Improving adult basic skills: Benefits to the individual and to society

(2001) - John Bynner, S. McIntosh, A Vignoles, Lorraine Dearden, Howard Reed, John Van Reenen

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Tags:: #paper #NCDS #Reading #Maths
Cite Key:: [@Bynner2001]

Abstract

This research project for the Department for Education and Employment is the latest in a sequence of studies of the origins and outcomes of basic skills difficulties. Earlier studies carried out for the Basic Skills Agency include Does Numeracy Matter? (1997};_lt Doesn't Get Any Better (1997). Influences on Adults Basic Skills (1998); Use it or Lose it {1998}; Literacy, Leaving School and Jobs (1999). This report uses statistical modeling techniques to assess the economic and non-economic consequences of these effects for individuals and for society as a whole. The report presents many new findings and will be a major research resource for ministers and officials working across the whole spectrum of government policy to combat social exclusion.

Notes

“who improve their basic skills: • improve their chances in the labour market, moving up the occupational status scale and reSisting unemployment, • suffer less from poor physical and mental health, • are less likely to have children experiencing difficulty at school, • are more likely to be active citizens, as shown by voting and expressing interest in politics, and • are more liberal and less discriminatory in their attitudes” (Bynner et al., 2001, p. 5)