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Raise foundation skills so that all people can participate in our knowledge society

Refer to monitoring framework for Strategy3 ?

Refer to Interim Statement of Tertiary Education Priorities for Strategy 3

“Literacy is a powerful determinant of an individual’s life chances and quality of life; overall literacy has a demonstrable effect on the well-being of economies and societies”. OECD, 1997

What are foundation skills?

The demands of our contemporary world require learning to be lifelong. Foundation skills are those skills that underpin the ability to learn and to keep learning. Although a precise definition of ‘foundation skills’ is difficult to confirm, the term generally refers to a bundle of skills such as literacy, numeracy, technological literacy, communication skills, teamwork, ‘learning to learn’ and self confidence skills. Literacy (reading, writing and oracy) may refer to both English and Te Reo Mäori. These foundation skills are the same core skills that are described by other names in different nations, (for example, ‘key skills’, ‘basic skills’, ‘essential skills’, ‘literacy defined broadly’) and these names refer to a similar set of identifiable skills that all people require.

Without these skills, people struggle to continue learning, to keep abreast of technological advances that will change the way their daily lives are led, and to adapt to workplace change throughout their lives. These skills provide the base upon which further, higher-level generic and specialist skills can be developed.

Foundation skills are increasingly critical, as businesses which traditionally employ people with limited foundation skills are now demanding basic literacy and numeracy skills in ‘factory floor’ jobs to meet international quality and safety standards. Many are having to develop foundation skills in their existing workforces, and struggling to find new employees with the required skills. These needs will become more pronounced in the future.

It is imperative, therefore, that the education system delivers these ‘foundation skills’ to all citizens to enable them to continue learning throughout their lifetime. The greatest investment in foundation skills acquisition will continue to be in the compulsory education system, and here the strong focus on literacy, numeracy and ICT skills and on improving retention and achievement before learners leave school is of critical future importance.

The responsibility of the tertiary education system is to facilitate access to learning foundation skills for those adults and young people who have not benefited from improvements in the compulsory system, or whose skills have become ‘out of date’. This is a priority area because the foundation skills sector has traditionally received little attention and resources and the learners engaged in it are often those with the least influence on decision-making.

More Than Words: the New Zealand Adult Literacy Strategy

In May 2001, the Government released More Than Words: The New Zealand Adult Literacy Strategy. More Than Words provides a way forward to address the urgent priority of lifting many New Zealand adults’ literacy to the levels required to function in a knowledge society.

The vision of More Than Words is: ‘Over the long-term, all New Zealanders should enjoy a level of literacy which enables them to participate fully in all aspects of life – including work, family and the community – and the opportunity to achieve literacy in English and Te Reo Maori’.

The three long-term goals set in More Than Words are:

increasing opportunities for adult literacy learning;
developing capability in the adult literacy teaching sector; and
improving quality to ensure that adult literacy teaching programmes and learning environments in New Zealand are world class.

Much work has been done to implement More Than Words, with $45.3 million over four years additional funding for adult literacy allocated in Budget 2000. Since May 2001, good progress has been made in developing quality standards and sector benchmarks. This work will continue in parallel with the related work on foundation skills arising out of the Tertiary Education Strategy 2002/07.

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