Improving Basic Skills for Adults
A significant percentage of the Swiss adult population only has inadequate basic skills in reading and writing, mastery of the local official language, numeracy and insufficiently knows how to use information- and communication-technologies (ICTs). According to the “ALL study” about 800’000 Swiss citizens are unable to understand a newspaper article, 400,000 have difficulites solving simple arithmetic tasks. This includes both native speakers as well as non-native speakers.
The lack of basic skills has multiple effects on several levels: The affected person can neither participate fully in social life nor at work. She/he might only have a very limited access to learning opportunities. Enterprises, whose employees only have inadequate basic skills are not able to use their full productivity potential. On the economic level this has an impact, for instance, on the amount of social costs. According to a study by the office of “BASS” the lack of reading skills generates extra costs in the amount of 1 billion Franks per year for the unemployment agency.
In recent years stakeholders in the field of adult education have given high priority to the improvement of literacy.
Several stakeholders – including SVEB, the Dachverband Lesen und Schreiben “Umbrella Organization to further literacy and writing skills” and the University of Applied Sciences Aargau - have begun to provide effective methods for efficient improvement of basic skills for adults. For these projects and initiatives priorities lie mainly with educating and training course instructors, network building among stakeholders, the development of new services, raising public awareness (International Literacy Day) as well as promoting adult education within the workplace.
Regarding the area of adult education, people on the political level are convinced that active intervention by the Federal Government and the cantons is not only appropriate but necessary. When entering the discussion about the adoption of a new continuing education law it is the undisputed opinion that the area of basic competences and adult education should be one of the sectors to be supported.
This happened so far:
- Various studies commissioned by the federal government point to the problem of lack of basic skills: IALS results (BFS, 1994, 1998), Trend Report Illiteracy - When reading is a problem (SKBF commissioned by BAC, 2002), Report on digital divide in Switzerland (BBT, 2004), reports of the “Koordinationsgruppe Informationsgesellschaft” for presentation to the Federal Council (1999 - 2006) and finally the Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALL) – results (BFS, 2005)
- Two reports from the Swiss Commission of UNESCO call for measures that aim to increase the level of basic skills of adults in Switzerland: "Adult Education in Switzerland – taking stock 2004” and new recommendations" (2005), "access to reading and writing for all! (2005)
- In a position paper on education in 2003 the EDK recommends that the cantons take measures to promote the basic skills of adults.
- In recent years, various motions and postulates in Parliament have aimed at increased funding to further basic competences. Most recently in 2007, the motion "fight against illiteracy" has been passed by the two councils. Until the enactment of the continuing education law, appropriate measures and projects can be funded through the Vocational Training Act (BBG) Article 55.
Outlook
- It is expected that a new education law will contain provisions for the promotion of basic skills.
- With the support of several federal ministries (BBT, BAK, SECO, BFM, SBF) pilot projects are beeing carried out within the next three years, with the aim at gaining and appraising experiences made in the field of improvement of basic skills.
