BASIC SKILLS
TOOLKIT
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Index
Basic Skills Toolkit - Guidelines ................................................................................. 4
Activity 1 Short Quiz ................................................................................................... 5
Activity 2 - The Last 24 hours ..................................................................................... 6
Activity 3 - How difficult can it be? .............................................................................. 7
Activity 3a................................................................................................................ 7
Activity 3b................................................................................................................ 8
Activity 4 - Case study 1 ............................................................................................. 9
Activity 4 - Case Study 2 .......................................................................................... 10
Activity 4 - Case study 3 ........................................................................................... 11
Behavioural indicators of a possible basic skills need .............................................. 12
Written indicators .................................................................................................. 12
Activity 5 - Types of provision ................................................................................... 13
Why are Basic Skills so Important? .......................................................................... 14
The impact of poor literacy, language, numeracy and ICT skills .............................. 15
Referral process and first steps ................................................................................ 16
Tutor notes ............................................................................................................... 17
Activity 6 - How difficult can it be? ......................................................................... 17
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Basic Skills Awareness Raising Toolkit 2011
Aim:
To equip practitioners with the knowledge required to identify
individuals with a basic skills need and signpost them with
suitable support and provision.
Objectives:
This toolkit will help practitioners:
 Understand the extent of the basic skills problem in Wales;
 Demonstrate an understanding of the basic skills standards
and levels;
 Explain how the implications of poor basic skills impacts on
individuals; and
 Understand the provision available for individuals with a
basic skills need.
A definition of Basic Skills is:
"The ability to read, write and speak in English and to use
mathematics at a level necessary to function at work and
in society in general"
The Basic Skills Agency
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Basic Skills Toolkit - Guidelines

Introduce session aims and objectives and share definition of Basic Skills.
Whole group intro. Try and come up with a group definition of basic skills
before you share the official one.

Short quiz to establish prior knowledge of Basic Skills – paired work/ feedback
to group. Mix the group up so they can start to get to know each other.

Presentation on Basic Skills – optional – probably too much information for a
short workshop but good for a full day.

‘The Last 24 Hours’ Activity – instructions on the resource. Encourage
individuals to think of examples from home and work. E.g. breakfast, driving,
shopping, phone calls, paying for goods etc. Aim here is for individuals to
realise how much we take these things for granted and to have an
appreciation of how difficult life would be if they had basic skills needs.

How difficult can it be? Again this is aimed at showing how difficult everyday
life can be for individuals with a basic skill need.

Case Studies – Paired/small group work. The aim is to discuss the many
possible barriers to learning that face individuals with basic skills needs and
crucially what strategies can be put in place to help overcome the barriers.
Child-friendly hours, informal/small groups, community venues that are less
threatening etc.

Behavioural Indicators of a Basic Skills need– Read through as a whole
group. Important to note that these are not always ‘visible’ and are often well
hidden.

Types of provision- Start with whole group discussion on the importance of
accessibility and share ideas on how providers are increasingly targeting
individuals in their own communities. This is followed by paired work on the
advantages and disadvantages of various types of provision. Whole group
feedback at the end.

Why are basic skills so important – nice way to conclude. Whole group
discussion.
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Activity 1: Short Quiz
1. 1 in ? people have a basic skills need in Wales
2. What percentage of the working population in Wales has a
problem with basic skills?
3. What percentage of the working age population in Wales
does not have level one literacy skills (equivalent to grades
D-F at GCSE)?
4. What percentage of the working age population in Wales
does not have level one numeracy skills (equivalent to
grades D-F at GCSE)?
5. What percentage of those in prisons or on probation has
writing skills below level one?
6. Some adults with poor literacy are dyslexic, 1 in ? suffer
severely from dyslexia?
7. People who have low levels of basic skills are ? more likely
to be unemployed?
8. When asked, what percentage of adults in need will say that
they have a difficulty with basic skills?
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Activity 2 - The last 24 hours
Part A
List the tasks and activities you’ve undertaken (in the last day or two)
where you’ve used literacy, language and numeracy skills
Literacy (reading & writing)
Language (speaking &
listening)
Numeracy
Part B
List the types of tasks/activities you think people with a basic skills need
would shy away from
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Activity 3 - How difficult can it be?
Activity 3a
hcus htiw esohT .tekram ruobal eht ni deulav ylhgih era slliks cisaB
evitcudorp erom ,krow ni eb ot ylekil erom raf era slliks
fo seitinutroppo boj eht taht naem segnahc labolG .diap retteb dna
.detimil ylgnisaercni emoceb lliw smelborp slliks cisab htiw esoht
Read the text
Discuss with the person next to you and note:

