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Improving Adult Literacy in Scotland

Section 01 Introduction

1.1 Introduction overview

The national strategy for Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland was outlined in the Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland (ALNIS)² report published in 2001. ALNIS set out the challenges for Scotland, proposed solutions, made recommendations and set targets. Resources were routed through local authorities to the 32 Adult Literacy and Numeracy (ALN) partnerships within community planning structures to fund local action. In 2003 the national ‘development engine’ for Adult Literacy and Numeracy was established in Learning Connections, then part of Communities Scotland and transferring to the Lifelong Directorate of Scottish Government in 2007. Until March 2007, Partnerships reported to Government on their annual activities and progress in meeting the aims and objectives set out in local ALN action plans.

In June 2005, HMIE published Changing Lives: Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland³ which presented a picture of diverse provision responding to learners’ needs in relevant and appropriate ways. It also identified the need to quantify the extent to which learners were actually raising their literacy levels. It highlighted the need for a more strategic approach to planning and partnership working in some areas; more professional development opportunities for tutors; and more rigorous and effective self-evaluation across sectors.

In 2007, the Scottish Government introduced the National Performance Framework, which sets out 15 National Outcomes for achieving the Government’s Purpose of sustainable economic growth. These Outcomes are underpinned by National Indicators, one of which is to, ‘Reduce the number of working age people with severe literacy and numeracy problems’. In November 2007, a Concordat between central and local government committed local government to working towards National Outcomes reflected in the National Indicator.

The Scottish Government also set out the next steps for those involved in offender learning in prisons. These steps are incorporated within The Skills Strategy for Scotland⁴ and the Offender Learning Strategy⁵ which seek to help offenders to obtain fulfilling and sustainable employment and develop skills for learning. A progress report is due to be published in June 2009.

Since the ALNIS report, over 180,000 adult literacy and numeracy learners have received support. Learning Connections within the Lifelong Learning Directorate of the Scottish Government has developed a national curriculum framework and worked in partnership with other organisations including Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Scotland’s Colleges to improve the training and qualifications of professional staff engaged in delivery of literacy and numeracy programmes. It has produced annual progress reports⁶ against the recommendations within the ALNIS (2001) report. The reports are available through Learning Connections.

This report evaluates adult literacy learning within three sectors: community learning and development (CLD) within local authorities, HM prisons, and colleges. It does not cover provision relating to English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). The task focused on reading and writing capabilities.

A cross-sectoral team of HM Inspectors carried out the fieldwork across a broad sample of services and establishments in the three sectors. The team also took account of inspections and reviews of local authority CLD provision, prisons and colleges.

Although there are similarities in provision, each of the sectors has responded to improving adult literacy skills in different ways. This results in differences in the types of provision, arrangements with partner agencies and funding sources, and the arrangements and approaches of individual organisations to meet local needs.

In most local authority areas, there are Adult Literacy and Numeracy Partnerships (ALNPs)⁷ which organise and deliver services and provision and often, but not always, include representation from all of the three sectors, included in this report.

Community learning and development

"Community learning and development (CLD) is learning and social development work with individuals and groups in their communities using a range of formal and informal methods. A common defining feature is that programmes and activities are developed in dialogue with communities and participants…[CLD’s] main aim is to help individuals and communities tackle real issues in their lives through community action and community-based learning."⁸

In this report, CLD mainly refers to the adult literacy service delivered by local authorities. Other community providers include library services and voluntary organisations. Most are part of CLD or ALN Partnerships which have a range of delivery partners including local authorities, voluntary organisations and colleges.

Prisons

The prison sector provides literacy support for offenders, predominantly in partnership with colleges, local authorities, Community Justice Authorities (CJAs) and other agencies. There are thirteen prisons in Scotland operated by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS). Since April 2005, the SPS has contracted with two colleges to deliver learning within individual prisons. In addition, the SPS has a number of collaborative arrangements with local ALN Partnerships and community justice authority staff to deliver provision within prisons and co-ordinate access to literacy provision on release. Addiewell and Kilmarnock Prisons are privately operated and are not included in these arrangements.

