summativepurposes, ie to assist the learningprocess and to recognise the attainmentof learning goals. However, in a learningprogramme leading to certification, thetutor would need to ensure that the workwas the result of the learner’s ownunaided efforts.

How often such reviews take place maybe decided when the ILP is beingnegotiated, but they may be about everytwo to three months or once a term in

more formal programmes of learning.At the same time tutor and learner maydecide on the way in which progresswill be assessed. This may be byconsideration of a portfolio of thelearner’s work over the previous fewweeks or the learner may want to carryout a specific task for the review (eg aformal letter to a council or newspaper,or explaining what changes a chart onunemployment rates shows). Whateverform of assessment is agreed,assessment should always take place ina context familiar to the learner and berelevant to his/her needs andexperience. Since the review will coverprogress not only in the acquisition ofnew skills but also in how well s/he isable to apply them in real life outsidethe ‘safe’ context of the teachingsetting, self-assessment will always be a part of the review.

It is never too early to talk about long-term goals, note down what the learnermight want to do next and whereappropriate opportunities can be found.Experience suggests that adults mayleave literacy provision before exitguidance can be arranged thus losingthe opportunities to explore, with

support, the next steps open to them.

Many ILPs have space for recordingongoing reviews but other providerssuggest a sheet with headings like‘Work done’, ‘Changes in usingliteracies’ and ‘What next?’. These canbe used, dated and stapled onto the ILP.









In one rural area assessment is focused strongly on learners’ self reporting on the differenceliteracy learning is making in their lives outside the learning programme.Tests are not used atpresent, but certification opportunities may be developed for young learners. One-to-onelearners meet with a co-ordinator every three or four months to review progress both inand out of class. Using the Individual Learning Plans structure, learners discuss whether theirstated goals are still relevant and whether barriers or support needs have changed. Potentialsolutions and new aims are explored.Then the learner is asked what differences the learningis making both in tutorial and in life outside.This is all then typed up and added to the ILP.

Group learners discuss their individual progress with the tutor but then review as a groupthe subject matter they have tackled and lead into an evaluation of the group’s work.

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One of the main purposes of reviewand formative assessment is to letlearners and tutors know how learningis progressing towards meeting thegoals identified at the beginning of theprogramme. Sometimes learners feelthey are getting stuck and it isreassuring – and motivating – for themto be able to look back over past reviewmeetings to see that they have actuallymoved on from their starting point. Inorder to do this there needs to be someway of recording the outcome of eachdiscussion and of the assessment,whatever form it takes. The ALNIS reportrecommends that the ILP, owned by thelearner, is where progress should berecorded.

The Core Skills Framework definesbroad levels of progression incommunication and numeracy againstnational standards and the NationalUnits derived from it are useful for thosewho want formal accreditation of theirprogress. It is not sufficiently fine-grained, though, to be used foridentifying the small steps in progresswhich are important and meaningful tomany ALN learners. This could be doneby using a method of recording – aframework of progress indicators – thatnotes not only any new skills andknowledge but the resultant changes inlearners’ lives. Such a framework couldshow how learners are increasingly ableto apply their new knowledge and skillsindependently in a range of contextsand transfer them confidently to newsituations.

Many tutors and learners may alreadyhave identified the particular factorsthey look at in discussing how learningis going and may have worked out theirown method of noting them. The areasthey discuss probably include:• the growth in skills, knowledge and

understanding

• how easily new skills and knowledgecan be applied without reference tothe tutor

• how well they can be transferred tonew situations in real life outside ‘theclassroom’.

The matrix ‘Read with Understanding’contained in Appendix 5 represents anexample of a first attempt at developinga framework for recording progress. Itfocuses on skills, knowledge andunderstanding in the area of readingwith understanding. In using such amatrix with learners it is important toremember that skills, knowledge andunderstanding would not be assessedin isolation but only in a context which isrelevant to the learners’ needs andgoals. Some learners have a ‘spiky’profile, so you may need to look at morethan one level to record their learning. Itcould be a useful tool in helping toidentify gaps in a learner’s knowledge,for example, someone who reads fairlywell may want to practise skimming textin preparation for college. When wantingto record smaller steps in progress, itwould be possible to sub-divide eachlevel by looking at the gradual increasein proficiency in carrying out tasks. Tohelp do this, a range of progressindicators could be developed whichreflected the increasing ease or fluency,consistency and independence withwhich each task is carried out and theability of learners to transfer their newskills and knowledge to a range of newsituations.

Although the underlying purpose ofsuch a framework of progress indicatorsis not formal certification, it wouldfacilitate this type of progression forthose learners who have identifiedcertification as one of their learninggoals.










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SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTSummative assessment is intended toshow that learners have met theirlearning goals or completed a course ofstudy and reached a certain standard ofperformance. Where the learner andtutor have been regularly reviewingprogress against the learning goals,summative assessment will normally bea natural culmination of the learningprocess, rather than a separate ‘event’.Learner and tutor will agree – based onwork produced by the learner – that thelearning goals have now been met.

Even where the learner is aiming forcertification, summative assessmentmay simply be a process in which thetutor reviews a portfolio of workproduced by the learner to confirm thatit meets the required learning outcomes.This would be the case for Core SkillsCommunication assessment, forexample.

This opens up certain possibilities forlearners who may not have wanted toseek certification at the outset of theirlearning programme but subsequentlydevelop an interest in the idea. InAppendices 6 and 7, there areexamples of literacy and numeracytasks completed by learners followingan uncertificated learning programmethat have been subsequently assessedagainst the Core Skills framework.

Many learners are interested solely intheir own learning goals and regardcertification as unnecessary. However,access to certification should be opento all those who want it at whateverstage they make that decision. Thedevelopment in Scotland of a set ofprogress indicators supported by anextensive programme of staffdevelopment would enable tutors tohelp learners assess themselves againstCore Skills outcomes and to considerwhether they wished to present theirwork for certification.

Two FE colleges working together have developed a model of provision which aims toimprove the assessing of three of the Core Skills – Communication, Numeracy and IT –using the learners’ full-time course as a source of evidence for assessments.The Core Skillsspecialists teach learners the underpinning knowledge of the Core Skills. Learners thengather evidence, in the form of a portfolio, from the work undertaken in the course units.The agreed assessment instruments can then be used in the context of the full-time course.

A learner on an NC Health Care course gives an oral presentation on a health promotionscheme; this is assessed in terms of oral communication; the written version is also assessedfor communication; the written version is word processed to fulfil one of the ITassessments. Costing the health promotion scheme can provide assessment evidence fornumeracy.

Learners on a jewellery production course present their designs to a panel (made up offellow learners) for selection of the artefact for an exhibition.This covers oralcommunication (both individual and group). A written version of the presentation can coverwritten communication and IT assessments. Costing the making of the product can evidencenumeracy.

The advantage of this method is that it gives more control of the assessment evidence tothe learner. It also lessens the assessment load and promotes the core skills ofcommunication, numeracy and IT by making the learners more aware of the transferabilityof these skills.

3.7 Summative assessment, review and evaluation









92

EXIT REVIEWSGood exit reviewing offers learners anopportunity to leave provision with newgoals and knowing where and how theycan work towards them. If there is time,visits, open days and speakers mightprovide further information and boost

the learner's confidence to take the nextsteps. Recording these suggestions andcontact details in their ILP creates auseful reference document for them forwhenever they choose to take thesesteps.

MOVING ONReviews should develop learners’confidence in transferring their learningto new roles and contexts by fostering alifelong learning approach. If learnerswish to go on to do more learning it isalso important that they know about thelinks with other learning opportunitiesand that there are good pathways forthem that make the transfer easy.

Moving on might mean a variety ofthings:• moving to a new learning

environment in a different sector, toan FE course perhaps, or a familyliteracy group

• moving from a formal learningenvironment to maintaining and usingliteracies in a community or activistgroup

• moving the focus or domain oflearning, for instance from the privateto workplace learning by undertakingtraining at work

• changing the mode of learning fromone-to-one to a group or to self-study

• moving from a dedicated literaciesgroup to integrated literacies, usingliteracies in pursuit of other learning.Or, vice versa, attending a dedicatedliteracies group to work on someparticular skill or knowledge

• choosing to spend time acquiringaccreditation for learning orexploring other options with, say,Careers Scotland or on an Optionsand Choices course

• moving on to working on new (tothem) forms of literacies like IT,numeracy, texting or multimedia.

