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Attainment and outcomes
  5.1 National Targets for England  
       
  5.2 National Curriculum Key Stage 1  
       
  5.3 National Curriculum Key Stage 2  
       
  5.4 National Curriculum Key Stage 3  
       
  5.5 GCSE and Equivalent Qualifications  
       
  5.6 GCE/VCE A/AS Qualifications  
       
  5.7 Higher Education Outcomes  
       
  5.8 Further Education completion  
       
  5.9 Vocational Qualifications  
       
  5.10 Level of Highest Qualification  
       
  5.11 Government-Supported Work Based Learning for Young People  
       
  5.12 Literacy and Numeracy  
       

5.12 Literacy and Numeracy

Summary of indicator
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In the 2002/03 Skills for Life survey, respondents tended to perform at a lower level in the numeracy assessment than they did in the literacy assessment.

Lower levels of literacy were associated with socio-economic deprivation.

Men and women had similar levels of literacy, but men appeared to have higher levels of numeracy, even when controlling for differences in education and employment.

Generally, age was not a strong performance discriminator for either literacy or numeracy. However, there was a strong correlation between a respondent's level of literacy and numeracy and his/her educational history.

There were significant gaps in numeracy assessment performance between the different 'upper' occupation categories. Gaps in literacy assessment were not of the same magnitude.
 
Charts
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o Chart A: Adult (age 16-65) literacy and numeracy levels, England, 2002/03 Download Excel spreadsheet of this chart
o Chart B: Adults (age 16-65) reaching Level 2 or above in numeracy by gender and age, England, 2002/03 Download Excel spreadsheet of this chart
o Chart C: Adult (age 16-65) literacy and education levels, England, 2002/03 Download Excel spreadsheet of this chart
o Chart D: Adult (age 16-65) numeracy levels and occupation category, England, 2002/03 Download Excel spreadsheet of this chart
       
Background
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Skills for Life: The National Strategy for Improving Adult Literacy and Numeracy is to date the most comprehensive survey of adult literacy, numeracy and basic skills in England.

The aim was to produce a national profile over five broad levels of competence, corresponding with the National Standards for adult literacy and numeracy: Entry level 1 or below, Entry level 2, Entry level 3, Level 1 and Level 2 or above and assess the impact different levels of skill had on people's lives.

The 2002/03 survey was commissioned by the DfES and involved interviewing 8,730 randomly selected adults aged 16-65 between June 2002 and May 2003.

The Government has a PSA target to increase the number of adults with the skills required for employability and progression to higher levels of training through:

- improving the basic skills of 2.25 million adults between the 2001 launch of Skills for Life and 2010, with a milestone of 1.5 million in 2007;

- reduce by at least 40 per cent the number of adults in the workforce who lack NVQ2 or equivalent qualifications by 2010. Working towards this, one million adults in the workforce to achieve level 2 between 2003 and 2006.
 
Relevant publications
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A Skills for Life survey: A national needs and impact survey of literacy, numeracy and ICT skills (DfES Research Brief RB 490).
 
Contact information
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Area Contact Telephone
Literacy and Numeracy Peter Vallely (0114) 259 1012
 
     

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