An Adult Literacy and Numeracy
Curriculum Framework for Scotland
An Adult Literacy and Numeracy
Curriculum Framework for Scotland
3
Contents
Introduction
7
Part One: Principles
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is the curriculum?
What do we mean by adult literacy and numeracy?
What is the theoretical basis for the curriculum?
Key principles of learning and teaching
What is the relationship between learning and assessment?
11
13
15
19
21
Part Two: Practice
1.1
1.2
1.3
The Curriculum
The Wheel
Breaking down the complex capabilities of ALN
Literacy
Numeracy
27
29
35
36
39
2.
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
Learning
Cognitive and metacognitive strategies
Organising individual and group learning
Integrated and dedicated approaches
Resources
41
43
45
51
57
3.
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
Individual Learning Planning
The process of individual learning planning
Initial discussion and assessment
Tools and tasks for initial assessment
Individual learning plans
Ongoing review and formative assessment
Progress indicators
Summative assessment, review and evaluation
65
65
67
71
77
85
89
91
References
95
Appendices
97
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Illustrative examples of using the wheel
Alerting Tools
Individual and Group Learning Plans
Specific Learning Difficulties
Read with Understanding Matrix
Literacy tasks assessed against the Core Skills Framework
Numeracy tasks assessed against the Core Skills Framework
Acknowledgements
99
109
117
155
159
161
175
CON
TE
Foreword
TS
N
5
The Scottish Executive’s strategy for raising literacy and numeracy levels across
Scotland 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 of
programmes should be improved through a new curriculum framework’.
This Adult Literacy and Numeracy Curriculum Framework for Scotland is a
fundamental part of the way forward for tutors and learners. Building on ‘Literacies
in the Community: resources for practitioners and managers’, the Framework
advocates the Scottish approach to adult literacy and numeracy learning and
teaching. This social practices approach puts the learner at the centre, working to
a curriculum negotiated around his or her own uses and contexts for literacy and
numeracy, 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 the
current Scottish context.’
By addressing both theoretical and practical aspects of the curriculum, we believe
the Framework will enable practitioners to develop and reflect on their work with
adult 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, through
the Adult Literacies Partnerships and other organisations, gave their time to the
various stages of the consultation process. This feedback fundamentally shaped
the final document, which is firmly rooted in existing practice and reflects the high
quality of adult literacies provision available. Particular thanks are also due to those
tutors, learners and others who gave assistance by providing case studies and
exemplars for the document.
We commend this Framework to all working in the field of adult literacies in
whatever context, and trust that as you use it you will echo the feelings of the
practitioner who sees it as ‘more than a curriculum framework as we traditionally
know one – it’s a reference manual for the whats, hows and whys of literacies
learning in Scotland today.’
Malcolm Chisholm
Minister for Communities
Allan Wilson
Deputy Minister for Enterprise
and Lifelong Learning
FORE
W
Foreword
O
RD
7
Introduction
These guidelines set out an Adult Literacy and Numeracy Curriculum Framework
for Scotland. Our work arises out of the Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland
(ALNIS) report of 2001 that recommended that ‘the quality of programmes should
be improved through a new curriculum framework’ (p3). These guidelines also build
on Literacies in the Community (2000): resources for practitioners and managers
(the LIC pack). That document set out the good practice framework that has been
adopted for Scotland and provided a guide to tutoring and guidance and staff
development and training. These guidelines are informed by the principles set out
in 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 and
transparent.
The reason for this is that practitioners who understand what they are doing can be
more effective. People who have only been trained in the mechanics do not have a
clear understanding of the underlying philosophy and values.
2) Teaching should be focused on the application of skills and knowledge, not
simply their acquisition.
The focus in the guidelines is on learners applying their knowledge – whether in the
workplace, family or community involvement. The application of their skills and
knowledge is an integral part of the assessment of learning. Measuring progress
relates to learner goals and reflects a commitment to a lifelong learning approach
rather than a deficit model.
3) To gain flexibility and responsiveness to the particular needs of particular
groups of learners, a broad national framework is needed, supported by local and
individual development of plans and programmes.
Our approach to the curriculum is to construct a framework that provides
leadership and direction, but we believe that it is inappropriate to specify all the
details of what is to be taught and learned at a national level. Within a national
INTRO
D
WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND TO THIS DOCUMENT?
TION
UC
8
broad framework, informed and supported local leaders and practitioners can offer
a curriculum to meet particular, rather than general, needs.
4) A national framework needs to make explicit for learners and for practitioners
what is to be learned and what good performance will look like.
Rather than relying just on test results or qualifications for assessing what has been
done well, this curriculum strongly emphasises self-monitoring and awareness of
the learning that has taken place.
5) There are no quick fixes: a comprehensive and flexible system takes time to
build and commitment over time to support and refine.
This is just the beginning of the curriculum framework. To build a system that learns
requires that practitioners and learners be involved in the development of the
curriculum. The result of this will be a more effective framework that will link with
existing 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 findings
from research in order to identify the key principles of learning, teaching and
assessment that should underpin the adult literacy and numeracy curriculum. Part
Two addresses the practical implications of implementing these key principles and
includes case studies of current ALN practice.
P
NE PRINCIPLES
O
T
R
A
11
This document sets out an adult literacy
and numeracy curriculum for Scotland.
There are different understandings of
the term ‘curriculum’ and different
approaches to defining a curriculum. At
one end of the spectrum, the definition
of a curriculum involves a detailed
specification of content to be covered or
outcomes to be achieved. At the other
end, it means explaining the processes
undertaken by learners and tutors to
identify, plan, carry out and review
learning programmes for individual
learners. The approach adopted in
these guidelines is strongly orientated
towards a process-based view of the
curriculum, while recognising that
learners and tutors may welcome some
guidance on possible content of
learning. The emphasis is on the way
that the curriculum is negotiated with
learners and builds creatively on their
existing knowledge and skills and the
contexts they experience in their private,
family, community and working lives. The
more open the curriculum is the easier it
is to adapt it to the needs and learning
aims of learners.
PART
1:
1. What is the curriculum?
IPLES
INC
PR
1.
What is the curriculum?
2.
What do we mean by adult
literacy and numeracy?
3.
What is the theoretical basis
for the curriculum?
4.
Key principles of learning and
teaching
5.
What is the relationship
between learning and
assessment?
13
The ability to read, write and use
numbers, to handle information, express
ideas and opinions, make decisions and
solve 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 of
encoding and decoding symbols but
also the knowledge, skills and
understanding that enable us to do
what we want to do in our private,
family, community and working lives.
• The key life areas and social contexts
in which literacy and numeracy are
used are important in deciding on
what is to be learned.
• Literacy and numeracy skills are
almost always employed for a
purpose – such as making decisions
or solving problems – and in a
particular social context. The use of
literacy and numeracy in everyday
life is closely linked with social
practices that have their own social
purpose and meaning. The incidental
learning that happens in such
contexts is as important as planned
and deliberate learning within the
learning programme. It is important
that learners not only develop skills
in a particular context but also
become proficient in other contexts
in order to broaden and transfer their
learning.
We are using a social practices
account of adult literacy and numeracy
(Barton, 2002). Rather than seeing
literacy and numeracy as the
decontextualised, mechanical
manipulation of letters, words and
figures this view shows that literacy and
numeracy are located within social,
emotional and linguistic contexts. Many
literacy and numeracy events in life are
regular, repeated activities, such as
paying bills, sending greetings cards or
reading bed-time stories and some
events are linked into routine sequences
that are part of the formal procedures
and expectations of social institutions
such as workplaces, schools and
welfare agencies. The more informal
expectations and pressures of the home
or peer group structure other events
where there are expectations about the
right way to do things (Lave and
Wenger, 1991). For example, the
practices associated with cooking are
quite different in the home and in the
workplace – supported, learned and
carried out in different ways. The
division of labour is different in
institutional kitchens – the scale of the
operations, the clothing people wear
when cooking, the health and safety
precautions they are required to take,
and so on. Literacy and numeracy
practices integrate the routines, skills
and understandings that are organised
within specific contexts and also the
feelings and values that people have
about these activities. If you are worried
that you can’t do something then you
are going to find it more difficult in a
public or workplace context than if you
are at home in a relaxed situation.
Reading and writing are complex
cognitive activities that also depend on
a great deal of contextual (ie social)
knowledge and intention. For example,
someone reading the main news story in
a newspaper is not just decoding words
but also using knowledge of the
conventions of newspaper writing, of
the local/national focus and the political
and philosophical orientation of the
newspaper. In fact they are ‘reading
between the lines’ (Bransfield et al,
1999). In the same way, adults in a
supermarket are not just using number
skills when making price comparisons
but also taking into account their prior
experience with brands, family likes and
PART
1:
2. What do we mean by adult literacy and numeracy?
IPLES
INC
PR
1.
What is the curriculum?
2.
What do we mean by adult
literacy and numeracy?
3.
What is the theoretical basis
for the curriculum?
4.
Key principles of learning and
teaching
5.
What is the relationship
between learning and
assessment?
14
dislikes and perhaps ethical concerns
(eg organic, GM-free, not made with
child labour, or Fair Trade).
Literacy and numeracy learning takes
place in particular social contexts
(Wenger, 1998) and so it is important to
understand the nature of people’s
informal learning strategies. People have
insights into how they learn, have
theories about literacy, numeracy and
education and use particular strategies
to learn new literacies. This
understanding of literacy and numeracy
is a key aspect of people’s learning,
and their theories, even if they are not
very explicit, guide what they do
(Gillespie, 2002c).
15
It is important to think about the theories
of knowledge that underpin our
understanding of how people learn so
that we can teach and assess
appropriately.
Behaviourism is a theory that
conceives of learning as a set of skills
such as recognising and reproducing
letters, signs and symbols that are
acquired through the tutor or others in
society reinforcing the approved
responses. These theories tend to see
the learner as relatively passive and
there is an assumption that the
repetition of skills will aid learning. This
approach is particularly common in the
teaching of numeracy where it is
assumed that learners will understand
the four operations (+,–, x,÷) by doing
many examples of similar calculations.
This theory makes a strong distinction
between right and wrong answers and
assumes that knowledge exists
independently of both tutor and learner.
Few tutors nowadays consciously use
behaviourist theories. However, aspects
of behaviourism still have an influence
on teaching practices (Bruner, 1986), for
example, reinforcing a skill by lots of
repetitive practice through worksheets.
Constructivism, on the other hand, is a
theory that sees learning as an active
process of gaining understanding in
which learners use their prior
knowledge and experience to shape
meaning and acquire new knowledge
(Glaser, 1992). It is based on research
related to the development of expertise
in thinking. This approach emphasises
that human beings are active problem
solvers who learn in order to make
sense of the world around them. People
explore, solve problems and remember.
Learning activities are undertaken not
just as ends in themselves but as a
means of achieving larger objectives
and goals that have meaning in the
wider communities that the learner is
part of. This means that knowledge
emerges out of the problem solving
activities that the learner engages in. So
the learner has a central role in
interpreting what is being taught in ways
that are meaningful in his/her own
context rather than depending on the
expert tutor as the sole source of
knowledge. For example, learners have
tacit knowledge of how they learn to do
new things gained from experience of
doing a particular task such as taking
money out of a cash machine or finding
their way around a new area. Tutors
need to help learners think about what
strategies they use in this kind of
learning and how they can transfer
these strategies to other kinds of
numeracy or literacy tasks. Active
learning also emphasises the
importance of transferring the learning
that takes place in the learning
programme to the learner’s everyday
life. If this doesn’t happen, literacy and
numeracy learning becomes divorced
from these broader purposes and does
not have real meaning for learners
(Daniels, 2001).
This theory also shows how important it
is for tutors to build on the prior
knowledge of learners by helping them
to identify what they already know about
a particular topic (Gillespie, 2002a).
Tutors should understand fully the range
of prior knowledge and experience that
some learners might bring, including
those from minority backgrounds who
have faced prejudice and discrimination
based on gender, race, age or disability
or their capacity to learn. This existing
knowledge can then be built on in order
to help learners to achieve a more
expert understanding. For example, in a
family learning programme tutors can
ask what parents already know about
their children’s education, directly build
on this to identify gaps and then
PART
1:
3. What is the theoretical basis for the curriculum?
IPLES
INC
PR
1.
What is the curriculum?
2.
What do we mean by adult
literacy and numeracy?
3.
What is the theoretical basis
for the curriculum?
4.
Key principles of learning and
teaching
5.
What is the relationship
between learning and
assessment?
16
address any misunderstandings.
Research shows that if tutors do not
involve learners in naming and
analysing their existing understandings,
learners may not grasp new concepts,
such as new ways of understanding
maths, and revert to what they already
know. This research also highlights the
importance of developing learners’
critical thinking and encouraging them
to question their assumptions. If
assumptions go unchallenged then
misconceptions persist and learners get
stuck and find it difficult to move on to
new knowledge and understanding
(Gillespie, 2002b).
The research literature also highlights
the importance of a focus on cognitive
and metacognitive strategies (Greeno et
al, 1997). Learning strategies can be
divided into two basic types. Cognitive
strategies help us to remember and
organise content information. For
example, when we read we might apply
a cognitive strategy to skim the title,
pictures, and headings of a text to get
the gist of what we will read. We might
take notes to help us remember the
main points. An expert reader will also
know when it is possible to skip over
sections of a text and when it is
important to read every word carefully.
When learning a large number of facts,
a good strategic learner will ‘study
smarter’ by working to understand the
‘big picture’ and then dividing the facts
into categories through a classification
scheme, diagram or outline, for example
mind maps (Gillespie and Nash, 2002).
Metacognitive strategies consist of
knowledge about one’s own thinking
processes. They are the ‘executive
managers’ of knowledge and involve
planning, monitoring, evaluating and
revising one’s own thinking processes.
Good metacognitive strategy users
engage in an ongoing process of
identifying what their prior knowledge of
a topic is, what they don’t know, and
what they need to learn. Metacognitive
strategies enable learners to plan and
self-regulate their work and to judge
under what conditions to apply which
cognitive strategies.
Tutors can help learners to learn these
skills by enabling them, firstly, to
examine their prior knowledge and to
construct new knowledge in the light of
their past experiences through reflecting
on the knowledge, skills and learning
strategies that they use to complete a
particular task. Secondly, tutors can ask
learners to think about how this specific
learning might transfer to other parts of
their lives and to use this information
and their thinking processes to monitor,
develop and alter their understanding.
Finally, tutors can help learners to
identify what barriers they feel interfere
with their learning and revise their
assumptions about these in the light of
their own growing independence.
There are three kinds of metacognitive
knowledge: which strategies are
relevant, how to apply the right strategy
and why these strategies are useful.
This means that when someone is
acquiring a new skill the tutor needs to
break the complex task down into
smaller steps, help the learner to see
how to do each one, and then show how
to put the individual pieces back
together again. This means that effective
tutors should be aware of how to
explain the individual parts of any
activity, should understand how to
stimulate the learner’s thinking about the
problem and know how to explain the
processes of thinking at the level the
learner can understand and employ.
Another key concept is that of
‘scaffolding’ (Vygotsky, 1986):
The role of the tutor is, through guided
participation, to build bridges from the
learner’s present understanding and
skills to reach a new level of knowledge.
This collaborative process moves the
learner along the developmental
continuum from novice towards expert.
Scaffolding helps to do this by providing
tasks that are slightly above the
learner’s level of independent
functioning yet can be accomplished
with sensitive guidance. In the process
of jointly performing a task, a tutor or
more skilled peer can point out links
between the task and the ones the
learner already knows, helping the
learner to stretch his or her
understanding to the next development
level. Within the ALN curriculum, the
tutor’s role is to first structure the task
and the learning environment so that the
demands on the learner are at an
appropriately challenging level. Then the
role is to continually adjust the amount
of intervention and the range of tasks to
the learner’s level of independence and
fluency.
The idea of scaffolding is a key one and
to be effective it should be based on
practices that:
• give ownership of the activity to be
learned to the learner
• are appropriate to the learner’s
current knowledge
• provide a structure that embodies a
‘natural’ sequence of thought and
action
• result in collaboration between tutor
and learner
• result in internalisation via the
gradual withdrawal of the scaffolding
and the transfer of control.
The tutor is always a member of the
learning community and so should make
it clear that s/he is also a learner and
that learning is a shared responsibility.
Learning is not just about cognitive
development; it is also about values and
feelings and so the emotional and
social dimensions are equally
important (Illeris, 2004). Because
literacy and numeracy skills have
assumed enormous significance in
contemporary Western society the
discourse surrounding adult literacy and
numeracy tends to focus on what
people lack rather than what they have
and emphasises their deficits, not their
strengths. Learners internalise this
emphasis on individual failure rather
than thinking about the circumstances
and structures that might make learning
difficult.
This means that many learners have low
self-esteem and may be unwilling to
take the risk of learning in new ways
(Crowther et al, 2001). At school they
may have used the strategy of not
trying new ways of learning because
they were afraid of failing. Sticking to
what they knew may have seemed safer
even if their old ways were of little help.
People learn early on at school that
failure is to be avoided and so may
simply withdraw rather than show that
they do not understand something.
This is why it is important that tutors
work with learners to draw on their
existing knowledge, skills and
understanding as this emphasises
strengths rather than weaknesses.
This in turn leads to learners becoming
more confident about what they know
and can do and so better able to learn
and grow in self-esteem (Beder, 1999).
It is also important to recognise that
barriers to learning may be erected
not only by learners but also by tutors,
barriers based often on unwitting
stereotypes and assumptions about the
contexts and capabilities of learners.
PART
1:
17
IPLES
INC
PR
1.
What is the curriculum?
2.
What do we mean by adult
literacy and numeracy?
3.
What is the theoretical basis
for the curriculum?
4.
Key principles of learning and
teaching
5.
What is the relationship
between learning and
assessment?
19
4. Key Principles of Learning and Teaching
PART
1:
The research findings enable us to set out some key principles of learning and
teaching for adult literacy and numeracy.
IPLES
INC
PR
1. Learning is a purposeful, goal-directed activity. Ongoing goal setting and selfassessment are central to effective learning.
2. Purposeful learning builds on learners’ prior knowledge and experience to shape
and construct new knowledge. It should always be remembered that those who
have faced prejudice and discrimination based on gender, race, age, sexuality or
disability may have internalised some of these negative ideas about their capacity
to learn.
3. Learning is a social activity embedded in a particular culture and context.
Learning occurs through engaged participation in the activities of knowledge
communities such as workplace colleagues or family members.
4. Effective transfer of learning from one context to another requires that the learner
understand not only the facts but the ‘big picture’ – underlying principles, patterns
and 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 prejudice
and discrimination based on gender, race, age, sexuality or disability.
7. Metacognitive strategies (knowledge about one’s own thinking processes) can
be taught. Through monitoring and assessing their own progress, learners can
develop metacognitive awareness and strategies.
8. Scaffolding instruction helps learners to develop their fluency, independence and
range as they move from being a new learner to becoming an expert learner.
1.
What is the curriculum?
2.
What do we mean by adult
literacy and numeracy?
3.
What is the theoretical basis
for the curriculum?
4.
Key principles of learning and
teaching
5.
What is the relationship
between learning and
assessment?
Assessment is a process that helps
learners to identify their current skills
and knowledge, to plan their future
learning and to know how well they are
doing in achieving their own learning
needs and goals. It identifies, describes
and demonstrates evidence of a
person's current skills and knowledge.
It can also be used to recognise and
record learners’ achievements and to
assist in identifying how teaching and
learning processes can be improved.
Assessment is usually focused on
particular areas – it doesn't tell us
everything that someone can do, only
what we ask about. It is also timebound: it tells us what someone knows
and is able to do at a given point of
time (Stites, 2002).
The term ‘assessment’ may, in the mind
of the learner, be associated with
examinations and certification. In using
the term, therefore, tutors should be
sensitive to these associations and their
potentially negative connotations,
making clear that assessment is simply
part of the learning process.
There are six broad purposes for
assessment:
• 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 learner
achievement (summative
assessment) and
• identifying the strengths and
weaknesses of learning processes
or programmes (evaluation).
These are distinctive purposes,
but not necessarily distinct activities.
A particular tool or assessment activity
may be used for more than one of these
purposes. Also, it is unlikely that any
learning programme would try (or need)
to address all of these purposes. Some
purposes may be more suitable in one
sector (eg FE) than another (eg
community learning and development).
• Alerting tools are very simple
instruments designed either to help
identify whether someone might have
a literacy or numeracy learning need
or to enable someone to raise the
subject of their literacy or numeracy
needs. They are particularly useful in
contexts such as Job Centres or the
Prison Service, where staff have to
deal with large numbers of clients
and the time available does not
permit an in-depth assessment of
needs. Where a general learning
need is identified, the learner should
then have an opportunity to take part
in a more detailed assessment of
needs.
• Placing tools give an indication to
learners and tutors of the level of
literacy or numeracy class that would
be most appropriate for the
individual learner. Placing tools are
useful in contexts such as FE
colleges in determining in which
class a learner should be placed.
A more detailed assessment of
needs may then be undertaken in
conjunction with the class tutor.
Placing tools are often computerised
and generally do not provide
detailed feedback to learners on
their learning needs. These
computerised tools would generally
not be found useful in contexts such
as community learning and
development where the tutor is more
likely to engage directly with the
individual learner at the initial
assessment stage.
PART
1:
5. What is the relationship between learning and assessment?
21
IPLES
INC
PR
1.
What is the curriculum?
2.
What do we mean by adult
literacy and numeracy?
3.
What is the theoretical basis
for the curriculum?
4.
Key principles of learning and
teaching
5.
What is the relationship
between learning and
assessment?