M, a home help with the Council Social Work Department was coming to the end of a 15-week Starting Points workplace literacy course. In that group she had worked on thesort of writing and numeracy she needs for her work as well as researching dementia (acommon problem for her clients). Doing this she had achieved SQA Core SkillsCommunication at Intermediate1. However, M told her tutor at their exit interview, she didnot want to stop there.

She knew she had to get her SVQ2 Care for her work with the council and wanted to findout how she could do this in work time. Starting Points had also introduced her to writingand researching with the computer and she wanted to go on with this. Finally, readingcontinued to frustrate M so she wanted advice on dyslexia- testing.

In response, the tutor invited the Social Work trainer to join the group to talk about theselection procedures for the work-based SVQ (an issue for them all) and give outinformation and application forms. M and the tutor studied the community informationleaflet and found an evening ‘Computing for the Terrified’ course at a community centrenear her.The tutor made contact with the local college which provides SVQs and gotdetails of the Student Support's dyslexia services. All these details were noted on the ‘NextSteps’ part of the ILP together with the provider's own contact details. As M said, this was‘Just in case!’

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Roll-on roll-off literacy provision hasbeen common in Scotland. Thisprovides easy and prompt access formany learners but it can also allow them

to stay, unchallenged, in long-termprovision. Exit reviews that focus onoutcomes can challenge long-termlearners to move on with their learning.

EVALUATIONThe provider will also want to ask thelearner’s views on the provision. Forinstance in the workplace provision theymay want to discuss:• the appropriateness of the timing,

venue and length of the course• their experience of the arrangements

for recruitment and release for thecourse

• how a learner would describe thecourse to their workmates and whatchanges they would suggest

• what they want fed back to theiremployers and others about theirlearning.

College and community providers willhave similar issues to discuss with theirlearners and will, no doubt, want toinvolve them in their organisation’squality and self-evaluation processes forthe partnership.

Using ILPs to challenge learnersOne provider carries out reviews with learners who have been attending for over twoyears.They discuss and record what they have been learning as for any ongoing review. Butcrucially they also talk about changes the learner can identify in the way they are using orwish to use literacies in their lives as a result of their learning. If they can identify no changesand appear to have no further learning goals, then the tutor will suggest that the learner’sliteracies learning might be complete for the moment.This suggestion is accompanied by anoffer of opportunities for further literacies learning in future if the learner’s circumstanceschange. Researching and recording other appropriate opportunities become the focus ofthe final ‘Moving on’ sessions.









When learners want to move on, their progress is documented in a ‘Moving On’ form.Thisform documents positive changes, distance travelled and continuing learning and supportneeds. Using this, a learner can speak for him- or herself to a prospective college tutor oremployer.

95

Barton, D. (2002) A social practice viewof language, literacy and numeracy,http://www.education.ed.ac.uk/hce/ABE-seminars/index.html

Beder, H. (1999) The Outcomes andImpacts of Adult Literacy Education inthe United States. Cambridge, MA:NCSALL.

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., Cocking,R. R. (Eds.) (1999) How People Learn:Brain, Mind, Experience, and School.Washington DC: National AcademyPress.

Bruner, J. (1986) Actual minds, possibleworlds. Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity Press.

Comings, J., Parrella, A and Soricone, L.(1999) Persistence among adult basiceducation students in pre-GED classes.NCSALL Reports # 12. Cambridge, MA:The National Center for the Study ofAdult Learning and Literacy.

Comings, J., Parrella, A and Soricone, L.(2000) ‘Helping adults persist: foursupports’, Focus on Basics, 4(A), 1-6.

Crowther, J. Hamilton, M. and Tett, L.(2001) Powerful Literacies. Leicester:NIACE.

Daniels, D. (2001) Vygotsky andPedagogy. London: Routledge Falmer.

Gillespie, M. K. (2002a) ‘EFF ResearchPrinciple: A purposeful and transparentapproach to teaching and learning’, EFFResearch to Practice Note 1.Washington DC: National Institute forLiteracy.

Gillespie, M. K. (2002b) ‘EFF ResearchPrinciple: An approach to teaching andlearning that builds expertise’, EFFResearch to Practice Note 2.Washington DC: National Institute forLiteracy.

Gillespie, M. K. (2002c) ‘EFF ResearchPrinciple: A contextualised approach tocurriculum and instruction’, EFFResearch to Practice Note 3.Washington DC: National Institute forLiteracy.

Gillespie, M. and Nash, A. (2002) TheEFF Teaching and Learning Tool Kit.DRAFT 1, October 2 2002. Knoxville,TN: EFF National Center andAssessment Consortium.

Glaser, R. (1992) ‘Expert knowledge andprocesses of thinking’ in D.F. Halpern(Ed.) Enhancing thinking skills in thesciences and mathematics. Hillsdale,NJ: Erlbaum.

Greeno, J.G., Resnick, L. B. and Collins,A.M. (1997) ‘Cognition and learning’ inD. Berliner and R. Calfee (Eds),Handbook of Educational Psychology.New York: Simon and SchusterMacmillan.

Illeris, K. (2004) The three dimensions oflearning. Leicester: NIACE.

Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) SituatedLearning: Legitimate PeripheralParticipation. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Merrifield, J. (2000) Equipped for theFuture research report: Building theFramework, 1993-1997. Washington DC:National Institute for Literacy.

References

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Stites, R. (2002) Assessing results thatmatter: Equipped for the Future’sApproach to Assessment for Adult BasicEducation Accountability andImprovement. Washington DC: NationalInstitute for Literacy.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1986) Thought andLanguage, A. Kozulin (ed. and trans.),Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Wenger, E. (1998) Communities ofPractice: Learning, Meaning andIdentity. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

APPE

NDICES

APP

END

ICES

write to conveyinformation, ideas

and feelings

read withunderstanding

interpret numericalinformation

understand and apply numerical

skills

communicatenumerical information

apply numerical skills to solve

problems

listen/observeeffectively

speak so others can understand

99

reflect and evaluateuse ICT to

communicateinformation

learn through research plan

resolve conflict andnegotiatework with others

solve problems andmake decisions

WORKING ON A MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Appendix 1

importance of whathas been missed out

identifyingkey points

UNDERSTANDING

awareness ofown body language

active listeninginterpreting non-verbal language

conventions – notinterrupting

KNOWLEDGE

SKILLS

work with others reflect and evaluate co-operate with others

resolve conflict and negotiate


LISTEN/OBSERVEEFFECTIVELY

100

101

effect ofincluding/leaving out

information

critical awareness of language

purpose of variouswritten documents

audience for variouswritten documents

effect of minutesbeyond immediate

group

weight ofdecisions taken

and importance ofaccurate recording

possible influence and vested interests of other committee

members

UNDERSTANDING

drafting

proofreading

using punctuation spelling

wordprocessing

using emailediting

note takingplanning writing

conventions of differentgenres – letters, emails,

agenda, minutes, publicitymaterials

agenda –entitlement to ask

for items to beincluded

audience for various pieces of

writing

local structures –relevant important

contacts

KNOWLEDGE

SKILLS


use ICT to learn andpractice skills

co-operate with others

plan

WRITE TO CONVEYINFORMATION, IDEAS AND

FEELINGS

skimming, scanning,close reading

reading minutes,letters, notices etc

using email

using internet dictionary skills

decoding

SKILLS

read between the lines –what is missed out? which

items on agenda arerecorded in most detail?

hierarchy and power relations within committeeand with outside groups

and individuals

that minutes are aselective account of

proceedings

that minutes can be used as proof of

decision making, cancarry weight

significance as a record, read by

people who weren’tthere

whose view is reallyrepresented?

that committeemembers can ask for

amendments to be madeto minutes

specialisedvocabulary,

abbreviations

where to getfurther information

conventions ofminutes

KNOWLEDGE

UNDERSTANDING


decisions

resolveconflict andnegotiate

use ICT tomanage

information

learnthroughresearch

use ICTto learn and

practise skills

READ WITHUNDERSTANDING

102

103

presentation ofstatistical and

financialinformation

ICT

SKILLS

judgements aboutappropriateness of

numerical information fordifferent audiences (eg

funders, community,media etc)

purposes of different ways of presenting

numerical information

how financial/statisticalinformation may be used by

different readers

conventions of theorganisation in relation to

the presentation offinancial and statistical

information

similar numerical information can be

presented in a variety ofways (pie charts, tables,

bar graphs etc.)

