Archived Information

Literacy Proficiency and Lifelong Learning

**Stephen Reder**

**Portland State University**

**Portland, Oregon**

# Introduction

This chapter focuses on some of the important lifelong learning contexts
and processes among adults in OECD countries. The focus will be on
lifelong learning in one core subpopulation: native-born adults, age
16--55, who are native speakers of a national language of their country.
This group will be referred to as the "core population" in this chapter.
By excluding the elderly, the immigrant, and the nonnative speaking
adults from this core population, we are *not* assuming that issues of
lifelong learning and basic skills necessarily differ among these more
specialized groups; we are merely focusing on one of the core groups in
need of lifelong learning support. Other chapters in the volume consider
issues specifically faced by the immigrant, nonnative speaking, and
elderly adult populations.

Much of this chapter focuses on even a narrower subpopulation; namely,
those meeting the above criteria *and* having relatively low levels of
literacy proficiency as well. We will designate this special subgroup of
our core population as the *low-proficiency population*. We are
particularly interested in issues involved in lifelong learning for
adults with low levels of literacy, since there is considerable reason
to suppose that adults with relatively poor basic skills face particular
problems as lifelong learners.

Figure 1 illustrates an important reason to pay particular attention to
lifelong learning in adults at the lowest levels of literacy
proficiency. These data are from the recent International Adult Literacy
Survey (IALS), in which nationally representative samples of the adult
populations from selected countries were interviewed and had their
prose, document, and quantitative literacy abilities assessed;
participating countries were members of the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD). The bars show the percentage of
adults in each participating OECD country that reported having taken
some training or education during the year preceding the survey. These
data are a measure of the breadth of lifelong learning in each society.
Data shown in the figure are for our core population only, and are
broken down according to assessed level of document literacy. The
lighter shaded bar for each country displays the lifelong learning
measure for low-proficiency adults (i.e., those at the lowest level of
document literacy), whereas the darker bar shows the corresponding rate
for adults at higher literacy levels. Although the figure shows that
overall rates of lifelong learning vary markedly across countries, the
same pattern can be seen within each country: low-proficiency adults
generally participate at about half the rate as the rest of a country's
adult population.

Rubenson (1997) has argued that national adult education strategies
based on United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization's (UNESCO) "Lifelong Learning for All" policy must be
reconsidered carefully in terms of which adults are ready to learn and
which adults benefit from lifelong learning within a particular society.
As figure 1 indicates, not all of a country's adults appear equally
prepared and/or motivated to engage in continued learning. In previous
work with data from the United States, I found that a broad range of
social and economic outcomes in the United States depend on individuals
acquiring relatively high levels of both formal education *and* literacy
(Reder 1995, 1998). As we shall see, the IALS results indicate that this
general pattern occurs in many OECD societies: Both formal education and
literacy proficiency are closely associated with individuals' life
chances. Furthermore, youth who leave school with low levels of literacy
are far less likely to participate in continuing education and training
across their adult lifespans (OECD 1997).

## Data Sources

The analyses presented in this chapter are based on three data sources.
The primary data source is the IALS data from the first two rounds of
country surveys (OECD 1997). Secondary analyses were conducted on the
public-use dataset, consisting of a sample of 38,358 adults age 16 and
above from the 12 participating OECD countries. Further technical
description of the IALS design, instrumentation, assessment, and
sampling techniques are available elsewhere (Murray, Kirsch & Jenkins
1998; OECD 1997, 1995). The core population of this
chapter---native-born adults, age 16--55, who are native speakers of the
language of the interview---comprised a subsample of 23,660
observations, representing 216 million adults or 66 percent of the IALS
population. Many of the analyses further restrict this IALS
subpopulation to the lowest level of assessed literacy proficiency,
operationally defined here as those who score at Level 1 (below 225) on
the Document Literacy scale (see Murray et al 1998, for further
details). Individuals meeting the above criteria and in this subgroup
are termed *low-proficiency adults* in this chapter. There are 33.7
million low-proficiency adults in the IALS sample, 15.6 percent of the
core population for this chapter and 10.3 percent of the total IALS
population.

