The Core Curriculum
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The new adult literacy and numeracy core curriculum is central to the national strategy. It sets out the entitlement to learning for all adults who have difficulties with literacy and numeracy. It describes the content of what should be taught in literacy and numeracy programmes in: further and adult education; the workplace and programmes for the unemployed; prisons; community-based and family literacy and numeracy programmes. It assists teachers to meet the individual needs of adults through the selection and teaching of skills appropriate to those adults' needs. For the first time, adults and the teachers who work with them have a clear set of skills required to meet national standards, together with the knowledge and understanding that underpin those skills, supported by sample strategies to develop them.
The core curriculum has been written primarily for use by adult literacy and numeracy teachers and tutors. However, it will be an important document for programme managers and developers, for those involved in research and for a wider group of those bodies and individuals that are increasingly concerned with the adult literacy and numeracy agenda.
The core curriculum is based on the national standards for adult literacy and numeracy developed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) in 2000. Its publication follows national consultation with teachers and managers of adult literacy and numeracy programmes, and relevant national bodies. The core curriculum draws heavily on existing and planned curricula and strategies in this country and overseas, specifically:
- the twin frameworks for teaching literacy and numeracy that are elaborated in the National Literacy Strategy and the National Numeracy Strategy;
- the new key skills units in communication and application of number developed by QCA;
- the revised National Curriculum for English and mathematics introduced in schools in September 2000;
- adult literacy and numeracy curricula and initiatives that have been developed in other countries (and, in particular, in the United States of America, Australia, Canada and France).
As the national strategy unfolds, the core curriculum will be reviewed and updated to build in new and revised ways of delivering these skills in order to fulfil the vision outlined in A Fresh Start. For teachers, therefore, the new core curriculum is both a key support and also a challenge.
Adult literacy and numeracy teachers will be able to use the core curriculum to develop learning programmes. It will help them to:
- use information from diagnostic assessment to identify learners' skills, both those that they already have and those that they need;
- draw those elements from the curriculum into the learning plan and assessment regime;
- use their knowledge of the learners' context and priorities to find relevant applications where learners can practise the skills and knowledge they are acquiring;
- follow the progression through the standards and the curriculum elements to build a formative and summative assessment regime into the learning plan.
Inclusivity and access
The adult literacy and numeracy core curriculum shares the basic principles of inclusivity and access that are laid down in the National Curriculum for schools:
Education is . . . a route to equality of opportunity for all, a healthy and just democracy, a productive economy, and sustainable development. Education should reflect the enduring values that contribute to these ends. These include valuing ourselves, our families and other relationships, the wider groups to which we belong, the diversity in our society and the environment in which we live.
. . . (Education) must enable us to respond positively to the opportunities and challenges of the rapidly changing world in which we live and work. In particular, we need to be prepared to engage as individuals, parents, workers and citizens with economic, social and cultural change, including the continued globalisation of the economy and society, with new work and leisure patterns and with the rapid expansion of communication technologies.
The . . . Curriculum secures . . . for all, irrespective of social background, culture, race, gender, differences in ability and disabilities, an entitlement to a number of areas of learning and to develop knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes necessary for their self-fulfilment and development as active and responsible citizens.
(The school curriculum and the National Curriculum: values, aims and purposes', The National Curriculum, Department for Education and Employment, 1999)
Some adults will have special requirements. The following access statement applies to the standards at each level:
Adults with a disability may have special learning requirements and be unable to demonstrate some of the capabilities or skills specified in the standards.
As a reasonable adjustment and to aid access it is recommended that alternative methods are investigated to allow individual to demonstrate their abilities.
Curriculum developers and qualifications designers are expected to produce guidance for centres on recognising special learning requirements. This guidance should be supported by a framework for identifying and adopting appropriate alternative approaches.
('Access to the standards', National standards for adult literacy and numeracy,QCA, 2000)
Guidance on specialist diagnosis of learning needs and access to the curriculum for learners with physical disabilities, sensory impairment and learning disabilities will be published separately.
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