KNOWLEDGE

UNDERSTANDING

resolve conflict andnegotiate



reflect and evaluateplan

COMMUNICATE NUMERICALINFORMATION

performingpercentage, fraction,decimal, averages,ratio and proportion

calculations

using a calculator

reading, andsometimes

producing, charts,graphs and tables

performingcalculations using the four operations

(+, -, x and ÷)

SKILLS

make connections and, where appropriate,

conversions betweendifferent aspects of

numeracy (eg percentages, decimals

and fractions)

develop confidence in

numeracy

select appropriatecalculations and

appropriate order ofcalculations

when it is appropriate toestimate and when to be

exact

vocabulary ofoperations eg use of

different terms for subtraction (less, minus,

take away etc.)

different methods of performingcalculations

importance of aproblem solving

approach incontextualised

numeracy

KNOWLEDGE

UNDERSTANDING


decisionsplan

UNDERSTAND AND APPLYNUMERICAL SKILLS

104

105

readingspreadsheets, cash

flow projections,income and

expenditure data

using a variety ofnumerical skills (four

operations,percentages etc)

reading statisticalinformation

SKILLS

making use ofstatistical informationto inform appropriate

managementdecisions

making use offinancial information to inform appropriate

managementdecisions

evaluating solutions identifying and analysing problems

conventions in relation to the

presentation offinancial

information

conventions in relation to the

presentation ofstatistical

information

knowledge offinancial context eg

funding

KNOWLEDGE

UNDERSTANDING

plan use ICT to manageinformation


reflect and evaluatesolve problems andmake decisions


resolve conflict andnegotiate

APPLY NUMERICAL SKILLS TOSOLVE PROBLEMS

read financialinformation

read statisticalinformation

SKILLS

identify what is missing from numerical

information

critically interpretinformation to inform

decision-making

identification and analysis of implications

of data

conventions in relation to presentation of financialand statistical information

information collected by

organisation in relation to targets

and outputs

budget oforganisation

specialistvocabulary offinancial and

statistical information

KNOWLEDGE

UNDERSTANDING

solve problems andmake decisions reflect and evaluate

INTERPRET NUMERICALINFORMATION

106

107

organising ideas and communicating

them clearly andconcisely

keeping to the point being discussed

SKILLS

conventions depending on formality of group eg

addressing remarks through the chair

vocabulary specific to context

subject matter of activitywhich is being managed

responsibilities ofmanagement

committee

use of appropriatelanguage

relationship of groupmembers to othergroups/structures

relationship ofmanagementcommittee toorganisation

power relations within group

UNDERSTANDING

KNOWLEDGE

resolve conflict andnegotiate plan co-operate with

others

work with otherssolve problems andmake decisions

SPEAK SO OTHERS CANUNDERSTAND

ALERTING TOOLSSome institutions, like Jobcentre Plusand prisons, are keen to offer literacyand numeracy tuition to their clients. Butthey need to target their offerappropriately!

For them an alerting tool designed foruse with those who have no formalqualifications can be helpful. The idea isto open the discussion with the learnerabout their uses of literacy andnumeracy and at the same time to givethem an opportunity both todemonstrate what they can do and tospeak about what they can’t. There is nosense in which it is a ‘test’ or a pass-or-fail scenario nor will it offer anyindication of Core Skills levels.

The example below shows examples oftasks which a client can be set:• two short answers to demonstrate

reading and appropriate writtenresponse

• a chance to demonstratecompetence in the four numberoperations

• a short piece of free writing• and an opportunity to declare

confidence, or lack of it, withappropriate literacy and numeracytasks.

It is crucial that this rather crude setof tasks be contextualisedappropriately. So, if it is being used bya Social Care training agency, thechecklist might relate to writing a shortincident report and filling in a timesheet, while the numeracy task mightrelate to doing a client's shopping.

This alerting tool is designed to do justthat: to alert both learner andinterviewer to whether or not a fullerdiagnostic assessment or an offer ofliteracy and/or numeracy tuition mightbe appropriate. It may not beappropriate to use it where, say, a clientrequests literacy support unprompted.Moreover, where a client is clearlyuncomfortable with it, help should beoffered or it should be swiftly removed.

Guidelines and training on administeringand interpreting the tool wouldencourage awareness of the Scottishapproach to literacy and numeracylearning, and increase staff confidencein approaching the issue.

Appendix 2

1. Illustrative examples of usingthe wheel

2. Alerting Tools

3. Individual and Group LearningPlans

4. Specific Learning Difficulties

5. Reading with UnderstandingMatrix

6. Literacy tasks assessed againstthe Core Skills Framework

7. Numeracy tasks assessedagainst the Core SkillsFramework

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Appendix 2a Alerting Tool template

110110110

DRAFTTHINKING AHEAD

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

HAVE A GO

WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT?

NAME:____________________________

NINO: _________DATE: _____________

What do you think would help you to get a job? (eg learning to use a computer, brushing up on your reading and writing skills,improving your number skills)

What are the most important things to you when looking for a job?

Yes Need help sometimes

I can read instructions

I can fill in most forms

I can do basic maths (+ – x ÷)

I can measure things (use a ruler and weigh in metric)

I can handle money

I can write a good application letter

1. Bus fares to a job are 90p each way. How much would it cost there andback each day?

2. If you worked for 5 days how much would your fares be for the week?3. How much would you save if you bought a 4-week ticket for £32.00?4. The job pays £680 for a period of 4 weeks. How much would you earn each

week?

What else do you think you are good at?Please write a little about yourself and the things you are a good at on the backof this sheet.


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Appendix 2a Alerting Tool template

DRAFTTHINKING AHEAD

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

HAVE A GO

WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT?

NAME:____________________________

NINO: _________DATE: _____________

What do you think would help you toget a job? (eg learning to use a computer,brushing up on your reading andwriting skills, improving your numberskills)

What are the most important things toyou when looking for a job?

Yes Need help sometimes

I can read instructions

I can fill in most forms

I can do basic maths (+ – x ÷)

I can measure things (use a ruler and weigh in metric)

I can handle money

I can write a good application letter

1. Bus fares to a job are 90p each way. How much would it cost there andback each day?

2. If you worked for 5 days how much would your fares be for the week?3. How much would you save if you bought a 4 week ticket for £32.00?4. The job pays £680 for a period of 4 weeks. How much would you earn each

week?

What else do you think you are goodat?Please write a little about yourselfand the things you are a good at onthe back of this sheet.

Two short answer questions todemonstrate reading and appropriatewritten response

Self-report of literacy and numeracyskills and confidence. The tasksshould be appropriate to the context

Using simple number skills in anappropriate topic

A short piece of free writing on anappropriate topic

An ‘alerting’ tool, provided it is adapted to an appropriate context, can start aconversation about a person’s literacy and numeracy strengths and weaknesses.It can also alert an agency to the need for a fuller literacy and numeracy assessment.

Appendix 2b‘L’ PLATE FOR LEARNING – HMP BARLINNIE DRAFT

NAME _____________________________ NO __________ Date of birth ____________

Earliest date of liberation ___________ Postcode/Place________________________

In the box below, please write 2 or 3 short sentences about yourself or somethingyou are interested in. For example, sport, fashion, food, music, films or TV.

What things are you good at –Please tick box

Yes No I sometimes struggle

I can write a job application

I can read instructions on medicine

I can fill in forms

I can use a calculator

I can measure in metric

I can handle money well

Have a go Answer

Cans of juice cost 45p each. How much will it cost for 6?

A half-ounce of tobacco costs £2.65 while a 2-ounce tin costs £9.00. How much do you save by buying the 2-ounce tin?

Betty wants to share out her bingo win of£560 equally between herself and her 6 kids. How much will they all get each?

Jimmy reckoned his winning line would pay out £327. However, the bookie only paid out £248. How much was he paid short?

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Appendix 2cSKILLS PROFILING (FOR USE IN THE WORKPLACE)You can use a calculator to answer these if you want to

1. Your bus fare to work is 90p each way. How much would it cost you each day?

2. If you work a 5-day week how much would your fares be for the week?

3. How much would you save if you bought a 4-week ticket for £32?

4. Your employer gives you a voucher entitling you to a 10% discount on your4-week ticket. How much would this be?

5. You and 2 friends decide it would be better to car share. The total 4-weeklycost would be £21. What, if anything, would you save over the year?