The second data source is the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS)
conducted in the United States using instrumentation and procedures
parallel to the IALS. Secondary analyses were carried out on the
public-use data from the household component of this survey, involving a
sample of 24,944 adults age 16 and above. The core population within
NALS has a sample size of 17,346, representing 125 million adults or 66
percent of the NALS population. The low-proficiency adult component (as
defined above) of the core population comprises 13.1 million adults,
representing 10.5 percent of the core population for this chapter and
10.5 percent of the total NALS population. Kirsch, Jungeblut, Jenkins,
and Kolstad (1993) provide further technical description of the NALS.

The third data source is employee records for manufacturing and assembly
workers at Hardy Industries between 1992 and 1997. Hardy Industries (a
pseudonym) is a privately held company that makes precision metal parts
for the United States and international automotive industries. The Hardy
data are of interest here because they provide detailed information
about employees learning a wide range of specific work-related skills.
The data analyzed for this chapter are based on analysis of 5 years of
detailed records for 130 manufacturing and assembly workers who were
employed by Hardy throughout the 5-year period and who satisfy the
criteria for our core population. Further details about the company,
described ethnographically by Hart-Landsberg and Reder (1995), will be
provided when data about worker learning are considered later in the
chapter.

## Organization of Chapter

The remainder of the chapter is organized into five sections. The next
section sketches the socioeconomic contexts among OECD countries for
lifelong learning in low-proficiency adults. The subsequent section
delineates two major relationships underlying associations between
literacy skills and education, processes termed "literacy development"
and "literacy selection." Although both literacy development and
literacy selection processes are found in all OECD countries, their
relative potency may well differ from country to country. An ensuing
section looks at some characteristics of low-proficiency learners in the
various OECD countries participating in the IALS. Three major contexts
for basic skill development and lifelong learning are considered in the
subsequent section: literacy training programs; workplaces; and
interpersonal relationships. The final section offers some conclusions
and recommendations for additional research and program and policy
development.

Societal Context of Lifelong Learning for Low-Proficiency Adults

As a way of seeing the complex contextual relationship between literacy
proficiency and education, let's examine how economic success in the
United States is linked to both formal education and literacy skills.
Figure 2 shows annual earnings as a joint function of educational
attainment (highest credential received) and document literacy level.
These are NALS data for our core population (and include only those who
had some earnings during the year preceding the interview). Notice the
regular rise in median annual earnings with educational attainment for
each level of literacy. Without a secondary credential, increasing
levels of literacy do not appear to improve earnings. To earn incomes
that can reasonably support a family, relatively high levels of both
education and literacy proficiency are typically required. Similar
patterns in the NALS data have been observed for a variety of other
social and economic outcomes, in which attainment of moderate levels of
social and economic outcomes seem to require both relatively high levels
of skill and education (Reder 1995).

As pervasive as this pattern appears to be in the United States, it is
not necessarily characteristic of other OECD societies. Although it is
beyond the scope of this chapter to consider each country's pattern in
detail, a few contrasting examples will illustrate the international
variation present. The same analysis of earnings shown in figure 2 with
the NALS data is repeated with IALS data in figure 3 for the core
population in the United States. Figures 4 and 5 display the
corresponding IALS data for Sweden and Poland, respectively. Sweden and
Poland are chosen as examples here because they exhibited (recall
figure 1) the highest and lowest rates of lifelong learning among the
IALS countries. The dependent variable plotted in these figures is the
mean

quintile of income (scaled 1 through 5) within each country associated
with combinations of educational attainment and literacy. The income
quintile was the only measure of personal income made available in the
public-use IALS datasets.

As expected, the U.S. data from IALS is similar in shape to that shown
above for the NALS data. (Note that the right-hand corner bar in figure
3 does not reflect a stable estimate for this unusual combination of
literacy and education within the United States. because the subsample
size was too small.)

Parallel data for Sweden and Poland show a different pattern of earnings
across the various combinations of education and literacy status. Like
the U.S. data, earnings data in Sweden and Poland exhibit clear
differentiation according to educational attainment. But neither
society, in contrast to the United States, shows the clear pattern of
outcomes according to literacy proficiency given a constant level of
education. This does *not* indicate, of course, that literacy is
unimportant in these outcomes, only that its socioeconomic correlates
are fairly well captured by those of educational attainment. Although,
as we shall see in the next section, literacy skills partially determine
the amount of education that individuals receive in both Poland and
Sweden, there appears to be relatively little residual effect of
literacy on economic outcomes after the effects of education are
controlled. This contrasts rather sharply with the situation in the
United States, in which both education and literacy jointly determine a
number of social and economic outcomes. It is clear from past research
that education and literacy proficiency have different relative
strengths as predictors of economic outcomes in the various OECD
countries (OECD 1997).