22
• Diagnostic assessment assists
learners and tutors to develop an
individual learning plan by identifying
the skills and knowledge already
possessed by the learner and, by
implication, areas of learning that the
learner might wish to focus on.
Diagnostic assessment may be
conducted as a one-to-one process
with the support of paper-based
materials. However, computerised
diagnostic assessment tools are also
now available. Diagnostic
assessment is central to the initial
assessment process. Alerting and
placing may aid learners in getting to
the starting point of a new learning
experience but diagnostic
assessment is essential in helping
them to plan the learning experience
they want and need.
These first three purposes may be
referred to collectively as initial
assessment.
• Formative assessment includes
helping learners and tutors to
monitor their learning progress. All
learners and tutors should be
involved in this kind of assessment.
Results are needed quickly in order
to be useful, and they must be
detailed enough to help tutors and
learners plan teaching to meet
individual learner needs. Formative
assessment must be based closely
on the learner’s identified goals or
outcomes. Formative assessment is
simply an integral part of effective
learning and teaching.
• The purpose of summative
assessment is to show that learners
have met their learning goals or
completed a course of study and
reached a certain standard of
performance. It should be for the
learner to decide whether she or he
wishes to be summatively assessed
and if so what form the summative
assessment should take. This
question can be kept under review
throughout the learning process.
Where summative assessment is
being used for certification, objective
external judgements are required and
any assessments made by the tutor
and learner will be moderated by
others. The assessment will relate to
agreed national standards, so there
will be a need to relate the individual’s
learning goals to these standards.
Where the aim is to recognise the
attainment of learning goals more
informally, summative assessment can
be a joint activity between learner and
tutor. An independent learner should
have the skills to decide that his/her
goal has been met and the learning is
complete.
• Evaluation is a process of
assessing the strengths and
weaknesses of the learning process
or programme. All those that are
involved – learners, tutors, managers
– should play a part in the evaluation.
It may be a relatively informal
process that has the aim of helping
tutors and learners to identify how
they might improve the process or
programme next time. In this case
there should always be an
opportunity for learners to comment
on how they felt about the
programme and how it helped them
to achieve their own goals. It can be
more formal, for example, when
information on learners, their learning
hours and the learning outcomes
may need to be submitted to the
organisation. Where evaluation is to
meet the requirements of public
accountability, a disinterested
evaluation of the programme as a
whole is required. Judgements must
follow agreed and consistent criteria,
and must allow aggregation of
results for reporting purposes. This
form of assessment does not need to
be done frequently, and there is no
need for quick results. Nor do all
learners need to take part – a
properly drawn representative
sample will suffice.
In ALN the results of learning that
matter most are applications of
knowledge, understanding and skills in
the real life situations of private, family,
community and working life. Recent
studies in adult learner ‘persistence’
(retention in teaching-learning) suggest
that learners are more likely to persist
and more likely to achieve in an
assessment that they see is closely
related to their learning and life goals
(Comings et al, 1999; 2000). This means
that all assessments should try to reflect
the context in which the knowledge or
skills are actually applied. This research
provides the basis for the following
principles of assessment:
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 own
progress.
3. Assessment should be challenging for learners and involve creativity, strategic
thinking and problem-solving.
4. Assessment should allow learners to see the connections between what they are
learning and the real-life applications of that learning.
5. Everyone (tutors, learners, programme co-ordinators) should see clearly what is
being assessed, how it is being assessed, and what the results of the assessment
imply for planning future learning and teaching.
6. Wherever possible, activities used for assessment should be chosen or designed
by 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, provide
adequate 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 all
types of learners in the system (especially in the case of summative assessment
leading to certification).
10. Assessments should be practical and not too costly, too time-consuming, or too
difficult to implement with the human and material resources available.
PART
1:
23
IPLES
INC
PR
1.
What is the curriculum?
2.
What do we mean by adult
literacy and numeracy?
3.
What is the theoretical basis
for the curriculum?
4.
Key principles of learning and
teaching
5.
What is the relationship
between learning and
assessment?
24
These principles are generally
applicable to initial and formative
assessment (where the purpose is to
assist the process of learning) and
summative assessment (where the
purpose is recognition or certification
of learner achievements). However,
because of the need to ensure that
summative assessment for certification
is based on the authentic unaided work
of the learner, it is not always possible
to integrate the assessment into
ongoing learning activities. It is also
necessary to ensure that the
assessment task is consistent with the
assessment criteria of the awarding
body and this may place some
constraints on the design of the task.
In most other respects, however,
summative assessment tasks can be
just as learner-centred as those used
for formative assessment.
P
WO PRACTICE
T
T
R
A
27
1. The Curriculum
• Promote self-determination among learners, helping them to make informed
choices about how and what they learn and to take responsibility for their
learning. It should also do this by making sure that literacy and numeracy
learning is seen as part of an individual's lifelong learning journey and keeping
abreast of changing demands of the new literacies as society and technology
require. It is not a quick remedial input.
• Develop an understanding of literacy and numeracy with particular emphasis
on critical awareness of how and why communications of all sorts are produced
and how they are intended to have an effect on us. This involves considering
who produced the communication in whatever form (text, statistics, graffiti, etc),
who the intended audience was, what message the producer was trying to get
across 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 that
all communications have a purpose and none are neutral.
Encouraging critical literacy is a major strand of literacy practice in one area. It is not
considered an advanced skill for abler learners; rather every opportunity is taken to open
up discussion. For instance, one learner was asked why he always wrote Doctor and Teacher
using initial capital letters. An interesting discussion ensued about important people in the
community and how we write about them.Tutors are encouraged to use local and national
newspapers, current pictures and those resources which encourage discussion and opiniongiving. It is acknowledged that tutors and learners may feel more secure practising
handwriting and spelling skills but monthly volunteer meetings and regular supervision for
tutors encourage creative and critical practice.
• Recognise and respect difference and diversity through making sure that
programmes are responsive to learners’ preferred uses of literacy and
numeracy and their values and contexts.
ICE
ACT
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PART
2
:
The curriculum is based on three principles. It should:
1.1 The Curriculum
1.2 The Wheel
1.3 Breaking down the complex
capabilities of ALN
Literacy
Numeracy
28
Respecting language diversity
A group comprising six men, a tutor and two volunteers worked on individual projects for
the 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 the
Scots travellers’ community.The tutor asked about the man’s knowledge of the Cant (secret
language of the travellers derived from Roma).The learner mentioned a few words but all
the men in the group knew them as Edinburgh dialect words.The tutor explained the
historic background to land enclosure and the arrival of gypsies in the 16th century as
itinerant harvesters to the south and east of Edinburgh as a reason why so many Cant or
Roma words were in the dialect.
He asked everyone to contribute Edinburgh dialect words and made a list on the board of
those words which were also Cant or Roma. Some of the words are also of Hindi origin as
identified by a Hindi speaker in another group.Thus the group made a linguistic connection
between working class Edinburgh and India over a period of 500 years.
Cant/Roma or Hindi words in Edinburgh dialect
chore
– 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
– beer
naggings – pal/friend
This session was extremely energised and productive, the words tumbling out.The men
were 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 when
she 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 there
was clearly a lot more language and lore the group could explore.
29
ICE
ACT
PR
PART
2
We have chosen a wheel to represent the ALN Curriculum because we want the
curriculum to revolve around the learner.
:
1.2 The Wheel
The curriculum is represented as concentric circles on a wheel to act as a visual
reminder for tutors and learners of what is available to be taught and learned in
ALN and the principles that should inform them.
1.1 The Curriculum
1.2 The Wheel
1.3 Breaking down the complex
capabilities of ALN
Literacy
Numeracy
30
In the centre of the wheel is the learner
surrounded by his or her different
contexts for learning: private life, family
life, community life and working life
(circle 1). These contexts reflect the
importance of the learner's real life and
everyday practices that are central to
the Scottish approach to adult literacy
and numeracy. They provide the
motivation for learning. Teaching and
learning resources will be drawn from
these contexts and learners will assess
their progress in terms of the changes
they have made in them.
It is expected that learner and tutor will
wish to develop the complex capabilities
of adult literacy and numeracy. Working
in ALN will always involve a mix of the
practice of reading, writing and
numeracy skills, the discussion and
acquisition of knowledge about literacy
and numeracy and the development of
critical understanding (circle 2). Critical
understanding involves awareness of
the power relations between the writer
and reader, knowing how they can be
used to manipulate us and ways we can
use them effectively. It also reminds us
that we should always be aware of what
our purposes are for using literacy and
numeracy and who our audience is
going to be. Further information about
skills, knowledge and understanding of
literacy and numeracy can be found in
Part 2, section 1.3.
The ALNIS report recommended that
the measurement of progress should be
based around learner goals and
distance travelled, building on the Core
Skills Framework. This is why these skills
reflect the SQA Core Skills of
Communication and Numeracy
(circle 3). Detail about what is expected
in each Core Skill can be found in the
relevant SQA unit descriptor; the
complex capabilities of ALN are
discussed further below. The fourth
circle reflects the remaining SQA Core
Skills. It highlights the social and
educational activities which facilitate
and support literacy and numeracy
learning and reflect their ‘real-life’ use.
In the 21st century the new literacies of
ICT are given enhanced prominence.
The outer circle of the wheel reminds us
of the principles which underpin the
curriculum framework. Promoting selfdetermination reminds tutors that they
are working towards the independence
of the learner. This is done by keeping
the learner and the learner’s goals
central to the learning process, by
negotiating goals and by encouraging
learners to make choices about what
they work on and how their work will be
assessed.
Lifelong learning within this circle
encourages tutor and learner to value
their learning as part of a lifelong and
lifewide process. This will include
encouraging progress to learning in
other areas, formal and informal, and
possibly to consider gaining
accreditation for their literacy and
numeracy work or to work towards some
other qualification.
The wheel emphasises that no one
element is studied in isolation. It may be
helpful to imagine each circle turning
like the discs on a combination lock to
line up a rich and appropriate learning
experience for each learner.
HOW DO WE USE THE WHEEL?
Using the example of a hypothetical
literacy and numeracy learner who has
recently become a member of a
management committee, the diagrams
below explore some of the knowledge,
skills and understanding which are
potentially needed in that role. A fuller
breakdown is contained in Appendix 1.
Write to convey information, ideas
and feelings
Read with understanding
Speak so others can understand
Listen/observe effectively
Apply numerical skills to solve
problems
Understand and apply numerical
skills
Interpret numerical information
Communicate numerical information
Information in circles in the diagrams
represents numeracy and
communication broken down under the
above headings. Rectangles represent
the other SQA Core Skills in the fourth
circle of the wheel.
The tutor can use the wheel as a
memory jogger in the process of
considering what is available to be
taught to that learner. If we look at the
example of reading minutes, the wheel
will remind the tutor that the learner and
her uses of literacy are at the heart of
the literacy and numeracy curriculum,
and that the process of negotiation,
planning, evaluation and assessment is
central to the process of learning. It
could also remind the tutor to analyse
minute reading in terms of skills,
knowledge and understanding; to
ensure that approaches are used which
will increase critical awareness; that the
learner will need to reflect on the
minutes and evaluate their accuracy
and may need to use negotiating skills
in suggesting amendments; that she
may want to use email to communicate
with the secretary of the management
committee, or use the Internet to find
out more about issues raised in the
minutes. This in turn could lead to
consideration of approaches to reading
information on the Internet, and
comparing them with approaches used
in reading minutes.
The wheel therefore enables the tutor to
think laterally – to broaden what is
available to be learned from making
sense of what is being said in the
minutes, to being able to reflect critically
on the content and take action
accordingly, and to apply reading
strategies to other contexts and to
reflect and extend the learner’s real-life
uses of literacy.
An example of the numeracy that such
a learner might want to work on could
be interpreting numerical information –
making sense of the project’s budget.
Again the tutor would identify the skills,
knowledge and understanding that
would be required. By looking at the
wheel she might also consider: using
ICT to get information about budgeting
in the context of voluntary organisations;
learning through researching this
information; using critical approaches to
interpret the information presented and
listening actively. Additionally the learner
might want to be able to explain or
justify the budget in conversation with
users of the organisation, so working on
organising ideas and speaking might be
incorporated into the plan.
ICE
ACT
PR
PART
2
The Communication and Numeracy
Core Skills have been analysed in detail
under the headings:
:
31
1.1 The Curriculum
1.2 The Wheel
1.3 Breaking down the complex
capabilities of ALN
Literacy
Numeracy
32
use ICT to
communicate
information
reflect and
evaluate
read with
understanding
learn through
research
speak so others
can understand
WORKING ON A
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
write to convey
information, ideas
and feelings
listen/observe
effectively
solve problems
and make
decisions
resolve conflict
and negotiate
apply numerical
skills to solve
problems
communicate
numerical information
understand and apply
numerical skills
interpret numerical
information
33
solve
problems and make
decisions
resolve
conflict and
negotiate
specialised
vocabulary,
abbreviations
reading minutes,
letters, notices etc
using internet
using email
where to get
further information
dictionary skills
READ WITH
UNDERSTANDING
SKILLS
use ICT to
manage
information
conventions of
minutes
KNOWLEDGE
decoding
that committee
members can ask for
amendments to be made
to minutes
skimming, scanning,
close reading
use ICT
to learn and
practise skills
learn
through
research
significance as a
record, read by
people who weren’t
there
UNDERSTANDING
whose view is really
represented
that minutes are a
selective account of
proceedings
read between the lines
what is missed out? which
items on agenda are
recorded in most detail?
that minutes can be used
as proof of decision making,
can carry weight
35
For ease of use, skills, knowledge and
understanding have been teased apart.
However, all three capabilities overlap
so that working on a skill (eg skimming
a text) will inevitably involve knowledge
of how texts are structured and what
clues to look for, while the tutor's skill
may be needed to prompt discussion
of who constructed the text, and why
they wrote it that way. All learners can
be engaged with all three of the
capabilities whether skimming a poster,
a website or an academic article.
Similarly skills, knowledge and
understanding can all be woven into
composing a group letter or email
arranging a group outing, or an
individual's letter to school.
ICE
ACT
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PART
2
Sometimes it is helpful to break down
the complex capabilities of ALN to see
what is available to be learned and
taught. For this reason further ideas
about the skills, knowledge and
understanding that are involved in using
literacy and numeracy are listed below.
These complex capabilities are adapted
from ‘Literacies in the Community’. They
are not intended to be a checklist, nor
are they meant to suggest any order in
which things should be taught. The lists
are too unwieldy for use with learners
and are intended for tutors to use as a
reference tool for their lesson-planning.
Tutors can pick and choose the
appropriate learning activities for their
learners' goals, mixing activities for
working on skills with those which
explore knowledge and understanding
about literacies. It can be useful to
record ideas for lesson plans on a
spider diagram (see, for example,
Appendix 1).
:
1.3 Breaking down the complex capabilities of ALN
1.1 The Curriculum
1.2 The Wheel
1.3 Breaking down the complex
capabilities of ALN
Literacy
Numeracy
36
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, editing
and proofreading
spelling –
choosing and using strategies for learning spellings and working out
how to spell words
punctuation –
choosing and using appropriate punctuation, upper and lower case letters
handwriting
using dictionaries, a thesaurus and spellcheckers.
KNOWLEDGE OF LITERACIES
The 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
UNDERSTANDING LITERACIES
Understanding 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 certain
environments there are set formats to be used (eg timesheets, job sheets, birth
certificates or, in the workplace, business letters)
• IT and other technologies (such as texting) are increasingly changing the ways
people use literacy
• different people at different times have used literacies in different ways
ICE
ACT
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PART
2
• 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 reading
what 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 sense
the writing is grammatically appropriate for purpose and audience (eg
subject 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.
:
37
1.1 The Curriculum
1.2 The Wheel
1.3 Breaking down the complex
capabilities of ALN
Literacy
Numeracy
38
• writers need to consider choosing presentation tools which are appropriate to
the purpose, for example a pen or word-processor for business letters and job
applications.
How a learner might broaden learning from concentrating on skills to working on
knowledge and understanding as well
When Marion first went to a dedicated literacy class it was ‘Just my spelling, really’ that she
wanted 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 spell
and write.This took quite a lot of teasing out, starting from ‘nothing in particular’ to a short
list of shopping lists, benefit forms, texts to a soldier son and letters to school for a
daughter's absence.
Marion agreed to start with a template letter to school which could be used to adapt to all
sorts 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 and
discussion, which covered more than just spelling skills.They talked about what to say and
the order it needed to be said in, the right sort of tone and the right layout for her
purpose.
The tutor encouraged Marion to ‘just write it down and we can sort the spelling later’. But
it was still difficult for Marion to start so the tutor asked her just to speak out what she
wanted to say.The tutor repeated it to Marion and she wrote some of it down and the
tutor wrote the rest.Then they read it back and changed some of the language to make it
more formal.This approach to letter writing, with all the literacies knowledge that it
involved, was new to Marion who said she usually just signed what her daughter wrote. She
was, however, still keen to get to the spelling!
The tutor asked her to identify any words she had misspelled and, working with the
dictionary and a spellchecker, they set some of them right.Together they discussed how
Marion might learn them and tried a few memory techniques to see what might work for
her.
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 if
she wanted, but Marion really wanted to know why, a hundred years after the phone was
invented, school still wanted absence and other sorts of notes.They talked about who saw
them at school, what happened to them after they'd been read and instances they knew of
when the note had been important.
The discussion of the legal status of some bits of writing and their importance as a record
of a transaction led Marion to mentioning other letters she wanted to write, particularly
one to complain about the repairs to her house not getting done.
39
KNOWLEDGE OF NUMERACY
Knowledge 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
ICE
ACT
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PART
2
Using the following skills to accomplish everyday tasks:
• recognising numbers
- spoken words
- written figures
• concepts and language for time, weight, distance, comparison and
measurement
• counting, in 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s (eg with money and five-minute intervals on the
clock)
• 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 to
decimals)
• percentages (recognising that they are fractions of a hundred and identifying
percentages in real situations and knowing the value of some more common
amounts)
• 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.
:
NUMERACY SKILLS
1.1 The Curriculum
1.2 The Wheel
1.3 Breaking down the complex
capabilities of ALN
Literacy
Numeracy
40
• we don't always need to be absolutely accurate – it depends on the
circumstances
• estimation and approximation are useful in certain circumstances, for example
to get a rough idea of quantities or cost
• some calculations, like long division and manipulation of fractions, are rarely
used 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 NUMERACY
Understanding 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 practical
problem (eg calculating how much paint to buy or how much a car journey will
cost)
• numbers are used for different purposes and we need to ask how and why
people are using them before evaluating them
• sometimes what is left out of numerical information is as significant as what is
included – advertisements are a good example of this
• in maths, as in real life, we have to use it or lose it.
PUTTING THEM BACK
TOGETHER AGAIN
The lists that have been detailed above
are shown to illustrate how the skills,
knowledge and understanding involved
in using literacy and numeracy can be
broken down. Of course most tutors are
working on all these separated parts
together in response to the wishes of
their learners. Section 3.6 shows how
working on skills, knowledge and
understanding in a context relevant to
the learner’s goals can be linked to
assessment, and in Appendix 5 there is
an example of a possible framework for
recording progress. The rest of this
document shows how tutors can think
about learning and individual learning
planning in ways that are responsive to
learners and their learning contexts.
41
The ALN curriculum is designed for use
in the community learning and
development sector, voluntary
organisations, further education
colleges, workplaces and prisons. It is
intended to be applicable in a range of
settings, including one-to-one tuition,
drop-in centres, integrated
literacy/numeracy (where
literacy/numeracy learning is subsumed
within other learning purposes), and
dedicated literacy/numeracy (where
literacy/numeracy learning is the
primary and explicit purpose).
This section addresses some of the key
issues involved in the development of
effective learning and teaching practice.
Wherever possible, ideas on effective
practice are supported by case studies
describing what tutors in various sectors
currently do. However, there are not cut
and dried answers to all the questions
we may have about adult literacy and
numeracy learning. These guidelines
are a contribution to an ongoing
exploration of what constitutes effective
practice.
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Our aim is to develop an adult literacy
and numeracy curriculum that
encompasses all sectors of education
and training in which adults learn and
the various ways in which this learning
is organised. However, it is also
important to recognise that these
various settings create some particular
opportunities and constraints and that,
while the principles may be universal,
the ways of applying them in practice
may need to vary.
:
2. Learning
2.
Learning
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies
2.2 Organising individual and
group learning
2.3 Integrated and dedicated
approaches
2.4 Resources
Developing effective practice involves
(among other things) attempting to
answer 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?
43
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive strategies
Tutors should always encourage
learners to think about how they learn.
This can start in a small way with
learners thinking about what works
when they are trying to remember a
spelling or how they go about doing a
calculation. Once learners begin to talk
about the methods they use they can
see what works for them. In terms of
spelling some will mention the visual
importance of colour underlining, others
talk about saying it a funny way as in
feb-ru-ary. Others may find that simply
discussing with others what their
strategies are can lead to trying out new
ways of learning. Tutors need to work
with learners on finding out what their
particular expertise is and then build on
it so that learners can develop new
knowledge. In developing cognitive and
metacognitive strategies, tutors should
be alert to the cultural cues and clues
regarding the individual learner’s
experience.
A group of learners, working on spelling, shared strategies for learning words and agreed to
experiment using each others’ ways of learning, with the purpose of identifying their own
preferred learning styles. Paired, then group discussion of some of the myths surrounding
spelling led the group to the conclusion that one of the essential factors contributing to
success was that they had to be active in their learning rather than passive recipients of
information.
