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Discussion

EPALE discussion: Basic skills learning provision

Basic skills are transversal. Not only are they relevant to educational policy, but also to employment, health, social and environmental policies. Building cohesive policy measures which support people with basic skills needs is necessary to help build more resilient and inclusive societies. Take part to the online discussion that will take place on this page on 16 and 17 September between 10:00 and 16:00 CET. The discussion will be moderated by EPALE Thematic Coordinators of EBSN.

Online discussion basic skills.

Ensuring basic skills for all is a necessary step to enable societies to combat current and future social, health, environmental and economic challenges, and to implement policies effectively in order to support the sustainability of European societies and economies and promote a healthier planet. 

Basic skills are transversal. Not only are they relevant to educational policy, but also to employment, health, social and environmental policies. Building cohesive policy measures which support people with basic skills needs is necessary not only to make Upskilling Pathways a success, but also to help build more resilient and inclusive societies.

The online discussion will take place on this page on 16-17 September between 10:00 and 16:00 CET and will be moderated by EPALE Thematic Coordinators of EBSN Graciela Sbertoli (Secretary General of EBSN) and Tamás Harangozó.

The discussion on 16 and 17 September will include the following topics:

  • critical literacy
  • health literacy
  • financial literacy
  • numeracy
  • basic digital skills for the future.

Please join our online discussion on Basic skills learning provision on 16-17 September 2020!

Comments will be open on 7 September so participants can introduce themselves or post their comments in advance.

Likeme (27)
Themes addressed
Basic skills
Digital inclusion
Financial literacy
Health literacy

Comments

Thu, 09/17/2020 - 13:59

>>> general basic skills training programmes
Maybe that is the challenge: participants have very "spiked" profiles and very diverse backgrounds. So a very personal and dialogue approach is necessary. You need trainers with "numeracy empathy". 
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 13:38

Welcome to all the participating colleagues!

I am Tamás Harangozó currently working on OERs and MOOCs with EBSN. In Kees' presentation Graciela linked here the social practice view on numeracy seems to be in the context aand as a result of historical transformation (from basic arithmetic to social practice).

I was wondering what could be the major motivating factors that move this transformation? Is it just technological development or there are more societal factors too? 
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 13:52

I think that a lot has to do with RELEVANCE. Calculations with pen-and-paper were crucial until 1975 to get things done, even putting rockets to the moon. But the relevance of that specific skill has dwindled. So there is room for other skills that can improve the quality of numerate behavior. Another reason is that the use of numbers to communicate has exploded due to computers, so the necessity to teach children and adults to interpret numbers (critically) has grown.
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 13:56

Problem is, numbers can contradict numbers and that is used a lot in political debate nowadays. That is why you need not only numeracy, but at the same time the competence to evaluate the value of a numeral fact. It goes together. But even the first one is difficult: my husband is teaching in Uni in Switzerland, they decided to do a new course: quantatitve reasoning, because numerical skills among students are o poor. 
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 14:43

Interesting.
maybe also have a look at: Seminar series on Quantitative Literacy, (USA)

QUALITI seminar meetings

Thursdays, 10 September 2020 through 19 November 2020

15:00–15:55 Eastern time via Zoom (09:00 Hawai’i/12:00 Pacific/13:00 Mountain/14:00 Central/20:00 United Kingdom/21:00 Italy/22:00 Israel)

Join URL:https://zoom.us/j/149554291

Meeting ID: 149-554-291

Password: GoBobcats!

Thu, 09/17/2020 - 13:20

We found that aspects like Math anxiety, self confidence, self-efficacy maybe for 80% are factors in the quality of numerate behaviour. And the way that in society numbers are used to intimidate, convince beyond reasonability etc, are more the sociological factors. Not to forget the gender issues around numbers (and mathematics).
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 13:27

When you acknowledge that such aspects play a role, it should show in your teaching. The power of dialogue and dig into the educational biographical of participants is one way. Another way is to just discuss this matter with participants in combination with a search for all the things they already can and use daily. 
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 13:25

Is this related to numeracy as a social practice? I only know the work of Zeuner/Pabst from Germany, but found it very convincing, and interesting to see that people have some strategies to cope with everyday challenges in numeracy. 
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 12:09

Our institution has participated in two Erasmus competitions related to the development of basic competencies of adults. We are interested in short and effective learning paths for basic skills - literacy (literacy, numeracy) and basic digital skills. In Potsdam (Germany) and Tallinn (Estonia) we obtained an all-encompassing picture in the field of literacy and mathematical literacy. We learned about methodological support frameworks, curricula, and programs. We are now looking at the development of digital competence, which is already essential in today’s digital world. We are always looking for new useful and applicable knowledge and partners.
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 12:23

Welcome, Eva, and thank you for your input! Yes, concrete frameworks of competence goals and descriptions of modules for learning paths are something we need to concentrate on.
There will be many different alternatives, because it is essential that the teaching is very relevant to the situation and everyday life of the learners. 
One such approach, developed in Norway, adapts the competence goals of the Norwegian Framework for Basic Skills to the everyday needs of different occupations. You may find these documents useful! 
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 12:41

I do understand why it is important to link basic skills to certain skills at a workplace, but in my opinion we need to look further: what about critical thinking as a basic skill that is very important to political literacy? There are other examples that would show that we cannot only think of workplace-related skills as a matching point, but we have to think of all situations in life where basic skills are needed. 
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 12:45

... in this thread. The Citizens Curriculum is such an example. I only gave you the list of Job Profiles because it is an example of how you can concretely adapt the competence goals to the needs of the learner, in this case within learning at work. On the other hand, issues like critical literacy, in my opinion, need to permeate everything that is done in the learning situation. As well as many other issues like democracy, ethics, attitudes to fake news, to sustainability, etc,
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 12:42

Hi again, Gudfinna!
Yes, I think that is essential, and that is why it is difficult to give an answer everybody can use. That is also why I like the concpet of the English Citizens Curriculum, where all community stakeholders, including the learners themselves, get together to decide what the contents of the course will be.
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 09:56

Two colleagues commented on some of your postings yesterday evening. Make sure you find their postings and read them, they are really interesting.