There are several reasons why literacy proficiency and educational
attainment could be jointly important as precursors of socioeconomic
outcomes in the United States but not in some other OECD countries. One
possibility is that there are substantial international differences in
the extent to which nonschool experiences are associated with literacy
growth. This might be the case, for example, if the extra-school
influences on literacy development (e.g., influences of the home
environment) are relatively stronger in some countries (e.g., the United
States) than in other countries (e.g., Sweden, Poland). On the other
hand, the same pattern of results might occur if correlations between
the amount of schooling and literacy proficiency are markedly different
among the countries. In the IALS data, however, the partial correlations
between years of schooling and document literacy turn out to be roughly
equivalent among the OECD countries (holding age constant). We will see
further evidence in the section below that the relation between
schooling and literacy is highly similar among these countries. It is
therefore more plausible to think about the international differences in
terms of the differential potency of nonschool factors in literacy
development.

Literacy Development and Literacy Selection

Reder (1998) distinguished between two kinds of literacy processes
underlying the strong positive correlation observed between educational
attainment and literacy proficiency. On one hand, the more schooling
individuals participate in, the more their literacy develops and the
higher their proficiencies become. Reder terms this a "literacy
development" process. On the other hand, literacy proficiency is often a
gatekeeper that limits individuals' access to educational opportunities;
increasingly higher levels of education become increasingly selective in
terms of their literacy requirements. This selective filtering of
literacy proficiencies through the educational system is termed a
"literacy selection" process by Reder, who notes that literacy often
acts as a gatekeeper for access to both postsecondary education and
various components of career ladders.

Figure 6 illustrates the effects of literacy development processes in
the IALS data. Each line in the figure presents data from the core
population of a given IALS country, plotting average document literacy
proficiency against level of educational attainment. With few exceptions
(occurring mainly at extreme points at which relatively little data is
available for stable estimates), there is a close linear relationship
between amount of schooling and literacy proficiency; the greater
(lesser) the amount of schooling completed, the greater (lesser) the
average literacy proficiency.

A critical feature of the data in figure 6 is that the curves for the
countries are essentially parallel lines having about the same slope.
This suggests that the differences among the countries' literacy
proficiency levels do not appear to result from different underlying
patterns of literacy development in schools. The roughly parallel lines
in the figure indicate that marginal increases in amount of schooling
are associated with roughly equivalent gains in average literacy
proficiency. Although the lines have roughly equal slopes, their
intercepts are vastly different, resulting in relatively constant
differences in literacy proficiency among the countries at any given
level of educational attainment.

These results suggest that there are strong societal factors
differentiating literacy levels among these countries, factors that are
unrelated to the amount of schooling individuals receive. These factors
combine additively with the effects of schooling on literacy, and are
evidenced in the figure by the substantial differences in the intercepts
of the countries' parallel lines. The equal slopes of these lines are
consistent with the equal magnitude correlations noted in the previous
section.

Figure 7 replots these IALS data for the core populations in order to
exhibit the relationship between schooling and literacy in a different
way. Each line in the figure displays the average number of years of
schooling attained by adults functioning at each level of document
literacy. The more (less) literacy proficiency individuals have, the
more (less) years of schooling they tend to complete. These can thus be
interpreted as literacy selection curves from the various IALS
countries. As in the previous figure, the essentially parallel nature of
the lines has important implications for our understanding of the
relationship between literacy and education in our core population. The
parallel lines implicate factors unrelated to schooling that underlie
the substantial international differences in adult literacy.