Effective learning involves not only
acquiring knowledge, skills and
understanding but also their active
application. Learners are not always
able to easily identify what they are
learning when it is applied to a
particular context so tutors need to help
them do this. For example, learners may
demonstrate the core skill ‘understand
and apply numerical skills’ through a
simulation of a DIY store in the college
setting but not realise that they have the
ability to apply these skills in their family
and community lives as well. So, after an
activity, learners should discuss what
they have learned and how they can
apply it in the various roles they play. For
example a group that was developing
numeracy skills for work had been
learning to measure in order to calculate
the floor space required for a DIY shop.
Learners were able to see how the
underpinning knowledge of how to
measure and calculate could be applied
:
helped to transfer these strategies to the
new context of literacy and numeracy.
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In the first part of these guidelines we
showed that effective learners actively
make and interpret knowledge by
integrating new information and
experiences into what they already
know. Everyone has some areas in their
life where they are an expert but most
ALN learners do not see themselves in
that light, often due to their low selfesteem. This is why it is important to
work with learners to find out what they
already know and what strategies they
use to learn. Many adult learners come
with existing mental models of
themselves as unable to learn and these
form internal barriers that need to be
overcome before new learning can take
place. Tutors can help learners to
change their mental models by
connecting literacy and numeracy to
successful learning strategies that
learners use in other parts of their lives.
This might be an ability to remember a
shopping list or an ability to work out the
numbers needed to win at darts. Both
these examples involve learners in
thinking about their successful learning
strategies in one context and then being
2.
Learning
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies
2.2 Organising individual and
group learning
2.3 Integrated and dedicated
approaches
2.4 Resources
44
in their family life to work out the amount
of paint required for a room to be
redecorated. They could also use this
knowledge to help children with their
home-work and, for one learner, to help
out with the refurbishment of his
church hall.
Encouraging learners to think about
what they need to know and be able to
do is also important. For example if the
task a learner wants to undertake is to
write letters then the first step is to
examine why, to whom and in what
contexts they need to send letters. Once
this is clear then the tutor can move on
to decide on a learning activity that will
allow learners to practise the basic skills
associated with letter writing. Whilst
people are learning they can reflect on
and think about the skills they are
gaining such as how to organise and
tailor what is written for different kinds of
audiences. Learners can also be
encouraged to think about how the
knowledge learned in one context can
be transferred to a new context. For
example they might consider together
how what they have learned about
writing formal letters could be applied to
writing personal letters or sending
emails to friends.
Another aspect of cognitive and
metacognitive strategies is encouraging
learners to see themselves as people
who construct knowledge themselves
rather than relying on ‘expert’ teachers.
Designing a learning environment that is
knowledge-centred involves creating
learning opportunities that focus on the
development and practice of skills that
learners want so they can carry out
activities and gain their goals. It also
involves learners working as a
collaborative team to identify and solve
problems together since this takes the
focus from individual expertise to
something that is shared.
Communication and shared problem
solving bridge the gap between old and
new knowledge and between the
different understandings of partners
(tutor, learner, peers) as individuals
search for the common ground of
shared understanding.
A mixed ability group of learners decided that they would all like to try doing crosswords
as the focus for group work for a term. Using a ‘spider’ diagram they identified that they
already knew quite a lot about doing crosswords, and in the process also raised several
questions 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?’ For
the next three weeks the group worked on crosswords together, exchanging ideas about
the clues offered within clues, working with a dictionary and thesaurus (and discovering the
difference between them) and helping each other to work out clues. Discussion also took
place about what individuals look for in a dictionary and the wide range available. One
learner decided to spend some time looking at dictionaries in a bookshop to find out what
would suit her best, and another thought that working on dictionary skills would be useful
for him as part of his reading goal.
At the end of term the learner who had originally introduced the topic felt ready to join in
when a group of her café customers were doing their crossword. Another group member
took the crosswords home to complete with his wife and son, and bought himself a book
of crosswords for the family to while away the time on a transatlantic flight.
45
There are four advantages of learning
in a group:
• Groups provide a supportive
environment for learning
When people work together on a shared
task it provides encouragement to
everyone and an atmosphere can be
generated that enhances the learners’
self image and encourages them to
greater effort. The sense of solidarity
created can provide the security
necessary to take risks and experiment
in a safe environment, helping to
overcome individual anxieties and
generate confidence.
• Groups provide a challenge
for learners
In a group new ranges of views,
prejudices and experiences are met, all
of them calling for learning changes
and widening horizons. The group can
provide a stimulus for change, for
increased awareness and critical
reflection helping adults to become
more conscious of, and more effective
in, their learning.
• A group can provide resources
to build richer and more complex
structures for learning
The group can draw upon the variety of
experience and resources possessed
by its members, and so present a wider
range of possible solutions to problems.
The participants have their own learning
styles so the methods available in the
teaching-learning process are greatly
multiplied. The resources that both the
learner and the tutor can call upon are
greatly increased by the existence of
the group.
• The group dynamic
The group has a life and momentum of
its own. It creates and maintains
motivation, aids retention and sets a
pace of learning that is satisfying to
most of its members. Loyalty to the
group will often bring about greater
effort at particular times than any
demand the tutor can make.
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We know that effective adult literacy and
numeracy learning should relate to
individual goals but we also know that
adults learn from others when working
in groups. Drawing up ground rules with
a group of learners can provide tutors
with a useful opportunity to encourage
the whole group to challenge
discriminatory language and
stereotyping. This can also be a way of
promoting a working culture of mutual
respect and support.
:
2.2 Organising individual and group learning
2.
Learning
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies
2.2 Organising individual and
group learning
2.3 Integrated and dedicated
approaches
2.4 Resources
46
Context and purpose for learning
One of the men in a group of literacy and numeracy learners is a farmer who is on the
committee of an association which arranges ploughing competitions.The post of Chair to
the committee is allocated on a rotational basis, and his turn would be coming round in a
couple of months. He felt nervous about his inability to speak in a group setting and to take
coherent notes.The group discussed this and agreed that, as well as joining forces to help
the 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 in
the 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 into
the curriculum for this group, and the focus for their work has been the fundraising ideas
suggested by committee members.
Since the group started work on this project, the farmer has done a lot of writing and
talking in the group, and is now not at all worried either by taking notes or speaking in a
group setting. He feels more confident and understands the need to pace himself and not
aim too high in terms of vocabulary used. He also reckons that ‘there's a lot of bluff in this
chairing lark’.
The tutor's final comments: ‘I've been quite surprised and pleased by the effects of the
project, not only on our chairman, but on all members of the group – a vindication of the
“student-led” approach.’
This curriculum encourages a variety of
modes of learning – one-to-one and
groups – but encourages group
provision wherever practical. Within
groups, however, practitioners may find
it hard to balance individuals' goals and
needs with those of the group. Group
management skills, thoughtful
preparation and appropriate resources
can help, but it remains, as many
practitioners testify, ‘a hard nut to crack’.
Also, clustered one-to-one or flexible
learning may remain preferable for
learners with lifestyles influenced, for
example, by mental health difficulties or
by childcare demands.
Group task generates
learning tasks for
individuals
In literacy and numeracy groups, the
tutor may wish to organise the work
differently according to whether the
group or the individual’s agenda
predominates.
Where the group activity is the priority
this could come first, with individuals
and pairs working on their own goals in
the second half.
If the group activity generates the
individuals' learning tasks the tutor
needs a good and handy collection of
resources and the ability to select from
them quickly and confidently.
• Individual or paired work
• Tutor chooses from resource bank
• Tutor tailor-makes resources for
individual’s task
A break for coffee provided opportunities for real money transactions before the group
changed to its joint activity of identifying best buys in fruit juices.This was part of an ongoing
sequence 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 great
deal of work on time, weights and percentages as well as reading information and
deciphering 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 the
language 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 the
advertising blurbs for cheap flights and tried to make out the message of the extremely
small print at the bottom of the adverts. Another activity which promoted critical comment
was identifying the language of special offers like ‘Three for two’, ‘Family packs’ and ‘Buy one
and get one free’.They discussed the power of these phrases and compared their
experiences of buying (and storing!) such offers.
During their visit to the local supermarket, researching value for money topics, there had
been a chance to compare different shapes of shampoo bottles which contained similar
amounts of shampoo.This resulted both in arguments on whether packaging is made to
deceive or merely to attract and quizzical studies of other fancily packaged products like
deodorants.
Where learners have not yet cohered
round an issue or where new members
need to be integrated, the tutor may
choose to prepare individual worksheets
for the first half of the session and then
bring the group together for an
enjoyable group activity at the end.
In both models a coffee break is useful
not only for social interaction and
resource-browsing but also for a
concentration break. In one group,
where coffee is not free, collecting and
recording payment is used as a learning
activity.
With this model the tutor will have to
prepare individual work as negotiated at
the previous session.
• Individual tasks
• Paired work
• Tasks negotiated at previous
sessions
Group activity –
may or may not be
related to individual
goals
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Group activities and individual programmes
The four learners in the ‘Super Shopper’ group were supported by a group tutor and two
volunteers.They worked on their own individual programmes for the first hour as
negotiated the previous week.There is a varied bank of practical, paper and IT resources
available from which tutors and volunteers select and adapt.Two learners used worksheets
to practise the operations while another practised weighing with both balance and digital
scales in preparation for an SQA unit. A fourth identified and counted coins for a shopping
task.
:
47
2.
Learning
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies
2.2 Organising individual and
group learning
2.3 Integrated and dedicated
approaches
2.4 Resources
48
Group programmes and individual tasks
A 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 to
achieve their individual goals, while work as a group enabled them to address issues around
knowledge and understanding. Some of the individual work included organising writing into
paragraphs, work on spelling, reflecting on the process of having a letter scribed, selecting
and organising information about that process which might be of interest to other literacy
learners, proofreading writing concentrating on missing small words, using a personal
dictionary to record words to use in writing and using examples of short forms to help
with 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 styles
and size, illustrations and order, bearing in mind their audience, and took part in the final
pasting-up session.
Where tutor assistants are used,
mostly in community learning and
development, they may be asked to
work one-to-one with a particular
member of the group or move around
the group as appropriate. Sometimes
they might prepare the work for
individuals; at other times they use the
materials prepared by the tutor. Using
assistants can allow for both individual
and group needs to be addressed and
for learners to make a transition from
embarrassed individual to confident
group participant.
A range of tools and methodologies are used:
2. Evaluation of progress: again a range of methods is offered and learners choose the
method they feel works best for them.This will involve a review of the Individual Learning
Plan but it may be in the form of a tape recording, a letter, production of a portfolio, a
completed form, a post-it note, etc.
3. Literacy/numeracy diaries have been used by some learners to provide a starting point
for understanding current uses and identifying potential uses.
An alternative to the established
group/one-to-one or cluster models is
possible with suitable premises,
substantial hours and adequate staffing.
Adult literacy/numeracy study centres
with large open-plan accommodation
can set up a ‘Community of Learning’.
This might provide individual tuition with
opportunities for group work where a
number of learners are interested in
looking at a similar idea (such as
handwriting, magazine work, spelling
hints and tips). Only those wishing to
stop their individual work would
participate. The element of choice here
is an important factor in emphasising
the learner’s ownership of the learning
experience while the move from non-
2.
Learning
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies
1. Individual Learning Plan: a variety of Plans are used, from the very brief three questions to
a more detailed format that may take several sessions to complete.These are reviewed at
the end of an agreed period.
Where space allows, tutors have
experimented with clusters of one-toones in one room under the supervision
of a group tutor who may gradually
institute some group activities. Once
again a coffee break can be a useful
first step to building a group.
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Using tutor assistants
In a voluntary sector project for recovering/stabilised drug users there is literacies provision
that is a voluntary element within a compulsory 12-week course. Learners make a selfassessment of their abilities and then choose particular aspects of literacies that they would
like to work on within the group setting. Although some of the work is group based, using
volunteers makes it possible for the learners to work on individual tasks. Each learner
develops a portfolio of work to take away with them and decides which work (if any) they
would like to include in a group booklet.
:
49
participation to participation is an
observable stage in the new learner’s
development.
Learners can drop in rather than join a
group fixed by time, duration or
membership. They can choose to learn
flexibly with short frequent input from
paid tutor and/or gaps for learners to
work alone. Learners can attend for
several sessions per week: a model
which research suggests can boost
achievement.
In this setting, the skills of the tutor are
crucial in maintaining a dynamic within
what could be a silent world of study.
On the other hand a learner can choose
a degree of private space and avoid the
stress of being interrupted or even of
being allocated a personal tutor. There
is no need for artificially created topics
for the purpose of working together –
learners share the same environment
and discussion is a day-to-day part of
the experience.
2.2 Organising individual and
group learning
2.3 Integrated and dedicated
approaches
2.4 Resources
51
focus in dedicated literacy approaches.
It may be better to consider integrated
and dedicated literacy as a continuum
rather than entirely distinct types of
provision. Nevertheless, the terms
remain useful in distinguishing two
broad approaches to literacy learning
and are used in the following section.
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Effective ALN learning should be rooted
in the social contexts and purposes of
the learner. Integrated literacy
approaches are strong in this respect.
We also know that the learner should be
explicitly aware of his/her literacy
learning so as to be able to reflect on
and review his or her learning process.
It is sometimes easier to achieve this
:
2.3 Integrated and dedicated approaches
2.
Learning
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies
2.2 Organising individual and
group learning
Offering the continuum of integrated and dedicated literacy provision
The Learning Support unit of an FE College offers a drop-in facility for learners on both a
self-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 core
skills profiling. Learners’ own interests are used as a starting point for development of
literacy/numeracy skills. Many of the learners wish to improve their literacy/numeracy skills
for family reasons such as their children starting school whilst others start because they
need to take on new roles. An example of this is a retired man who was asked to become
treasurer 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 addition
he developed IT skills (word-processing).
Another person attending the drop-in facility is an ex-offender who wanted to enrol on the
plumbing course aimed at adults, but did not have the necessary qualifications or skills. He
was keen to develop IT skills, so he started with this and he also used his IT work to
improve his literacy skills, and went on to achieve his ECDL. His ambitions then changed so
that he subsequently enrolled on an IT course.
Learners usually attempt certificated units (Core Skills) at Access 2 or 3 level. Many move
on from the ‘drop-in’ facility to full or part-time courses, such as Return to Study.
Integrated literacy is often offered in
short courses where the subject matter
(eg first aid, song writing, reminiscence
or IT) may be the learners' first concern.
Courses may be advertised with a clear
subject base, for example ‘Local history
project’ or ‘Healthy eating for your
children’, but with a clear indication of
the literacies tasks to be tackled. These
might include writing and laying out a
history booklet or reading and working
on menus and charts. Tutors should
seek opportunities in short courses to
recognise and promote diversity in
terms of students’ prior learning and
experience.
2.3 Integrated and dedicated
approaches
2.4 Resources
52
Promoting critical awareness in a reminiscence and literacies group
A short course in reminiscence and literacy aims to maintain and develop the literacy
capabilities of frail elderly learners in a residential home in Edinburgh by reading, sharing,
discussing, recording and writing their reminiscences. Discussion is often stimulated by
reading together from the published collections of other reminiscence groups.
To start off a discussion about holidays and daytrips the group read these two accounts of
pre-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 ticket
back.That’s for children much worse off than you. Children whose dads are not working. I
was 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 by
Milton House School and march up with a pipe band, up the Royal Mile, along Jeffrey Street
to the Waverley.The song then was
I’m no goin’ on Barrie’s trip
I’m no goin’ again
I’m no goin on Barrie’s trip
It always comes on rain
George Flannigan and David Anderson
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 such
different stories to tell.They talked about the different ways they told their stories. Later they
were asked whether they had ever been on such a trip and what was their memory of it.
In this case, negotiating the curriculum is
focused firstly around the subject matter
and then later the literacy and numeracy
skills, knowledge and understanding
required for that subject. Group aims and
tasks are established before individual
ones. The Group Learning Plan provided
in Appendix 2 might be of use in
negotiating and recording this.
Learners can be encouraged to share
their strategies through, for example,
reading food tables or spelling difficult
names. This allows everyone to
contribute and opens up the possibilities
of what could be learned. In later
sessions the tutor can begin to work with
individuals establishing their own
learning goals and setting appropriate
tasks. These are likely to lie within the
context of the group's subject focus.
These courses are useful both to attract
new learners into literacy learning and to
provide a way forward for those who
need to move on from dedicated literacy.
Tutors offering integrated literacies
courses need to be confident both in the
subject matter of the course and in ways
of introducing the skills, knowledge and
understanding of literacies into it.
Examples of integrated literacy
• Driving theory course
A six-week course offered to young
people aged 17-25, working towards
passing the driving theory test, with
support for reading and understanding
the test language.
• Cooking and literacy
A four-session course offered to learners
already attending literacy provision;
learners used recipes to produce a
variety of dishes, looked critically at how
recipes and recipe books are written
and produced, and identified what they
would look for if they were buying recipe
books for themselves.
53
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:
Critical awareness in an integrated literacy short course
A group of learners already attending literacies provision attended a four-session course on
cooking and literacy/numeracy.
At the initial meeting when the content of the short course was negotiated with
participants, the learners identified as one goal ‘being able to read recipes’.The group used a
variety of written recipes to do their cooking – some typed by the tutor, some photocopied
from books/magazines.
2.
At one session the group worked in pairs, each pair looking at a different recipe, and using a
series 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 of
particular recipes such as content, language and style, layout, and pictures led to
comparisons between different formats and discussion about personal preferences. At the
end of the discussion each learner drew up a list of what they wanted from a cookery
book. One of the group planned to buy herself a new book, armed with her list to help her
to make the choice.
• Family learning groups
Groups for parents and carers of young
children, looking at how children learn,
brushing up on their own learning and
learning new skills, finding out what
goes on in schools, and discussing
learning both in and out of school.
• Workplace groups
Groups working on a project relevant to
their work, eg home helps learn to
research and present information on
depression and dementia in elderly
people.
• Accredited courses
Literacy and numeracy work integrated
into childcare units on Child
Development and Child Health courses.
Where one tutor does not feel confident
about offering both the subject of the
course and the appropriate literacy
support integrated provision can be
offered in a variety of ways. These
include co-tutoring and a variety of
drop-in models.
CO-TUTORING
Here a literacy/numeracy tutor works
with a subject tutor (say for Social Care
or core numeracy) tutoring in the class
together. This is expensive and therefore
may not be sustainable but it allows for
individual coaching, interviews and
support within the group. Tutors involved
in 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 integrated
literacy/numeracy and is used in all
settings, including colleges. But there is
a danger that learners perceive literacy
as something set apart and the province
of the ‘spelling expert’!
Learning
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies
2.2 Organising individual and
group learning
2.3 Integrated and dedicated
approaches
2.4 Resources
54
While using a drop-in centre for those recovering from mental health difficulties, members
showed interest in learning to use computers, but there was uncertainty and some lack of
confidence about writing. A group slowly evolved, aiming to produce a high quality
newsletter to voice their own issues and experience and to campaign for appropriate
informal educational opportunities.
This group was co-tutored by an IT specialist and a literacies tutor with a background in
creative writing. A publication of very high-quality design and content was the end result. In
their 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 had
learned from both tutors.
DROP-INS
Where larger learning centres want to
offer integrated literacy but do not have
staff skilled in both their subject and in
literacies support, the problem can be
addressed by establishing drop-ins
alongside the main subject provision.
Either the learner or the tutor can drop in.
Many colleges operate literacy and
numeracy support from well-resourced
learning centres. Learners may refer
themselves or be referred for one
session or many. Expert tuition will be
available but it relies on strong learner
motivation to seek out the support.
Other colleges offer a tutorial slot in
which a subject tutor for (say) numeracy
will be invited to drop in to work with
individuals while the rest of the group
does other work. This can be felt to
stigmatise those who receive the drop-in
tutor's help but reduces the need for
strong individual motivation.
Team teaching
In a medium sized FE College NQ Sport and Fitness is delivered by staff in the Sports
section with Communication units delivered by a specialist Communication tutor.The tutors
worked together to develop and use more ‘sport and fitness relevant’ materials in
Communication units and to develop literacy skills (oral and written) required for
Communication units by completing assignments for Sports units.Timetabling was arranged
so that the tutors taught consecutive two-hour classes, with one tutor being ‘free’ whilst the
other was teaching.This enabled the Sports tutor to observe the learning programme
activities taking place during Communication and vice versa.
The tutors integrated their work in a variety of ways. Reading interpretation exercises were
used as ‘open book assessments’ in Sports units, to prepare learners for assessments for the
Communication unit.The ‘Content of Sports’ unit was used as a basis for practising essaywriting skills for Communication unit. Finally the presentation of lesson plans in the Sports
unit gave opportunities for practice for the oral Communication unit.
This method of team teaching produced not only a better than average attendance pattern
compared with previous years but also a better than average achievement rate with most
of those learners who completed the course achieving the Communication units.
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Examples of dedicated provision
include:
• community learning and
development roll-on-roll-off groups or
study clubs where the learners
discuss and agree individual and
group learning goals with the tutor to
enable them to gain skills,
• short courses for learners such as
‘Improve your reading’, ‘Writing
letters’ or ‘Looking at everyday
numbers’
• a group of learners taking an SQA
Communication unit
:
knowledge and understanding in
reading, writing and numeracy
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Dedicated literacies provision focuses
explicitly on literacy or numeracy
learning goals. Taking learners’ own
uses and contexts for literacy and
numeracy as a starting point, learners
and tutors negotiate the learning
programme. Learners have individual
learning plans and record and evaluate
their work regularly. Dedicated provision
is delivered successfully via all sorts of
learning models.
2.
