Skills for Life is a radical and successful strategy that has transformed the teaching of adult basic literacy, language and numeracy skills in England since its launch in 2001
Skills for Life introduced – for the first time ever – national standards and curricula for literacy, language and numeracy, and a national test.
Skills for Life literacy and numeracy learning up to Level 2 is free of charge to the learner. From August 2007, ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) courses have required a contribution from some groups of learners. Those learners on income-related benefits are exempt from paying the contribution.
A new Skills for Life Strategy refresh/delivery document, Skills for Life: Changing lives, published in March 2009, updates the original strategy from 2001 and demonstrates how all the World Class Skills reforms will improve the delivery of Skills for Life. It sets out a new focus on improving people's employability, a strategy for raising demand for literacy, and particularly, numeracy skills and proposals to develop flexible and responsive Skills for Life provision.
Key facts
- Since 2001, 5.7 million adult learners have taken up 12 million Skills for Life learning opportunities, with over 2.8 million adults gaining a first qualification counting towards the target.
- Our Public Service Agreement (PSA) target to improve the literacy, language and numeracy skills of 2.25 million adults by 2010 was met in June 2008, over 2 years early.
- The Government’s World Class Skills report set new targets for England to meet; 95% of adults should have “functional” literacy and numeracy skills by 2020 (“Functional” is defined as a minimum of Level 1 for literacy and Entry Level 3 for Numeracy.)
- For the three years from 2008/09 to 2010/11, the targets are for an additional 597,000 people of working age to achieve a first Level 1 (or above) literacy qualification (taking us to 89% literacy) and an additional 390,000 people of working age to achieve a first Entry Level 3 (or above) numeracy qualification (taking us to 81% numeracy).
- 2,807,600 adults have now improved their skills, but these are not just numbers; these adults have taken vital steps towards better employability and social inclusion, transforming their lives and those of their families.
- We are engaging Skills for Life learners through various campaigns and projects such as Quick Reads, Kick Start TV, the 2008 National Year of Reading, Adult Learners Week, Family Learning Week, Learning at Work Day and the Heading for Success adult skills football project.