The sector must ensure that adult learners have greater access to excellent provision for basic skills, training for work and learning for personal development.

Success for All (DfES, 2001)

The economic cost to the country of this national failure [in basic skills] could be as high as £10 billion a year in lower productivity, and the extra burden on the welfare state. But the real price, of course, is paid by the individuals themselves, whose earnings tend to be lower, who suffer from poor health and who have fewer opportunities.

Tony Blair, March 2003

CURRENT ISSUES IN SKILLS FOR LIFE PROVISION FOR JOBCENTRE PLUS CUSTOMERS

Research carried out by the Royal Mail found that spelling and grammar mistakes are costing UK businesses more than £700 million a year. Another survey (Office Angels, 2001) found technical errors in over half of the written work (55 per cent) produced by their clerical and administrative staff – despite computers with spelling and grammar checkers. Some 84 per cent of employers hold that otherwise excellent work is ‘completely devalued’ by surface errors.

No wonder, then, that the Skills for Life strategy is key to the Government’s goals for improved economic competitiveness. Literacy, numeracy and language skills are increasingly critical to employability and people without these essential skills are at much greater risk of unemployment. The teaching of these skills is fundamental to improved employability and the acquisition of vocational and occupational skills.

Exploring new ways of motivating this customer group is particularly important. A study in 2003 by the Department for Work and Pensions A Longitudinal Study of Basic Skills Client Outcomes, concludes that:

• 25 per cent of participants recognise that low-level basic skills are a barrier to work
• participants who complete basic skills training and find work think that training helped them get work
• participants who attended basic skills training are better able to articulate the factors accounting for low confidence and self-esteem
• Jobcentre Plus participants can see the benefit of attending training, especially ‘when it is tailored to meet their needs’.

However, the ALI (2004) Annual Report of the Chief Inspector 2003/04 and the joint ALI/Ofsted (2003) report Literacy, Numeracy and English for Speakers of Other Languages: A survey of current practice in post-16 and adult provision highlight that the existing provision that is available to Jobcentre Plus participants has considerable weaknesses to address.

• The proportion of participants finding work was unsatisfactory in more than a quarter of providers. Participants who were in the early stages of learning English as an additional language found it particularly difficult to find work, although there were notable exceptions.
• Many providers did not appreciate the importance of literacy, numeracy and language skills in finding employment.

The key challenges for Jobcentre Plus providers are to:

• tighten quality assurance processes for their own and subcontracted provision to bring consistency of quality to training
• develop greater staff expertise in teaching, especially of literacy, numeracy and language, so that clients can achieve their personal targets
• ensure that staff and clients have a better understanding of equality of opportunity as it applies at work
• focus on developing clients' employability skills to help them prepare for sustainable employment
• review initial assessment processes to ensure that the learning and personal needs of all clients are systematically collected and used to plan their individual learning programmes.

THE SCOPE OF THIS GUIDE

This Guide is designed to help providers achieve excellence in their literacy, numeracy and ESOL provision for clients on Jobcentre Plus programmes. By taking each of the five questions in the Common Inspection Framework in turn, it is designed to help providers interpret the requirements of the Common Inspection Framework and the adult basic skills curricula for provision in communication, reading, writing and numeracy.

The Guide also sets out the characteristics of best practice in literacy, numeracy and ESOL provision, in particular by drawing on real examples. The examples are designed to give staff in the Jobcentre Plus context practical help and ideas for improving their literacy, numeracy and ESOL provision.

We wanted this series of guides to offer practical help to providers and practitioners – a ‘How to’ guide that would really focus on what works. For that reason, as well as providing sample materials that can be adapted for different learning environments, the guides illustrate what success might look like. For example, how do we know when a client has made an important new step in their learning? What might be the outcomes of a successful initial assessment? The short descriptions of the progress made by real learners in real situations help to answer such questions.

Finally, the guides all highlight comments from inspectors on this area of work in inspection reports and other documents. These extracts are included to help readers gain an insight into how Ofsted and the ALI evaluate and report on this context for learning.

WHAT IS SUCCESS IN THE JOBCENTRE PLUS CONTEXT?

Success in literacy, numeracy and ESOL provision in a Jobcentre Plus context is underpinned by the following principles.

• The development of literacy, numeracy and language skills is an essential part of any training programme that aims to help unemployed people gain access to the labour market.
• Literacy, numeracy and language skills are best acquired and developed in a context that is interesting and meaningful to the customer, as this will improve employability as well as vocational or occupational skills.
• There needs to be organisational commitment to providing high-quality training and support to customers in improving their employability and access to the labour market.
• There also needs to be an organisational commitment to working in partnership with local employers and others who have an interest in developing the local labour market
• Successful ‘triangulation’ (meaning cooperation and joint work between three partners) involving employers, training providers and customers is required.
• High-quality vocational information, advice and guidance need to be integrated into programmes, including specialist advice for disabled customers.
• The assessment of language, literacy and numeracy skills is conducted by experienced and qualified staff using the new Skills for Life materials and resources.
• Customers must have full access to acquiring and developing ICT skills.
• Jobsearch activities must be relevant, realistic and must use up-to-date equipment and resources.
• Customers need to have good access to all relevant national qualifications, including those for literacy, numeracy and language.
• Customers' work experience placements and trials are accessible and matched to their needs.
• Customers should receive a comprehensive induction to the programme and should contribute fully to their training and action plans.
• There should be robust progression routes into further provision.