Colleges

Scotland’s 43 colleges deliver a wide range of programmes and qualifications in over 4,000 locations. Ninety per cent of the population live within 30 minutes of college provision. Colleges work in partnership with local authorities and voluntary organisations through CLD or ALN Partnerships to help individuals improve their literacy. Colleges use a wide range of approaches to help individuals and groups of learners within community based and college based programmes.

The findings in this report are clustered under themes to encourage the sharing of good practice by the various providers across the sectors. The themes are:

• Planning of provision and services
• Access and support
• Learning and teaching
• Resources to support and enhance learning
• Learner progress and achievement
• Evaluation and quality improvement
• Partnership working

During the fieldwork period, work on literacy was taking place within the development of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). Curriculum for Excellence stresses the continuing and growing importance of literacy for personal, social and economic development. CfE adopts a wide definition of literacy which places emphasis on those skills used regularly by everyone in their everyday lives. It embraces the range of media used for communication in modern society and highlights the close links between listening and talking, reading and writing and the development of the important skill of critical literacy. Although the fieldwork for this task preceded this new definition, the CfE definition is just as appropriate to adult literacy. This reflects an increasing congruence between literacy work in the school and adult sectors which should enhance the better partnership and cross-sector working recommended in the report. This is further supported in a recent report by the Literacy Commission entitled Vision for Scotland (December 2009) which comments on the issue of low achievement of youngsters at school for whom there is no apparent barrier to gaining adequate literacy skills, and the consequence of this failure in the number of adults in Scotland without such skills.

An important development which will also stimulate and support a common approach to literacy for all learners is the introduction of national literacy awards which will be available to adult learners. In June 2009, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning announced the development of these new national literacy awards to be based on the experiences and outcomes for literacy in Curriculum for Excellence. She also "recognised the need to improve literacy and numeracy skills among the wider adult population" and advocated that the use of the new qualifications by adult learners should be a "key focus of education and skills policy in the future".

This development will support this report’s recommendation on improving recognition of learners’ achievements in literacy. The development of literacy within CfE and the introduction of these new awards should influence the future direction and planning of adult literacy provision across the three sectors of this report.

1.2 Summary of key findings planning of provision and services

Planning of provision and services

• At strategic level, almost all providers took good or very good account of national policy drivers. However, this was not always reflected at operational levels.
• Most providers took good or very good account of individual and community needs in planning provision and applied proactive and inclusive approaches to reach out to new and hard-to-reach learners.
• In prisons, the absence of overarching learning strategies and lack of systematic arrangements to identify the literacy and skills levels of offenders within individual prisons inhibited effective planning of literacy provision.
• There were good examples of providers working together to harness and maximise the contribution of different organisations in the planning of provision and services.
• In some areas, local CLD/ALNP funding arrangements in relation to bidding for and allocation of funds were cumbersome and slow which diminished partners’ ability to plan provision effectively. In some areas, restrictions on the number of consecutive annual allocations a partner could receive for a particular initiative prevented providers from sustaining literacy provision which had been very successful.
• The uncertainty of funding available to CLD/ALNPs to continue the delivery and development of literacy provision reduced their confidence and ability to plan ahead.
• In the majority of areas, there was insufficient mapping of provision across different agencies and inadequate planning of progression routes from one level and type of programme to another. This was particularly apparent in the transition from one-to-one learning to learning in groups.

1.3 Summary of key findings access and support

Access and support

• In CLD and colleges there were very effective arrangements to promote and encourage participation. However, in prisons these arrangements were less effective and, in general, prison staff did not actively, or effectively enough, promote opportunities for offenders to develop their literacy skills.
• CLD services and colleges took very good account of lifestyles and family and work commitments when scheduling programmes.
• CLD and prison staff did not make sufficient use of ICT and online learning to enable learners to access provision.
• In a few community venues, teaching facilities did not provide full access for people with disabilities or restricted mobility.
• All colleges had good arrangements and resources to help learners with disabilities and additional barriers to learning. However, in CLD and prisons arrangements to support learners with additional barriers to learning were not consistently effective.
• There were some good examples of local CLD/ALNPs making effective use of locally-available resources to assist learners with specific learning needs. However, this was not widespread.
• Most learners had very good and regular access to literacy programmes. However, in prisons other prison priorities often militated against providing an uninterrupted and reliable service.
• College preparation programmes were very helpful in enabling learners to address and improve their literacy skills prior to starting mainstream programmes.
• Overall, CLD and prisons did not make sufficient use of assessment tools to identify initial learner skill levels and match learners to appropriate levels and types of provision.

