[AAACE-NLA] FW: EducationGuardian.co.uk: Ministers 'hype basic skills figures'

[David Collings]

The following message is courtesy of Tom Sticht.

David

David Collings
AAACE-NLA Moderator
david at collings.com  

-----Original Message-----
From: tsticht at aznet.net [mailto:tsticht at aznet.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 12:31 PM
To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
Subject: EducationGuardian.co.uk: Ministers 'hype basic skills figures'

Tom Sticht spotted this on the EducationGuardian.co.uk site and thought you
should see it.

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Note from Tom Sticht:

Our U.S. government claims 50 percent of adults with deficient basic skills
while U.K. govt beats that by thirty percent. What;s going on here? Read on.
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To see this story with its related links on the EducationGuardian.co.uk
site, go to http://education.guardian.co.uk

Ministers 'hype basic skills figures'
Polly Curtis, education correspondent
Tuesday January 25 2005
The Guardian


The government is "grossly exaggerating" the number of adults who can't read
or write in order to make it easier to meet its own targets, according to
the head of the organisation responsible for improving basic skills.

The government's claim that 82% of adults struggle with basic literacy and
numeracy was "bamboozling" the public into believing that targets to improve
skills are ambitious, Alan Wells, director of the government-funded Basic
Skills Agency said. 

"It's a lot easier to reach targets if you include almost everyone in the
target audience," he said. 

However, by overestimating the lack of skills, the government was giving the
country a bad reputation abroad and discouraging investment, he claimed. 

Writing in Basic Skills magazine, Mr Wells blamed the exaggeration on "poor
quality research that has led to a substantial overestimate of the number of
adults with poor basic skills".

He goes on: "More recently exaggeration has been for political reasons
because it makes it much easier for targets to be achieved. This gross
exaggeration of the scale of the problem has done little to help adults who
really do have poor literacy or numeracy skills."

The figure of 82% is the proportion of adults who don't hold a level two or
above qualification in English and maths - the equivalent of a GCSE at
grades A* to C - the test used for the 2003 Skills for life strategy. 

A review of basic skills soon after the Labour government came to power
concluded that some seven million adults did not have basic skills. Today
the Department for Education and Skills said that figure was now believed to
be around 5.2 million, and that they were targeting students who lacked a
range of skills. 

A spokesman said: "Our Get On campaign is the national drive to improve
literacy and numeracy for adults in England. Its aim is to help 2.25 million
adults to achieve a literacy or numeracy qualification by 2010 and it has
just reached the 2004 target for three quarters of a million adults. 

"The government does not exaggerate the scale of the problem but is
highlighting it in a positive way to enable individuals and employers to
acquire the skills they need. Skills gaps are holding back this country's
productivity and the government is determined to equip people with skills
they need."

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited