Basic Competence in Working Life Hanne Christensen Assistant

Basic Competence in Working Life Hanne Christensen Assistant Director Unit for Basic Skills Vox Norwegian Institute for Adult Learning Oslo 23 October 2008 1

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 2

Surveys and scores • Results from IALS and ALL • A minimum of 400 000 have a low score in literacy and numeracy • At risk in working life 3

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 4

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 5

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 6

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 7

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. 8

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 9

The scope of projects 2006 and 2007 • 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 • Not a permanent offer depends on political priorities for each year’s National Budget 10

Projects in 2008 • 25 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 11

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

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 13

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) http: //www. vox. no/templates/Common. Page. aspx? id=2 950 14

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. 15

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 16

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. 17

Active citizenship • Increased understanding • Increased participation • Empowerment 18

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. 19

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

Thank you! Read more on our website, www. vox. no >> English Pages 21