Skills for life: the national strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy skills: 'what works': early findings from the Pathfinder Projects

In 2001, the Department of Education and Skills (DfES) in the United Kingdom (UK) initiated a series of Pathfinder Projects to test key elements of the Skills for Life strategy (indexed at TD/IRD 88.171). These elements included delivering learning using the new core curricula for literacy and numeracy, delivering learning by teachers who had received intensive training on the new curricula, and entering learners for the new National Tests at Levels one and two. Later in the year, the Communications Research Group (CRG) was commissioned to undertake an early stage evaluation of the projects, focusing on aspects of good practice. Key aims of the evaluation were to provide information on the numbers of individuals passing the National Test in various learning environments and to evaluate the competence of the new Basic Skills infrastructure in a range of settings in the nine Pathfinder areas of the UK. The evaluation criteria also included the performance of partnership activities, teacher training, screening, diagnostic assessment, learning plans, educational programs, quality assurance, the National Test, and progression to further learning. This report provides: an introduction to the Pathfinder Project evaluation; a report on progress in the various areas specified for evaluation; a discussion of issues arising for key groups of 'stakeholders'; outcomes of the Prison Pathfinder; an assessment of good practice; and brief conclusions from the evaluation. Key findings include positive reactions to the program of teacher training, better results than expected for trainees taking the National Test so far, encouraging take-up patterns for Pathfinder-linked literacy and numeracy support programs, and the delivery of a wide range of programs in various learning environments. The report suggests a number of areas to be kept under active review and makes a number of recommendations in terms of specific areas of good practice. Show less