ENHANCING THE BASIC SKILLS OF PEOPLE IN WORK: COMPARISONS WITH OECD COUNTRIES Shinyoung Jeon Policy Analyst, Vocational Education and Training, and Adult Learning Team, OECD English, Maths and ESOL Annual Conference: RETHINKING PARTICIPATION
Building Skills for All in England (2016): Overview Young people: High degree of NEET and high share of low-skilled. Programmes combining education with training in workplaces are relatively underdeveloped. Apprenticeship in England (2018) Adults: A small proportion of low-skilled adults return to education and training later on in life. Low-skilled workers have many fewer opportunities for learning at the workplace than higher skilled workers. Building Skills for All: Enhancing Adult Basic Skills in Work (2019 forthcoming)
9 million adults in England have low literacy and/or numeracy skills Japan Finland Netherlands Slovak Republic Norway Czech Republic Flanders (Belgium) Sweden Estonia Austria Denmark Korea Australia OECD Average Germany Canada England (UK) Northern Ireland (UK) Poland Ireland United States France Spain Italy both low numeracy and literacy those with low numeracy but literacy above level 2 those with low literacy but numeracy above level 2 27% of adults aged 16-65 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
In England, 57% of low-skilled adults are employed 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% employed unemployed inactive and in education inactive and not in education
England has relatively more people in low-skilled jobs Norway Sweden Japan Canada Czech Republic Northern Ireland (UK) Austria Germany Slovak Republic United States Netherlands Finland Flanders (Belgium) Ireland Poland Australia Estonia England (UK) Korea France Denmark Italy Spain 20 0 20 40 60 80 100 elementary occupations white-collare semi-skilled blue-collar semi-skilled high skilled occupations
12% of low-skilled workers participate in formal education age 25 and above % 16 14 12 10 Higher than most other OECD countries. But low-skilled workers have many fewer opportunities for learning at the workplace than higher skilled workers. 8 6 4 2 0
Preliminary findings from England What works for provision of basic skills provision at work? Flexible, accessible and relevant adult education courses work best when social partners are engaged in the process, including neutral third parties able to provide support and advice to both employees and employers (time and money) Community/family context and proximity is an important factor. Community learning is an important stepping stone to more formal qualification or functional skill courses. Engagement of well trained and enthusiastic tutors/teachers with learners enabled more individual approaches, adapted curriculum and flexibility A mix of provision can be helpful to attract learners: In terms of course type for example via informal, non-formal or formal learning, or with vocational topics or hobbies. In terms of course length, for example longer courses may result in more dropouts
Objectives of the discussion Basic skills provision at work is effective but how can it be encouraged? Voluntary, compulsory or mixed Legal right to adult basic skills provision Different funding models Long, short or chained courses
Discussion 1 Voluntary, compulsory or mixed: Should participation in adult basic skills courses be obligatory for some target groups? Basic skills courses are mandatory in: Australia for job seekers (Literacy and Numeracy Training Programme for Jobseekers) Sweden for low-educated migrants who have not completed compulsory school level education Basic skills courses are voluntary in England What if England introduced a mandatory basic skills course for some lowskilled workers who haven t attained level 2 literacy/numeracy? What impacts do you expect? What do we need to implement this?
Discussion 2 How can countries best make use of the legal right to adult basic skills provision? Legal right to adult basic skill course in England, Norway and Sweden England: English and Maths up to Level 2 and soon digital (AEB) + community learning (AB); from age 19 Norway: primary and secondary formal, public education (municipality) + upper secondary education including distance learning (county) + national budget for non-formal learning; from age 24 Sweden: all school subjects up to the upper-secondary education level (municipality), including distance learning, from age 20 (Swedish tuition from age 16) No legal entitlement (yet) but other financial means exist (more flexible) Trade unions in Germany are strongly lobbying for the legal right; various subsidies for continuing education and training exist for low-skilled workers (e.g. The successful WeGeBau, since 2006, will soon be extended via a new Qualification Opportunities Law (entering into force January 2019) What if the entitlement covers not only English and Maths but also other subjects? Would it be helpful to improve the overall adult education participation and the achievement of basic literacy and numeracy?
Discussion 3 How should adult education be funded? AEB, devolution from 2019 Training levies Are designed to increase employer demand for training, but leaving employers control over what type of training to provide. The apprenticeship levy in England can be used for other purposes by the DfE. Individual Learning Accounts France is in the process of a reform Scotland and Wales
Discussion 4 What to provide long, short or chained courses? Structured curriculum modules for adults in primary and lower secondary adult education in Norway: Preparatory Adult Education (Forberedende Voksenundervisning FVO) Short courses through cell phone or smart phone in the US (e.g. Cell- ED s micro learning, max 2 minute learning) reduce attrition and lead to a rapid achievement. Multiple, unintegrated programmes, fragmented over time have limited impact Chained together with a multi-year design wage outcomes and skills gains in the US (Reder, 2012; Reder, 2015)
References Kuczera, M., S. Field and H. Windisch (2016), Building Skills for All: A Review of England, OECD Publishing, https://www.oecd.org/unitedkingdom/building-skillsfor-all-review-of-england.pdf. Kuczera, M. and S. Field (2018), Apprenticeship in England, United Kingdom, OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training, OECD Publishing, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264298507-en. Windisch, H. (2015), Adults with low literacy and numeracy skills: A literature review on policy intervention, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 123, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5jrxnjdd3r5k-en. Reder, S. 2012. The Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning: Challenging Assumptions. Research Brief. US: The Centre for Literacy Reder, S. 2015. Longitudinal perspectives on adult literacy development and program impact. Fine Print, Vol. 38, No. 2
THANK YOU shinyoung.jeon@oecd.org