Dina Soeiro, from Portugal, kindly took up my invitation to explain a bit about their initiative to provide senior citizens with digital skills training. And Gudfinna Hardasdottir, from Iceland, commented on the difficulties faced by learning centers like the one she leads when trying to implement distance learning at very short notice in the current crisis. She asks a specific question, which I hope she gets many answers to! 

So, first exercise of the day: 
Go through the pages, find Dina's and Gudfinna's comments and comment/answer!

And remember: at 13:00 we will welcome Dr Kees Hoogland to the discussion and focus on Numeracy. Have a very good day!
Wed, 09/16/2020 - 16:00

... but the discussion continues! 
Do feel free to comment and to post new questions or issues - and of course please continue asking colleagues and friends to join. The more input we get, the better!
Tomorrow morning we will continue with some of the issues we have discussed today, and from 13:00 CET onwards we will focus on Numeracy and Financial Literacy. 
See you tomorrow!
Wed, 09/16/2020 - 15:43

My colleagues and I in the Information Literacy Group at CILIP in the UK have run some seminars and collected case studies about how to transfer face to face teaching online. Our latest webinar is a teach meet this Friday https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shifting-your-il-teaching-online-teachme… its a free event. I think this has been a massive uphill learning curve for a lot of educators - so many things to think about including whether recipients even have the capacity to understand how to connect digitally
Wed, 09/16/2020 - 14:19

Please access for links or other materials related to the methodological provision of lifelong learning, adult learning and basic skills: methodological support frameworks, curricula and programs. In particular, I am interested for short and effective learning pathways for acquiring basic skills - literacy: (reading, writing), mathematical literacy and basic digital skills. Thanks!


Wed, 09/16/2020 - 14:30

Good question, Zhuliyan, which can lead to a variety of answers. I think the EBSN will probably have to create an OER and a MOOC on Basic Skills frameworks within our Capacity Building series. You have given me food for thought!

In the meantime, I suggest you have a look at these pages:


(More coming!)
Wed, 09/16/2020 - 14:35

That sounds rather interesting, we have been discussing making a MOOC on basic skills as well, in part linked to an Upskilling Pathways running initiative here in Finland and the NVL National Network on Basic Skills. Perhaps we can do something together? Our next meeting is on 25 September.
Thu, 09/17/2020 - 11:38

Thank you very much!
I support! This will have an impact on at least three important and relevant vectors.
The first is related to work on LLL policies, adult learning and skills development.
The second will allow for open educational resources for basic skills that are adapted to national specifics and challenges.
The third is that it will make the work of policy experts a reality by reaching out to every potential learner, trainer, head of institution and organization and stakeholder.
Last but not least, this will be a way to expand European networks.
Connecting gives birth to ideas and makes them a reality.
Thank you!
Wed, 09/16/2020 - 14:37

This is an approach I think you will be interested in. It has been developed by Learning & Work and is based on stakeholder cooperation at local level, creating courses totally tailored to the needs of the adults. Have a look at this evaluation report. I will try to get you more information. Important for you as policy maker: this method has been able to prove Return of Investment, in terms of money saved for other sectors as health, unemployment and social services.
Wed, 09/16/2020 - 12:04

https://epale.ec.europa.eu/bg/resource-centre/content/osnovni-znaniya-i…
Wed, 09/16/2020 - 11:58

In our project "Competences in Health Network Management (Com.HeNet) we are developing a curriculum for health network managers. We want to strengthen regional networking in the health care system. This way, the European population should be better cared for in their health. 
Are there such approaches in your countries? We are interested in similar projects. 
You can find more information about our project at: www.fom.de/comhenet   
Wed, 09/16/2020 - 12:06

Thank you for your contribution, Yvonne, and welcome to the discussion! I hope you get answers to your questions here, but I have some questions for you/ :-) To what extent does your project focus on the need of awareness raising for the basic skills issues among your health network managers? In most of the countries the EBSN network is represented in, we find that there is a need for enhancing the basic skills of health workers, mostly regarding digital skills and numeracy, but also literacy and in some cases language (workers of immigrant origin). In some countries nurses are responsible for administering medication. Numeracy challenges can have lethal consequences!
Wed, 09/16/2020 - 13:42

Dear Graciela,

Thank you for your interest. Yes, you are right. There is much to do. We are currently assessing the necessary skills of a health network manager. We do this with the involvement of scientists and people from practice. In Germany, for example, there are health regions that are coordinated in different ways. We can learn from them. We want to adapt our curriculum to the needs of practice. During development, we also discuss the necessary qualifications: Is a degree sufficient or do you also need practical experience? How much medicine should a Health Network Manager master? These questions concern us, among other things. Our managers will rather not work directly with patients. They should mediate between hospitals, patient groups, health insurance companies, etc. and initiate projects together with them. Digital skills and the right language are of course important. But, that are also issues that Health Network Managers can handle together with their network.

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