the strategies you used to decipher the text

the reasons why it was so hard to make sense of the text.
How did you feel when you first looked at this text?
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Activity 3b
1.
2.
4316
1244
____
5560
3.
4242
1435 +
____
6010
331
123 ____
205
Q1
Is this sum addition, multiplication, subtraction or division? How do you know?
Q2
The answer is correct. Why?
Q3
The answer is correct. Why?
How did you feel when you attempted this activity?
Discuss your answers with your partner.
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Activity 4 - Case study 1
Debbie is 38 years old. She has tunnel vision and has difficulty reading small text.
Her eyesight has deteriorated for the last 10 years. She now has to wear very strong
glasses and uses a cane to support her while she is out of the house. She will not
travel far from home alone because she cannot drive and she finds travel on public
transport daunting, as her vision is so poor.
She left school at 16 with no qualifications. She married at 18 and had two children
who have been given extra support at school because they have been diagnosed
with dyslexia. She has recently split up from her husband and has found this a very
traumatic time. She has lost confidence in herself as she feels that her disability
has caused this split.
Debbie has been asked to help with a voluntary group who support people with
visual impairments. They have a telephone helpline and Debbie will take calls. She
is worried about her poor spelling, which has always been an issue for her, because
she will have to take notes. She wants to join a literacy class to improve her
spelling, but is not able to travel into the main college over 10 miles away.
Barrier
Strategy for overcoming barrier
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Activity 4 - Case Study 2
Tina is 40 years old. She was only diagnosed as dyslexic when she was 36. She
had some difficult experiences at school. Although she wanted to try to answer
questions, when attention was turned on her, she froze and stuttered a great deal,
which caused her a lot of embarrassment. Her classmates labelled her as ‘thick’. In
the end she stopped trying to join in and became withdrawn and quiet. Her one
great skill was drawing and she gained some friends because of that.
She left school with no qualifications and when she started work it was as a domestic
in a care home. Over the years she has progressed and is now about to start NVQ 2
in Care. She is worried about her spelling as she writes phonetically and she has to
write a short report as part of the qualification. She is terrified that the tutor or her
classmates will pick on her again as they have done in the past. She has not got
any idea how to start to structure a report.
Barrier
Strategy for overcoming barrier
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Activity 4 - Case study 3
Maria is 25 years old. She had left school at 15 as she was pregnant and never
went back, so gained no qualifications. Her parents died in a car crash when she
was 18. This had been a very difficult time for her and she had suffered from
depression. Although this has improved, she still can have bouts of depression if
she becomes stressed.
Her oldest son is now nine and she feels that she cannot help him very much with
his homework because of her lack of skills. She also now has three year old twins,
but split up with her partner and so has no support to help her with the children. She
does not have much spare time in the daytime as the children are not in fulltime
nursery yet. They attend a nursery twice a week. She loves using the computer and
often uses the internet to keep in touch with friends when the children have gone to
bed.
She would love to work with children when her own children are a little older, but she
knows that her lack of qualifications will hold her back.
Barrier
Strategy for overcoming barrier
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Behavioural indicators of a possible basic
skills need
Attitude
 Poor eye contact; poor concentration
 Over confident or defensive
 Aggression: shouting, swearing, walking out, violence
 Unresponsive, apathetic
 Refusal/reluctant to give details
 Not wanting to stay long; arms folded
Anxiety
 Fidgeting; looking around
 Nervousness; nail biting
Written indicators
Spelling
 Sequencing (letters in the wrong order)
 Reversal (letters the wrong way round)
 Telescoping (letters starting off large and getting smaller)
 Phonetic or bizarre spelling
 Misspelling simple words
 More than three spelling mistakes on a form
Handwriting
 Untidy; immature; deteriorating; shaky
 Mixture of lower and upper case in one word
Comprehension of questions
 Incorrect/illogical answers
 Correct answers with poor spelling
Punctuation
 Little/none at all or incorrect
 Accuracy tailing off
 Problems with copying
 Signature – printed/immature
 Problems with writing numbers – reversal
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Activity 5 - Types of provision
Complete the table showing possible advantages and disadvantages of each type of
provision.
Type of provision
Further education
Advantages