6. Your company pays mileage at 32p for first 20 miles and 26p for over 20 miles.Your journey was 97 miles – how much would you be able to claim back inmileage?

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Appendix 2c (The questions that follow are used as the basis of discussion. It isnot intended that the learner completes them as a questionnaire.)

What is your job role and what are your main duties?

What would you do in a normal working day?

Learner name: ____________________ Tutor name: __________________________

Signature: ________________________ Signature: ____________________________

Appendix 2c (The questions that follow are used as the basis of discussion. It isnot intended that the learner completes them as a questionnaire.)

SKILLS PROFILING (FOR USE IN THE WORKPLACE)

GENERALWhat are you good at/do you like to do? How about at work?

Do you have a goal/something you’ve always wanted to do?

Why did you decide to do this course?

What do you hope to learn from it?

READINGHow do you feel about reading?

What kinds of things do you read?

What reading do you have to do for work?prompts:(manuals, training handouts, notice boards, newsletters, instructions, reports)

How do you feel about reading at work?prompts:(reading aloud, understanding what you read)

WRITINGHow do you feel about writing?

What writing do you do for work?prompts:(forms, timesheets, letters, messages, reports)

How do you feel about writing at work?


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NUMBERSHow comfortable do you feel using numbers in everyday life?prompts:(calculations, timetables, 24-hour clock, metric, measurements, money & finance)

What number work do you have to do for your job?prompts:(timesheets, calculations, measurements, understand graphs)

INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT)Have you ever used a computer before?

What have you used it for?prompts:(internet, email, word processing, spreadsheets, checkout till)

Do you use computers or computerised equipment at work?What does this involve?

SPEAKING & LISTENING

How confident do you feel about:prompts: Very Fairly Not at all

• talking to people on the phone?• asking about wages, health & safety,

holidays, etc?• getting other people to understand you

(eg your boss/colleagues)?• answering questions and giving information

to others?• giving/obtaining information to/from your

boss or colleagues?• following spoken instructions?• giving presentations?

Learner name: ___________________ Tutor name: _______________________

Signature: _______________________ Signature: _________________________

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Attached is a collection of Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) which have beendeveloped and used within Adult Literacy and Numeracy Partnerships in Scotland.Each version is shown in the form in which it would be used, and then annotated toshow how it includes the significant features of an ILP. Tutors may wish to adaptthese to suit their own context.

Also included are some examples of information given to learners when they joinprovision. The collection includes:

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLANS 1a dedicated ongoing (1)

an ILP for dedicated literacy and numeracy work: a single sheet which canbe tackled each term. A review/evaluation sheet is included.

1b labelled version1c example of completed ILP 2a dedicated ongoing (2)

an ILP for dedicated literacy and numeracy work which allows morebackground detail to be recorded

2b labelled version 3a integrated/dedicated short course

an ILP and Learning Plan Review for a short course – integrated ordedicated

3b labelled version4a integrated/dedicated short course with identified options

an ILP for integrated literacies learners where the group may have negotiatedsome literacies learning options – eg for the production of a newsletter

4b labelled version

GROUP LEARNING PLAN5a integrated Group Learning Plan

a Group Learning Plan for integrated literacies.5b labelled version5c example of completed Group Learning Plan

OTHER INFORMATION6 an example of some questions that may be asked during initial meetings with

learners to identify the learner’s strategies and confidence in usingliteracy/numeracy.

7 an example of an initial personal interview in the FE context, for use withlearners from the workplace.

8 Who does what?an information sheet for use with learners on their rights and responsibilities.

9 Information for studentsan example of an information sheet given to new learners.

10 Literacies practices grid

Appendix 3


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Appendix 1a: dedicated ongoing (1)

LEARNING PLAN

Name: _____________________________ Date: ________

Place/Time: _______________________________________________________________

2. Tutor: ____________________________Tutor’s contact number: ________________

My long-term goal: (eg keeping in touch with my family, doing more for myself,going to college, changing jobs, going to other classes)

My goal(s) for this term: What do I want to be able to do at home, at work, atcollege…?

What can I do already towards this goal?

What steps do I need to take?

How will I work on this? (methods)

My responsibilities:

Tutor’s responsibilities:

How will I know I have reached my goal(s) for this term? What will I be able to doat home, at work, at college…?

Review date for this plan: _____________

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REVIEW/EVALUATION SHEET

Name: _____________________________ Date: ________

What was your goal this term?

What have you worked on this term? (check on your record sheets)

What have you learned? (what can you do at home, at work, at college…?)

How do you know that you can do it?

What did you enjoy about your work this term? What was a good way of learningfor you?

What did you not enjoy?

What would you like to do next?


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Appendix 1b: dedicated ongoing (1)

LEARNING PLAN

Name: _____________________________ Date:_________________________________

Place/Time: _______________________________________________________________


My long-term goal: (eg keeping in touch with my family, doing more for myself, going to college, changing jobs, going to other classes)

My goal(s) for this term: What do I want to be able to do at home, at work, at college…?

What can I do already towards this goal?

What steps do I need to take?

How will I work on this? (methods)

My responsibilities:

Tutor’s responsibilities:

How will I know I have reached my goal(s) for this term? What will I be able to do at home, at work,at college…?


learner’s contexts and goals

sets measurable goals

identifies learner’s existing strengths

reminder of what learning will involve

helps tutor to focus on individual’slearning goals

how the learner wants to learn

carries forward to review sheet –written record of ongoing reviews

assessment

Details of place/time


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Name __________ Date _________



What have you learned? (what can you do at home, at work,at college…?)


What did you enjoy about your work this term? What was a good way oflearning for you?



recorded in learner’s own wordswhere possible

refers to learning plan

identifies new uses ofliteracy/numeracy outside group

encourages reflective learning

ongoing planning

assessment

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Appendix 1c: dedicated ongoing completed

LEARNING PLAN

Name: _____________________________ Date: ________

Place/Time: _______________________________________________________________


My long-term goal: (eg keeping in touch with my family, doing more for myself,going to college, changing jobs, going to other classes)To finish apprenticeship — to be able to do paperwork confidently, withoutgetting laughed at by my workmates

My goal(s) for this term: What do I want to be able to do at home, at work, atcollege…?Be able to fill in a job sheet about work on a car by myself

What can I do already towards this goal?I know what I need to say when I speak about it. I can read the words onthe form.

What steps do I need to take?Think about what I need to write on form. Spelling — talk about differentways of remembering. Find examples of correctly spelled wordsTry out spellchecker. Handwriting — practise upper and lower caseLearn when to use them

How will I work on this? (methods)Use examples from forms at work. Collect spellings in notebook to keep withme. Look at manuals etc to get wordsWorksheets. Practise work on capitals from last term

My responsibilities:Bring in exact form from work, that I need to fill inCheck how other mechanics talk about and record jobs. Find out whathappens to job sheets

Tutor’s responsibilities:Think about planning variety of activities for each piece of learningSuggest new/different ways of doing thingsLiaise with workplace — with Jim’s permission

How will I know I have reached my goal(s) for this term? What will I be able to doat home, at work, at college…?I’ll be able to fill in a job sheet about what I’ve done to a car without help,so that it makes sense and people can read it.



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Name _____________________________ Date


To be able to fill in a job sheet for a car I have worked on without help


Working out what I’ll putKeeping writing shortSpelling — how to remember wordsHandwritingUsing capitals in the right placeFitting writing into boxes

What have you learned? (what can you do at home, at work, at college…?)

I can fill in a job sheet now without help.How to use a spellchecker and a good way of learning words. My writing is abit better too.


I filled a job sheet in the group, then I did one at work, but it took quite along time.

What did you enjoy about your work this term? What was a good way of learningfor you?

Deciding what to say on the job sheets.Talking about them — I didn’t know what they used them for so I feel I knowmore about what goes on in the garage.


Handwriting worksheets were boring, but I think my writing is gettingbetter.


Fill in job sheet a bit quicker. Read motor magazines.

Appendix 2a: Dedicated ongoing

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLAN

Name_____________________________

Group____________________________ Tutor_________________________________

Long-term aims – I would like to:

Strengths – I am good at:

I would like to improve:

Is there anything that will get in the way of learning (eg health, childcare,transport)?

Setting goals – in __ weeks I would like to:

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Action plan – we will do this by:

Review I have enjoyed:

I have not enjoyed:

I can now:

What I want to do next:

Signed____________________________

Tutor______________________________ Date______________________________


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Appendix 2b: dedicated ongoing (2) – contains more background information than (1)


Name_____________________________

Group____________________________ Tutor_________________________________

Long-term aims – I would like to:

Strengths – I am good at:

I would like to improve:

Is there anything that will get in the way of learning (eg health, childcare,transport)?