Learning
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies
2.2 Organising individual and
group learning
• one-to-one support in college
2.3 Integrated and dedicated
approaches
• drop-in provision for learners who
may not be able to access regular
groups or who may wish to make use
of additional learning opportunities.
2.4 Resources
• some workplace groups focusing on
particular workplace literacy tasks.
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2.4 Resources
WHAT CAN BE USED AS RESOURCES?
PART
2
:
Anything and everything can be a resource for learning and it’s important to think
imaginatively about what is available. All resources need to be approached
critically and seen in their context.
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Below are just a few of the things that might be used:
2.
Learning
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies
2.2 Organising individual and
group learning
2.3 Integrated and dedicated
approaches
2.4 Resources
Real measuring jugs, coins,
scales etc
Writer in residence
Words and letters to move
around
Concrete
Adult learning groups – art,
drama, reminiscence etc
Friends
Modelling clay
People
Exemplars to
critique/copy/compare
Community groups
Local celebrities
Real forms/letters/timetables etc
to work on
Role playing
Script writing
Drama
Paper-based
Literacy to relax with – books,
crosswords etc
Worksheets
Responding
Medium
Reference material
Stimulus material
Pictures
Creation
Mind maps
Video
Learning material
Literacy software
Storyboarding
Internet
Phones
PDA (Personal Digital Assistant)
Word
Mobile
ICT
Office packages
Desktop publishing
Illustration of work
Literacy diary of self or others
Stimulus for writing
Excel
Photography
Laptops
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Resources should include visual (using
photographs, colours, ICT, mind
mapping, videos) kinaesthetic
(drawing/modelling, concrete resources,
role playing) and auditory (video,
speakers, discussion, CDs) so that a
range of learning preferences can be
catered for.
Where necessary, resources should be
adapted to accommodate learners with
visual or auditory impairment, physical
or learning disabilities, for example by
installing a hearing loop, using voice
software, text enlargement, speaking
scales or offering sign language
support. Resources for teaching and
learning should also include
accommodation, which should be fully
accessible, suitable for adults and be of
a standard which will contribute to the
learner’s feelings of self-worth.
Developing the learning programme is a
joint activity between learner and tutor;
so too is the provision of resources.
Tutors should always encourage
learners to bring along the texts, forms,
calculations and tasks that they want to
tackle for themselves. Sometimes the
tutor can provide or organise resources
like tape recorders, computers, and
flipcharts. Often the most useful
resources will be a person or a facility
outside the usual learning environment.
But between them they can collect
resources 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 find
the 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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CHOOSING RESOURCES
:
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2.
Learning
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies
2.2 Organising individual and
group learning
2.3 Integrated and dedicated
approaches
2.4 Resources
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Once the resources have been selected
then the tutor can encourage the learner
to reflect on each item used, to express
an opinion about the resource and to
use this knowledge when choosing new
resources to work with. Together,
learners and tutors could build up a
bank of questions to consider when
discussing resources. Some starting
points might be:
• How does this resource relate to my
learning goal?
• Did I come away from it
understanding 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?
Learners in a numeracy group redesigned a worksheet, having decided that a published
resource didn’t really help them.The group was working on percentages and had a
worksheet with 30 questions, which used a mixture of units of measurement such as
centimetres and metres, pence and pounds.
In the course of discussion to evaluate their work, the learners decided that it would be
easier at this stage to do the calculations if all activities referred to the same units of
measurement, so that they could concentrate on the process involved.They designed a
worksheet displaying the formula they were using at the top, plus information about the
units of measurement they were working with – that is, the relationship between
millimetres, centimetres and metres.
The learners’ hypothesis was that by the time they reached the end of the worksheet, they
would have to refer less frequently to the information at the top of the page.
RESOURCES WHICH FIT THE
PURPOSE
Once the learner’s goals have been
established and the programme
planned, tutor and learner can choose
the resources from the domains which
interest them and which suit their
purposes. So, to develop literacy and
numeracy skills they might turn to pen
and paper, skills practice worksheets,
both commercially published and home
made, practical equipment for weighing
and measuring, calculators, word
processors or software packages. To
build knowledge of literacy and
numeracy, they might seek exemplar
material of layouts and styles for
reports, websites, timetables and letters,
reference sheets, short stories,
multiplication tables and bank forms.
One college has developed a non-certificated pack that covers everyday English.The pack
was developed to support community based IT learners to develop literacy skills. It is
integrated with IT programmes, has links to BBC Skillswise,Yellow Pages online, etc. Learners
can dip in and out of the pack to support their learning needs, and having used it can
choose to progress to an appropriate certificated course if they wish to.
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One partnership made a video for awareness-raising. It was not aimed at learners but at
other agencies.The idea was to make explicit a learner’s journey and to show the range of
learners and their successes. Four volunteer one-to-one learners were brought together
from different places and different tutors.The organiser went over the questions she would
ask 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 ‘just
poured out’. She attributes its success to the clear focus on telling a story through a video
and the learners’ awareness that they alone could narrate it.
:
and screen pages for discussion and
comparison as well as catalogues and
adverts.
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Developing an understanding of
literacy and numeracy might call for a
selection of texts, text messages, videos
2.
Learning
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies
2.2 Organising individual and
group learning
2.3 Integrated and dedicated
approaches
2.4 Resources
When problem solving, the tutor may
choose resources that support learners
to use literacy skills in real-life
activities. These might include job
application forms and the help of an
interviewer, a cookery room with
weighing scales, timers and cookers, a
selection of timetables and a trip to the
train station to study the arrivals and
departure boards, or a session surfing
the net for answers to a particular
question. Recording and building on
learners’ ideas and opinions may
require flipcharts, pens, word
processors, video- or tape recorders.
And while the ideas of the group
members themselves are a major
resource for promoting critical
awareness, resources like the Internet,
public and private texts, speakers, trips
to public meetings, photographic and
graphic material can all be used to get
people thinking and arguing.
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Decoding a photograph: surveying issues in the community
A group of male learners was asked to look at two photographs: one of young people
loitering in a local subway as a lone woman was walking towards them, and the second of a
group 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 group
of 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 with
regard 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 to
make with regard to the discussions, in a phrase or a sentence.They were asked to work in
pairs and help each other, and the tutor and volunteers also helped the men make their
statements, 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 a
very lively discussion where everyone contributed. In this session the group did not get on
to interpretative questions, such as ‘Why are the young people hanging about?’, ‘Who owns
the leisure centre?’, ‘Who uses the leisure centre?’, ‘Why is the woman afraid of young
people?’, ‘How does the media depict young people and why?’. Other questions would help
the participants to reflect on their own lives and connect with the issues being raised. From
these sorts of discussions the learners become animated and motivated to express their
own ideas and feelings through writing, and begin to see the value and process of saying
their own word, while simultaneously increasing their technical skills.
By engaging in group debate they practise the social skills required to make themselves
heard effectively.
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A mixed ability group used the local library to research places of interest in the
neighbourhood. 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 an
outing round the neighbourhood, and each learner acted as a tour guide for the particular
feature that she had researched, using her written work to remind her of key points.
:
play readings, shared leisure activities,
and planned video-making, social
events and visits to local amenities.
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Finally, to have some fun with literacy
learning and encourage working with
others, groups have used games and
2.
Learning
2.1 Cognitive and metacognitive
strategies
2.2 Organising individual and
group learning
It’s often helpful to go on visits outside of
the usual context, either to practise
recently learned skills in a real-life context
(post offices, shops, train stations), to
provide material for future work
(storytelling workshops, council offices) or
at the end of a particular topic.
KNOWING WHAT IS AVAILABLE
There is a vast amount of material that
has been specifically produced for use
in an adult literacies context. If you
would like to see and evaluate some of
the commercially produced resources,
Learning Connections has a number of
resource bases across Scotland
(currently Edinburgh, Aberdeen and
Paisley/Glasgow) that stock a wide
range of books, journals, software, multimedia resources, videos, software and
concrete resources. The collections are
expanding rapidly, and you are welcome
to borrow any text-based or multi-media
items for up to a month. ICT resources
can be used on-site and practitioners,
managers and learners are all welcome
to try things out and find what works for
them. The stock includes practical
resources, theory and research, tutortraining packs, programme support and
more! Please look at the Learning
Connections website
(www.lc.communitiesscotland.gov.uk) for
more details.
2.3 Integrated and dedicated
approaches
2.4 Resources
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3. Individual Learning Planning
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.
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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.
:
3.1 THE PROCESS OF INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLANNING
3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
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The concept of individual learning
planning is central to effective ALN
practice. It may be thought of as a
cycle.
A LEARNING CYCLE
Move on to new
learning
Set new goals
Identify learning
goals
(initial
assessment)
Exit learning
Review and
evaluate progress
(summative
assessment)
Review, reflect on
and record
learning
(formative
assessment)
Negotiated Learning
Set realistic goals
Carry out
learning plan
Negotiate a
learning plan
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3.2 Initial discussion and assessment
Many potential learners need support in
identifying learning goals and
information generally about what is
involved in being a learner before they
join a group (eg talking to other
learners, using worksheets/exercises,
working at home between each session,
etc). This support can be given by
providing short induction courses which
offer potential learners the opportunity
to demonstrate their commitment to
learning, to explore their expectations of
adult learning, to consider the rights
and responsibilities of tutors and
learners and to learn about study skills.
An urban literacy and numeracy programme encourages new learners to attend a fourweek 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 fits
in much more quickly than other learners – they’re much better prepared and I don’t have
to try to cover all the bits of learn-to-learn individually with them.They come to the group
with a good idea of what they want to work on, and also tend to find it much easier to pick
up record-keeping and evaluation and to see the point of it straight away’.
An initial meeting may be used to
reassure the learners, gather information
and identify longer-term goals, and this
information can be used to place the
learner in the most appropriate
provision. An example of some of the
questions that might be asked to elicit
information at this stage is illustrated in
the box overleaf. (NB: an interviewer
would choose questions as appropriate
from this selection.)
:
learning goals and aspirations and, if
possible, to begin to break these down
into the short and longer term.
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The first stage in developing an
Individual Learning Plan is the initial
pre-course discussion and assessment
process. As well as providing
information about available learning
opportunities, options, approaches and
practical details, these interviews allow
for an exploration of learners’ current
literacy and numeracy practices across
private, family, community and working
life, and present self-defined
capabilities. This process of selfassessment can be aided by sample
texts or tasks, although these need to
be relevant to the practices and
contexts of the learner and need to be
introduced sensitively, if at all at this
stage, to avoid raising anxiety. Learners
are also encouraged to discuss their
3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
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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?
If there appears to be a discrepancy
between what a potential learner can
actually do with literacy and numeracy
and their general abilities, it might be
useful to ask some initial informal
questions to explore the possibility of
specific learning difficulties (see
Appendix 3).
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This sort of information is of vital
interest to the partnership and to the
tutor and thus needs to be recorded on
some personal record sheet and kept
confidentially with other records about
the learner. It is probably not necessary
to include it on the ILP, since this is
information already well known to the
learner, but this baseline information
about the learner may be used at
future reviews.
:
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3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
Initial assessment – community based provision
In one area the development worker for literacy and numeracy has an initial discussion with
the learner about her or his learning experience, current uses of literacy and numeracy and
goals – both short- and long-term.This information, along with the learner’s availability, is
used to place the learner in a group.
At the learner’s first session, the development worker meets her/him and they join the
group at coffee time, when introductions are made and the new learner can get some idea
of what other learners are working on.The first part of the session will have been spent
working together as a group. During the rest of the session the learner carries out simple
assessment tasks with the development worker, and a starting point is identified for future
work.The tutor may also be involved in this assessment, and joins the learner and
development 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.
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
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ALERTING TOOLS
Some institutions, like Job Centre Plus
and the prisons, want to offer literacy
tuition to their clients, but need to target
their offer appropriately. For them an
alerting tool designed for use with those
who have no formal qualifications can
be helpful. The idea is to open the
discussion with the learner about their
uses of literacy and numeracy and at
the same time to give them an
opportunity both to demonstrate what
they can do and to speak about what
they can't. It should be emphasised that
the alerting tool is not a ‘test’. There is
no ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ nor will it offer any
indication of Core Skills levels.
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The process of discussion and
negotiation may be assisted by the use
of structured assessment tools. As
outlined in Part One, these may be
alerting, placing or diagnostic tools.
:
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial assessment
3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
Case Study – Mick
Mick, 55, had recently been made redundant, having worked for his last employer for 15
years. He had worked as a painter and decorator since leaving school. An appointment was
made for him to attend a new jobseeker interview. At the interview, the adviser established
that, although Mick had never really been unemployed since leaving school, he had always
secured employment through word of mouth, never having to apply for jobs. He was keen
to find work again as a painter and decorator as this was his trade, but was finding it difficult
as he was not used to completing application forms.
The adviser acknowledged Mick’s comments and suggested he fill in a short form to
establish what areas, if any, he was having difficulty with. Mick reluctantly agreed and the
adviser issued the Thinking Ahead Screening Tool to identify Mick’s learning needs.The
adviser asked Mick to fill in the form and once he’d looked at it for a moment, asked if he
had any questions before starting. Mick asked to take the form away.The adviser quickly
explained 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 with
him.The adviser offered to read out the questions for Mick, but he was still reluctant to
complete the form at that time.The adviser then assumed that Mick had a
literacy/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 age
and said he had got this far without needing help.The adviser acknowledged this but picked
up on Mick’s earlier concerns about completing application forms and highlighted how
beneficial he might find help to improve his reading, writing and number skills, stressing it was
never too late to learn and would improve his chances of getting back to work. Mick agreed
because he didn’t want to stay unemployed for any length of time and asked what would be
involved.The adviser explained that a further assessment would help to identify if he would
benefit 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 adviser
made the appointment and also arranged for Mick to come back for a follow-up adviser
interview.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 Mick
had a literacy and numeracy need. At the follow-up interview, the adviser discussed the
results with Mick and outlined the options available, through community learning and early
entry to New Deal 25 Plus. Mick joined New Deal 25 Plus and started on a Basic
Employability Training (BET) course which also attracted an extra £10 per week.
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
72
Examples of alerting tools are included
in Appendix 2. In one tool, for example,
the tasks that the client undertakes are:
• and an opportunity to declare
confidence or lack of it with
appropriate literacy tasks.
• two short answers to demonstrate
reading and appropriate written
response
• a chance to demonstrate
competence in the four number
operations
• a short piece of free writing
It is crucial that this rather basic set of
tasks be contextualised appropriately. If,
for example, it were being used by a
Social Care training agency the
checklist might relate to writing a short
incident report and filling in a time
sheet, while the numeracy task might
relate to doing a client's shopping.
Case study – Piloting the alerting tool in the Prison Service
In the Scottish Prison Service we wanted to introduce an alerting tool, grounded in the
philosophical approach of the social practices model of literacies education, which could
identify whether or not prisoners might benefit from literacies learning. We also wanted to
filter out any prisoners who would not need literacies provision, so that resources could be
concentrated on those who would most benefit from it. We based our alerting tool on the
template produced by the Curriculum Project, adapting it to include feedback from
providers and learners.
The original template was constructed for use with jobseekers, and two main points
emerged in the feedback: the need to contextualise the tool to suit the prison context, and
the importance of accessibility to the reader.These were addressed by redrafting the
questions 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 that
while there was scope for improving the tool, it did do the job – it gave an indication of
need 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 you
save by buying the 2-ounce tin?
This version of the tool is now being piloted and the final version will take account of
feedback from this pilot.
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Guidelines and training on administering
and interpreting the tool would
encourage awareness of the Scottish
approach to literacy and numeracy
learning, and increase staff confidence
in approaching the issue.
Placing tools help to identify the level of
literacy or numeracy learning that is
appropriate for an individual learner.
Such tools can be useful in contexts
such as FE colleges where there is a
need to identify the most appropriate
class for a learner to join. A more
detailed assessment of learning
needs may then be facilitated by the
class tutor.
Two of the most commonly used placing
tools are computerised: the Plato
Diagnostic Core Skills Toolkit and CTAD
Target Skills.
Use of the Plato diagnostic tool in two FE colleges
The 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 at
Intermediate 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 of
students’ levels in Numeracy and Information Technology using the Plato tool. Staff are
confident 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 their
Communication level using the paper-based assessment, as this involves ‘free writing’. Whilst
the Plato tool can assess a student’s ability with regard to spelling and punctuation, staff at
the college consider that these two areas alone are not sufficient to ‘place’ students at the
correct level in Communication.
The student profile which is generated by this diagnostic process is passed on to the
Learning Support team, which then identifies appropriate support.The profile is also passed
to 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 feedback
was 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 by
identification of learner support where required. Again, students respond positively to online
assessment.
In both examples given above, adequate technical assistance needs to be readily available, as
those administering the tests may not be equipped to deal with any problems associated
with the online assessment.
The Plato tool for assessing students’ levels in the Core Skills, Communication, Information
Technology and Numeracy was funded by the Scottish Executive and was made available
free of charge on a CD ROM to all Scottish Further Education Colleges.
:
PLACING TOOLS
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This alerting tool is designed to do just
that, to alert both learner and
interviewer to whether or not a fuller
diagnostic assessment might be useful
or literacy tuition offered. It may not be
appropriate to use it where, say, a client
requests literacy support unprompted.
Moreover, where a client is clearly
uncomfortable with it, help should be
offered or it should be swiftly removed.
3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
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The process of ‘Skills Profiling’ using CTAD Target Skills
A large FE college has been ‘screening’ students to identify levels of literacy and numeracy
for many years.This process has taken many different forms, from paper-based assessments
to face-to-face interviews.The college saw the need to refine their screening process as a
key priority.The Learning Support team along with the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Coordinator felt ICT screening software would perhaps appeal to the younger 16–25-year-old
student cohort who had reacted unfavourably to previous methods of screening.
In August 2003 the college piloted a package created by the Cambridge Training and
Development Agency (CTAD) entitled ‘Target Skills Initial Assessment’ with the summer
intake of entry level students. It assesses learners against standards that are the rest-of-UK
equivalent 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 of
literacy and numeracy levels generated instantly. Responses from students and staff were
extremely favourable and the college continued to use this package with two further
cohorts of students.
After discussion with various members of staff it was decided to change the name of the
screening 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 skills
will 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 many
more are young people who were not regular school attenders, the general perception of
the ALN Skills Profiling process is a positive one. Learners are keen to do well at college on
the various courses on which they are enrolled (ranging from Bricklaying to Basic IT) and
are generally in favour of accessing additional support with their literacy and numeracy in
order to improve their prospects.
Following the two-hour Skills Profiling session in a computer lab, students all experience a
one-to-one interview with a member of the ALN, or Learning Support Teams. During this
time their results are discussed and students can talk openly about their feelings regarding
their ALN skills.
Students who indicate an interest in additional support are invited to attend various literacy
and numeracy groups which run on a weekly basis in the college.The ALN team also offer
integrated support for one session per week per class, where ALN specialists team-teach in
a 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 ALN
tutor, which is based on the highly specific results produced by the Target Skills package
along with information gleaned from the one-to-one interview.
During pre-exit guidance interviews with ALN staff, all learners who engaged in ALN
support admitted that without a timetabled Skills Profiling session and the one-to-one
interview at the start of their course they would never have sought support for their
literacy and numeracy skills.
Undoubtedly the process of ‘screening’ or ‘assessing’ prospective ALN learners has its critics
in the world of literacy and numeracy. However the experience at this FE College has most
certainly been a positive one.
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Some tutors ask a learner to write
something to give them both a chance
to discuss the learner's skills and
knowledge of writing.
:
By this term we mean detailed
discussion with learners to identify their
particular learning needs. In community
learning contexts, diagnostic
assessment is normally conducted
through a one-to-one interaction
between tutor and learner, as an integral
part of the process of individual
learning planning.
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DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT
3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
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 family
a hobby or interest
a TV programme you love or hate
your last holiday?
We can use it to discuss what you want to work on and how you want to go about it.
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
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.
In other circumstances computerised
diagnostic tools can be used although
there are at present none that have
been customised for Scotland. One
diagnostic tool that appears to be quite
useful is the ‘Skills for Life Diagnostic
Tool’, produced by the Department for
Education and Skills. It provides an
electronic assessment tool covering
the English standards from Entry 1 to
Level 2. It has four sections which are
subdivided as follows:
Literacy: Reading, Writing, Speaking
and Listening
Numeracy: Number, Measuring, Space
and Shape, Handling Data
ESOL: Reading, Writing, Speaking and
Listening
Dyslexia Support
The tool comprises graded contextualised
assessment activities that may be
planned and selected by tutor and
learner. The software provides records of
learners’ progress and enables tutors to
track and manage the records.
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3.4 Individual Learning Plans
The Individual Learning Plan should
outline:
• the agreed learning goals
• the steps needed to achieve them
• how progress towards these will be
measured (eg weekly record keeping
and agreed assessment instruments,
usually based on a real-life situation)
Learning plans will vary enormously
depending on how specific or wideranging the learning goals are, the
distance between current capabilities
and desired outcomes and the limitations
of the learner’s own time-scale.
It is important that the learner
understands the purpose of the
learning plan and that it is used
throughout the learning cycle of
planning, learning, reflecting, reviewing
progress against goals and setting new
goals or adapting existing ones. It is
also important that the learner
understands the language on the form.
Individual Learning Plans – group discussion
A tutor introduced learning plans to a group of learners starting a new block of work.Three
of the learners had worked for three months with the tutor and had already completed
learning 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’, and
surrounded by questions – What? Why? Who? How? When? She explained that they were
going to start the session by thinking about Individual Learning Plans – and wanted to find
out 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 members
came up with many of the key points about learning plans (see spider diagram below). In
particular they were quite clear about the importance of identifying a learning goal, so that
they could look back at the end of the block of learning and check on their progress.The
tutor pointed out that she relied on learning plans to keep her focused on what the
learners wanted to do.