Disadvantages




Good facilities
Work base
Training agencies
Learndirect or other
on-line learning
Family literacy,
language and
numeracy
Prison/probation
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Imposing building
Why are Basic Skills so important?
Literacy and numeracy underpin virtually all the other skills we need in our daily lives
– be that at work, in the family or in leisure and other activities. Without reading
skills, people cannot make much use of books, newspapers, the internet or other
new technology - which makes it very difficult to acquire new knowledge and skills.
Without good speaking skills people cannot participate fully as part of a team at
work. Difficulties over writing or spelling make it tough to complete a good job
application form. Problems over the use of number mean it’s a struggle to manage
home finances, let alone to contribute in the workplace.
Most people with poor basic skills will cope to a degree, in their own way. They will
often avoid situations that require these skills and therefore miss out on so much.
The worry and stress of it can diminish their quality of life as well as their physical
and mental health.
Poor basic skills can affect people's health in other ways, too, for example by
reducing their ability to take on board information about how to look after their health
and to follow treatment regimes. The Strategy therefore has an important
contribution to make to Health Challenge Wales as well as to the fundamentals of
lifelong learning across the board.
Society as a whole suffers from basic skills deficits too. Productivity at work and
business competitiveness are lower than they should be. Our cultural life is affected.
The children of parents with poor basic skills are more likely to struggle at school.
There is also an association with crime and unemployment – over half the prison
population has poor basic skills as do many of the unemployed and economically
inactive.
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The impact of poor literacy, language,
numeracy and ICT skills
On the learners themselves:
Children
 are likely to have larger families
 more likely to have children who also struggle with basic skills
 are less able to help their children if they have problems
Health and housing
 less likely to be in good health
 more likely to be homeless
 less likely to own their own home
 more likely to live in a household where both partners are not in paid
employment
Education/Training
 less chance of training or promotion at work
 have restricted access to further education and training
Employment
 more likely to be in unskilled/semi-skilled jobs
 more likely to be unemployed or out of the labour market
 more likely to have low earnings/be on benefits
 more likely to be made redundant or sacked
On the community:
 less likely to be a home owner
 less likely to have involvement in public life or community organization
 less likely to vote
 more likely to be involved in crime
On the economy:
 cost to industry
 skills shortages
 lower global competitiveness
 costs of benefits/health service/prison service
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Referral process and first steps
1. Contact the basic skills provider
2. Arrange an informal interview with a basic skills specialist
3. Client attends the informal interview and is briefed about the course
4. Client undertakes an initial assessment to determine overall level of ability
 Entry level 1, entry level 2, entry level three, level one or level two
5. Client undertakes a diagnostic assessment to determine skill level
 Reading, writing, speaking & listening for literacy
 Number, handling data & measure shape and space for numeracy
6. The tutor selects a qualification matched to the needs of the client
7. Tutor & client complete an Individual Learning Plan based on ability & need
 The long term goal is identified
 The short term targets are negotiated
 The client records work covered & resources used on the ILP at the end of
every teaching/learning session
 The plan is reviewed & a new set of targets are identified every six weeks
8. The client works towards achieving the qualification(s)
 By attending classes regularly
 By working through Learndirect units (optional)
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Tutor notes
Activity 3- How difficult can it be?
The aim of the activity is for learners to experience some of the difficulties
encountered by learners with poor skills.
Two example activities are given here. Other activities include:

writing using the non-dominant hand eg if the learner is left-handed they should
use their right hand.

writing with eyes closed

reading Urdu script

listening to a foreign language
Answers for Activity B
Q1
The first sum is addition.
Q2
Emphasise there is no need for learners to understand this explanation; it is
enough for them to understand how a basic skills learner feels.
The second sum uses base 7. Thinking of weeks and days may simplify this:
5 days + 2 days = 7days
7 days is one week so carry 1 (week) and write 0 in the days column.
4 + 3+1 = 8 As above 8 days is 1 week and 1 day so write 1 and carry 1
2 + 4 + 1 = 7 so write 0 and carry 1
4 + 1 + 1 = 6 so write 6
Answer is not 6 thousand and ten but 6010 to base 7
Instead of hundreds, tens and units the columns are 49s, 7s, and units
Q3
The third sum uses base 7. Thinking of weeks and days may simplify this:
If there is only 1 we can not take 3 away so ‘borrow’. Instead of borrowing 10,
borrow 7 as the next column is the 7s column. 7 + 1 =8 so the sum is 8 – 3 =
5
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