Setting goals – in __ weeks I would like to:

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records learner’s contexts/goals

initial discussions about learning

sets measurable goals


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Action plan – we will do this by:

Review I have enjoyed:

I have not enjoyed:

I can now:

What I want to do next:

Signed_______________ Tutor___________________ Date_______________________

how the learner wants to learn


reminder for learner of what learningwill involve

ongoing planning

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Appendix 3a: Integrated / dedicated short course

LEARNING PLAN

This form is for you to make a record of what you are aiming for. We will ask you tolook at this again at the end of the course to see if the course has worked for you.

1. What are you hoping to gain from doing this course?

2. What reading/writing/number skills would you like to improve on this course?

3. Why?

4. How will you do this?

5. What would you like to achieve by the end of the course?

Signed___________________________ Date_________________________________


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LEARNING PLAN REVIEW

1. What have you gained from doing this course?

2. What reading/writing/number skills did you want to improve on this course?

3. Have they improved? Give some details.

4. What difference will this make to you?

5. What will you do now?

Signed___________________________ Date_________________________________

Appendix 3b: Integrated / dedicated short course

LEARNING PLAN

This form is for you to make a record of what you are aiming for. We will ask you tolook at this again at the end of the course to see if the course has worked for you.

1. What are you hoping to gain from doing this course?

2. What reading/writing/number skills would you like to improve on this course?

3. Why?

4. How will you do this?

5. What would you like to achieve by the end of the course?

Signed___________________________ Date_________________________________

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what learner wants to learn

learner’s contexts and motivation

How learner wants to learn

measurable goals so that progresscan be assessed

LEARNING PLAN REVIEW

1. What have you gained from doing this course?

2. What reading/writing/number skills did you want to improve on this course?

3. Have they improved? Give some details.

4. What difference will this make to you?

5. What will you do now?

Signed___________________________ Date_________________________________


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learner’s goals

assessment in relation to goals

identifies new uses ofliteracy/numeracy outside group

ongoing planning

Appendix 4a: Integrated / dedicated short course with identified options


Name: __________________________ Tel no: _______________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________________

Course name _____________________________________________________________

Course aims

Dates: ____________________________ Time: _________________________________

Place: ____________________________________________________________________

Course contact: ___________________________________________________________

Notes: Is there anything which could get in the way of your learning? (eg healthor transport problems)

In this group we will: Happy Need to Notwith this practise interested in

Discuss – target audience,appropriate presentation,text/image communication

Read – to check and edit,learn to skim and scan,identify key points,differentiate fact/opinion

Write – succinctlylearn how to condense andsummarise information

Organise – layout/design,present information,insert graphics and imagesuse basic IT soft/hardware

I came to this group because:

My long-term goal is:

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HALFWAY REVIEW date:_________________________________________________

So far I like

I did not like

I would like toknow more, or do more on:

Notes and comments:

FINAL REVIEW date: ______________________________________________________

Something I have learned now

StrengthsWhen I write it helps if:

When I read it helps if:

What I want to do now:

Next steps and contacts:


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Appendix 4b: Integrated / dedicated short course with identified options


Name: ___________ Tel no: ________

Address: ____________________________

Course name _______________________

Course aims

Dates: _____________ Time: _________

Place: ______________________________

Course contact: _____________________

Notes: Is there anything which could get in the way of your learning? (eg health or transport problems)

In this group we will: Happy Need to Notwith this practise interested in

Discuss – target audience,appropriate presentation,text/image communication

Read – to check and edit,learn to skim and scan,identify key points,differentiate fact/opinion

Write – succinctlylearn how to condense andsummarise information

Organise – layout/design,present information,insert graphics and imagesuse basic IT soft/hardware

I came to this group because:

My long-term goal is:


details of time and place of provision

recording learner’s contexts andgoals

reminder of whatlearning will involve

records what learnerwants to learn

helps tutor to focus onindividual’s learning goals


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HALFWAY REVIEW date:___________

So far I like

I did not like

I would like toknow more, or do more on:

Notes and comments:

FINAL REVIEW date: ________________

Something I have learned now

Something I can do now

StrengthsWhen I write it helps if:

When I read it helps if:

What I want to do now:

Next steps and contacts:


review

ongoing planning

Appendix 5a: Integrated Group Learning Plan

GROUP LEARNING PLAN

Name of Group: ________________________________________________________

Aim of this course: ______________________________________________________

Group members:

Date: _____________________________ Time: ________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________________________

Tel no: __________________________________________________________________

Is there anything which would get in the way of the group’s learning (eg healthor transport problems)

In this group we will discuss:

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Together we will

Read:

Write:

Look at:

Individuals might:

At the end of the group we might:


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HALFWAY REVIEW (date) ________________________________________________

So far we have enjoyed

We have not enjoyed

We would like to do more on

We would like to learn how to

We would like to brush up on

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FINAL REVIEW (date)______________________________________________________

Something we’ve enjoyed

Something we have learned (or brushed up on)

Strengths:When we write it helps if:

When we read it helps if:

What we want to do next:

Other comments:


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Appendix 5b: Integrated Group Learning Plan labelled

GROUP LEARNING PLAN

Name of Group: ___________________

Aim of this course: _________________

Group members:

Date: ___________ Time: ____________Address: __________________________Tel no: ____________________________

Is there anything which would get in the way of the group’s learning?(eg health or transport problems)

In this group we will discuss:

Together we will

Read:

Write:

Look at

Individuals might:

At the end of the group we might:

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details of time, place etc

possible issues of access

focused on literacy/numeracy/othercontent

helps tutor to focus on goals

introduction of learning goals


HALFWAY REVIEW (date)__________


We have not enjoyed




FINAL REVIEW (date)_______________


Something we have learnt (or brushed up on)

StrengthsWhen we write it helps if:

When we read it helps if:


Other comments:


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recorded in learner’s own wordswhere possible

feedback to tutor

goal setting derived gradually bydiscussion

records work of 3 hour/30 hourlearner


ongoing planning

Appendix 5c: Integrated Group Learning Plan completed

GROUP LEARNING PLAN

Name of Group:_________ People’s Stories_________________________________

Aim of course: ____To discuss and record our memories about food__________

Group Members:

Joan WBetty HJohn SNorman GIsa W

Date: ______Tuesdays______________ Time: ______2.00 – 3.30_______________

Address: _________Residential Home______________________________________

Tel No: _________________________________________________________________

Is there anything which would get in the way of the group’s learning (eg healthor transport problems)?

Norman uses a hearing aid.

Ask care assistant to remind Betty to come.

A table for books beside Isa (cannot hold books comfortably).

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Record of planning discussions at week 2/3 of 10-week course:

We have agreed that in this group we will discuss:

Food as we remember itShopping, what we ate, wartime rationingWhat our mothers told us about foodSpecial meals

Together we will

Read:Stories from other reminiscence groupsRead and edit our own stories — both written and scribedMenusBits from wartime food adviceA map of fifties Edinburgh

Write:Our own storiesWords of songs we rememberMenus we rememberPermission forms and information to go with our photos

Look at:

The wartime exhibition at _____ museumThe handling box ‘cooking and lighting’Old money and identify some costs of foods and compare with now

Individuals might:

Learn to use the recording equipment and record each other (Norman andJohn)Enter their own stories on a laptopEdit their own stories for their family

For an end product we might:

Prepare and cook a wartime meal. Make invites and menus.Prepare and edit some of our stories and photos in a book or exhibition forthe Open Day.


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HALF-WAY REVIEW (date)_________________________________________________


Some of the discussionsKeeping your brain working

We have not enjoyed

When someone talks too muchWhen the print is too small on maps


Reading others’ stories and agreeing or disagreeing with themLooking at old photos and adding our stories to them


Use the computer to write our storiesUse the tape recorder


How to remember names and stories when you want to!

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FINAL REVIEW (date)_____________________________________________________


talking togetherseeing the book we made

Something we have learned (or brushed up on)

finding spellings of street names on mapsofficial forms (eg photo release forms)what goes into making a book

Strengths

When we write it helps if we:talk firstare reminded of what we saidthink how to put it

When we read it helps if we:have good size printread it with someone first


an exhibitionsomething about songs

Other comments:

Some families helped too. It was difficult if you didn’t have any photos.


