Page 4210 - Week 14 - Thursday, 25 October 1990
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CHIEF MINISTER OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY QUESTION
Literacy Skills
Question No. 267
MR WOOD asked the Chief Minister upon notice on 13 September 1990:
(1) Have surveys reported that 1 in 10 Australians generally need literacy skills development.
(2) What are the estimates of the number of adults in the ACT who need literacy skills development.
(3) How many adults in the ACT are receiving literacy development through (a)
TAFE and (b) other programs.
(4) What funds are available for this purpose from (a) ACT funds and (b) other funds.
(5) What is the extent of the demand for literacy skills development in the ACT that has not yet been met.
MR KAINE - the answer to the members question is as follows:
(1) The national survey, by Rosin Wickert, "No Single Measure", in May 1989 conducted on behalf of the Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education and Training reported, amongst other things, that:
A majority of Australian adults can perform straightforward literacy tasks but many appear unable to complete tasks of moderate complexity, particularly those involving prose literacy ( that is the ability to read and understand newspaper articles and books and quantitative literacy (that is the ability to use simple mathematical operations). In particular, ten percent of the sample surveyed failed to achieve at all on quantitative literacy.
This finding is broadly consistent with a previous survey conducted by Judith Doyen in the 1970s revealed a functional illiteracy rate of 10% in Australian over 15 year olds. (Functional literacy means the ability to read and write well enough to accomplish simple everyday reading and writing tasks in Australian society. These results are consistent with 1 in 10 Australian adults needing literacy skill development.
(2) No specific surveys of adult literacy skills have been conducted in the ACT. However, the results of the Wickert survey in 1989 and the earlier survey indicate that there is no reason to assume that the situation in the ACT is markedly different from the rest of Australia.
The 1986 census results indicate that some 1% of the ACT population aged between 15 and 65 years never attended school, and some 8,000 left school before year ten. The surrounding region has also had one of the lowest levels of secondary school completion in Australia. These facts, and the typically higher literacy levels expected of most ACT jobs, suggest that the need for literacy skills in the ACT is comparable with Australia as a whole. This assessment is with ACT Institute of TAFE experience. TAFE has been conducting literacy and numeracy tests on their commencing apprenticeship students (approximately 650 apprentices per year)
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