Oslo 23 October Basic Competence in Working Life Hanne Christensen Assistant Director Unit for Basic Skills Vox Norwegian Institute for Adult Learning

2 The Competence Reform 1999 Main objectives: to help meet the needs of individuals, society and the workplace in terms of skills and knowledge to give adults more opportunity to acquire education and training to improve their qualifications to put non-formal and informal competences on a more equal footing with formal competences to establish a system to ensure opportunities for adults to have their knowledge and skills documented regardless of where these competencies were acquired

3 Surveys and scores Results from IALS and ALL A minimum of have a low score in literacy and numeracy At risk in working life

4 Some facts about the scores In general, the number of people with low basic skills increases with age Every fifth person between 16 and 20 is at risk Immigrants, especially from non-western countries, have a low score Among people with low scores, these factors occur more frequently: low levels of education, unemployment, social benefits as main income

5 Addressing the challenges Basic Competence in Working Life was started in 2006 Funding programme Government focus on adult skills Funded over the National Budget Administrative and academic responsibility  Vox

6 Programme purpose The purpose of the programme is to fund and monitor basic learning projects in enterprises, or projects aiming at preparing people for working life in cooperation with the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration

7 Programme goals Giving adults the opportunity to improve their basic skills Increasing quality of provision  Strengthening education providers’ ability to offer education adapted to the needs of enterprises and individuals Increasing awareness of and open-mindedness, reduce stigma Increasing knowledge of the barriers and success factors Overall goal: to prevent exclusion from working life because of insufficient basic competence

8 An important sub-project The framework for basic skills for adults: to increase the quality of teaching to ensure an education tailored to the needs The framework comprises: descriptions of levels guidelines for providers mapping tools and tests a model for teacher training.

9 Programme priorities Maintaining flexibility and work capacity Literacy, numeracy, digital competence Any enterprise, private or public, can apply Criteria: – should be combined with work and preferably other job-relevant learning – level: ‘lower secondary school’ – strengthen motivation

10 The scope of projects 2006 and 2007 Not a permanent offer  depends on political priorities for each year’s National Budget 2006 (the first programme year): a total of 14,5 million NOK was allocated to 64 enterprises 2007: a total of 20 million NOK was allocated to 69 enterprises

11 Projects in mill.NOK - 78 enterprises reading, writing, numeracy and basic digital competence both private and public enterprises no fixed amount per participant totally free for the participants mostly during working hours possible compensation for loss of productive time information campaign from 2008: applications have to relate to the recently established Framework for Basic Skills for Adults

12 Evaluation of the programme Commissioned by the Ministry Assess overall impact on participants and enterprises Early days yet Good reports Increased interest and awareness

13 Lessons learned and future challenges The importance of motivation ICT as a motivating factor for other basic skills The importance of openness Political level  keep the programme running Reaching the target group

14 Project example Example: Hydro Industries Employees without a trade certificate are marginalised and leave work at a young age Low reading skills is a major factor Increase in writing and reading  safety, reporting, computerised processes, trade certificates, other certificates (e.g. forklift) 950

15 The Framework for Basic Skills for Adults The Framework for Basic Skills for Adults was approved in the autumn of 2007 by The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. It establishes standards for literacy, numeracy, digital competence and oral communication.

16 The Framework for Basic Skills for Adults A sub-project under the programme Basic Competence in Working Life Content / skills level comparable to primary and secondary school, but adapted to the needs of adults

17 Main objective To increase the quality of teaching and ensure that the individual can get education adapted to his/her needs… … so that every adult can attain the level of basic competence… … that enables him/her to meet the increased demands of today’s work and everyday life.

18 Active citizenship Increased understanding Increased participation Empowerment

19 Guidelines, tools and teacher training 2008  further development of the content of the Framework for Basic Skills for Adults: guidelines for providers mapping tools and tests didactic models In addition Vox has been assigned the responsibility to design a model for teacher training - customized to the needs of teachers who teach basic skills to adults.

20 An inter-connected system The framework; description of competence goals Teacher training/PD Course content Materials & models Mapping tools and guidelines

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