Group work for the next couple of weeks concentrated on discussion of some sections of
the learning plan – group and individual goals (which helped learners to look at other
possibilities of learning), different methods of learning, the kinds of resources that they might
bring with them, and their own and their tutor’s responsibilities in the learning and teaching
process. Comments and points were recorded on the flipchart, so that when learners
completed 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 helped
them to complete this part of their learning plan, as well as identifying with the learners
which 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, the
learners had referred several times to their learning plans, and had a clear idea of the cycle
of learning – planning, action, recording and evaluation of work done, leading to further
planning for the next block of work.
:
• the nature of the learning undertaken
(eg group, individual and homework;
preferred learning style)
• suggested activities and resources.
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After initial assessment the next stage is
to work with a tutor to explore current
uses and capabilities, learning styles
and learning goals in more depth. The
culmination of this stage is to jointly
produce an Individual Learning Plan.
The ALNIS report recommends that
‘Individual Learning Plans should
become the standard means of
recognising needs and goals and
developing learning pathways’.
3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
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Piece of paper
we fill in
Says what we
want to do
What?
To have an aim
Why?
So you know if
you’ve done it
To decide what to
do
To keep us on
track
(tutor input: to
keep me on track)
Learning Plan
Who?
Me and tutor
When?
(tutor input)
How?
(tutor input)
Will talk about
some bits as a group
Every six weeks
depending on work
Write it yourselves
or tutor will write
down what you want
you want to say
Other bits fill in
with tutor
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Once we focus on using literacy and
numeracy in adult life, we can see the
importance of recognising the capacity
to use literacy and numeracy as
involving knowledge, skills and
understanding.
Learners work on literacy and numeracy
in order to make changes in their lives.
The tutor and learner need to know how
the learner is using literacy and
numeracy at present. Then they can
identify existing strengths and the
changes that the learner wants to make,
and set realistic and meaningful goals.
An example of a grid that could help a
tutor and learner to think about the
variety of literacy practices in the four
domains of working, private, public and
educational life can be found in
Appendix 3. It might be useful for the
tutor and learner to explore this together
over a number of weeks.
:
Plans used in various contexts are
attached in Appendix 3. It is expected
that providers would adapt these to suit
their particular circumstances.)
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Reading, writing and using number are
not skills adults exercise for their own
sake, but activities firmly rooted in
getting things done in the different roles
we play as private individuals, family
members, citizens, workers and
learners.
NEGOTIATION
Negotiating the ALN curriculum with a
learner is a process, not an event. It will
begin from the first meeting and
continue during the whole time of
contact with him/her. The outcomes of
the negotiation will be recorded in an
Individual Learning Plan. In some
settings, eg in a college communication
drop-in, negotiation will take place at
every meeting, while in others, for
instance an issue-based group, it might
occur every two or three weeks.
It is taken for granted that negotiation
means just that – tutor and learner
discussing what is available for learning
and working towards agreement on how
it will be tackled. Negotiation is not
being told by your tutor what your
problem or even what your level is!
The Individual Learning Plan forms part
of the process of gathering information
and exploring and negotiating a
learning programme. This process
would be expected to take place over
more than one meeting.
The elements of the curriculum that can
be negotiated include:
• the literacy and numeracy skills,
knowledge and understanding which
will be developed
• the context in which they will be
developed
• the goals the individual or group
have set
• the resources which the learner
might use.
What and how the learners want to
learn, and what existing skills, abilities
and experience they bring with them,
are established in the course of
meetings between learner and tutor, and
may be recorded in the Individual
Learning Plan. They might be written by
the learner, scribed by the tutor or
recorded by both on an audio-tape.
(Some examples of Individual Learning
Learners might want to negotiate any or
all of these. For example one may want
to produce a poster for his bowling club,
thinking about its wording and layout
and producing it on a computer. This
would allow him to play his part in his
chosen community. Similarly a college
learner might want to structure a report
and phrase it appropriately for her
Social Care course.
3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
80
A workplace literacy class was provided for staff in a large Housing Department. All five
participants, wardens in council accommodation for the homeless, had a one-to-one interview
to identify areas they would like to work on.These were mainly linked to work-based skills and
the 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 work
covered in one session included: free writing based on a photograph, followed by learners
reading 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 council
document which the group would all need to be able to use in their work.The sharing of a
common job informed the choice of other work such as report writing and form filling.
In integrated literacy and numeracy, the
context strongly influences the choice of
skills, knowledge and understanding to
be covered. So, if learners have joined a
‘Keeping up with the Kids’ course or a
workplace literacy/numeracy course,
expectations have been set about the
context. The content can then be:
• brainstormed and negotiated with
the group
• from that an analysis of the literacy
and numeracy tasks, skills,
knowledge and understanding can
be devised and a group agreement
made about where to start
• individuals can then be given a
chance to indicate which elements of
the work they are happy with and
which they want to work on.
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 the
college's learners) with a standardised cross-college Core Skills Screening in IT, Numeracy
and 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 a
learning plan, based on what they need to learn/do for their courses, eg pass an entry test
for apprenticeships, and areas they want to improve.
I can use the free writing part of the screening paper to discuss anything they want to do
relating 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 time
to do a lengthy one-to-one interview. From discussion about the checklist, we identify
shared priorities and agree a plan for a period of time.
For other learners, where I have the opportunity, I can undertake a more extensive initial
interview similar to what we use in Community Education provision.’
In dedicated literacy, some negotiations
may:
• begin with the outcomes required
and the context of the request (for
example I want to apply for
promotion and be able to deal with
the paper work I shall face)
• move on to the skills, knowledge and
understanding the learners would
need
• prioritise and choose a starting point.
Others may focus much more closely on
a particular task or piece of work such
as a driving licence application or a
college essay. Learner and tutor must
• What sorts of things do you
handwrite?
One of the difficulties with negotiating the
curriculum can be that the learner is not
aware of what is available to be learned
and talks in broad terms of ‘improving my
spelling’ or ‘tidying up my handwriting’.
Such requests need to be skilfully
wrapped in an appropriate context.
Some questions can lead towards a
discussion 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 your
writing – work, family, going on to other
courses, joining local groups?
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?
Often taking part in group work can
broaden an individual’s horizons.
Watching what others are working on
can often stimulate new ideas.
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tease out from there what they need to
tackle and in what order they will do it.
:
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3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
Negotiating a specific goal
At Gordon’s initial interview with an adult literacies provider he said he wanted to brush up on
English and Maths. From a discussion of where he was currently using literacy and numeracy in
his daily life it emerged that he was both confident and competent in his uses of both. His main
aim in coming forward for tuition was to help his grandchildren with their schoolwork. His
granddaughter was now bringing home project work which went beyond the early stages of
reading, 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 by
identifying 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 his
granddaughter was working on. It involved carrying out a survey of the different ways
children and teachers travelled to school and the distance and times of the journeys.The
area that Gordon was unsure of was how to calculate percentages and how to make a
table.The tutor and Gordon talked through what he already knew about percentages and
were able to establish that he had a good working understanding of what the common
percentages meant and how they are used in everyday life, but that he did not have a
method for calculating percentages other than the easiest ones.
They discussed the fact that fractions and percentages were different ways of representing
the same information and how presenting the information in certain ways made it much
easier to understand.
Gordon decided that his first priority was
to learn how to calculate percentages both by using a calculator and by a paper and
pencil method.
Other goals were:
to learn how to put information into a chart
to try using a computer within the class.
Long-term goals might be:
using the computer in the local library
finding out about other courses available locally.
In the first session the tutor and Gordon made a start on some work on percentages and
Gordon took away some examples to practise at home. He undertook to find some
examples of information presented in charts and graphs on a recent traffic survey which
they could discuss at the next session.
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A variation of the literacy log (ie a diary
in which the learner records everything
s/he has read in a specified period) can
throw up issues and is particularly
useful in a group. Learners are invited to
do a ‘quick think’ about what, when and
with whom they have written or read in
the last day or so. This is recorded on a
flipchart. A final column can be used to
note any issues that come up – be they
personal or social issues or literacy
ones. This last column can provide the
context in which the group works.
confidently may identify with his tutor the
need to work on:
SETTING MEASURABLE GOALS
• 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
Long-term goals are often difficult for
learners to articulate. Questions such as
‘Why have you come?’ and ‘What do you
want to learn?’ open up discussion
about learning goals. These can then be
made realistic and measurable by a
process of breaking them into learning
tasks and steps. One way of doing this
is to identify the skills, knowledge and
understanding involved.
The tutor and learner can break each
task into three aspects:
• that of developing certain skills and
technical abilities (eg spelling,
handwriting, mathematical
operations)
• acquiring knowledge about the
appropriate conventions to use (eg
letter layouts, appropriate
vocabulary)
• developing critical understanding of
how and why the literacy is being
used, and for whose purposes (eg
for recording, persuading,
entertaining, influencing).
So, for example, a car mechanic who
wants to fill in his job sheets more
• the skills
- of spelling the parts of the cars
and handwriting legibly in the
limited space allowed by the job
sheet, using both upper and
lower case letters
- measuring and recording time
spent on the task
- using a parts catalogue
- totalling the cost of parts
• understanding of the uses of
literacy, discussing
- how the forms are used to
generate customers’ bills and
mechanics' wage packets
- their significance as evidence in
the case of customer complaints
- their contribution to the public
image of the garage.
They would work on all three aspects at
the same time but break these tasks into
smaller steps and follow the interests of
the learner. So, for example, one session
might include practising the spelling of
‘carburettor’ and discussing how the
work on the carburettor could be
worded on the form. The learner might
practise fitting the wording into the
available space. This might lead on to
discussions of how to describe other
jobs accurately and the reasons for the
importance the garage attaches to this.
Later the learner might choose to fill out
a job sheet accurately on his own within
a certain time limit. This ultimate goal
would be a form of self-assessment.
(See Appendix 3 for completed version
of this learner’s ILP.)
Other examples showing how work
could be linked into SQA’s Core Skills
units can be found in Part 2 Section 1 of
these guidelines, where the skills,
knowledge and understanding are laid
out as spider diagrams. This is a
particularly helpful visual way of
planning as it allows tutor and learner to
see how the curriculum builds
organically.
A GROUP LEARNING PLAN
A Group Learning Plan may be useful in
an integrated literacies group where the
learners’ first priority is not the literacies
learning (for instance a family learning
group, a reminiscence or a newsletter
production group).
Negotiating a Group Learning Plan will,
as in the case of an Individual Learning
Plan, be part of a process:
• the aims, curriculum and activities of
the group might first be negotiated
• from that information the
literacy/numeracy associated with
the proposed activities could
gradually be identified by learners
and tutor and agreed
• the group could negotiate those
areas that they would like to do some
work on/share strategies about
• over time individual
literacy/numeracy goals may be
elicited and worked on
• by the end of the course individuals
may have arrived at the point of
developing their own
literacy/numeracy goals and be
willing and able to express them in
an Individual Learning Plan.
The Group Plan could be photocopied
and given to each learner as a record of
the planning and reviewing process.
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Another session might tackle recording
a 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.
:
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3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
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DATA PROTECTION
The following information on Data
Protection should be regarded as
guidelines only.
An Individual Learning Plan sits
alongside a set of documents for
capturing information needed by the
partnership, including:
• a profile of the learner’s strategies
and confidence in using literacy and
numeracy
• such information (eg about
membership of target groups) as the
partnership may require for their
audit trail
• a proforma for collecting ‘distance
travelled’ information.
These will need to be signed by the
learner and kept securely to comply with
data protection requirements.
Partnerships need to keep personal
data about the learners for auditing and
reporting purposes. This includes name
and address and ‘any information which
relates to a living person who can be
identified from the data’. Some further
information may be ‘of a sensitive
personal nature’. In this latter category
is information relating to:
• racial or ethnic origins
• religious beliefs
• trade union membership
• physical or mental health conditions.
These categories of information are
covered by the Data Protection Act 1998
and need to be kept securely. Learners
need to give their consent to your
processing it and this should include a
discussion 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 a
voluntary organisation sending in
monitoring reports to the partnership) it
must be ‘anonymised’ in a way that
does not allow the learner to be
identified. You may report that you have
seven learners with health problems, or
six in a class run for a particular trades
union, but you may not identify those
learners by name. Unlawful disclosure is
a criminal offence.
For reasons of data protection,
therefore, many agencies keep, for each
student, an Individual Student Record
with vital personal and sensitive data for
audit purposes. This has been agreed
and signed by the learner for data
processing. From this they can extract
and anonymise information to share with
the partnerships. Information about
outcomes of learning (what difference
the learning has made to the learner's
life) needs to be available to the
partnerships so may be recorded on an
ILP, and would also need to be
anonymised before being shared.
Information on learners should only be
kept for a reasonable period of time. For
further advice, please contact the Data
Protection Helpline on 01625 545745.
85
what has worked and what has not
worked for the learner and what has
been enjoyable and useful. Thus, in a
relaxed way they will follow the
experiential learning circle by reflecting
on their experience and planning new
goals and activities in the light of their
conclusions.
Each learner (in an inclusive group) is invited to assess his or her own progress towards the
goals which were identified and noted over the first few weeks of work.Tutors believe that
often at the beginning learners ‘don’t know what they don’t know’ and covertly observe
others to see what is available for learning. After a few weeks they become more able to
articulate what they want to learn. Individual termly reviews are held and new goals set in
discussion. Progress towards, or achievement of, SQA units is particularly valued but so too
is one learner’s comment, ‘I look at the cost of the Cokes now and I said to the wife, “Don’t
buy that one. It’s not worth it!”
A couple for whom English is an additional language had as their immediate goal, to
understand 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. These
learners assessed their own progress outside the learning programme – when they could
do 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 making
appointments at the surgery by telephone, which he could now do without difficulty. The
tutor working with these learners recognises the importance of tackling immediate urgent
needs, but is also working with them on language acquisition in broader areas.
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At an appropriate point in the learning
programme, learner and tutor will need
to set aside time to discuss how the
learning is going. They will want to look
over the work they have done, discuss
what progress has been made towards
the initial goal and what still needs to be
done. Perhaps they will set a new goal
but certainly they will want to discuss
:
3.5 Ongoing review and formative assessment
3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
86
When reviewing, tutor and learner may
look over learner’s ILP to:
• remind themselves of the learner’s
contexts and motivations which have
driven the work
• look again at the goals the learner set
• discuss the work done towards these
goals.
They can reflect on the learning that
has 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 how
the learner knows this
• looking through recorded work which
evidences this and/or
• asking the learner to demonstrate a
skill on which he/she has been
working, eg reading and carrying out
instructions
• asking what difference the learning
has made in the learner’s private life
(including education and training),
family life, community life and
working life
• discussing what is left to be done to
achieve the goal.
Then they will plan the next steps by
discussing:
• 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.
A group of learners in a sheltered workshop in Glasgow had completed an accredited
literacies course and were conducting their review.They had been granted further training
time by their employers and were keen to continue working on their literacies at the same
time 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 and
disabilities. After this first publication they joined an initiative run by the National Library of
Scotland and a national newspaper to learn more sophisticated design and editing skills. For
this they had to travel through to attend workshops in Edinburgh.
The whole process can be a mix of
group discussions, paired work and
individual writing. Flipcharts or laptops
with data projectors can be used to
record group discussions, while
individuals’ comments might be noted
on their ILPs, checklists, worksheets or
post-its on wall-posters.
One tutor divides an A4 sheet into four. In a circle in the centre she writes the learner’s
goals. Each quarter is headed with one of the domains: private, community, work or family
life. All the work done, all the differences noted and all the plans made are noted down
under one of the domains.This keeps the work focused on the learner’s goals and contexts.
87
:
support, the next steps open to them.
Many ILPs have space for recording
ongoing reviews but other providers
suggest a sheet with headings like
‘Work done’, ‘Changes in using
literacies’ and ‘What next?’. These can
be used, dated and stapled onto the ILP.
In one rural area assessment is focused strongly on learners’ self reporting on the difference
literacy learning is making in their lives outside the learning programme.Tests are not used at
present, but certification opportunities may be developed for young learners. One-to-one
learners meet with a co-ordinator every three or four months to review progress both in
and out of class. Using the Individual Learning Plans structure, learners discuss whether their
stated goals are still relevant and whether barriers or support needs have changed. Potential
solutions and new aims are explored.Then the learner is asked what differences the learning
is 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 group
the subject matter they have tackled and lead into an evaluation of the group’s work.
Where a learner is aiming for
certification, the formative assessment
process should be similar to the
summative assessment process so that
the learner becomes comfortable with
the assessment process. Indeed,
frequently – for example, where
summative assessment is based on a
portfolio of evidence created by the
learner – the same tasks may be used
for both formative and summative
purposes, ie to assist the learning
process and to recognise the attainment
of learning goals. However, in a learning
programme leading to certification, the
tutor would need to ensure that the work
was the result of the learner’s own
unaided efforts.
How often such reviews take place may
be decided when the ILP is being
negotiated, but they may be about every
two to three months or once a term in
more formal programmes of learning.
At the same time tutor and learner may
decide on the way in which progress
will be assessed. This may be by
consideration of a portfolio of the
learner’s work over the previous few
weeks or the learner may want to carry
out a specific task for the review (eg a
formal letter to a council or newspaper,
or explaining what changes a chart on
unemployment rates shows). Whatever
form of assessment is agreed,
assessment should always take place in
a context familiar to the learner and be
relevant to his/her needs and
experience. Since the review will cover
progress not only in the acquisition of
new skills but also in how well s/he is
able to apply them in real life outside
the ‘safe’ context of the teaching
setting, self-assessment will always
be a part of the review.
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It is never too early to talk about longterm goals, note down what the learner
might want to do next and where
appropriate opportunities can be found.
Experience suggests that adults may
leave literacy provision before exit
guidance can be arranged thus losing
the opportunities to explore, with
3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
89
3.6 Progress indicators
The Core Skills Framework defines
broad levels of progression in
communication and numeracy against
national standards and the National
Units derived from it are useful for those
who want formal accreditation of their
progress. It is not sufficiently finegrained, though, to be used for
identifying the small steps in progress
which are important and meaningful to
many ALN learners. This could be done
by using a method of recording – a
framework of progress indicators – that
notes not only any new skills and
knowledge but the resultant changes in
learners’ lives. Such a framework could
show how learners are increasingly able
to apply their new knowledge and skills
independently in a range of contexts
and transfer them confidently to new
situations.
Many tutors and learners may already
have identified the particular factors
they look at in discussing how learning
is going and may have worked out their
own method of noting them. The areas
they discuss probably include:
• the growth in skills, knowledge and
understanding
The matrix ‘Read with Understanding’
contained in Appendix 5 represents an
example of a first attempt at developing
a framework for recording progress. It
focuses on skills, knowledge and
understanding in the area of reading
with understanding. In using such a
matrix with learners it is important to
remember that skills, knowledge and
understanding would not be assessed
in isolation but only in a context which is
relevant to the learners’ needs and
goals. Some learners have a ‘spiky’
profile, so you may need to look at more
than one level to record their learning. It
could be a useful tool in helping to
identify gaps in a learner’s knowledge,
for example, someone who reads fairly
well may want to practise skimming text
in preparation for college. When wanting
to record smaller steps in progress, it
would be possible to sub-divide each
level by looking at the gradual increase
in proficiency in carrying out tasks. To
help do this, a range of progress
indicators could be developed which
reflected the increasing ease or fluency,
consistency and independence with
which each task is carried out and the
ability of learners to transfer their new
skills and knowledge to a range of new
situations.
Although the underlying purpose of
such a framework of progress indicators
is not formal certification, it would
facilitate this type of progression for
those learners who have identified
certification as one of their learning
goals.
:
• how easily new skills and knowledge
can be applied without reference to
the tutor
• how well they can be transferred to
new situations in real life outside ‘the
classroom’.
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One of the main purposes of review
and formative assessment is to let
learners and tutors know how learning
is progressing towards meeting the
goals identified at the beginning of the
programme. Sometimes learners feel
they are getting stuck and it is
reassuring – and motivating – for them
to be able to look back over past review
meetings to see that they have actually
moved on from their starting point. In
order to do this there needs to be some
way of recording the outcome of each
discussion and of the assessment,
whatever form it takes. The ALNIS report
recommends that the ILP, owned by the
learner, is where progress should be
recorded.
3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
91
Summative assessment is intended to
show that learners have met their
learning goals or completed a course of
study and reached a certain standard of
performance. Where the learner and
tutor have been regularly reviewing
progress against the learning goals,
summative assessment will normally be
a natural culmination of the learning
process, rather than a separate ‘event’.
Learner and tutor will agree – based on
work produced by the learner – that the
learning goals have now been met.
Even where the learner is aiming for
certification, summative assessment
may simply be a process in which the
tutor reviews a portfolio of work
produced by the learner to confirm that
it meets the required learning outcomes.
This would be the case for Core Skills
Communication assessment, for
example.
This opens up certain possibilities for
learners who may not have wanted to
seek certification at the outset of their
learning programme but subsequently
develop an interest in the idea. In
Appendices 6 and 7, there are
examples of literacy and numeracy
tasks completed by learners following
an uncertificated learning programme
that have been subsequently assessed
against the Core Skills framework.
