Accountability in adult Accountability in adult literacy, language and literacy, language and numeracy in England;numeracy in England;

with reference to the other UK with reference to the other UK countriescountries

Dr Janine EldredDr Janine Eldred

Associate DirectorAssociate Director

NIACENIACE

The UK policy contextThe UK policy context

• The Skills for Life Strategy, England

• The National Basic Skills Strategy, Wales

• The Scottish Adult Literacy and Numeracy Strategy

• Northern Ireland – Essential Skills Strategy

The Skills for Life StrategyThe Skills for Life Strategy

• Launched 2001• 4 key areas: boosting demand… and

capacity, improving the quality of teaching and learning… and learner achievement

• Priority groups: unemployed people, offenders, low-skilled employees, those at risk of exclusion including speakers of other languages and those in disadvantaged communities.

Skills for Life StrategySkills for Life Strategy

• £1.5bn investment over 3 years• Targets – learners to have

moved up one level• 750k learners achieving by 2004• Further investment to £3.5bn• 1.5m learners achieving by 2007• 2.5m by 2010

What’s been done?What’s been done?

• Teacher standards and qualifications• Core curricula including pre-entry• Pathfinders, materials, resources,

guidance and websites• Research and development• Assessment – initial, formative and

summative• Continuing professional

development (CPD)

Development and diversityDevelopment and diversity

• Literacy – reading, writing, speaking and listening

• English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)

• Maths4Life – or numeracy?• Learners with learning difficulties

and/or disabilities• Family learning, literacy and

numeracy

Development and DiversityDevelopment and Diversity

• Financial learning/literacy

• Embedded approaches

• Voluntary and community sector

• Workplace

• Unionlearn; Sector Skills Councils

• ICT as the 4th Skill for Life

AchievementsAchievements

• By 2007 2m learners had gained first qualifications in literacy, language or numeracy

• 1.7 million learners achieved a first level 2 qualification

• 25,000 teachers had been involved in CPD and qualifications updates

Accountability to key Accountability to key stakeholdersstakeholders

• Government including treasury• Planning and funding body, Learning and

Skills Council• Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted)• Providers, practitioners• Learners• Employers• Tax payers

Accountability – government Accountability – government agenciesagencies

• Government – achieve national test at EL3, L1 or L2

• LSC – agency of government – to plan and fund in order to achieve

• Ofsted – effectiveness, achievements, quality, leadership and management

Levels of learningLevels of learning

• Pre-entry• Entry level 1• Entry level 2• Entry level 3 – similar to pupils at 11 years• Level 1 – similar to pupils at 14 years;

1st national vocational qualifications for young people and adults (NVQs)

• Level 2 – similar to pupils at 16 years (NVQ 2)

Accountability – providers and Accountability – providers and practitionerspractitioners

• Shaped by planners, funders, inspectors

• Engaged in leading and managing

• Driven by teaching and learning

• Committed to learners

• Issues of historic perception, partiality, protection?

Accountability – learnersAccountability – learners

• Overcoming barriers to learning - participation

• Linked to reasons for learning – family, work, personal, educational

• Assessed by - before…and after

• Judged by application - living and working

• Confidence

Accountability - employersAccountability - employers

• Interested in performance of employees

• Willing to harness tacit learning

• Less interested in qualifications

• Literacy and numeracy skills linked to customer service and problem solving

• Impact on the ‘bottom line’?

Accountability – tax payersAccountability – tax payers

• How does the tax payer assess?

• How discriminate between different sources of information?

• Quantitative data – size, dimension,

• Qualitative data - personal, complex, illustrative, informative

• Economic modelling – possible 8% return on investment

Measuring SuccessMeasuring Success

• Do qualifications mean improvement?

• Planning Learning, Recording progress and Achievement (PLRA)

• Recognising and Recording Progress and Achievement (RARPA)

Measuring SuccessMeasuring Success

• Initial, diagnostic, formative and summative assessment

• Individual learning plans

• Portfolios

• Where do multi-choice, on-line marked tests fit in?

Accountability problematisedAccountability problematised

• Reconciliation of multi-purposes for learning and a common assessment

• Reconciliation of teaching and learning approaches to a final test

• Teaching to the test?

• Hierarchy of achievement?

Accountability problematisedAccountability problematised

• Is there a common conceptualisation of what we mean by literacy, language and numeracy?

• Can any system capture all aspects of achievement?

• Not all learners count

• Do we count what we can count and not that which really counts?

……And other UK countries?And other UK countries?

• Scotland – “Success should be measured on learners’ goals..their improvement, building on the core skills framework and progress file.” Literacy policy Scotland

• Wales – “ …measures are intended to encourage adults to join programmes; some are about increasing the number of adults improving basic skills as part of their involvement in a local community group; and some are about self-help.”

• Development of tests with expectation of learners, “…working towards them.” The National Basic Skills Strategy for Wales (all age)

……And other UK countries?And other UK countries?

• Northern Ireland – ‘Success through Skills’

• Essential Skills, based upon standards and curricula from England

• Bank of tasks eg on all 4 literacy skills, externally set, internally assessed and externally moderated.

Does one size fit all?Does one size fit all?

• Differentiated forms of accountability for different purposes and audiences – unitised, credit –based qualifications

• Holistic approach to evidence gathering – assessments, witness statements, performance

• Inform and educate stakeholders about nature of literacy, language and numeracy

• Harness technological solutions• Self regulation

Ultimate accountabilityUltimate accountability

• Does it do what it says on the tin?• What difference to learners?• Must be trust and integrity • ‘The first step is to measure whatever can be easily

measured…The second step is to disregard that which can’t easily be measured or to give it arbitrary quantitative value. This is artificial and misleading. The third step is to presume that what can’t be measured easily isn’t important. This is blindness. The fourth step is to say that what can’t be easily measured really doesn’t exist. This is suicide.’ Charles Handy, The Empty Raincoat 1994

• www.niace.org.uk

• janeldred@niace.org.uk