Literacy and numeracy – who needs it?

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4/5

-40% -20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Satisfied Extremely satisfied NeitherDissatisfied Extremely disatistifed

Life satisfaction

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4/5

-60% -40% -20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Very good Excellent Good Fair Poor

Overall health

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

90%

95%

100%

-2.0 -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

Document literacy (standard deviations from the mean)

Est

imat

ed e

mpl

oym

ent r

ate

None School or tertiary qualif ication

Employment

$0

$5

$10

$15

$20

$25

$30

$35

$40

$45

$50

-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

Document literacy (standard deviations from population mean)

Est

imat

ed a

vera

ge h

ourly

wag

e

None, school or tertiary certif icate or diploma Degree Postgraduate

Income – hourly wages

Understanding, evaluating, using and engaging with written texts to participate in society, to achieve one’s goals, and develop one’s knowledge and potentialPIAAC - OECD

Managing a situation or solving a problem in a real context, by responding to mathematical content, information, ideas represented in multiple ways.PIAAC - OECD

Understanding, evaluating, using and engaging with written texts to participate in society, to achieve one’s goals, and develop one’s knowledge and potentialPIAAC - OECD

Managing a situation or solving a problem in a real context, by responding to mathematical content, information, ideas represented in multiple ways.PIAAC - OECD

Workplace literacy and numeracy is a whole range of skills, not simply whether people can read or write. It is how well they do these things, their communication skills, how well people work in teams, and whether firms can introduce new technology and approaches.Industry Training Federation

Supports Māori to participate fully in society … āhuatanga Māori, underpinned by Māori values and knowledge and recognises non-paper based literacies, is learner centred, multifaceted, multidimensional and holisticTe Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi

Adult Literacy and Life Skills survey – one measure of literacy and numeracy

Level 3 = minimum needed “to understand and use information contained in the increasingly difficult texts and tasks that characterise the emerging knowledge society and information economy”

Level 2 = people can read and do basic numeracy, but are likely to have some difficulty working things out in new or challenging situations

Level 1 = people could have problems with understanding everyday written material and numeric tasks

Note: Assessment is in English

Prose Document Numeracy0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

3,000,000

Level 4/5Level 3Level 2Level 1

So how many New Zealanders have low literacy and numeracy?

For each domain

Highest Lowest0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

3,000,000

Level 4/5Level 3Level 2Level 1

So how many New Zealanders have low literacy and numeracy?

Across all three domains

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 50%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

None School Certificate 1-3Cert/dip 4-7 Bachelors Masters and Doctorate

Combined literacy/numeracy and educational qualifications

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 50%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

English Other

Combined literacy/numeracy and first language

Level 1(250,000)

Level 2(650,000)

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 50%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Enjoyed maths at school Got good gratesTeacher went too fast (disagree) Usually understood what was going on

Other ways of assessing literacy and numeracy …

Experience of school maths shapes literacy/numeracy

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 50%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Reading Writing Maths

“I have the … skills in English to do my main job well” (strongly agree)

Self reported skills …

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 50%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Newspapers Magazine Books Letters, notes, emails

How often do you read or use information from these sources as part of your daily life? (at least once a week)

Literacy practices in daily life

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 50%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Regional or local news National / international news SportsHome, fasion, food, health Book, film or art reveiws Financial news or stock listingEditorial page Advice column

Of those that read newspapers at some time, which sections do they read?

Which section of the newspaper do you read?

Literacy, language and numeracy is…

handling information

getting things done

taking part

solving a problem

achieving a goal

ReadingWritingMathsSpeakingListeningCommunicatingThinking