Ensuring outreach, motivation and persistence in basic skills programs

The objectives of the OER

The objective of this unit following up on EBSN’s Capacity Building Series on EPALE is to present a structured collection of resources and examples which will 

• enable stakeholders to better understand the importance of cohesive and well-planned outreach strategies (campaigns, information, guidance and referral provision) for basic skills provision for adults,
• enable stakeholders to get deeper insights on the importance of learner motivation and how this can be fostered, supported and maintained,
• explain the difference between initial motivation and persistence, and the importance of both elements in ensuring the efficiency of the learning provision. 

Challenges in awareness and participation

A considerable percentage of the learners who most need to increase the level of their basic skills will not seek the courses that are organised. For many potential learners in the target group one of the main reasons for this will be the lack of awareness of both their skill level and of the existing learning offer. The need for raised awareness can be met by carefully designed information campaigns which have the potential to attract the learner to individual guidance points, thus entering a process that may go through screening and testing, leading to adequate referral to quality learning provision. 

Why is awareness about basic skills issues so important?

Good basic skills are a necessity for inclusion, employment, active citizenship and social cohesion. Adults with poor basic skills are increasingly disconnected from the labour market, less likely to be socially active or politically engaged, and more likely to suffer health problems. For national and regional governments, low skills in the population lead to greater social spending and poorer, less dynamic economies. 

Awareness raising addressed to policy makers is a starting point, since the basic skills issue needs to be a focus in the political agenda. Equally important is to address the stakeholders that act as intermediaries and are contact points for the target group. Provider organisations need also to be made more acquainted with the nature of adult basic skills needs and with all the elements that need to be present to offer quality provision. And last but not least, it is important to inform the public at large, most of all the potential learners.

A number of European countries have in recent years tried to implement national strategies to meet the needs of adults with low levels of basic skills, but not all strategies have met with the expected success. Many providers have reported little demand of the courses they offered. The target group seems to have been either unaware of their need for training, convinced that they could not be trained (lack of self-confidence), overwhelmed by the challenges involved in engaging in a process that reminds them too forcibly of schooling, or hindered by a series of practical obstacles like lack of time or money. 

More sensitive and carefully designed information strategies showing real understanding of the target group, can increase the adults’ motivation to improve their skills. For many adults, poor basic skills are a source of embarrassment and even shame. There is evidence that good media campaigns can reduce the sense of taboo surrounding poor basic skills while informing the general population about the true extent of the problem.

Awareness about the exact nature of the need for functional basic skills needs also to be raised among a series of stakeholders in the educational, employment, health and social sector. There is evidence of some lack of understanding about the difference between initial literacy (having grasped the principles of reading and writing) and functional literacy (having automatised the reading and writing processes so that they can fully serve their purposes). Stakeholders in contact with the potential target group need also to understand that adult learners are a very heterogeneous target group and have spiky skills profiles. A moderately good level of vocational skills is no guarantee for a functional level of basic skills. Raised levels of awareness and knowledge about basic skills, both among the target group and among a wide range of stakeholders, are an important factor for the success of policy implementation.