Lifelong learning is growing in importance owing to demographic and technological change, but government and employer funding has declined over decades, and too many people lack the essential skills for life and work. A quick glance at the state of play in adult numeracy typifies why this campaign is so important.
Millions struggle with numeracy
According to the OECD’s Survey of Adult Skills, around 8.5m adults in England have low literacy and/or numeracy skills. On numeracy skills, 21% of adults in England achieved at Level 1 or below, indicating low proficiency.
People with this level of skills can make simple calculations, for example with money, but may struggle with percentages or calculations requiring multiple steps. While England’s performance is better than the OECD average, improvement in numeracy skills since the previous survey has been driven by top performers scoring even higher, while the lowest achievers’ skills levels have remained unchanged.
This is a disturbing trend. Social and economic change means that people with low numeracy skills are increasingly at risk of being left behind, both in terms of jobs, and in their day to day lives. In future, there will likely be fewer roles that do not require the essentials of numeracy, with demand growing for highly skilled workers.
Beyond the labour market, people without core numeracy skills are at greater risk of falling victim to mis- and disinformation, with social media awash with misleading facts, statistics and infographics. The ability to accurately interpret numbers and percentages can also allow people to understand the relative risks of pursuing or declining medical treatment, and the side effects of medication. With lives getting longer, and demand on public health services growing, this is an increasingly vital task.
Despite trend, funding and participation in adult numeracy is going the wrong way. Government has cut adult skills spending by £1bn since 2010, contributing to 7 million fewer people gaining qualifications than if attainment had remained unchanged.
The importance of adult numeracy
Around a million of these lost learners are in essential numeracy skills, including Functional Skills and GCSE maths. Our Ambition Skills analysis shows that to achieve our goal of 90% of adults having essential skills by 2035, we need to double literacy and numeracy achievement rates to around 600,000 a year – with roughly half in numeracy.
This is a tall order. England last regularly achieved these levels of participation and achievement in the 2000s. But this experience shows we can achieve it again if we give adult numeracy the priority it deserves.
Shifting the dial on adult numeracy skills isn’t just about asking government for more money, or asking learning providers to do more. Getting more adults learning essential numeracy skills means building a coalition, spanning national and devolved policymakers; adult learning providers of all types; employers; and community groups - who are often best placed to engage those who stand to gain most from improving their skills. There is also plenty of effective practice that we can build on.
The Multiply programme, rolled out under the previous government, tells us a lot about what models can work. Local, less formal learning, delivered by trusted community organisations and built around people’s needs and interests have immense value - both as an end in themselves, but also as a ladder to more substantial, qualifications-bearing programmes.
From leading employers, like the British Army and the NHS, we can learn how numeracy skills can boost productivity and operational effectiveness, and see the importance of tailored support alongside other training such as apprenticeships.
The Essential Skills Awards launch this year
The Get the Nation Learning Awards are a great way to showcase these kinds of innovations by organisations delivering essential skills for adults, and to recognise the achievements of individuals who’ve benefited from improving skills such as numeracy. This year, we’re delighted to launch our brand-new Essential Skills Award, sponsored by the British Army.
Nominations are now open, so if you know an outstanding numeracy learner, or an organisation transforming people’s lives through essential skills, please do nominate. Leading numeracy organisations like National Numeracy are amongst the 200 or so organisations who have already joined the Get the Nation Learning movement by signing our charter. Please do sign up too.
Together, we can all take a few small steps that will add up to big change on adult numeracy, and help Get the Nation Learning.
Photo credit: Andy Barbour, Pexels
