MLA South East aims to support and encourage museums, libraries and archives in the South East to contribute to the Government's targets for adult basic skills.
National Overview
Skills for Life is a national strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy. It was produced in 2003 by the Department for Education and Skills in response to Sir Claus Moser's report A Fresh Start (1999) which stated that 1 in 5 adults of working age (around 7 million people in England) have poor basic skills. Poor basic skills in this context are below the level we would expect from an 11 year old.
The Mapping the Territory project, funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and conducted by the National Literacy Trust in 2003, provides baseline data on the ability of museums, archives and libraries in England to contribute to the Government's targets for improving the literacy and numeracy skills of adults with basic skills needs.
The research covers the full spread of activity from making museums, libraries and archives more welcoming for this audience, through to the delivery of basic skills courses including family literacy. The report includes case studies to help others build on promising practice and extend the contribution made by these areas.
Regional Context
The Regional Economic Strategy for South East England 2002 – 2012 published by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) states:
“A key step to raising the aspirations of the region’s population is to overcome the basic skills deficiency across the region. It is unacceptable that in this day and age, the South East still has some one million people unable to achieve basic standards in reading, writing and mathematics”.
The Workforce Skills Programme is funded by the Learning and Skills Council and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA).
MLA South East is actively working with The Vital Link programme in the South East. This programme run by The Reading Agency in partnership with the National Literacy Trust and the National Reading Campaign promotes reading for pleasure as a way of motivating and sustaining adult basic skills students and reaching new learners.
