Whose responsibility? Employers' views on developing their workers' literacy, numeracy and employability skills

In any discussion of labour supply and labour productivity, the importance of literacy, numeracy and employability skills (such as communication and problem-solving) should not be overlooked. Very few jobs can be performed properly without these skills.

Whose responsibility? Employers’ views on developing their workers’ literacy, numeracy and employability skills by Ray Townsend and Peter Waterhouse explores the views of those employers already engaged in the provision of literacy, numeracy and employability skills and their continuing development in the workplace. The research focused on the question of who should be responsible for providing employees with the requisite skills. As discussed in the report, Townsend and Waterhouse argue that the solution to this issue relies on a collaborative effort: education and training providers and employers working together for the bene?t of individuals and their organisations.

Key messages

• It is not realistic to expect the education and training system to provide employers with job-ready applicants, complete with all of the literacy, numeracy and employability skills required by employers.

• The employers surveyed all recognise the need to develop and continue to enhance the literacy, numeracy and employability skills in their employees.

• Many individuals with relatively high qualifcations, even professionals, need to develop or build on their literacy, numeracy and employability skills. What they need to learn will depend on the evolving nature of their jobs.

• Training providers need to be able to equip employers with the skills for identifying literacy and numeracy gaps and to provide education ‘infrastructure’ services, such as contextualised educational design. This will encourage the continuation of literacy and numeracy learning in the workplace.

Readers interested in the provision and development of literacy, numeracy and employability skills in the workplace should also see Thinking beyond numbers: Learning numeracy for the future workplace by B Marr and J Hagston (NCVER 2007; found in the related items). This research reinforces the message that employees respond well to learning within their work context and to the opportunity to apply their learning at work.

Tom Karmel
Managing Director, NCVER

Debates about literacy, numeracy and employability skills and attributes are a recurring feature of the national discourse on effective education provision. This qualitative study investigates how industry perceives, identifies and addresses issues relating to literacy, numeracy and employability skills, and explores the implications for policy and practice in workplaces and in adult and vocational education.

This project was prompted by our awareness of recurring concerns and criticisms expressed by employers and employer groups about their apparent inability to recruit employees with what they perceived to be adequate skills for employment. The requisite skills claimed to be missing or inadequate included literacy and numeracy skills and teamwork, problem-solving and communication skills. These had variously been identified as ‘key competencies’ (Mayer 1992) and ‘generic skills’ (Kearns 2001) and bundled with certain personal attributes were known as ‘employability skills’ (Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry & Business Council of Australia 2002).

Defining the clusters of skills and attributes that were the focus of this study is not as easy as might be assumed. The various definitions attached to adult literacy and numeracy skills, as well as employability skills, are complex and contested. Literacy, for example, is more than a basic ability to read and write.

The issues of definition are discussed in the introduction and in an accompanying support document. Suffice it to say here that our interest was in how employers anticipated these skills would be used in their particular workplaces. We were interested in actual practice and in their experiences ‘at the coalface’.

Framing the problem

This project was initially framed in terms of the provision or development of these skills. By provision we were referring to all education and training programs which prepare individuals for work in schools, universities, and the vocational and adult education and training sectors. By development we meant those policies, procedures and systems that employers put in place to improve or enhance the skill levels of their employees.

Put simply, we wondered whether it was realistic to expect that the education and training system should provide employers with job-ready applicants, complete with all of the literacy, numeracy and employability skills that employers might want. We wondered whether the perceived problem could ever be solved entirely on the ‘provision’ side of the equation and whether the continuing development of these skills by employers might not also be an issue. Our approach was also informed by two interrelated bodies of knowledge.

First, recent research has highlighted the extent to which literacy in particular, but also numeracy and employability skills, are highly value-laden and defined by their context. Contemporary theory has shifted from an understanding of literacy as a single dimension and fixed, to an awareness of multi-literacies (New London Group 1996; Lonsdale & McCurry 2004). The plurality of literacies (and numeracies and employability skills) raises questions about the particularity of these skills in any given context, such as a workplace. It further raises questions about how feasible it is to develop such skills outside the environment in which they are to be utilised. This understanding of multi-literacies is further discussed in the report and in the support document.

Secondly, as practitioner–researchers with substantial experience in workplace settings, we were aware of how these skills may be contingent or latent. They may be present in the workplace but not demonstrated and, consequently, not developed. There may be a complex web of historical, political, industrial, cultural, and managerial reasons why skills available in the workplace are not utilised. Virgona et al. (2003, p.53) note that these skills do not flourish if the environment is not conducive: ‘The nature of these skills is that even when “present” they may be invisible, innate or inactive, like desert seeds waiting for the right conditions to sprout’.