Many learners are interested solely in
their own learning goals and regard
certification as unnecessary. However,
access to certification should be open
to all those who want it at whatever
stage they make that decision. The
development in Scotland of a set of
progress indicators supported by an
extensive programme of staff
development would enable tutors to
help learners assess themselves against
Core Skills outcomes and to consider
whether they wished to present their
work for certification.
Two FE colleges working together have developed a model of provision which aims to
improve 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 Skills
specialists teach learners the underpinning knowledge of the Core Skills. Learners then
gather 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 promotion
scheme; this is assessed in terms of oral communication; the written version is also assessed
for communication; the written version is word processed to fulfil one of the IT
assessments. Costing the health promotion scheme can provide assessment evidence for
numeracy.
Learners on a jewellery production course present their designs to a panel (made up of
fellow learners) for selection of the artefact for an exhibition.This covers oral
communication (both individual and group). A written version of the presentation can cover
written communication and IT assessments. Costing the making of the product can evidence
numeracy.
The advantage of this method is that it gives more control of the assessment evidence to
the learner. It also lessens the assessment load and promotes the core skills of
communication, numeracy and IT by making the learners more aware of the transferability
of these skills.
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SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
:
3.7 Summative assessment, review and evaluation
3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
92
EXIT REVIEWS
Good exit reviewing offers learners an
opportunity to leave provision with new
goals and knowing where and how they
can work towards them. If there is time,
visits, open days and speakers might
provide further information and boost
the learner's confidence to take the next
steps. Recording these suggestions and
contact details in their ILP creates a
useful reference document for them for
whenever they choose to take these
steps.
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 the
sort of writing and numeracy she needs for her work as well as researching dementia (a
common problem for her clients). Doing this she had achieved SQA Core Skills
Communication at Intermediate1. However, M told her tutor at their exit interview, she did
not want to stop there.
She knew she had to get her SVQ2 Care for her work with the council and wanted to find
out how she could do this in work time. Starting Points had also introduced her to writing
and researching with the computer and she wanted to go on with this. Finally, reading
continued 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 the
selection procedures for the work-based SVQ (an issue for them all) and give out
information and application forms. M and the tutor studied the community information
leaflet and found an evening ‘Computing for the Terrified’ course at a community centre
near her.The tutor made contact with the local college which provides SVQs and got
details of the Student Support's dyslexia services. All these details were noted on the ‘Next
Steps’ part of the ILP together with the provider's own contact details. As M said, this was
‘Just in case!’
MOVING ON
Reviews should develop learners’
confidence in transferring their learning
to new roles and contexts by fostering a
lifelong learning approach. If learners
wish to go on to do more learning it is
also important that they know about the
links with other learning opportunities
and that there are good pathways for
them that make the transfer easy.
Moving on might mean a variety of
things:
• moving to a new learning
environment in a different sector, to
an FE course perhaps, or a family
literacy group
• moving from a formal learning
environment to maintaining and using
literacies in a community or activist
group
• moving the focus or domain of
learning, for instance from the private
to workplace learning by undertaking
training at work
• changing the mode of learning from
one-to-one to a group or to self-study
• moving from a dedicated literacies
group to integrated literacies, using
literacies in pursuit of other learning.
Or, vice versa, attending a dedicated
literacies group to work on some
particular skill or knowledge
• choosing to spend time acquiring
accreditation for learning or
exploring other options with, say,
Careers Scotland or on an Options
and Choices course
• moving on to working on new (to
them) forms of literacies like IT,
numeracy, texting or multimedia.
93
Using ILPs to challenge learners
One provider carries out reviews with learners who have been attending for over two
years.They discuss and record what they have been learning as for any ongoing review. But
crucially they also talk about changes the learner can identify in the way they are using or
wish to use literacies in their lives as a result of their learning. If they can identify no changes
and appear to have no further learning goals, then the tutor will suggest that the learner’s
literacies learning might be complete for the moment.This suggestion is accompanied by an
offer of opportunities for further literacies learning in future if the learner’s circumstances
change. Researching and recording other appropriate opportunities become the focus of
the final ‘Moving on’ sessions.
EVALUATION
The provider will also want to ask the
learner’s views on the provision. For
instance in the workplace provision they
may want to discuss:
• the appropriateness of the timing,
venue and length of the course
• their experience of the arrangements
for recruitment and release for the
course
• how a learner would describe the
course to their workmates and what
changes they would suggest
:
to stay, unchallenged, in long-term
provision. Exit reviews that focus on
outcomes can challenge long-term
learners to move on with their learning.
ICE
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Roll-on roll-off literacy provision has
been common in Scotland. This
provides easy and prompt access for
many learners but it can also allow them
3.
Individual Learning Planning
3.1 The process of individual
learning planning
3.2 Initial discussion and
assessment
3.3 Tools and tasks for initial
assessment
3.4 Individual learning plans
3.5 Ongoing review and formative
assessment
3.6 Progress indicators
• what they want fed back to their
employers and others about their
learning.
College and community providers will
have similar issues to discuss with their
learners and will, no doubt, want to
involve them in their organisation’s
quality and self-evaluation processes for
the partnership.
When learners want to move on, their progress is documented in a ‘Moving On’ form.This
form documents positive changes, distance travelled and continuing learning and support
needs. Using this, a learner can speak for him- or herself to a prospective college tutor or
employer.
3.7 Summative assessment, review
and evaluation
95
Barton, D. (2002) A social practice view
of language, literacy and numeracy,
http://www.education.ed.ac.uk/hce/ABEseminars/index.html
Beder, H. (1999) The Outcomes and
Impacts of Adult Literacy Education in
the 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 Academy
Press.
Bruner, J. (1986) Actual minds, possible
worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
Comings, J., Parrella, A and Soricone, L.
(1999) Persistence among adult basic
education students in pre-GED classes.
NCSALL Reports # 12. Cambridge, MA:
The National Center for the Study of
Adult Learning and Literacy.
Comings, J., Parrella, A and Soricone, L.
(2000) ‘Helping adults persist: four
supports’, Focus on Basics, 4(A), 1-6.
Crowther, J. Hamilton, M. and Tett, L.
(2001) Powerful Literacies. Leicester:
NIACE.
Daniels, D. (2001) Vygotsky and
Pedagogy. London: Routledge Falmer.
Gillespie, M. K. (2002a) ‘EFF Research
Principle: A purposeful and transparent
approach to teaching and learning’, EFF
Research to Practice Note 1.
Washington DC: National Institute for
Literacy.
Gillespie, M. K. (2002b) ‘EFF Research
Principle: An approach to teaching and
learning that builds expertise’, EFF
Research to Practice Note 2.
Washington DC: National Institute for
Literacy.
Gillespie, M. K. (2002c) ‘EFF Research
Principle: A contextualised approach to
curriculum and instruction’, EFF
Research to Practice Note 3.
Washington DC: National Institute for
Literacy.
Gillespie, M. and Nash, A. (2002) The
EFF Teaching and Learning Tool Kit.
DRAFT 1, October 2 2002. Knoxville,
TN: EFF National Center and
Assessment Consortium.
Glaser, R. (1992) ‘Expert knowledge and
processes of thinking’ in D.F. Halpern
(Ed.) Enhancing thinking skills in the
sciences and mathematics. Hillsdale,
NJ: Erlbaum.
Greeno, J.G., Resnick, L. B. and Collins,
A.M. (1997) ‘Cognition and learning’ in
D. Berliner and R. Calfee (Eds),
Handbook of Educational Psychology.
New York: Simon and Schuster
Macmillan.
Illeris, K. (2004) The three dimensions of
learning. Leicester: NIACE.
Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) Situated
Learning: Legitimate Peripheral
Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Merrifield, J. (2000) Equipped for the
Future research report: Building the
Framework, 1993-1997. Washington DC:
National Institute for Literacy.
REFER
E
References
CE
N
S
96
Stites, R. (2002) Assessing results that
matter: Equipped for the Future’s
Approach to Assessment for Adult Basic
Education Accountability and
Improvement. Washington DC: National
Institute for Literacy.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1986) Thought and
Language, A. Kozulin (ed. and trans.),
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of
Practice: Learning, Meaning and
Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
APPENDICES
AP
P
IC
D
EN
ES
99
Appendix 1
use ICT to
communicate
information
reflect and evaluate
learn through
research
read with
understanding
plan
speak so others
can understand
WORKING ON A
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
write to convey
information, ideas
and feelings
listen/observe
effectively
resolve conflict and
negotiate
work with others
apply numerical
skills to solve
problems
understand and
apply numerical
skills
communicate
numerical information
solve problems and
make decisions
interpret numerical
information
100
work with others
reflect and evaluate
conventions – not
interrupting
identifying
key points
UNDERSTANDING
co-operate with
others
LISTEN/OBSERVE
EFFECTIVELY
KNOWLEDGE
importance of what
has been missed out
solve problems and
make decisions
resolve conflict
and negotiate
SKILLS
active listening
awareness of
own body
language
interpreting
non-verbal
language
101
use ICT to
communicate
information
effect of minutes
beyond immediate
group
use ICT to learn and
practice skills
effect of
including/leaving out
information
purpose of various
written documents
agenda –
entitlement to ask
for items to be
included
critical awareness
of language
UNDERSTANDING
weight of
decisions taken
and importance of
accurate
recording
co-operate with
others
audience for
various pieces of
writing
WRITE TO CONVEY
INFORMATION, IDEAS AND
FEELINGS
possible influence
and vested interests
of other committee
members
local structures –
relevant important
contacts
KNOWLEDGE
conventions of different
genres – letters, emails,
agenda, minutes, publicity
materials
audience for various
written documents
plan
using punctuation
proofreading
spelling
SKILLS
wordprocessing
editing
using email
drafting
planning writing
note taking
102
solve
problems and make
decisions
resolve
conflict and
negotiate
use ICT to
manage
information
specialised
vocabulary,
abbreviations
reading minutes,
letters, notices etc
using internet
READ WITH
UNDERSTANDING
SKILLS
using email
where to get
further information
dictionary skills
KNOWLEDGE
decoding
that committee
members can ask for
amendments to be made
to minutes
skimming, scanning,
close reading
use ICT
to learn and
practise skills
conventions of
minutes
learn
through
research
significance as
a record, read by
people who weren’t
there
whose view is really
represented?
UNDERSTANDING
that minutes are a
selective account of
proceedings
read between the lines –
what is missed out? which
items on agenda are
recorded in most detail?
that minutes can
be used as proof of
decision making, can
carry weight
hierarchy and power
relations within committee
and with outside groups
and individuals
103
resolve conflict and
negotiate
co-operate with
others
similar numerical
information can be
presented in a variety of
ways (pie charts, tables,
bar graphs etc.)
ICT
SKILLS
solve problems and
make decisions
COMMUNICATE NUMERICAL
INFORMATION
KNOWLEDGE
conventions of the
organisation in relation to
the presentation of
financial and statistical
information
presentation of
statistical and
financial
information
plan
reflect and evaluate
UNDERSTANDING
purposes of different
ways of presenting
numerical information
judgements about
appropriateness of
numerical information for
different audiences (eg
funders, community,
media etc)
how financial/statistical
information may be used by
different readers
104
solve
problems and make
decisions
plan
using a calculator
different methods
of performing
calculations
performing
calculations using
the four operations
(+, -, x and ÷)
importance of a
problem solving
approach in
contextualised
numeracy
SKILLS
UNDERSTAND AND APPLY
NUMERICAL SKILLS
reading, and
sometimes
producing, charts,
graphs and tables
KNOWLEDGE
vocabulary of
operations eg use of
different terms for
subtraction (less, minus,
take away etc.)
performing
percentage, fraction,
decimal, averages,
ratio and proportion
calculations
select appropriate
calculations and
appropriate order of
calculations
develop
confidence in
numeracy
UNDERSTANDING
make connections
and, where appropriate,
conversions between
different aspects of
numeracy (eg
percentages, decimals
and fractions)
when it is appropriate to
estimate and when to be
exact
105
use ICT to
communicate
information
use ICT to manage
information
plan
reading
spreadsheets, cash
flow projections,
income and
expenditure data
using a variety of
numerical skills (four
operations,
percentages etc)
conventions in
relation to the
presentation of
financial
information
conventions in
relation to the
presentation of
statistical
information
reading statistical
information
SKILLS
APPLY NUMERICAL SKILLS TO
SOLVE PROBLEMS
solve problems and
make decisions
knowledge of
financial context eg
funding
KNOWLEDGE
reflect and evaluate
resolve conflict and
negotiate
co-operate with
others
UNDERSTANDING
evaluating solutions
making use of
statistical information
to inform appropriate
management
decisions
making use of
financial information
to inform appropriate
management
decisions
identifying and
analysing problems
106
solve problems and
make decisions
reflect and evaluate
information
collected by
organisation in
relation to targets
and outputs
read statistical
information
budget of
organisation
SKILLS
INTERPRET NUMERICAL
INFORMATION
specialist
vocabulary of
financial and
statistical
information
KNOWLEDGE
conventions in relation
to presentation of financial
and statistical information
read financial
information
UNDERSTANDING
critically interpret
information to inform
decision-making
identify what is missing
from numerical
information
identification and
analysis of implications
of data
107
resolve conflict and
negotiate
plan
co-operate with
others
relationship of
management
committee to
organisation
keeping to the
point being
discussed
power relations
within group
SKILLS
SPEAK SO OTHERS CAN
UNDERSTAND
UNDERSTANDING
relationship of group
members to other
groups/structures
organising ideas
and communicating
them clearly and
concisely
solve problems and
make decisions
work with others
responsibilities of
management
committee
KNOWLEDGE
use of appropriate
language
vocabulary specific
to context
conventions depending
on formality of group eg
addressing remarks
through the chair
subject matter of activity
which is being managed
109
ALERTING TOOLS
Some institutions, like Jobcentre Plus
and prisons, are keen to offer literacy
and numeracy tuition to their clients. But
they need to target their offer
appropriately!
For them an alerting tool designed for
use with those who have no formal
qualifications can be helpful. The idea is
to open the discussion with the learner
about their uses of literacy and
numeracy and at the same time to give
them an opportunity both to
demonstrate what they can do and to
speak about what they can’t. There is no
sense in which it is a ‘test’ or a pass-orfail scenario nor will it offer any
indication of Core Skills levels.
The example below shows examples of
tasks which a client can be set:
• two short answers to demonstrate
reading and appropriate written
response
• a chance to demonstrate
competence in the four number
operations
• a short piece of free writing
• and an opportunity to declare
confidence, or lack of it, with
appropriate literacy and numeracy
tasks.
It is crucial that this rather crude set
of tasks be contextualised
appropriately. So, if it is being used by
a Social Care training agency, the
checklist might relate to writing a short
incident report and filling in a time
sheet, while the numeracy task might
relate to doing a client's shopping.
This alerting tool is designed to do just
that: to alert both learner and
interviewer to whether or not a fuller
diagnostic assessment or an offer of
literacy and/or numeracy tuition might
be appropriate. It may not be
appropriate to use it where, say, a client
requests literacy support unprompted.
Moreover, where a client is clearly
uncomfortable with it, help should be
offered or it should be swiftly removed.
Guidelines and training on administering
and interpreting the tool would
encourage awareness of the Scottish
approach to literacy and numeracy
learning, and increase staff confidence
in approaching the issue.
APPEN
D
Appendix 2
IX
2
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
110
Appendix 2a Alerting Tool template
DRAFT
NAME:____________________________
THINKING AHEAD
NINO: _________DATE: _____________
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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
HAVE A GO
1.
2.
3.
4.
Bus fares to a job are 90p each way. How much would it cost there and
back each day?
If you worked for 5 days how much would your fares be for the week?
How much would you save if you bought a 4-week ticket for £32.00?
The job pays £680 for a period of 4 weeks. How much would you earn each
week?
WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT?
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 back
of this sheet.
111
DRAFT
APPEN
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Appendix 2a Alerting Tool template
NAME:____________________________
IX
2
THINKING AHEAD
NINO: _________DATE: _____________
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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?
Two short answer questions to
demonstrate reading and appropriate
written response
Self-report of literacy and numeracy
skills and confidence. The tasks
should be appropriate to the context
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
HAVE A GO
1.
2.
3.
4.
Bus fares to a job are 90p each way. How much would it cost there and
back each day?
If you worked for 5 days how much would your fares be for the week?
How much would you save if you bought a 4 week ticket for £32.00?
The job pays £680 for a period of 4 weeks. How much would you earn each
week?
WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT?
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 back of this sheet.
Using simple number skills in an
appropriate topic
A short piece of free writing on an
appropriate topic
An ‘alerting’ tool, provided it is adapted to an appropriate context, can start a
conversation 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.
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
112
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 something
you are interested in. For example, sport, fashion, food, music, films or TV.
What things are you good at –
Please tick box
Yes
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
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?
Answer
No
I sometimes struggle
113
Appendix 2c
APPEN
D
SKILLS PROFILING (FOR USE IN THE WORKPLACE)
You can use a calculator to answer these if you want to
IX
2
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 your
4-week ticket. How much would this be?
5. You and 2 friends decide it would be better to car share. The total 4-weekly
cost 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 in
mileage?
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
114
Appendix 2c (The questions that follow are used as the basis of discussion. It is
not 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: ____________________________
115
APPEN
D
Appendix 2c (The questions that follow are used as the basis of discussion. It is
not intended that the learner completes them as a questionnaire.)
SKILLS PROFILING (FOR USE IN THE WORKPLACE)
GENERAL
What are you good at/do you like to do?
How about at work?
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
Why did you decide to do this course?
READING
How 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)
WRITING
How 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?
2
1.
Do you have a goal/something you’ve always wanted to do?
What do you hope to learn from it?
IX
116
NUMBERS
How 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:
• 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?
Very
Fairly
Not at all
Learner name: ___________________
Tutor name: _______________________
Signature: _______________________
Signature: _________________________
117
Appendix 3
Also included are some examples of information given to learners when they join
provision. The collection includes:
INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLANS
1a
1b
1c
2a
2b
3a
3b
4a
4b
dedicated ongoing (1)
an ILP for dedicated literacy and numeracy work: a single sheet which can
be tackled each term. A review/evaluation sheet is included.
labelled version
example of completed ILP
dedicated ongoing (2)
an ILP for dedicated literacy and numeracy work which allows more
background detail to be recorded
labelled version
integrated/dedicated short course
an ILP and Learning Plan Review for a short course – integrated or
dedicated
labelled version
integrated/dedicated short course with identified options
an ILP for integrated literacies learners where the group may have negotiated
some literacies learning options – eg for the production of a newsletter
labelled version
GROUP LEARNING PLAN
5a
5b
5c
integrated Group Learning Plan
a Group Learning Plan for integrated literacies.
labelled version
example of completed Group Learning Plan
OTHER INFORMATION
6
7
8
9
10
an example of some questions that may be asked during initial meetings with
learners to identify the learner’s strategies and confidence in using
literacy/numeracy.
an example of an initial personal interview in the FE context, for use with
learners from the workplace.
Who does what?
an information sheet for use with learners on their rights and responsibilities.
Information for students
an example of an information sheet given to new learners.
Literacies practices grid
APPEN
D
Attached is a collection of Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) which have been
developed 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 to
show how it includes the significant features of an ILP. Tutors may wish to adapt
these to suit their own context.
IX
3
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
118
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, 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…?
Review date for this plan: _____________
119
APPEN
D
REVIEW/EVALUATION SHEET
Name: _____________________________ Date: ________
IX
3
What was your goal this term?
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
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 learning
for you?
What did you not enjoy?
What would you like to do next?
120
Appendix 1b: dedicated ongoing (1)
LEARNING PLAN
Details of place/time
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)
learner’s contexts and goals
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?
sets measurable goals
identifies learner’s existing strengths
helps tutor to focus on individual’s
learning goals
reminder of what learning will involve
How will I work on this? (methods)
how the learner wants to learn
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…?
Review date for this plan: _____________
assessment
carries forward to review sheet –
written record of ongoing reviews
121
Name __________
Date _________
What was your goal this term?
recorded in learner’s own words
where possible
IX
3
refers to learning plan
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…?)
identifies new uses of
literacy/numeracy outside group
How do you know that you can do it?
assessment
What did you enjoy about your work
this term? What was a good way of
learning for you?
encourages reflective learning
What did you not enjoy?
What would you like to do next?
APPEN
D
REVIEW/EVALUATION SHEET
ongoing planning
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
122
Appendix 1c: dedicated ongoing completed
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)
To finish apprenticeship — to be able to do paperwork confidently, without
getting laughed at by my workmates
My goal(s) for this term: What do I want to be able to do at home, at work, at
college…?
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 on
the form.
What steps do I need to take?
Think about what I need to write on form. Spelling — talk about different
ways of remembering. Find examples of correctly spelled words
Try out spellchecker. Handwriting — practise upper and lower case
Learn when to use them
How will I work on this? (methods)
Use examples from forms at work. Collect spellings in notebook to keep with
me. Look at manuals etc to get words
Worksheets. Practise work on capitals from last term
My responsibilities:
Bring in exact form from work, that I need to fill in
Check how other mechanics talk about and record jobs. Find out what
happens to job sheets
Tutor’s responsibilities:
Think about planning variety of activities for each piece of learning
Suggest new/different ways of doing things
Liaise 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 do
at 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.
Review date for this plan: _____________
123
APPEN
D
REVIEW/EVALUATION SHEET
Name _____________________________ Date
IX
3
What was your goal this term?
To be able to fill in a job sheet for a car I have worked on without help
What have you worked on this term? (check on your record sheets)
Working out what I’ll put
Keeping writing short
Spelling — how to remember words
Handwriting
Using capitals in the right place
Fitting 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 a
bit better too.
How do you know that you can do it?
I filled a job sheet in the group, then I did one at work, but it took quite a
long time.
