Building capacity: The inaugural ACER National Adult LLN Assessment Conference

Building capacity: The inaugural ACER National Adult LLN Assessment Conference

ACER’s inaugural sell-out National Adult Language, Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Conference in Melbourne in May addressed research, policy and practice regarding the language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) skills of the Australian adult population from an industry and training perspective with a focus on identifying and assessing LLN skills and supporting learners and trainees in improving their LLN skills.
The conference for managers and coordinators of training and learning in both industry and the vocational education and training (VET) sector included a ‘user group’ meeting for major clients of ACER’s adult LLN assessment services and workshops on the Australian Core Skills Framework and writing formative assessments.

The conference’s attendees represented a wide range of VET and industry organisations, public and private, from across all states and territories, alongside representatives from government and peak bodies.

The conference was opened with a welcome and presentation on ‘Challenges and Opportunities for Adult LLN Assessment’ by Professor Geoff Masters, Chief Executive of ACER, followed by two keynote presentations on ‘The Employer and Industry Perspective: the value of investing in LLN in the workplace’ by Megan Lilly, Director of Education and Training at the Australian Industry Group (AIG), and Robert Bluer, Industry Manager of Education at Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA), and a joint keynote by ACER’s Dave Tout and Juliette Mendelovits on ‘Assessment in Adult LLN: Its crucial role in improving skills.’

Key messages

Investment in increasing adult literacy and numeracy levels has been recognised as one of the keys to boosting Australia’s productivity, and this was a key message delivered by a number of the speakers at the conference.

'Increasing the language, literacy and numeracy skills of adults has a direct and positive impact on productivity and GDP' - Dave Tout.

Mr  Tout said international studies have demonstrated that investment in increasing the LLN skills of adults has a direct and positive impact on productivity and GDP per capita. ‘But more than that, low levels of adult LLN cost Australia at individual, family, economic and social levels,’ he said. ‘Investment in adult literacy and numeracy education can therefore benefit individuals and families as well as Australia’s economy and society.’

In his conference opening presentation, Professor Masters said that everybody, whether child or adult, is at a different point in their learning and is capable of making progress if motivated and provided with appropriate learning opportunities. Professor Masters said that the purpose of assessment is to establish what individuals know and where they are in their learning, and to use that knowledge to inform the next step in their development.

AIG Director of Education and Training Megan Lilly delivered the first keynote presentation of the conference, on the findings of the AIG National Workforce Literacy Project report, When Words Fail. In the study, employers overwhelmingly indicated that they are experiencing problems with LLN skills in their workforce, resulting in reduced productivity.

'Workers with insufficient language, literacy and numeracy skills may have been in jobs that haven’t necessarily demanded LLN of them in the past' - Megan Lilly.

‘Addressing workforce literacy and numeracy issues is a shared responsibility between government, individuals, education authorities and employers,’ said Ms Lilly. ‘Yet while there is willingness on the part of employers to play a role in building workforce literacy and numeracy skills, only eight per cent of our survey respondents told us they have adequate capacity to do so.’

The most recent adult LLN survey, conducted in 2007, revealed that about half of Australia’s adult population – more than seven million Australians – has insufficient LLN skills to cope in modern society. During her keynote Ms Lilly noted that four million of these adults are in jobs today and will continue to be for many more years. Ms Lilly said that workers with insufficient LLN skills may have been in jobs that haven’t necessarily demanded LLN of them in the past, but those jobs are transforming, due in large part to technology, and the demands are increasing. For the remaining three million adults who are not in work, Ms Lilly acknowledged that low LLN skills are a contributing factor to their unemployment.

Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) also agree that now is the time for action. IBSA Industry Manager of Education Robert Bluer in his keynote presentation addressed the need to increase the overall capacity of the VET workforce in relation to adult English LLN knowledge and expertise. He also addressed the critical importance of good assessment, observing that, ‘We have a fairly brutal way of doing it in VET: “Yes, you’re competent; no, you’re not.” We need to do more than make that harsh judgement.’

The afternoon had a series of practical and research-based breakout sessions given by Robert Bluer from IBSA, Michael Taylor from AIG, Philippa McLean from Philippa McLean Consulting, Dave Tout and Juliette Mendelovits from ACER, Justin Brown from ACER, Charles Darr from NZCER, Jack Wenn from Rio Tinto, Anne Taib from Victoria University and Pauline Farrell from Box Hill Institute.

ACER's aim is that the National Adult LLN Assessment Conference becomes an annual part of the VET calendar with the goal of making an ongoing contribution to building our professional knowledge and capacity to respond to the challenges ahead. ACER thanks all the conference presenters and participants for their active contribution and look forward to continuing the conversations throughout the year and on to next year’s conference.

Ten things learned from the conference

In the final session of a busy two days of active exchange between conference participants and presenters, Ralph Saubern and Dave Tout led an open plenary session to uncover key ideas that could be taken away from the conference.

Below, in no particular order, is the list of ideas produced together.

International and local research shows that low levels of LLN skills are a significant issue for education, work places and life skills in Australia.
Much of this research shows that numeracy is a critical predictor of educational, workforce and lifelong success.  We need to remember to talk about literacy and numeracy.
We need to continue to increase our knowledge of the issues and implications of low LLN skills both within VET and outside VET, particularly in business and industry.
No single sector – public education, private education, industry or government – can address the issues in isolation.  It requires a shared response and a collective responsibility.
To engage business and industry in the response we need to show that LLN is not just an educational issue but a workforce safety, efficiency and productivity issue.  We need to explain and demonstrate the return on investment from a focus on improved LLN for business and industry.
Government has a crucial part to play through funding at a strategic level to provide effective policy settings and to initiate and support long-term programs, research and evidence gathering, and best-practice approaches.
Assessment is a vital tool for gathering evidence to improve teaching and learning, and inform educational and business administration. Learning, training and assessment are not separate activities but essential partners.
We need properly funded research to provide us with an evidence base for policy and planning, rather than relying solely on local and anecdotal information.
There is a great diversity of skills, expertise and experience in the VET sector.  To be effective we need to find ways of expanding the workforce capacity in terms of LLN and getting ‘specialists’ in different fields working cooperatively.
Assessment and a focus on evidence is an effective way of bringing together a variety of perspectives, interests and expertise to address cooperatively the ongoing challenges of improving LLN skills across the community.