This Podlet has been archived and is no longer updated. For recent information on VET-related topics, access the current Pod Network or search VOCEDplus. Last updated: December 2018.
Adult literacy has no single or universal definition and there is consensus among literacy researchers that the meaning of literacy depends on the context in which it is being used. However, it is well documented that adult language, literacy, numeracy and employability skills are imperatives for greater workforce participation, productivity and social inclusion.
Research
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Recent publications
- Ageing and literacy skills: evidence from IALS, ALL and PIAAC [OECD countries]
- A review of adult numeracy policy and practice in Ireland
- Beyond economic interests: critical perspectives on adult literacy and numeracy in a globalised world [international]
- Educational attainment and adult literacy: a descriptive account of 31 Sub-Saharan African countries
- Focusing or narrowing: trade-offs in the development of adult basic education, 1991-2015 [US]
- If you cannot read, forget about the other skills [Zambia, Africa]
- Integrated functional adult literacy: existing practices and challenges in eastern Ethiopia
- Literacy skills gaps: a cross-level analysis on international and intergenerational variations
- Of cultural dissonance: the UK's adult literacy policies and the creation of democratic learning spaces
- Professional development and professionalization in the field of adult basic education [US]
- Profiling adult literacy facilitators in development contexts: an ethnographic study in Ethiopia
- Functional adult literacy: an alternative gateway to grassroots women's improved income generation in Lango subregion, Northern Uganda
- Reading the past, writing the future: fifty years of promoting literacy [international]
- Technology for innovation and change in adult basic skills education [US]
- The case for investment in adult basic education [US]
- Traders, neighbours and intruders: points of contact: conference program and papers, 40th national conference, Australian Council for Adult Literacy: 13th-14th September, 2017, Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin, NT
Suggested reading
Key research from a broad date range
- Adult basic skills [UK]
- Adult literacy and numeracy: an overview of the evidence: annotated bibliography [international]
- Adults with low proficiency in literacy or numeracy [international]
- Does 1 = 1? Mapping measures of adult literacy and numeracy [Australia]
- How to motivate adults with low literacy and numeracy skills to engage and persist in learning: a literature review of policy interventions [international]
- Literacy in the information age: final report of the International Adult Literacy Survey
- Mapping adult literacy performance [Australia]
- OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills
Resources
- Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL) [New Zealand]
- Adult Literacy and Numeracy (ALaN) online network [Australia]
- Adult Literacy National Project (ALNP) items (in VOCEDplus) [Australia]
- Australian Council for Adult Literacy
- Australian Social Trends - Adult Literacy (ABS)
- Commission On Adult Basic Education (COABE) [USA]
- Copian (formally NALD - Canada's National Adult Literacy Database)
- Fine Print (journal) [Australia]
- Learning and Work Institute (previously NIACE and CES) [UK]
- National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) [Ireland]
- National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) [US]
- National Centre of Literacy and Numeracy for Adults (Tukua Kia Rere) [New Zealand]
- OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC)
- Research and Practice in Adult Literacies (RaPAL) [UK]
- US Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC)
- Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Education Council (VALBEC) [Australia]
- Workplace English Language and Literacy (WELL) items (in VOCEDplus) [Australia]
- World Bank Data - Adult Literacy Rate