What did you enjoy about your work this term? What was a good way of learning
for 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 know
more about what goes on in the garage.
What did you not enjoy?
Handwriting worksheets were boring, but I think my writing is getting
better.
What would you like to do next?
Fill in job sheet a bit quicker. Read motor magazines.
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
124
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:
125
APPEN
D
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______________________________
IX
3
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
126
Appendix 2b: dedicated ongoing (2) – contains more background information than (1)
INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLAN
Name_____________________________
Group____________________________
Tutor_________________________________
Long-term aims – I would like to:
records learner’s contexts/goals
Strengths – I am good at:
initial discussions about learning
I would like to improve:
Is there anything that will get in the
way of learning (eg health, childcare,
transport)?
sets measurable goals
Setting goals – in __ weeks I would
like to:
127
APPEN
D
Action plan – we will do this by:
how the learner wants to learn
IX
3
reminder for learner of what learning
will involve
Review
I have enjoyed:
encourages reflective learning
I have not enjoyed:
I can now:
What I want to do next:
ongoing planning
Signed_______________ Tutor___________________ Date_______________________
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
128
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 to
look 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_________________________________
129
APPEN
D
LEARNING PLAN REVIEW
1. What have you gained from doing this course?
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
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_________________________________
ES
IC
130
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 to
look 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?
what learner wants to learn
2. What reading/writing/number skills
would you like to improve on this
course?
3. Why?
learner’s contexts and motivation
4. How will you do this?
How learner wants to learn
5. What would you like to achieve by
the end of the course?
measurable goals so that progress
can be assessed
Signed___________________________
Date_________________________________
131
APPEN
D
LEARNING PLAN REVIEW
1. What have you gained from doing
this course?
IX
3
learner’s goals
2. What reading/writing/number skills
did you want to improve on this
course?
assessment in relation to goals
3. Have they improved?
Give some details.
4. What difference will this make
to you?
identifies new uses of
literacy/numeracy outside group
5. What will you do now?
ongoing planning
Signed___________________________
Date_________________________________
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
132
Appendix 4a: Integrated / dedicated short course with identified options
INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLAN
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:
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 – succinctly
learn how to condense and
summarise information
Organise – layout/design,
present information,
insert graphics and images
use basic IT soft/hardware
I came to this group because:
My long-term goal is:
Happy
with this
Need to
practise
Not
interested in
133
APPEN
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HALFWAY REVIEW date:_________________________________________________
So far I like
I did not like
I would like to
know more, or do more on:
Notes and comments:
FINAL REVIEW date: ______________________________________________________
Something I have learned now
Strengths
When I write it helps if:
When I read it helps if:
What I want to do now:
Next steps and contacts:
IX
3
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
134
Appendix 4b: Integrated / dedicated short course with identified options
INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLAN
Name:
___________
Tel no: ________
Address: ____________________________
Course name _______________________
Course aims
Dates: _____________
reminder of what learning will involve
Time: _________
Place: ______________________________
details of time and place of provision
Course contact: _____________________
Notes: Is there anything which could
get in the way of your learning? (eg
health or transport problems)
reminder of what
learning will involve
records what learner
wants to learn
In this group we will:
Happy
with this
helps tutor to focus on
individual’s learning goals
Need to
practise
Not
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 – succinctly
learn how to condense and
summarise information
Organise – layout/design,
present information,
insert graphics and images
use basic IT soft/hardware
I came to this group because:
My long-term goal is:
recording learner’s contexts and
goals
135
APPEN
D
HALFWAY REVIEW date:___________
So far I like
I did not like
encourages reflective learning
I would like to
know more, or do more on:
Notes and comments:
FINAL REVIEW date: ________________
Something I have learned now
Something I can do now
review
Strengths
When I write it helps if:
When I read it helps if:
What I want to do now:
ongoing planning
Next steps and contacts:
IX
3
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
136
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 health
or transport problems)
In this group we will discuss:
137
APPEN
D
Together we will
Read:
Write:
Look at:
Individuals might:
At the end of the group we might:
IX
3
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
138
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
139
APPEN
D
FINAL REVIEW (date)______________________________________________________
Something we’ve enjoyed
When we read it helps if:
What we want to do next:
Other comments:
3
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
Something we have learned (or brushed up on)
Strengths:
When we write it helps if:
IX
140
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)
details of time, place etc
possible issues of access
In this group we will discuss:
Together we will
focused on literacy/numeracy/other
content
Read:
Write:
reminder of what learning will involve
Look at
helps tutor to focus on goals
Individuals might:
introduction of learning goals
At the end of the group we might:
141
recorded in learner’s own words
where possible
APPEN
D
HALFWAY REVIEW (date)__________
So far we have enjoyed
IX
3
feedback to tutor
We have not enjoyed
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
We would like to do more on
We would like to learn how to
goal setting derived gradually by
discussion
We would like to brush up on
FINAL REVIEW (date)_______________
records work of 3 hour/30 hour
learner
Something we’ve enjoyed
Something we have learnt
(or brushed up on)
encourages reflective learning
Strengths
When we write it helps if:
When we read it helps if:
What we want to do next:
ongoing planning
Other comments:
142
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 W
Betty H
John S
Norman G
Isa 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 health
or 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).
143
APPEN
D
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 it
Shopping, what we ate, wartime rationing
What our mothers told us about food
Special meals
IX
3
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
Together we will
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
Read:
Stories from other reminiscence groups
Read and edit our own stories — both written and scribed
Menus
Bits from wartime food advice
A map of fifties Edinburgh
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
Write:
Our own stories
Words of songs we remember
Menus we remember
Permission forms and information to go with our photos
Look at:
The wartime exhibition at _____ museum
The 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 and
John)
Enter their own stories on a laptop
Edit 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 for
the Open Day.
144
HALF-WAY REVIEW (date)_________________________________________________
So far we have enjoyed
Some of the discussions
Keeping your brain working
We have not enjoyed
When someone talks too much
When the print is too small on maps
We would like to do more on
Reading others’ stories and agreeing or disagreeing with them
Looking at old photos and adding our stories to them
We would like to learn how to
Use the computer to write our stories
Use the tape recorder
We would like to brush up on
How to remember names and stories when you want to!
145
APPEN
D
FINAL REVIEW (date)_____________________________________________________
Something we’ve enjoyed
IX
3
talking together
seeing the book we made
Something we have learned (or brushed up on)
finding spellings of street names on maps
official forms (eg photo release forms)
what goes into making a book
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
Strengths
When we write it helps if we:
talk first
are reminded of what we said
think how to put it
When we read it helps if we:
have good size print
read it with someone first
What we want to do next:
an exhibition
something about songs
Other comments:
Some families helped too. It was difficult if you didn’t have any photos.
146
6: Examples of questions to identify strategies and confidence
What might also be added to the Individual Learning Plan by way of initial
assessment 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?
147
APPEN
D
Some tutors ask a learner to write something to give them both a chance to discuss
the learner’s skills and knowledge of writing. (see below)
IX
3
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 family
a hobby or interest
a TV programme you love or hate
your 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
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 actually
do with literacy and numeracy and their general abilities, it might be useful to ask
some initial informal questions to explore the possibility of specific learning
difficulties (see Appendix 4).
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
148
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 Numeracy
project, 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 calculations
with or without a calculator, checking pay, writing memos, reading notices, using a
computer, 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 to
family, helping with homework.
149
APPEN
D
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, writing
and/or numeracy has been carried out.)
11. Would you say there is a discrepancy between this learner’s general ability
and life skills, and his or her ability to read, write (in particular) and do
arithmetic?
*Yes / No
*Delete one
IX
3
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
150
WHO DOES WHAT?
We:-
Give an interview to discuss various
options and if Adult Literacies is the
best for you
Discuss with you what you want to
learn, and with you draw up a written
plan
Offer you tuition, either in a group or
1-1 with a tutor
Provide some of the books, games,
cassettes etc needed for you to work
with
Keep in touch with you and your tutor
to see how you are getting on
Offer qualifications – if that’s what
you want or need
Are always available to contact if you
need help and will act as speedily as
possible
Offer advice and information on what
to do next
151
APPEN
D
WHO DOES WHAT?
You:-
With help, fill in the various forms in
your individual learning plan and
keep a file recording/assessing your
progress
Turn up to sessions on time or phone
and let your tutor know if you will be
late or cannot make it
Try to do any tasks/homework/
practices given between sessions
Bring to sessions examples of things
that you want to work on, eg letters
you want to read, reports/time sheets
from work
Make sure you have pens and paper
for your lesson – if needed
IX
3
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
if you have any questions
xxxxx xxx xxxx
Enjoy your course and please phone the office
• a calculator and ruler for Maths courses.
• money for tea or coffee in the break
• pens/pencils
• a folder to keep your work in
• A4 lined paper
WHAT YOU NEED TO BRING WITH YOU
9 Information for Students
Community Learning and Development
INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS
EVERYDAY ENGLISH
AND MATHS COURSES
152
• You will need to do some work at home too
• Most groups run for 2 hours a week with a
tea or coffee break.
• You decide what is important for you to learn
• Your tutor will talk to you about what
you want to learn and make a learning plan with you
• You will work at your own pace
• You will learn in a small, friendly group of 5 or 6 people
• Our courses are free
ABOUT THE COURSES
APPEN
D
We will write to you if you miss 3 weeks to find out
if you want to go to a different group at a different time.
This means that someone who is waiting to start
will be offered your place.
If you miss 3 weeks and do not get in touch,
we will think you have left.
(answerphone in the evenings and at the weekends)
xxxxx xxx xxxx
• Please phone xxxxx in our office on –
• We need to know if you cannot go
• You will need to try to come to your group each week
WHO TO CONTACT IF YOU CANNOT GO TO YOUR GROUP
153
IX
3
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
getting things done
being yourself and
sustaining your
relationships,
entertainment,
getting things done
making decisions
pursuing interests
Working life
Family life
Community life
Private life
developing new
knowledge
Typical broad
purposes
Four areas of
adult life
10 Literacy practices grid
finding out
information,
learning,
using what has
been learned
analysing, debating,
justifying
celebrating,
sympathising,
recording personal
information, narrating
eg recording
information,
exchanging
information, giving/
receiving instructions
Specific purpose
finding out about
classes,
reading, note-taking,
writing essays,
presentations,
study skills,
online packages
reading election
leaflets,
reading PTA minutes,
making posters
birthday cards,
personal notes,
emails, letters, diaries,
financial records,
reading novels,
magazines,
travel arrangements
writing reports about
residents in nursing
home,
noting any action
that needs to be taken
Task (what?)
community centre
staff, library staff,
other learners, tutors,
trainees, trainers,
examiners
PTA members
neighbours, family,
friends, family,
neighbours,
club members
for next shift of staff,
matron of home,
possibly relatives
People
(with/for whom?)
community notices,
notice board at library,
in the library daily, in the
learning centre, at
college, using text
books, computers,
internet
at home/school,
at the kitchen table
with pen and
notebook,
at the bank,
at the library,
at the travel agents
in the office, at the
end of each shift,
in report book,
pen and paper
Setting (where,
when, how?)
154
155
SPECIFIC LEARNING
DIFFICULTIES
Traditional training for adult basic
education/adult literacies tutors over the
past 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 the
impact of a range of external factors
upon the learner – disrupted schooling,
social background, negative peer
pressure – and, as a consequence, has
perhaps given less than due attention to
the effect of developmental factors that
now would be recognised as specific
learning difficulties.
Dyslexia is the most common Specific
Learning Difficulty and 10% of the
population is thought to suffer from
some degree of dyslexia. This figure is
widely quoted and generally accepted.
Less certain, because there has been
limited research into it, is the incidence
of dyslexia within the adult literacies
client group. Logic would suggest that
the incidence will be significantly higher
than 10%, and published estimates put
this at between 30% and 50%;
practitioners in adult literacies work with
experience of working with dyslexia
tend to put this figure even higher
(Jenny Lee’s article ‘The Incidence of
Dyslexia within Adult Basic Skills’,
Dyslexia Review, Vol 15, Number 2
Spring 2004, finds that ‘Over 70% of the
learners who were tested showed
deficits in the underlying cognitive skills
that characterise dyslexia’ ).
Recently, there has been, within adult
literacies work, a growing awareness of
specific learning difficulties and of the
need for workers to have the knowledge
and skill to recognise such conditions
and to incorporate appropriate
responses into learning programmes.
While a number of screening tools exist,
largely in the form of paper-based
tests/questionnaires or computer
programs, current thinking suggests that
screening tests may not be the best
approach for work with adults. A
conversation with an experienced
worker, which would use the adult’s
ability to describe details of their
condition, may be a more reliable guide
because the adult’s developed coping
strategies can give distorted results.
Further, this approach is seen to be
more at one with an adult world and, in
particular, avoids the general difficulty of
an adult with reading/writing difficulty
being confronted by a test.
APPEN
D
Appendix 4
IX
4
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
156
If there appears to be a discrepancy between what a potential learner can actually do with
literacy and numeracy and their general abilities, it might be useful to ask some initial
informal 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 to
generation, there is good evidence that dyslexia is an inherited condition.
• Do you get mixed up between left and right? While left/right confusion may be
characteristic, 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 and
other visual perceptual and visual conditions mean that a significant number of people with
literacy difficulties cannot see print normally: this can manifest itself in a range of abnormal
ways . . .words and letters may appear to move, vibrate, drop off the page, and fade so that
reading becomes much more difficult. In some cases these effects may appear only after a
period of time reading and the reader may experience this as fatigue. Readers may assume
that these effects are normal and never realise that they have visual perceptual barriers to
reading. Irlen quotes the incidence of SSS amongst those with reading difficulties as
approximately 46% (‘Reading by the Colors’, H. Irlen, New York, 1991). It is important that
such difficulties are addressed so that reading/writing improvement can take place.
• Did you have difficulties at school remembering the alphabet/times tables? Are these still
a problem? Short-term memory difficulties are typical amongst those with dyslexia and
adults will often be happy to discuss memory issues.
Informal questions can uncover positive
indications of dyslexia but, at this stage,
workers should be wary about
attempting to progress to more formal
screening, as focus needs to be kept on
the reasons that motivated the learner to
request literacies provision.
If it seems likely that a learner has
dyslexia, the important message for the
tutor is that approaches which are likely
to help will be similar to those used with
other literacies learners, for example:
• detailed exploration of learning
styles
• multisensory approaches
• attention to pace and variety of
methods of presentation
• learning in manageable chunks
(learning/break/change/
reinforcement/break)
• chopping up information/numbers
into more memorable patterns – this
is a technique that will be passed on
to the learner.
Dyslexia cannot be cured: things can be
made better, and in a number of areas
coping strategies may be more useful
than literacies teaching. The
learner/tutor need to decide what is
more relevant/of immediate use.
Coping strategies can be many and
varied – alternative approaches to
problems can bring enthusiasm,
possibilities and excitement back to
learning. Coping strategy options are a
major point in literacies work with adults
with dyslexia for a number of reasons:
• neurological developments which are
possible in work with children may no
longer be possible with adults
• long-term structured work on
sensory development then may be
futile and lead to disappointment and
frustration
157
There are many individual differences
between people with dyslexia, and there
is no single approach or method that
will work with everyone – response
needs to be individual.
Learning styles and preferences will be
individual and possibly unusual: explore
these and find out what works (ask the
learner what works) – visual/auditory/
touch – as learners will have
preferences.
Multisensory approaches help to
employ other senses (and alternative
pathways) such as touch/movement,
audio and visual. As well as using
sensory strengths, multisensory
approaches help to stimulate weaker
pathways.
Coping strategies and aids which may
be of more use than standard tutoring
include:
• over-learning (regular reinforcement
of learning) – short-term memory
difficulties need continual
reinforcement
• organisational methods such as mind
mapping, chunking material, use of
different coloured pens, index cards
• assistive resources such as
magnifiers for reading/writing,
card/ruler to keep to the line while
reading, coloured overlays
• IT aids such as voice recognition
software, word prediction, screen
reading software, calculator,
spellmaster, Dictaphone.
APPEN
D
• adults have more immediate needs
often related to practical problems
that need short-term solutions
• short-term achievement and
confidence building may be more
important than limited developments
over long periods of time.
IX
4
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
Make sense of very simple sentences using
familiar words
Respond to the basic tools including the
alphabet, matching letters and sounds,
upper/lower case, text conventions (left to
right, front/back, top/bottom); begin to
recognise syllables and word-building
strategies
Makes sense of writing conventions
Recognise very basic social and sight words
(eg exit, McDonald’s logo) and more familiar
words which are familiar from own experience
(eg own name, football team)
Recognises words commonly used
Beginning (0 – Access 2)
Appendix 5: Read with understanding
Follow short narratives containing a few
straightforward sentences (eg short item from
a tabloid newspaper or popular magazine,
cartoon strips)
Understand more conventions, including simple
punctuation for sentences and questions,
matching singulars and plurals and gender;
also recognise syllables and word-building
strategies
Recognise common abbreviations and
contractions (eg Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri;
Mr, Mrs, Dr, Rd, NHS, STV)
Understand that in English, letters or groups of
letters may sound differently when combined
into different words (eg rough, though, thought,
bough, trough)
Recognise more difficult words which are in
learner’s personal vocabulary, plus some
descriptive words
Mid-level (Access 2+ – Access 3)
Make sense of more complex pieces
of writing and articles (eg tourist attraction
leaflets)
Make sense of longer texts with several
sentences, some complex sentences and
paragraphs (eg a business letter)
Recognise most abbreviations needed for daily life
(eg read detailed amounts for cooking or
measuring shown as abbreviations)
Recognise many words commonly used at work
and in community, including some official language
(eg health and safety notices at work such as
instructions on how to use a fire extinguisher);
also, less common words and, within a familiar
context, accessible specialised vocabulary,
as well as informal and colloquial language
Upper level (Access 3+ – Intermediate 1)
158
Pick out key words (eg name of pop star in
newspaper headline) to get idea of what text
might be about
Use pictures and graphic clues to find
information (eg bus stop, brand names and
logos)
Identifies key information from different
forms of writing
Understand the use of alphabetical order to
locate information (eg phone book)
Use simple dictionaries to find meaning of
unfamiliar words
Make sense of common formats (eg recipes,
menus, simple forms, bills)
Use familiar words and graphic clues to identify
the main points of a piece of writing and to find
information and meaning (eg find times of
departure and arrival from a bus timetable,
TV guides)
APPEN
D
Understand that there are many sources of
information which can be accessed in different
ways, (eg newspapers, internet, library, individuals)
Make sense of more complex forms and
tables (eg instruction manual)
Use layout and headings to navigate through a
text and get the gist (eg holiday brochure)
Use whatever words are recognised, clues from
headings and pictures to predict what a piece of
writing is about (eg a crime report in a newspaper)
Extract the important ideas or significant
information from a straightforward piece of writing
Read aloud from a variety of texts (eg Harry Potter
stories, scripts for drama groups, The Bible)
Read aloud from simple texts (eg bits from
football fanzine, read stories to children)
Read aloud very simple texts with graphic
prompts (eg newspaper headline and picture)
Use strategies for reading unfamiliar words
Use strategies for reading unfamiliar words
Begin to work out strategies for reading
unfamiliar words
Upper level (Access 3+ – Intermediate 1)
Mid-level (Access 2+ – Access 3)
Beginning (0 – Access 2)
Appendix 5
159
IX
5
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
Understand why something has been written
and who needs to read it (eg a warning
a street sign) and say whether the notice,
layout and the way it has been written makes
the meaning clear
Show understanding of the meaning of a few
very simple sentences through questioning
Identify the purpose of familiar documents
even if cannot read the words (eg gas bill,
driving licence, phone book)
Identifies meaning and purpose
Understand that sometimes what is left out of
a piece of writing is as important as what is
included (eg no frills airlines advertisements)
Can discuss meaning and purpose of a short
piece of writing consisting of a few
straightforward sentences and make a basic
evaluation of whether it met its purpose (eg can
work out what a simple leaflet or advertisement
is aiming to do and say whether the language,
layout and graphics used help it do it)
Can use knowledge and experience together
with cues and clues from text to help work out
meaning (eg a supermarket promotion, a seed
packet)
Locate factual information – who, what, where,
when – in simple texts (eg identify food and
prices in simple menu; identify date and time of
hospital appointment from card or letter)
Understand that the writer’s message may be
explicit and sometimes implicit and that what is left
out is sometimes as significant as what is included
Understand that it is important to work out who
wrote a text and why in order to evaluate its
message (eg political leaflets)
Say how well the text meets its purpose, referring
to the way it has been written, (eg layout, format
and language used)
Show understanding of longer, more complex
pieces through questioning; give reactions and
opinions to a piece of writing
Read for a particular purpose – understand that we
do not have to read a text from start to finish but
can use headings, or select particular pieces
according to what we want
Work out meaning when this is not immediately
obvious
160
161
Appendix 6
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 work
reaches 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 of
achieving 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 to
achieve a complete Communication core skill unit. It is possible for learners to
achieve Communication outcome 2 (writing) by producing several pieces of writing,
which together reach the minimum number of words required as evidence for this
outcome. 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’s
unaided work.
EXAMPLE 1:
Piece of writing concerning learner’s reasons for attending an adult literacy class
as a result of a TV advertisement about ‘The Big Plus’.
1. Level of Communication Core Skill = Access 3
2. Outcome = Outcome 2 – writing
Commentary:
The piece of writing has been corrected: the tutor has written the correct spelling
above the misspelt words. This is acceptable as an aid to improving the learner’s
spelling. The spelling mistakes are not, in themselves, a barrier to the reader’s
understanding. The piece meets the evidence requirements of a minimum of 100
words at Access 3 level. The writing is of a high standard for Access 3, and a tutor
might want to consider with the learner whether the challenge of working towards
Intermediate 1 might be appropriate.
