Research
We explore how adult education can be made inclusive, digital and effective.
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Im Jahr 2012 endete die UN-Weltalphabetisierungsdekade. Damit war für das DIE ein Anlass gegeben, Bilanz zu ziehen und den Blick auf die vielfältigen DIE-Aktivitäten während der Dekade zu richten. Die Ergebnisse sind in einer Broschüre zusammengefasst. Wie die vorliegende Zusammenschau zeigt, übernimmt das DIE aufgrund seiner langjährigen und umfassenden Expertise auf nationaler sowie auf internationaler Ebene eine zwntrale Rolle im Bereich der Aplhabetisierung und Grundbildung.
Demographic change renders basic skills important at an increasingly older age. Among them, skills in financial matters are becoming increasingly rele- vant. The skills measured in PIAAC and CiLL represent comprehensive cognitive abilities which can be seen as the basis for successful participation in social and economic life. Based on a secondary analysis, this paper shows that financial prac- tices remain for older people, although their numeracy skills proficiency lower than those of younger…
Numeracy practices are always dependent on the social context in which they emerge. These contexts, however, are unstable because of a range of technological and socio-political changes. How does this instability affect people’s agency in the world? After reviewing key approaches to numeracy practices research, we distil key findings from recent numeracy studies. We introduce the concept of the numerate environment to examine the context in which opportunities, supports and demands present them…
This paper draws on three data sources – a national survey from Germany of adult literacy and numeracy skills (leo. – Level-One Study), the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC), and case studies of workplaces in England – to argue for a greater focus by policymakers and researchers on the literacy demand experienced by adults. We consider the heterogeneity of the population of adults deemed functionally illiterate by large-scale national and internatio…
The JDC (Defence and Citizenship Day) has become an essential element in the fight against illiteracy in France. It not only furnishes annual statistics for national, regional and local policy evaluation, but also identifies those young adults within a entire cohort (mostly 17–19) who need help with their literacy skills, so that they can be referred to by support organisations. It is difficult to assess very precisely the impact of post-JDC actions carried out by JDC partners. Neither the JDC…
Literacy as specified in the recent PIAAC survey (OECD 2013) is separated into competence levels. This allows a comparison of adults performing on literacy Level I and below versus those performing on Level IV and above. The PIAAC survey also contains variables on participation in adult education. Core findings confirm the Matthew effect for participation rates, but not for training hours.
The author discusses the influence of the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) on the literacy education field in Canada. Methodology is holistic and centred around critical policy analysis. Finds Canada invested heavily in the surveys and has not yet changed policy or practice in response to the findings. Two reasons for lack of influence are suggested: the difficulty of comparing literacy survey results over time, and the lack of federal investment in the org…