Education has always been focused on the younger generation, and the importance of adult literacy has been somewhat overlooked. This is of concern given that around 50 per cent of adults in the workforce lack sufficient reading, writing, numeracy or communication skills to do their jobs effectively and efficiency.
Success in a modern economy requires a nation to have a good level of adult literacy amongst its population. This is because adult literacy skills provide a foundation for raising a nation’s workforce skill levels, and therefore its ability to innovate and successfully respond to competition within a global market.
Functional literacy is an outcome of an individual’s adult literacy levels. Low functional literacy can lead to an individual being unemployed or under-employed. Even though they can sometimes be labeled as illiterate, this term is a misnomer. Few people are truly illiterate; many of those who are labeled illiterate can actually read, write and use numbers but they struggle to do so. This affects their ability to either get jobs, or to get well paid employment.
Functional literacy is very important to workplace productivity. There can be costly consequences if, for example, an employee fails to properly understand commonplace written work instructions such as the correct quantity of raw ingredients to add during a manufacturing process. Other typical outcomes of poor adult workforce literacy include failure to adhere to health and safety incident reporting procedures, and a general lack of contribution to problem solving activities. Poor functional literacy levels in the workplace can end up costing money, jobs – and sometimes even lives.
A range of steps can be put in place to reduce adult illiteracy, and to help improve the skills of those who struggle with reading, writing and numeracy. Remedial education, instructor-led training and self-enrichment are just a few solutions. Other options include courses at literacy centres. All of these methods can be used to help adults learn new skills and to improve adult literacy levels within the nation’s workforce.
Benefits of adult literacy
Improving adult literacy will lead to many benefits for individuals, employers and the nation’s economy:
• Improved literacy, numeracy and reading skills will make individuals more competitive in the job market, and assist them to get higher paid jobs.
• Improving a nation’s adult literacy level will help to improve the workforce’s skill levels, and therefore improve economic productivity.
• All businesses are affected by literacy; whether directly or indirectly. Adult numeracy and literacy will benefit every aspect of an employer’s workplace by improving productivity, reducing rework and wastage, and enhancing employee engagement.
• Maintaining essential literacy and numeracy skills is a lifelong journey. Individuals can be perfectly literate in one sense (for example, have no trouble reading commonplace work related documents), yet may struggle in other areas. For example, many people struggle with technological literacy. Everyone at some point in their lives – no matter how literate they may be - can further their education with workplace learning, tertiary education, distance learning, and improving their skills and knowledge while thorough work-based training and courses.
• Literacy training is not just about reading and writing; it also involves learning new skills. It can also involve other types of literacy, such as financial literacy, technological literacy, language skills, effective communication, etc.
• Employees who participate in adult learning courses typically find it benefits their current career, boosts their confidence levels, and provides them with the skills that also assist in their personal lives (e.g. improved literacy skills often leads to parents being better able to assist their children with homework).
Adult education has many benefits, particularly education in the workplace. This is because it enables people to immediately put their newfound skills to practical use.
Government funded adult literacy programmes are available to employers. Although many individuals and organizations offer adult literacy skills services, best results will be gained by engaging an organisation that specializes in improving adult literacy in the workplace.
Article Source:
http://www.articlepool.com/adult-articles/the-importance-of-adult-literacy-599616.html
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