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