In order to complete the unit, the learner could provide the following evidence for
outcome 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-fiction
material for this outcome. The learner could be asked why the leaflet had been
produced and what sort of things learners can be helped with and how they would
get further information about The Big Plus. Also the learner should be asked how
well the information had been presented and whether it was easy to understand
(simple evaluation). Answers can be given orally and recorded by the tutor as
evidence: evidence requirements can be spoken or written for this outcome.
APPEN
D
Case studies for levelling and assessing learners’ work against
Communication Core Skill.
IX
6
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
162
Outcome 3 (Talking)
For this outcome, the learner could give a talk on the reasons he/she started an
adult literacy class to at least one other person; the talk should last for at least two
minutes, followed by questions. The listener could be another adult learner together
with the tutor being present to record the context and source. A checklist should be
used to complete the evidence requirements or the presentation can be tape or
video-recorded. As the evidence requirements state that the discussion/
presentation should be delivered to one or more people, it is acceptable for the
tutor to be the only person present.
EXAMPLE 2:
‘My German mother’ and letter of complaint to Edinburgh Zoo
1. Level of Communication Core Skill = Intermediate 1
2. Outcome = Outcome 2 (Writing)
Commentary:
The piece entitled ‘My German mother’ is approximately 250 words. The piece
meets the performance criteria (a), (b), (c) and (d) at Intermediate 1, but does not
satisfy the minimum evidence requirements of 300 words. However, if the second
piece is added – the letter of complaint – the two together would satisfy the
evidence requirements, as they total approximately 350 words. The descriptor at
this level states that the pieces should be thematically linked. Therefore, as the
learner is performing at the level on Intermediate 1, the tutor could suggest that
he/she write a letter on the same theme as the one about the German mother. A
suggestion would be to write a letter to an imaginary relative, who lives in Germany.
In order to complete the unit, the learner could provide the following evidence for
outcome 1 (reading) and outcome 3 (talking):
Outcome 1 (Reading)
As the learner mentions children having greater access to help in present times, in
the piece on his/her German mother, newspaper reports on any aspect of younger
children’s education could be used as a source of a reading ‘assessment’. For this
level – Intermediate 1 – the reading material has to be accessible (i.e.
understandable to the learner). Therefore, articles from ‘The Daily Record’ or weekly
magazines would be a good source. The learner can give his/her answers orally to
the tutor. The questions should cover:
a) the reason for the article being written with the learner also quoting some of
the words from the article to support this answer
b) what the main ideas are in the article (in his/her own words, as far as
possible)
c) what is the main point of view of the writer
d) whether the article is well written.
163
Outcome 3 (Talking)
• expanding on what sort of help is available to children in education in present
times, compared with when she was young
• expanding on the usefulness of being able to speak two languages and/or
learning 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 questions
afterwards. As the evidence requirements state that the discussion/ presentation
should be delivered to one or more people, it is acceptable for the tutor to be the
only person present. The tutor should use a checklist to complete the evidence or
tape-record the presentation.
EXAMPLE 3:
‘The family from Hell at Christmas time’ (essay + plan)
1. Level of Communication Core skill = Access 3
2. Outcome = Outcome 2 (Writing)
Commentary:
The content of this essay is simple and straightforward; it is more than sufficient in
length to satisfy the evidence requirements for Access 3 level. It is long enough to
satisfy the number of words for Intermediate 1 (300 words required), but does not
meet the criteria at this level, as it is not sufficiently detailed.
In order to complete the unit, the learner could provide the following evidence for
outcome 1 (reading) and outcome 3 (talking):
Outcome 1 (Reading)
To link the reading with the content of the writing (Christmas), a brief magazine
article or newspaper article from the Daily Record, for example, about what
children want for Christmas would be appropriate. The learner could discuss the
article with the tutor and identify its purpose, give some indication of the main
ideas and also say how well written the article is. The latter is a simple evaluation
and 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 the
cost of Christmas, difficulties of getting to see everyone at this time, ideas on what
makes a good New Year celebration (all of these are hinted at in the writing). This
could be presented to the tutor alone, as there is only a requirement for one other
person to be present. The talk should last for two minutes and the learner would
need to answer questions about what s/he has said. The tutor should use a
checklist to complete the evidence or tape-record the presentation.
APPEN
D
For this outcome the learner could give a talk on any aspects of her life referred to
in the piece of writing on her life. Suggestions are:
IX
6
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
164
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 than
100. However, there is evidence in the letter that the learner is capable of achieving
Intermediate 1 level. In order to do so, the learner would have to produce another
piece of writing of 200 words to meet the evidence requirements of 300 words
minimum. A suggestion would be to write a reflective piece on moving into the new
house, hopes and fears and feelings, including those of disappointment about the
repairs not being effected. This could be in the form of an essay or could be a
diary of events; in the latter case, the writing would be descriptive rather than
reflective.
If the learner achieved this, then, in order to complete the unit at Intermediate 1
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 could
look at several letters from a tabloid newspaper on a similar theme, identifying the
different sets of information presented and also identifying the writers’ point of
view. Evaluation could centre on which letter was the best and why. If it was at all
possible, the learner might like to look at letters about house repairs, continuing the
theme of his/her own letter. Answers could be spoken rather than written and, if
spoken, 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 is
required to be present, as for Access 2 and Access 3). The presentation would
need to be 3 minutes in duration for Intermediate 1, followed by questions. The tutor
should complete a checklist for evidence requirements or tape-record the
presentation.
165
EXAMPLE 5:
Commentary:
The letter achieves the level of Access 3 based on the number of words: more than
100. However, there is evidence in the letter that the learner is capable of achieving
Intermediate 1 level and moving on to Intermediate 2, by virtue of the vocabulary
used. In order to achieve Intermediate 1, the learner would have to produce another
piece of writing of 200 words to meet the evidence requirements of 300 words
minimum. A linked piece of writing on the subject of insurance policies might
discuss ways in which they are advertised, describe an event which led to an
insurance claim being made or consider which policies are best to have if finances
are limited.
As in Example 1, the tutor might want to discuss with the learner the challenges
involved 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 the
unit 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 could
look at several letters of complaint from a tabloid newspaper, identifying the
different sets of information presented and also identifying the writers’ point of
view. 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 a
presentation on the same theme – why have insurance and what sort of insurance
is best, if finances are limited. Again, the learner could choose to give a
presentation on an unrelated topic. The presentation would need to be three
minutes in duration for Intermediate 1 followed by questions. The tutor should
complete a checklist for evidence requirements or tape-record the presentation.
Levelling of Core Skill units in SCQF framework:
Level of unit
SCQF level
Access 2
2
Access 3
3
Intermediate 1
4
APPEN
D
Letter of complaint to insurance company
1. Level of Communication Core Skill = Access 3 (with a possibility of achieving
Intermediate 1)
1. Outcome = Outcome 2 (Writing)
IX
6
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
175
Appendix 7
The examples in this appendix represent a range of learners’ work in the area of
numeracy. They are mostly completed worksheets. Each has been matched against
a level and an outcome of the numeracy core skill. However, none of the examples
in its own right represents a complete core skill unit. The examples serve to aid
tutors in recognising at what level the learner is performing. Learners should be
encouraged to keep a portfolio of all their work, so that opportunities for
accreditation 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’s
unaided work. Please see reference to this in section 3.4 of the ALN Curriculum
Framework for Scotland.
APPEN
D
Case studies for levelling and assessing learners’ work against Numeracy
Core Skill.
IX
7
1.
Illustrative examples of using
the wheel
2.
Alerting Tools
3.
Individual and Group Learning
Plans
4.
Specific Learning Difficulties
5.
Reading with Understanding
Matrix
Exercise
Core Skills Level
6.
Literacy tasks assessed against
the Core Skills Framework
1. Example 1
Measuring Centimetres
Access 2, LO1a – Read a basic scale to
nearest marked number
7.
Numeracy tasks assessed
against the Core Skills
Framework
2. Example 2
Words & Figures
Access 3, LO4 – Recognise whole
numbers
Example 3 (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
Equal Parts/Shade in the Fractions/
Name the Fractions Shaded
Access 2, LO4a – Recognise and use
notation for fractions
Example 4 (i), (ii)
Chinese Takeaway/Atherton Library
Access 2, LO2a – Identify information in
a basic table
3. Example 5
New Houses Built
Access 3, LO2a – Extract information
from simple graphical form
4. Example 6
Washing Powder
Int 1 – LO2a – Extract information from
table
5. Example 7
Access 2 Numeracy Worksheet
for LO4
LO4a,b,c (excluding use of simple
fractions)
6. Example 8 (i), (ii)
Bar Charts/Line Graphs
Access 3, LO2a – Extract information
LO3a – Complete a selected graph
7. Example 9 (i), (ii)
Skills : Graphs, Charts and Tables
Access 3, LO2a – Extract a clearly
specified piece of information
8. Example 10 (i),(ii),(iii),(iv)
Going on Holiday : Euro Exchange
Rates
Access 2, LO4a – Recognise and use
notation for whole numbers and decimals
195
We are particularly grateful to the staff and learners from the following
organisations for their assistance in providing the case studies and exemplars and
for their expertise in reviewing particular aspects of the guidelines.
Aberdeenshire Literacies Partnership
Jobcentre Plus
Cardonald College
Lauder College
City of Edinburgh Council Community
Education Department
Midlothian Council Community
Learning and Development – ALN
provision
CLAN Edinburgh
Community Literacy and Numeracy
Partnership, Western Isles
Cumbernauld College
East Dunbartonshire Literacies
Support
East Lothian Literacies Partnership
Falkirk Literacies Partnership
Glasgow College of Building and
Printing
North Glasgow College
North Ayrshire Literacies Support
team
Perth and Kinross Council
Scottish Prison Service, Adult
Literacies
Scottish Borders Council
West Lothian College
Workers’ Educational Association
Jewel and Esk Valley College
We are grateful to NALA (National Adult Literacy Agency, Republic of Ireland) for
their welcome to workers from the Curriculum Project on study visits, for their
contribution to discussions and for generously allowing us to use ‘Mapping the
Learning Journey’ as the basis of our work on progress indicators.
The following people and their organisations provided support to the Curriculum
Project team:
Fiona Boucher (Scottish Adult Learning Partnership), Joyce Connon (WEA,
Scotland), Jackie McFarlane (Stevenson College), Ian Matheson (Glasgow College
Group), Elaine Petrie (Falkirk College), Jayne Stuart (Learning Link Scotland),
Lynda Wilde (LEAD Scotland)
GEMEN
L ED
T
W
S
We are pleased to acknowledge the contribution of all the ALN partnerships who
commented on the drafts of these Guidelines and enabled the team to develop
them in a way that was informed by the realities of practice in a variety of contexts.
ACKN
O
Acknowledgements
196
CURRICULUM PROJECT TEAM
Lyn 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 Connections
Kate Just (to December 2003)
Prue Pullen, Learning Connections
STEERING GROUP
Name
Job title
Organisation
Lillias Noble
(Chair)
Jennie Baillie
Communities Scotland
Anne Pia
Audrey Robertson
Head of Learning
Connections
Head of Centre for
Learning Effectiveness
(from March 2004)
Project Manager
(to Dec 2003)
Manager – Curriculum
and Student Services
(to Jan 2004)
Adult Literacy Manager
Head of Inclusion and
Employability
(from Jan 2004 –
Sept 2004)
Learning Manager –
Quality Development
HM Inspector
(from Oct 2004)
Stephen Sandham
(to Dec 2003)
Margaret Tierney
Project Manager
Sandra Thomson
New Deal Team Manager
Liz Block
Martin Dunk
Cath Hamilton
Julie-Anne
Jamieson
Claire Keggie
Alan Milson
SFEU
SQA
SFEU
Learning Connections
Careers Scotland
Scottish Executive
ETLLD
North Ayrshire Council
HMIE
Scottish Executive
ETLLD
Scottish Executive
ETLLD
SQA
(from Jan 2004)
Job Centre Plus
The document is available on tape and large print.
For details contact Janette Campbell on 0131 479 5162
or email: janette.campbell@communitiesscotland.gsi.gov.uk
Communities Scotland
27-29 Palmerston Place, Edinburgh EH12 5AP
Tel: 0131 313 0044
Appendix 6 (Pages 167 - 173 printed version)
Case studies for levelling and assessing learners’ work against Communication
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 work
reaches 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 of achieving
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 to
achieve a complete Communication core skill unit. It is possible for learners to
achieve Communication outcome 2 (writing) by producing several pieces of writing,
which together reach the minimum number of words required as evidence for this
outcome. 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’s
unaided work.
Example 1:
Piece of writing concerning learner’s reasons for attending an adult literacy class as
a result of a TV advertisement about ‘The Big Plus’.
1. Level of Communication Core Skill = Access 3
2. Outcome = Outcome 2 – writing
Commentary:
The piece of writing has been corrected: the tutor has written the correct spelling
above the misspelt words. This is acceptable as an aid to improving the learner’s
spelling. The spelling mistakes are not, in themselves, a barrier to the reader’s
understanding. The piece meets the evidence requirements of a minimum of 100
words at Access 3 level. The writing is of a high standard for Access 3, and a tutor
might want to consider with the learner whether the challenge of working towards
Intermediate 1 might be appropriate.
In order to complete the unit, the learner could provide the following evidence for
outcome 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-fiction
material for this outcome. The learner could be asked why the leaflet had been
produced and what sort of things learners can be helped with and how they would
get further information about ‘The Big Plus’. Also the learner should be asked how
well the information had been presented and whether it was easy to understand
(simple evaluation). Answers can be given orally and recorded by the tutor as
evidence: evidence requirements can be spoken or written for this outcome.
Outcome 3 (Talking)
For this outcome, the learner could give a talk on the reasons he/she started an adult
literacy class to at least one other person; the talk should last for at least two
minutes, followed by questions. The listener could be another adult learner together
with the tutor being present to record the context and source. A checklist should be
used to complete the evidence requirements or the presentation can be tape or
video-recorded. As the evidence requirements state that the discussion/presentation
should be delivered to one or more people, it is acceptable for the tutor to be the only
person present.
Example 2:
‘My German mother’ and letter of complaint to Edinburgh Zoo
1. Level of Communication Core Skill = Intermediate 1
2. Outcome = Outcome 2 (Writing)
Commentary:
The piece entitled ‘My German mother’ is approximately 250 words. The piece
meets the performance criteria (a), (b), (c) and (d) at Intermediate 1, but does not
satisfy the minimum evidence requirements of 300 words. However, if the second
piece is added – the letter of complaint – the two together would satisfy the evidence
requirements, as they total approximately 350 words. The descriptor at this level
states that the pieces should be thematically linked. Therefore, as the learner is
performing at the level on Intermediate 1, the tutor could suggest that he/she write a
letter on the same theme as the one about the German mother. A suggestion would
be to write a letter to an imaginary relative, who lives in Germany.
In order to complete the unit, the learner could provide the following evidence for
outcome 1 (reading) and outcome 3 (talking):
Outcome 1 (Reading)
As the learner mentions children having greater access to help in present times, in
the piece on his/her German mother, newspaper reports on any aspect of younger
children’s education could be used as a source of a reading ‘assessment’. For this
level – Intermediate 1 – the reading material has to be accessible (i.e.
understandable to the learner). Therefore, articles from ‘The Daily Record’ or weekly
magazines would be a good source. The learner can give his/her answers orally to
the tutor. The questions should cover:
a) the reason for the article being written with the learner also quoting some of
the words from the article to support this answer
b) what the main ideas are in the article (in his/her own words, as far as
possible)
c) what is the main point of view of the writer
d) whether the article is well written.
Outcome 3 (Talking)
For this outcome the learner could give a talk on any aspects of her life referred to in
the piece of writing on her life. Suggestions are:
x expanding on what sort of help is available to children in education in present
times, compared with when she was young
x expanding on the usefulness of being able to speak 2 languages and/or
learning a second language at an early age
x 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 questions
afterwards. As the evidence requirements state that the discussion/presentation
should be delivered to one or more people, it is acceptable for the tutor to be the only
person present. The tutor should use a checklist to complete the evidence or taperecord the presentation.
Example 3:
‘The family from Hell at Christmas time’ (essay + plan)
1. Level of Communication Core skill = Access 3
2. Outcome = Outcome 2 (Writing)
Commentary:
The content of this essay is simple and straightforward; it is more than sufficient in
length to satisfy the evidence requirements for Access 3 level. It is long enough to
satisfy the number of words for Intermediate 1 (300 words required), but does not
meet the criteria at this level, as it is not sufficiently detailed.
In order to complete the unit, the learner could provide the following evidence for
outcome 1 (reading) and outcome 3 (talking):
Outcome 1 (Reading)
To link the reading with the content of the writing (Christmas), a brief magazine
article or newspaper article from the Daily Record, for example, about what children
want for Christmas would be appropriate. The learner could discuss the article with
the tutor and identify its purpose, give some indication of the main ideas and also
say how well written the article is. The latter is a simple evaluation and 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 the
cost of Christmas, difficulties of getting to see everyone at this time, ideas on what
makes a good New Year celebration (all of these are hinted at in the writing). This
could be presented to the tutor alone, as there is only a requirement for one other
person to be present. The talk should last for 2 minutes and the learner would need
to answer questions about what s/he has said. The tutor should use a checklist to
complete the evidence or tape-record the presentation.
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 than
100. However, there is evidence in the letter that the learner is capable of achieving
Intermediate 1 level. In order to do so, the learner would have to produce another
piece of writing of 200 words to meet the evidence requirements of 300 words
minimum. A suggestion would be to write a reflective piece on moving into the new
house, hopes and fears and feelings, including those of disappointment about the
repairs not being effected. This could be in the form of an essay or could be a diary
of events; in the latter case, the writing would be descriptive rather than reflective.
If the learner achieved this, then, in order to complete the unit at Intermediate 1 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 could
look at several letters from a tabloid newspaper on a similar theme, identifying the
different sets of information presented and also identifying the writers’ point of view.
Evaluation could centre on which letter was the best and why. If it was at all
possible, the learner might like to look at letters about house repairs, continuing the
theme of his/her own letter. Answers could be spoken rather than written and, if
spoken, 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 organizing the move), to the tutor (only one other person is
required to be present, as for Access 2 and Access 3). The presentation would need
to be 3 minutes in duration for Intermediate 1, followed by questions. The tutor
should complete a checklist for evidence requirements or tape-record the
presentation.
Example 5:
Letter of complaint to insurance company
1. 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 than
100. However, there is evidence in the letter that the learner is capable of achieving
Intermediate 1 level and moving on to Intermediate 2, by virtue of the vocabulary
used. In order to achieve Intermediate 1, the learner would have to produce another
piece of writing of 200 words to meet the evidence requirements of 300 words
minimum. A linked piece of writing on the subject of insurance policies might discuss
ways in which they are advertised, describe an event which led to an insurance claim
being made or consider which policies are best to have if finances are limited.
As in Example 1, the tutor might want to discuss with the learner the challenges
involved 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 the
unit 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 could
look at several letters of complaint from a tabloid newspaper, identifying the different
sets of information presented and also identifying the writers’ point of view.
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 a
presentation on the same theme – why have insurance and what sort of insurance is
best, if finances are limited. Again, the learner could choose to give a presentation
on an unrelated topic. The presentation would need to be 3 minutes in duration for
Intermediate 1 followed by questions. The tutor should complete a checklist for
evidence requirements or tape-record the presentation.
Levelling of Core Skill units in SCQF framework:
Level of unit
SCQF level
Access 2
2
Access 3
3
Intermediate 1
4
Appendix 7 (Pages 176 - 194 printed version)
Case studies for levelling and assessing learners’ work against Numeracy Core
Skill.
The examples in this appendix represent a range of learners’ work in the area of
numeracy. They are mostly completed worksheets, some containing errors. Each
has been matched against a level and an outcome of the numeracy core skill.
However, none of the examples in its own right represents a complete core skill unit.
The examples serve to aid tutors in recognizing at what level the learner is
performing. Learners should be encouraged to keep a portfolio of all their work, so
that opportunities for accreditation 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’s unaided work. Please see reference to this in section 3.4 of the ALN
Curriculum Framework for Scotland.
Exercise
1.
Example 1
Measuring Centimetres
2.
Example 2
Words & Figures
Example 3 (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
Equal Parts/Shade in the
Fractions/Name the Fractions Shaded
Example 4 (i), (ii)
Chinese Takeaway/Atherton Library
3.
Example 5
New Houses Built
4.
Example 6
Washing Powder
5.
Example 7
Access 2 Numeracy Worksheet for
LO4
6.
Example 8 (i), (ii)
Bar Charts/Line Graphs
7.
Example 9 (i), (ii)
Skills : Graphs, Charts and Tables
8.
Example 10 (i),(ii),(iii),(iv)
Going on Holiday : Euro Exchange
Rates
Core Skills Level
Access 2, LO1a – Read a basic scale to
nearest marked number
Access 3, LO4 – Recognise whole numbers
Access 2, LO4a – Recognise and use
notation for fractions
Access 2, LO2a – Identify information in a
basic table
Access 3, LO2a – Extract information from
simple graphical form
Int 1 – LO2a – Extract information from table
LO4a,b,c (excluding use of simple fractions)
Access 3, LO2a – Extract information LO3a
– Complete a selected graph …
Access 3, LO2a – Extract a clearly specified
piece of information
Access 2, LO4a – Recognise and use
notation for whole numbers and decimals