New light on literacy and numeracy: results of the literacy and numeracy assessment in the age 34 follow-up of the 1970 Cohort Study (BCS70)

This report documents research undertaken in response to concerns about the problem of poor basic skills in a substantial minority of the British population. These concerns culminated in the work of the Moser Committee and the ongoing policy development resulting from it, Skills for Life (SfL) (indexed at TD/IRD 88.171). An important part of the evidence considered by the Moser Committee was drawn from basic skills data collected for the Basic Skills Agency in a 12-year program of longitudinal research focused particularly on identifying the earlier circumstances and experiences which were connected with later basic skills difficulties. This work was based on the 1958 and 1970 British birth cohort studies, known respectively as the National Child Development Study (NCDS) and the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). The latest surveys of NCDS and BCS70 were undertaken in 2004. With funding from the National Research and Development Centre (NRDC) for Adult Literacy and Numeracy, new literacy and numeracy assessments were completed alongside exercises to assess symptoms associated with dyslexia by all BCS70 cohort members when aged 34. In addition, funding from the European Social Fund (ESF) allowed the cognitive skills of all resident natural or adopted children from a randomly selected one in two sample of cohort members to also be assessed. This report provides the results of analysis using preliminary data from the survey based on 7180 of the 10,000 BCS70 cohort members who were finally interviewed. It demonstrates the great potential of the new BCS70 data for exploring the consequences of poor literacy and numeracy acquisition in adulthood, and the transmission of literacy and numeracy skills across the generations. A key message is the central significance of entry level (levels of literacy and numeracy) performance in limiting, for a substantial minority of people, full participation in mainstream adult life. This applies not only to their own disadvantaged statuses but in the extent to which their difficulties are passed on to their children. The main challenge for policy and research is to find ways to motivate interest among these adults and develop curricula that will suit their needs and help improve their life chances. The chapters are: Introduction to the survey; Self-reported difficulties with basic skills; Profile of national assessment levels; Continuities and discontinuities in literacy & numeracy problems; Is dyslexia an added difficulty?; Intergenerational transfers; Summary and conclusions. Show less