SfLDC

A national strategy to tackle the literacy, language and numeracy needs of adults was launched by the government in the March 2001. Following the report of Sir Claus Moser's Working Group, A Fresh Start - Improving Literacy and Numeracy (Department for Education and Employment, 1999), the government committed itself, the education services and a cross-section of agencies and national bodies to a major reduction in the number of adults who struggle with literacy, language and numeracy.

The national strategy (Skills for Life) has established (1) national standards of adult literacy and numeracy to ensure consistency. The standards for numeracy and literacy describe adult literacy and numeracy within the definition of basic skills as expressed in A Fresh Start : 'the ability to read, write and speak in English and to use mathematics at a level necessary to function at work and in society in general.' The standards provide a map of the range of skills and capabilities that adults are expected to need in order to function and progress at work and in society. A separate set of standards has been produced for each of the basic skills of literacy and numeracy.

(2) a core curriculum for each of literacy, numeracy and ESOL to clarify what teachers should teach to enable learners to reach those standards. (3) a new system of qualifications to measure achievement against the standards, and improved quality and diversity of learning opportunities to meet the needs of a wide range of learners. (4) A set of publications including the Adult Pre-entry Curriculum Framework for literacy, language and numeracy as part of a major national programme relating to literacy, language and numeracy for adults with learning difficulties and disabilities.

The core curricula for Adult Literacy, Numeracy and ESOL and the Pre-entry Curriculum Framework were first introduced in the period 2000 – 2002. In 2006 -07 all the curricula and the Pre-entry Curriculum Framework were reviewed through a process of national consultation with practitioners, learners, experts and other stakeholders. The Adult Literacy, Numeracy and ESOL Curricula and the Pre-entry Curriculum Framework have been revised and updated in the light of the findings from the review.

What’s new in the online Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum?

Changes/additions have been made as a result of the findings from the Numeracy Curriculum review.

Any changes and amendments have been accomplished by smoothing out the levels and clarifying previously unclear aspects of the ANCC.

o Reading and writing numbers are now in words and  figures

o The elements for Using and interpreting the four operations have been merged with Using a calculator.

o Algebra is now included in the lower levels in the form of simple patterns and sequences to address the significant demand in the consultation for learners to be introduced to algebra earlier than Level 2.

o Some inconsistencies have been addressed. For example, N1/E2.1 asked learners to count up to 20 items but in N1/E2.2 they were asked to read, write, order and compare numbers up to 100. The wording of similar elements at different levels has now been amended to provide more consistency.

o Estimation has been included at Entry Levels 1 and 2.

o Understanding simple common percentages and their equivalences has been included at Entry Level 3

o Adding and subtracting decimals up to two places in practical contexts has been included in Entry Level 3

o Mental methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are included at Levels 1 and 2

o Finding unit fractions has been added to Entry Level 3 since there appeared to be a gap between Entry Level 2 and Level 1 in this skill

o Multiplying and dividing by 1000 has been included at Levels 1 and 2 since learners will need this skill for example when converting from grams to milligrams

o Multiplying and dividing fractions has been included in Level 2

o Expressing one number as a fraction of another number has been included at Level 1 since this is a skill which is often tested at this level

o During the consultation, it was felt that the curriculum needed to include more geometry. To address this, geometry is included across all levels.

o Positional vocabulary has been clarified to include follow directions using positional vocabulary and is now included at every level.

o Choosing and using appropriate units and measuring instruments has been included at Entry Level 2.

o Recognising right angles in everyday objects has also been included at Entry Level 2.

o Reading, measuring and recording time in common date formats and 12 hour and 24 hour clock was at Level 1 and has now been put into Entry Level 3 to address comments from the consultation that these skills should be included earlier, as most learners see this as a life skill.

o Reading scales to the nearest labelled and unlabelled division is now included from Entry Level 2 to Level 2.

o Identifying the perimeter of simple shapes has been included at Entry Level 2.

o Reading and measuring time accurately and using timetables effectively has been included in Level 1 to provide a useful build-up of skills once the 12 hour and 24 hour clock had been moved to Entry 3.

o Working with scale drawings has been included in Level 1

o Since Drawing 2-D shapes in different orientations using grids was expected at Level 1, learners are now also expected to Recognise and name a range of mathematical 2-D and 3-D shapes at Levels 1 and 2 along with Know the properties of regular 2-D shapes and 3-D shapes.

o Some of the terminology has been changed for clarity. Block graphs are now referred to as Bar charts.

o The progression of Extracting and interpreting information from Entry 1 to Level 2 has been clarified. For example, the inclusion of the skills needed to use a tally chart are now at Entry Level 3.

o The element Show that some events are more likely to occur than others has been changed to Use the vocabulary of probability to discuss the likelihood of events to describe the element more clearly.

Changes to other parts of the curriculum

o The Sample Activities and Examples have been merged

o Ideas and Suggestions. The guidance panels throughout the curriculum have been reviewed and renamed, and many new ones added. These also include useful web links.

o The Glossary has been reviewed for clarity with many new terms added and appropriate diagrams and illustrations included

Additional documents

o Overview of the whole curriculum. This is now on one page.

o ‘What’s involved in…" each section of the curriculum. Diagrams have been included to give an overview of each section

o The progression between curriculum elements has been re-designed to include similar content but break down the skills more, which will help with planning.

o A set of diagrams have been based on each section of the curriculum showing :

What comes first. Elements or topics that are part of understanding this topic.

What comes next. Other topics or elements that use this topic or take it further.

Where does it happen. Situations and contexts in which these topics are particularly important.

Numeracy on the Embedded Skills page

o Task analysis diagrams: These diagrams show how literacy, language and numeracy are integrated in real everyday life, study and work tasks, at a range of levels from Pre-entry to Level 2 of the National Standards.

o Integrated skills: These diagrams give specific tasks for using numeracy with literacy for sports, ESOL for technology and a cooking example for numeracy.

o Contexts for non specialists: These examples provide a bank of suggestions for the types of activities that could be used in vocational subject areas to help learners develop these skills.

o Schemes of work: These show the key features of a scheme of work and include a numeracy example.