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6: Examples of questions to identify strategies and confidence

What might also be added to the Individual Learning Plan by way of initialassessment processes

Introductory questions

• What kind of information do you need to understand?• When do you come across reading, writing or numeracy at the moment?• What kinds of situations and people are involved?• What do you want to change about using writing, reading or numeracy in these

situations?• What do you hope to do in the future?

Talking about the learner’s present literacy practices

• How do you feel about reading?• What sorts of things do you read at the moment?• Do you read with other people?• Do you read easily?• What do you do if something is difficult to read?

• How do you feel about writing?• What sorts of things do you write at the moment?• Do you write with other people?• Do you write quite easily?• How easy do you find it to get ideas down on paper?• What do you do if you have something difficult to write?

Talking about numeracy

• How do you feel about numbers?• What sorts of things do you use numbers or maths for at the moment?• Do you feel OK about numbers?• What do you do if some number work is difficult?

Information about previous learning experiences

• How did you feel about school?• Did you get any certificates there or later?• Have you done any learning recently? At work/training/on the computer/night

classes?• How did you feel about that?• Was there anything that you particularly enjoyed or found effective?

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Some tutors ask a learner to write something to give them both a chance to discussthe learner’s skills and knowledge of writing. (see below)

Free writing tasks can also be used for initial assessment

Will you write something now? ‘Something which will be OK to write about?’Perhaps about yourself:

your job or familya hobby or interesta TV programme you love or hateyour last holiday?

We can use it to discuss what you want to work on and how you want to goabout it.

A tutor can then consider:

• the writer's ideas and the way s/he structures them• the accuracy and clarity of information• the ease and fluency with which it was written• the sophistication of language, including choice of vocabulary, linking ideas,

sentence structure and grammar• the choice of language and style in relation to the purpose of the writing• the accuracy of spelling and punctuation• legibility and maturity of the handwriting

and begin with the learner to develop an ILP.

Specific learning difficulties

If there appears to be a discrepancy between what a potential learner can actuallydo with literacy and numeracy and their general abilities, it might be useful to asksome initial informal questions to explore the possibility of specific learningdifficulties (see Appendix 4).


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7: Individual Learning Plan (FE College)

INITIAL PERSONAL INTERVIEW

Name: ____________________________ Date:________________________________

1.Introduce yourself and invite interviewee to do the same.

2. Explain any necessary information regarding Adult Literacy and Numeracyproject, and your own involvement which the interviewee may not already know.

3. How did you hear about the class?

4 a) Tell me what you would like to do better in your place of work.

If any prompting is necessary, suggest: writing business letters, doing calculationswith or without a calculator, checking pay, writing memos, reading notices, using acomputer, making notes at meetings, taking telephone messages.

4 b) Tell me what you would like to be better at generally. In your personal life,what skills would make life easier or more interesting for you?

If any prompting is necessary, suggest: managing money, filling in forms, writing tofamily, helping with homework.

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5. Tell me briefly about your work history.

6. Go back further and tell me about your education.

7.What about your family? Has anyone had a similar experience?

8.Tell me what you enjoy doing and some things you are good at.

9. How did you learn these things?

10. Any other comments?

Interviewer:

(Please come back to this question after some assessment of reading, writingand/or numeracy has been carried out.)

11. Would you say there is a discrepancy between this learner’s general abilityand life skills, and his or her ability to read, write (in particular) and doarithmetic?

*Yes / No

*Delete one


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Give an interview to discuss variousoptions and if Adult Literacies is thebest for you

Discuss with you what you want tolearn, and with you draw up a writtenplan

Provide some of the books, games,cassettes etc needed for you to workwith

Are always available to contact if youneed help and will act as speedily aspossible

Offer advice and information on whatto do next

Keep in touch with you and your tutorto see how you are getting on

Offer qualifications – if that’s whatyou want or need

Offer you tuition, either in a group or1-1 with a tutor

We:-

WHO DOES WHAT?


2. Alerting Tools






APP

ENDIX

3

151

With help, fill in the various forms inyour individual learning plan andkeep a file recording/assessing yourprogress

Turn up to sessions on time or phoneand let your tutor know if you will belate or cannot make it

Try to do any tasks/homework/practices given between sessions

Bring to sessions examples of thingsthat you want to work on, eg lettersyou want to read, reports/time sheetsfrom work

Make sure you have pens and paperfor your lesson – if needed

You:-

WHO DOES WHAT?

152

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2. Alerting Tools






APP

ENDIX

3

153A

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10 L

iter

acy

pra

ctic

es g

rid

SPECIFIC LEARNINGDIFFICULTIESTraditional training for adult basiceducation/adult literacies tutors over thepast twenty and more years has, rightly,gone out of its way to emphasise that‘the student is not at fault’ but has also,in passing, tended to emphasise theimpact of a range of external factorsupon the learner – disrupted schooling,social background, negative peerpressure – and, as a consequence, hasperhaps given less than due attention tothe effect of developmental factors thatnow would be recognised as specificlearning difficulties.

Dyslexia is the most common SpecificLearning Difficulty and 10% of thepopulation is thought to suffer fromsome degree of dyslexia. This figure iswidely quoted and generally accepted.

Less certain, because there has beenlimited research into it, is the incidenceof dyslexia within the adult literaciesclient group. Logic would suggest thatthe incidence will be significantly higherthan 10%, and published estimates putthis at between 30% and 50%;practitioners in adult literacies work withexperience of working with dyslexiatend to put this figure even higher

(Jenny Lee’s article ‘The Incidence ofDyslexia within Adult Basic Skills’,Dyslexia Review, Vol 15, Number 2Spring 2004, finds that ‘Over 70% of thelearners who were tested showeddeficits in the underlying cognitive skillsthat characterise dyslexia’ ).

Recently, there has been, within adultliteracies work, a growing awareness ofspecific learning difficulties and of theneed for workers to have the knowledgeand skill to recognise such conditionsand to incorporate appropriateresponses into learning programmes.

While a number of screening tools exist,largely in the form of paper-basedtests/questionnaires or computerprograms, current thinking suggests thatscreening tests may not be the bestapproach for work with adults. Aconversation with an experiencedworker, which would use the adult’sability to describe details of theircondition, may be a more reliable guidebecause the adult’s developed copingstrategies can give distorted results.Further, this approach is seen to bemore at one with an adult world and, inparticular, avoids the general difficulty ofan adult with reading/writing difficultybeing confronted by a test.

Appendix 4


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APP

ENDIX

4

155

Informal questions can uncover positiveindications of dyslexia but, at this stage,workers should be wary aboutattempting to progress to more formalscreening, as focus needs to be kept onthe reasons that motivated the learner torequest literacies provision.

If it seems likely that a learner hasdyslexia, the important message for thetutor is that approaches which are likelyto help will be similar to those used withother literacies learners, for example:

• detailed exploration of learningstyles

• multisensory approaches• attention to pace and variety of

methods of presentation• learning in manageable chunks

(learning/break/change/reinforcement/break)

• chopping up information/numbersinto more memorable patterns – this

is a technique that will be passed onto the learner.

Dyslexia cannot be cured: things can bemade better, and in a number of areascoping strategies may be more usefulthan literacies teaching. Thelearner/tutor need to decide what ismore relevant/of immediate use.

Coping strategies can be many andvaried – alternative approaches toproblems can bring enthusiasm,possibilities and excitement back tolearning. Coping strategy options are amajor point in literacies work with adultswith dyslexia for a number of reasons:

• neurological developments which arepossible in work with children may nolonger be possible with adults

• long-term structured work onsensory development then may befutile and lead to disappointment andfrustration

156

If there appears to be a discrepancy between what a potential learner can actually do withliteracy and numeracy and their general abilities, it might be useful to ask some initialinformal questions such as:

• Has anyone else in your family had difficulties with reading/writing/using numbers?Although adult literacy work has long recognised a cycle of difficulties from generation togeneration, there is good evidence that dyslexia is an inherited condition.

• Do you get mixed up between left and right? While left/right confusion may becharacteristic, the adult may have developed coping strategies to overcome this and,consequently, it may be necessary to ask if the learner had difficulties in the past/childhood:this is a good example of the weakness of screening questionnaires.

