The draft Adult Literacy Quality Mark demonstration project report

The draft Adult Literacy Quality Mark (dALQM) was developed as a mechanism for quality assuring adult literacy provision. The dALQM demonstration project asked providers to comment on the value of the dALQM as a quality standard for the sector and to determine their readiness to be measured against it. In May 2001, the New Zealand government strategy for adult literacy, 'More than words: a strategy for adult literacy' (indexed at TD/IRD 88.351) was released. Quality assurance is one of the strategy's key elements. In 2002, the dALQM was developed by a group of literacy specialists and quality assurance representatives. The aim was to apply a nationally consistent organisational literacy quality standard across a range of learning contexts where literacy development is offered and across a range of learner groups. In 2003, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) was asked to develop and carry out a trial of the dALQM. The revised dALQM and supporting self-assessment guidelines were sent out to 43 providers, who were asked to fill out an accompanying survey. Literacy specialists and quality auditors then appraised a small number of the providers that participated in the survey. The project identified a number of activities that need to take place to effectively implement a quality standard for literacy provision in New Zealand. The conclusions and recommendations presented are based on the assumption that the dALQM, self-assessment and appraisal approach used during the project will be the likely mechanisms and processes to be used to measure quality literacy provision in the future. The findings from this project suggest a sizable amount of work is required to ready the sector to have quality literacy provision effectively measured. Show less