This understanding gave us further reason to explore employers’ perceptions. Perhaps conditions for demonstration and development within the workplace were as relevant as concerns about the outputs from the education and training system. While we recognised that the provision or development dichotomy was false, it served to highlight questions of interest.

Contributors to the study

Focus groups and interviews were conducted with 27 employer representatives from the community services and health, local government and manufacturing sectors, and group training companies. The participating organisations were taking an active interest in addressing these issues within their workplaces. The findings of the study are undoubtedly influenced by the purposive sample of interested employers contributing to the study.

Findings: The need for provision and development

The contributing employers did express concerns about the education and training system’s provision of literacy, numeracy and employability skills. However, these employers also recognised the idiosyncrasies of their own businesses and that the training and education systems have difficulty providing ‘ready made’ workers on demand. As a consequence, they accept responsibility for the continuing development of the literacy, numeracy and employability skills of their own workforces. For them, it becomes a case of provision and development being equally important.

The employers were committed to building learning organisations. They worked to implement workplace systems that demonstrated values of inclusiveness, employee support and lifelong learning. In other words, people were not excluded (on the basis of language, literacy, ethnicity or gender, for instance), but rather they were included as much as possible and encouraged to extend their learning and development. Not only did these principles work at the policy level, but employers incorporated these values into daily work practices so that they became the norm. The employers recognised that creating an environment of trust and confidence for the learner was crucial for successful demonstration and continuing development of these skills. They identified formal and informal mentoring and support systems as important. In these respects this study confirms the findings of earlier research (Figgis et al. 2001; Dawe 2002, 2004).

These employers recognised that the rapidly changing nature of work provides ongoing challenges for individuals and enterprises: skills need to be constantly updated and new sets created. The workplace change themes we discussed included technological innovations, pressures of globalisation, new work practices, auditing and compliance expectations, pressures for continuous improvement and ‘lean’ work processes. Most employers interviewed were proactive in the face of these challenges. Importantly, they also reported that active efforts to build workplace systems and cultures to promote the continuing development and demonstration of essential skills improved organisational performance and enhanced their bottom line.

The lack of essential skills, such as literacy skills, was sometimes identified amongst professional and higher-level employees. There were university graduates who were perceived to be ‘unable to write’ (what was required) and qualified engineers who were perceived to be lacking essential employability skills and attributes. Such findings are, however, consistent with the concept of multiliteracies and the idea that skills must be ‘fit for purpose’ within the particular workplace culture and context. It’s more about ‘fit’ than ‘level’.

The study also found that, where candidates demonstrate a positive attitude, enthusiasm, a strong ‘work ethic’ and a genuine interest in the work, employers may forego literacy and numeracy employment criteria during recruitment, particularly if they face labour shortages.

Implications

The continuing and rapid changes in the economy pose challenges for employers and for education and training systems alike. While most of the employers in this study took full advantage of what the education and training system was able to offer, including Australian Government funding for Workplace English and Literacy (WELL) programs, they are still looking for support.

The developmental issues to be addressed pose challenges for teaching and learning. It is not simply a matter of providing more literacy, or numeracy, or employability skills per se. The challenge is in identifying and designing appropriate cost-effective and innovative ways for the necessary skill development to continue within the ‘fit’ of the workplace.

For employers, the challenges lie in building effective learning organisations that actively promote and enable the necessary skills, including learning-to-learn skills. This involves developing enabling and facilitation skills amongst managers, supervisors and team leaders, as well as enhanced learning capability amongst shop floor employees. Workplace culture and relationships, as well as work systems, resources, and the working environment, also play a vital role.

For education and training providers, there are challenges in continuing, expanding and improving provision to meet these skills needs as far as possible before learners become workers. Yet, however well this is done, it is unlikely to be sufficient. There are further challenges in how educational services and the theories related to teaching and learning can be integrated into workplaces. This involves new skills for many educators in interpreting the requirements of work, workers, and workplaces; contextualised educational design; consulting and advisory services; and in understanding the place of literacy, numeracy and employability skills, both within the fabric of working life and beyond it. There are considerable professional development implications in these challenges.

For governments, policy-makers and policy managers, the challenges lie in finding and funding ways to support the necessary diversity of approaches to the provision of these skills, as well as their continuing development in workplaces. At least some employers are indicating that they recognise and accept their responsibilities for the continuing development of these skills. The leadership of these employers needs to be appreciated, and they need support. However, while employer requirements are important, it is naïve to assume that these will always correspond to the needs of their employees. Ideally, policy should reflect the understanding that these skills are necessary for work and life. Adult and vocational education providers need support to continue diverse forms of provision and to develop, market and deliver new products and professional services to facilitate the continuing development of essential skills in the workplace.