• What do you see when you look at a page of print? Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome andother visual perceptual and visual conditions mean that a significant number of people withliteracy difficulties cannot see print normally: this can manifest itself in a range of abnormalways . . .words and letters may appear to move, vibrate, drop off the page, and fade so thatreading becomes much more difficult. In some cases these effects may appear only after aperiod of time reading and the reader may experience this as fatigue. Readers may assumethat these effects are normal and never realise that they have visual perceptual barriers toreading. Irlen quotes the incidence of SSS amongst those with reading difficulties asapproximately 46% (‘Reading by the Colors’, H. Irlen, New York, 1991). It is important thatsuch difficulties are addressed so that reading/writing improvement can take place.

• Did you have difficulties at school remembering the alphabet/times tables? Are these stilla problem? Short-term memory difficulties are typical amongst those with dyslexia andadults will often be happy to discuss memory issues.

• adults have more immediate needsoften related to practical problemsthat need short-term solutions

• short-term achievement andconfidence building may be moreimportant than limited developmentsover long periods of time.

There are many individual differencesbetween people with dyslexia, and thereis no single approach or method thatwill work with everyone – responseneeds to be individual.

Learning styles and preferences will beindividual and possibly unusual: explorethese and find out what works (ask thelearner what works) – visual/auditory/touch – as learners will havepreferences.

Multisensory approaches help toemploy other senses (and alternativepathways) such as touch/movement,

audio and visual. As well as usingsensory strengths, multisensoryapproaches help to stimulate weakerpathways.

Coping strategies and aids which maybe of more use than standard tutoringinclude:

• over-learning (regular reinforcementof learning) – short-term memorydifficulties need continualreinforcement

• organisational methods such as mindmapping, chunking material, use ofdifferent coloured pens, index cards

• assistive resources such asmagnifiers for reading/writing,card/ruler to keep to the line whilereading, coloured overlays

• IT aids such as voice recognitionsoftware, word prediction, screenreading software, calculator,spellmaster, Dictaphone.


2. Alerting Tools






APP

ENDIX

4

157

158

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Appendix 5


2. Alerting Tools






APP

ENDIX

5

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Case studies for levelling and assessing learners’ work againstCommunication Core Skill.

Examples of learners’ work presented in this appendix are sometimes in the learners’own handwriting and sometimes word-processed. They are assessed:1. against the level of the Core Skill unit (eg Access 2)2. against an outcome (eg outcome 1, 2 or 3)

Following the assessment, a brief commentary is given, indicating why the workreaches the Core Skill level and what the learner might do to complete a whole unit.In some cases, the learner’s work indicates that s/he is already capable ofachieving a higher level of Core Skill unit, if further work was completed.

Note:None of the examples in this selection, on its own, gives sufficient evidence toachieve a complete Communication core skill unit. It is possible for learners toachieve Communication outcome 2 (writing) by producing several pieces of writing,which together reach the minimum number of words required as evidence for thisoutcome. Learners should be encouraged to keep a portfolio of all their work,bearing in mind that any pieces submitted for certification have to be the learner’sunaided work.

EXAMPLE 1:Piece of writing concerning learner’s reasons for attending an adult literacy classas a result of a TV advertisement about ‘The Big Plus’.1. Level of Communication Core Skill = Access 32. Outcome = Outcome 2 – writing

Commentary:The piece of writing has been corrected: the tutor has written the correct spellingabove the misspelt words. This is acceptable as an aid to improving the learner’sspelling. The spelling mistakes are not, in themselves, a barrier to the reader’sunderstanding. The piece meets the evidence requirements of a minimum of 100words at Access 3 level. The writing is of a high standard for Access 3, and a tutormight want to consider with the learner whether the challenge of working towardsIntermediate 1 might be appropriate.

In order to complete the unit, the learner could provide the following evidence foroutcome 1 (reading) and outcome 3 (talking):

Outcome 1 (Reading)A leaflet produced to promote The Big Plus could be used as a source of non-fictionmaterial for this outcome. The learner could be asked why the leaflet had beenproduced and what sort of things learners can be helped with and how they wouldget further information about The Big Plus. Also the learner should be asked howwell the information had been presented and whether it was easy to understand(simple evaluation). Answers can be given orally and recorded by the tutor asevidence: evidence requirements can be spoken or written for this outcome.

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Outcome 3 (Talking)For this outcome, the learner could give a talk on the reasons he/she started anadult literacy class to at least one other person; the talk should last for at least twominutes, followed by questions. The listener could be another adult learner togetherwith the tutor being present to record the context and source. A checklist should beused to complete the evidence requirements or the presentation can be tape orvideo-recorded. As the evidence requirements state that the discussion/presentation should be delivered to one or more people, it is acceptable for thetutor to be the only person present.

EXAMPLE 2:‘My German mother’ and letter of complaint to Edinburgh Zoo1. Level of Communication Core Skill = Intermediate 12. Outcome = Outcome 2 (Writing)

Commentary:The piece entitled ‘My German mother’ is approximately 250 words. The piecemeets the performance criteria (a), (b), (c) and (d) at Intermediate 1, but does notsatisfy the minimum evidence requirements of 300 words. However, if the secondpiece is added – the letter of complaint – the two together would satisfy theevidence requirements, as they total approximately 350 words. The descriptor atthis level states that the pieces should be thematically linked. Therefore, as thelearner is performing at the level on Intermediate 1, the tutor could suggest thathe/she write a letter on the same theme as the one about the German mother. Asuggestion would be to write a letter to an imaginary relative, who lives in Germany.


Outcome 1 (Reading)As the learner mentions children having greater access to help in present times, inthe piece on his/her German mother, newspaper reports on any aspect of youngerchildren’s education could be used as a source of a reading ‘assessment’. For thislevel – Intermediate 1 – the reading material has to be accessible (i.e.understandable to the learner). Therefore, articles from ‘The Daily Record’ or weeklymagazines would be a good source. The learner can give his/her answers orally tothe tutor. The questions should cover:

a) the reason for the article being written with the learner also quoting some ofthe words from the article to support this answer

b) what the main ideas are in the article (in his/her own words, as far aspossible)

c) what is the main point of view of the writerd) whether the article is well written.

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Outcome 3 (Talking)For this outcome the learner could give a talk on any aspects of her life referred toin the piece of writing on her life. Suggestions are:

• expanding on what sort of help is available to children in education in presenttimes, compared with when she was young

• expanding on the usefulness of being able to speak two languages and/orlearning a second language at an early age

• expanding on his/her experiences of re-entering education a this stage in life –the benefits, the doubts, the difficulties and how to overcome the latter.

The talk should last for a minimum of three minutes, with time for questionsafterwards. As the evidence requirements state that the discussion/ presentationshould be delivered to one or more people, it is acceptable for the tutor to be theonly person present. The tutor should use a checklist to complete the evidence ortape-record the presentation.

EXAMPLE 3:‘The family from Hell at Christmas time’ (essay + plan)1. Level of Communication Core skill = Access 32. Outcome = Outcome 2 (Writing)

Commentary:The content of this essay is simple and straightforward; it is more than sufficient inlength to satisfy the evidence requirements for Access 3 level. It is long enough tosatisfy the number of words for Intermediate 1 (300 words required), but does notmeet the criteria at this level, as it is not sufficiently detailed.


Outcome 1 (Reading)To link the reading with the content of the writing (Christmas), a brief magazinearticle or newspaper article from the Daily Record, for example, about whatchildren want for Christmas would be appropriate. The learner could discuss thearticle with the tutor and identify its purpose, give some indication of the mainideas and also say how well written the article is. The latter is a simple evaluationand the learner would need to give one example only in support of this evaluation.The answers would need to be recorded briefly by the tutor, if given orally.

Outcome 3 (Talking)To continue the theme of Christmas, the learner could present his/her ideas on thecost of Christmas, difficulties of getting to see everyone at this time, ideas on whatmakes a good New Year celebration (all of these are hinted at in the writing). Thiscould be presented to the tutor alone, as there is only a requirement for one otherperson to be present. The talk should last for two minutes and the learner wouldneed to answer questions about what s/he has said. The tutor should use achecklist to complete the evidence or tape-record the presentation.


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EXAMPLE 4:Letter about repairs to new house + list of repairs required.1. Level of Communication Core Skill = Access 3 (with possibility of achieving

Intermediate 1)2. Outcome = Outcome 2 (Writing)

Commentary:The letter achieves the level of Access 3 based on the number of words: more than100. However, there is evidence in the letter that the learner is capable of achievingIntermediate 1 level. In order to do so, the learner would have to produce anotherpiece of writing of 200 words to meet the evidence requirements of 300 wordsminimum. A suggestion would be to write a reflective piece on moving into the newhouse, hopes and fears and feelings, including those of disappointment about therepairs not being effected. This could be in the form of an essay or could be adiary of events; in the latter case, the writing would be descriptive rather thanreflective.

