This report was prepared for the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations to throw light on the growing trend of taking a 'gap year' between school completion and commencing university study.
Language, literacy and numeracy are necessary for greater workforce participation, productivity and social inclusion. Being able to measure the level of proficiency in these skills, and any changes in the level of skills, is important for getting a sense of how well language, literacy and numeracy programs are working. Two measurement tools used in Australia are the Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALLS) survey and the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF). This paper outlines an NCVER study which will investigate whether it is possible to map the performance levels of the ALLS to the performance levels of the ACSF in order to gain more frequent information than is currently available about the literacy and numeracy progression of adult learners against national goals.
This report documents a new approach to assessing problem-solving skills. This approach uses an assessment tool that incorporates problems that participants routinely experience in their courses and in the workplace. Assessment is performance and evidence based. The assessment tool was trialled among students in the Electronics and Information Technology Program at Torrens Valley Institute of TAFE and proved successful as a device for reliably assessing problem-solving ability. An extensive literature review regarding key competencies and the assessment of generic skills is also provided.