1.4 Summary of key findings learning and teaching

Learning and teaching

• The very diverse range of practitioners working in literacy development shared a genuine and high commitment to helping learners to develop their literacy skills in order to improve their lives.
• In all cases, staff and volunteer tutors had established very positive and productive relationships with learners.
• Delivery staff took very good account of learner needs. They planned learning activities effectively and tailored activities to meet the individual needs and aspirations of learners.
• There were many good examples of staff applying creative and innovative approaches to engage learners in learning activities, but there were also examples of staff using outdated and less engaging approaches. In CLD most staff did not make sufficient use of ICT to enhance the learning process and extend learners’ skills.
• In prisons, a wide range of projects and initiatives had been very effective in encouraging and engaging offenders in developing their literacy skills and engaging in learning, often for the first time in many years and often since primary school. However, offenders did not have sufficient opportunities to improve their literacy skills within wider prison activities.
• Learning Connections and Scotland’s Colleges had played an important and effective role in developing and supporting practitioners in sharing good practice and extending their skills.

1.5 Summary of key findings resources to support and enhance learning

Resources to support and enhance learning

• In prisons and colleges, accommodation and facilities for learning were good or very good.
• In CLD, although some venues provided good facilities for learners, in more than a few cases accommodation and ICT equipment were not of a sufficient standard to meet learner needs.
• In CLD and prisons, access to specialist resources, including assistive technologies was inconsistent which resulted in learners not always having access to the specialist types of resources they required or from which they would benefit.

1.6 Summary of key findings learner progress and achievement

Learner progress and achievement

• Most learners made good progress in their learning and achieved their individual goals.
• Most staff made good use of individual learning plans to involve and engage learners in planning and reviewing their learning.
• The diversity of learner needs and aspirations and the lack of appropriate initial and formative assessment instruments made it difficult for many providers to formally assess and provide evidence of the progress of learners.
• All providers promoted and celebrated learners’ achievements.
• Overall, there were insufficient opportunities for learners to gain formal recognition of their achievement in literacy.
• In CLD, in too many cases staff delivering one-to-one provision did not give learners enough encouragement to progress to other types of learning.
• Overall, providers did not have effective systems in place to track learner transitions into and out of provision and end destinations.
• In prisons, staff did not make sufficient or effective use of the Prisoner Tracker System to assist learners to continue their learning on transfer to other prisons or on release.

1.7 Summary of key findings evaluation and quality improvement

Evaluation and quality improvement

• All providers used their own internal quality assurance processes to evaluate provision and inform improvements.
• There were a few good examples of partners engaging in cross-sectoral evaluation of provision and using this process to improve services and transition arrangements for learners. However, this was not widespread.
• In prisons, the lack of reliable information about the initial literacy levels of offenders prevented partners from planning provision and services effectively, setting targets for improvements and measuring progress made in meeting these targets.
• Most providers did not involve learners sufficiently in evaluation and quality improvement processes.

1.8 Summary of key findings partnership working

Partnership working

• In some CLD/ALNP areas a wide and diverse range of partners worked cohesively and productively towards a common purpose. However, in other areas, partners did not contribute actively or effectively enough to maximise opportunities for learners in their area.
• There were some good examples of partnership staff providing high quality guidance to learners about the range and types of provision available in their area. However, in too many cases providers were not sufficiently well-informed about other types and levels of provision and progression opportunities.
• Contractual arrangements between the Scottish Prison Service and colleges militated against delivering one-to-one and small group provision, which many learners would have benefited from.
• More than a few colleges considered their partners did not make sufficient use of college facilities and resources.
• In a few local authority areas, colleges were not represented on strategic community planning partnerships. This impeded effective partnership working and restricted the ability of colleges to contribute fully to providing well-coordinated services for learners. Colleges working across a number of local authorities’ adult literacy partnerships found it difficult to meet the needs of all partnerships, particularly where authority areas had different priorities and structures.

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