If the learner achieved this, then, in order to complete the unit at Intermediate 1level, s/he could do the following:

Outcome 1 (Reading)At Intermediate 1, the text used for reading must contain a point of view, and is,therefore, more likely to be from a newspaper, magazine or book. The learner couldlook at several letters from a tabloid newspaper on a similar theme, identifying thedifferent sets of information presented and also identifying the writers’ point ofview. Evaluation could centre on which letter was the best and why. If it was at allpossible, the learner might like to look at letters about house repairs, continuing thetheme of his/her own letter. Answers could be spoken rather than written and, ifspoken, would need to be recorded, briefly, by the tutor.

Outcome 3 (Talking)The learner could give a presentation on his/her experiences of moving house(buying, selling and organising the move), to the tutor (only one other person isrequired to be present, as for Access 2 and Access 3). The presentation wouldneed to be 3 minutes in duration for Intermediate 1, followed by questions. The tutorshould complete a checklist for evidence requirements or tape-record thepresentation.

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EXAMPLE 5:Letter of complaint to insurance company1. Level of Communication Core Skill = Access 3 (with a possibility of achieving

Intermediate 1)1. Outcome = Outcome 2 (Writing)

Commentary:The letter achieves the level of Access 3 based on the number of words: more than100. However, there is evidence in the letter that the learner is capable of achievingIntermediate 1 level and moving on to Intermediate 2, by virtue of the vocabularyused. In order to achieve Intermediate 1, the learner would have to produce anotherpiece of writing of 200 words to meet the evidence requirements of 300 wordsminimum. A linked piece of writing on the subject of insurance policies mightdiscuss ways in which they are advertised, describe an event which led to aninsurance claim being made or consider which policies are best to have if financesare limited.

As in Example 1, the tutor might want to discuss with the learner the challengesinvolved in working towards a higher level – in this case Intermediate 2.

If the learner achieved outcome 2 at Intermediate 1, then, in order to complete theunit at this level, s/he could do the following:

Outcome 1 (Reading)At Intermediate 1, the text used for reading must contain a point of view, and is,therefore, more likely to be from a newspaper, magazine or book. The learner couldlook at several letters of complaint from a tabloid newspaper, identifying thedifferent sets of information presented and also identifying the writers’ point ofview. Evaluation could centre on which letter was the best and why.

Outcome 3 (Talking)The second piece of writing suggested in the Commentary above could lead to apresentation on the same theme – why have insurance and what sort of insuranceis best, if finances are limited. Again, the learner could choose to give apresentation on an unrelated topic. The presentation would need to be threeminutes in duration for Intermediate 1 followed by questions. The tutor shouldcomplete a checklist for evidence requirements or tape-record the presentation.

Levelling of Core Skill units in SCQF framework:Level of unit SCQF levelAccess 2 2Access 3 3Intermediate 1 4


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Case studies for levelling and assessing learners’ work against NumeracyCore Skill.

The examples in this appendix represent a range of learners’ work in the area ofnumeracy. They are mostly completed worksheets. Each has been matched againsta level and an outcome of the numeracy core skill. However, none of the examplesin its own right represents a complete core skill unit. The examples serve to aidtutors in recognising at what level the learner is performing. Learners should beencouraged to keep a portfolio of all their work, so that opportunities foraccreditation via SQA can be identified at a later stage of their development,bearing in mind that any pieces submitted for certification have to be the learner’sunaided work. Please see reference to this in section 3.4 of the ALN CurriculumFramework for Scotland.

Exercise Core Skills Level

1. Example 1 Access 2, LO1a – Read a basic scale to Measuring Centimetres nearest marked number

2. Example 2 Access 3, LO4 – Recognise whole Words & Figures numbers

Example 3 (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) Access 2, LO4a – Recognise and use Equal Parts/Shade in the Fractions/ notation for fractionsName the Fractions Shaded

Example 4 (i), (ii) Access 2, LO2a – Identify information in Chinese Takeaway/Atherton Library a basic table

3. Example 5 Access 3, LO2a – Extract information New Houses Built from simple graphical form

4. Example 6 Int 1 – LO2a – Extract information from Washing Powder table

5. Example 7 LO4a,b,c (excluding use of simple Access 2 Numeracy Worksheet fractions)for LO4

6. Example 8 (i), (ii) Access 3, LO2a – Extract information Bar Charts/Line Graphs LO3a – Complete a selected graph

7. Example 9 (i), (ii) Access 3, LO2a – Extract a clearly Skills : Graphs, Charts and Tables specified piece of information

8. Example 10 (i),(ii),(iii),(iv) Access 2, LO4a – Recognise and use Going on Holiday : Euro Exchange notation for whole numbers and decimalsRates

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We are pleased to acknowledge the contribution of all the ALN partnerships whocommented on the drafts of these Guidelines and enabled the team to developthem in a way that was informed by the realities of practice in a variety of contexts.

We are particularly grateful to the staff and learners from the followingorganisations for their assistance in providing the case studies and exemplars andfor their expertise in reviewing particular aspects of the guidelines.

Acknowledgements

AC

KN

O

WLEDGEMENTS

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Aberdeenshire Literacies Partnership

Cardonald College

City of Edinburgh Council CommunityEducation Department

CLAN Edinburgh

Community Literacy and NumeracyPartnership, Western Isles

Cumbernauld College

East Dunbartonshire LiteraciesSupport

East Lothian Literacies Partnership

Falkirk Literacies Partnership

Glasgow College of Building andPrinting

Jewel and Esk Valley College

Jobcentre Plus

Lauder College

Midlothian Council CommunityLearning and Development – ALNprovision

North Glasgow College

North Ayrshire Literacies Supportteam

Perth and Kinross Council

Scottish Prison Service, AdultLiteracies

Scottish Borders Council

West Lothian College

Workers’ Educational Association

We are grateful to NALA (National Adult Literacy Agency, Republic of Ireland) fortheir welcome to workers from the Curriculum Project on study visits, for theircontribution to discussions and for generously allowing us to use ‘Mapping theLearning Journey’ as the basis of our work on progress indicators.

The following people and their organisations provided support to the CurriculumProject team:

Fiona Boucher (Scottish Adult Learning Partnership), Joyce Connon (WEA,Scotland), Jackie McFarlane (Stevenson College), Ian Matheson (Glasgow CollegeGroup), Elaine Petrie (Falkirk College), Jayne Stuart (Learning Link Scotland),Lynda Wilde (LEAD Scotland)

CURRICULUM PROJECT TEAMLyn Tett, University of Edinburgh (Co-Director)Ron Tuck (Co-Director)Liz Beevers, WEA David Maguire (to April 2003)Liz Block (from April 04) Juliet Merrifield (to March 2003)Jo Bradshaw, SFEU (from May 2003) Katherine Ashe, Learning ConnectionsKate Just (to December 2003) Prue Pullen, Learning Connections

STEERING GROUPName Job title Organisation

Lillias Noble Head of Learning Communities Scotland(Chair) ConnectionsJennie Baillie Head of Centre for SFEU

Learning Effectiveness (from March 2004)

Liz Block Project Manager SQA(to Dec 2003)

Martin Dunk Manager – Curriculum SFEUand Student Services (to Jan 2004)

Cath Hamilton Adult Literacy Manager Learning ConnectionsJulie-Anne Head of Inclusion and Careers ScotlandJamieson EmployabilityClaire Keggie (from Jan 2004 – Scottish Executive

Sept 2004) ETLLDAlan Milson Learning Manager – North Ayrshire Council

Quality DevelopmentAnne Pia HM Inspector HMIE Audrey Robertson (from Oct 2004) Scottish Executive

ETLLDStephen Sandham (to Dec 2003) Scottish Executive

ETLLDMargaret Tierney Project Manager SQA

(from Jan 2004)

Sandra Thomson New Deal Team Manager Job Centre Plus

196

The document is available on tape and large print.For details contact Janette Campbell on 0131 479 5162

or email: [email protected]

Communities Scotland27-29 Palmerston Place, Edinburgh EH12 5AP

Tel: 0131 313 0044

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