Although it is not possible to distinguish the relative effects of
literacy development and literacy selection processes underlying the
observed correlations between schooling and literacy presented in
figures 6 and 7, the two processes can be statistically isolated by
analytical techniques that utilize other variables as well. By applying
structural equation models to the NALS data from the United States,
Reder (1998) was able to estimate the relative strengths of the literacy
development and literacy selection components underlying the positive
correlation observed between years of schooling and literacy
proficiency. In the models considered, there were reciprocal positive
effects of literacy and education on one other, with the estimated
magnitude of literacy development (i.e., the direct effect of schooling
on literacy) being roughly three times as strong as the magnitude of
literacy selection (i.e., the direct effect of literacy proficiency on
schooling).

It seems reasonable to suppose that the various OECD societies differ in
the relative salience of literacy development and literacy selection
processes underlying their distributions of educational attainment and
literacy proficiency. One reasonable hypothesis is that in a society
such as the United States, in which postsecondary education has
increasingly become accessible to individuals across a broad range of
the literacy proficiency distribution (i.e., relatively low levels of
literacy selection), other outcomes such as income will be sharply
related to both educational attainment and literacy proficiency (figure
3). In societies offering less access to postsecondary education for
those with relatively poor basic skills (i.e., stronger literacy
selection), economic outcomes may be dependent primarily upon
educational attainment and not *directly* upon literacy proficiency as
well (figures 4 and 5 for Poland and Sweden, respectively).

Although the development of more effective educational and economic
policies in OECD countries would likely be well served by modeling and
evaluating their component literacy development and literacy selection
processes, we cannot carry out a contrastive analysis of this type at
present. The structural equation models Reder used with the NALS data
from the United States unfortunately cannot be applied directly to the
IALS data from other OECD countries because several of the key variables
from NALS were not included in the IALS. Similar models could be
developed that would contrast the relative potency of literacy
development and literacy selection in these various societies. In the
meantime, it will behoove policymakers in all countries to think
carefully about the ways in which both literacy development and literacy
selection processes influence the socioeconomic distribution of literacy
proficiency in their societies.

### Some Characteristics of Low-Proficient Learners

Previous sections considered some of the ways in which the socioeconomic
distribution of literacy and education within a society influences the
overall process of literacy development. But what do these societal-wide
contexts and processes mean for the individual adult learner with poor
basic skills? Let us consider some of the contextual variations among
OECD countries for adults at the lowest level of document literacy. This
section would, of course, be too long if it were to consider the full
range and variation of distinctive characteristics of the low-proficient
adults in the OECD countries. Space limitations here permit only a
cursory sketch of a few illustrative characteristics. More detail is
available elsewhere in this volume and in the OECD (1997, 1995).

Let us first consider the overall incidence of low-proficient adults
within the core populations of the IALS countries. Figure 8 displays
this international variation. Each bar represents the percentage of the
core population performing at the lowest level of document literacy on
the IALS assessment. The percentage of the core population in the
low-proficient group varies widely across countries, ranging from about
5 percent of Sweden's core population to over 40 percent of Poland's.

The economic context of being a low-proficient adult also varies widely
among these OECD countries. Figure 9 exhibits the income status of
low-proficient adults relative to their own local economic standard.
Each IALS country's income distribution was first estimated from survey
data sampled from all working adults. Each country's resulting income
distribution was then broken down into fifths (i.e., quintiles).
Individual incomes reported by IALS respondents were then recoded into
the appropriate quintile of the given country's income distribution,
ranked from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). The mean income quintiles for
low-proficient adults in each OECD country are displayed in figure 9. An
average quintile score of 3.0 would indicate that low-proficient adults
in a country have incomes at the average level for the entire adult
population. Data in the figure indicate that this is approximately the
case in both Sweden and Poland, whereas in other countries the majority
of the low-proficient population is concentrated in the lower income
quintiles (as is particularly evident in the United States and Belgium).
The fact that Sweden and Poland, shown in previous figures to have
diametrically opposed overall levels of literacy and rates of lifelong
learning, both have relatively high levels of income for low-proficient
adults is remarkable. Assertions that economic advancement is everywhere
the main driver of lifelong learning are likely going to provide too
simplistic an account.

Let us consider a different type of characteristic of low-proficient
adults that may also be relevant to their experiences as lifelong
learners. Figure 10 displays the incidence of self-reported learning
disabilities among low-proficient adults in the IALS countries. (The
figure omits those few countries that elected not to include the
optional IALS questions about learning disabilities). Although such
self-report is certainly not an infallible indicator of clinically
identifiable learning disabilities, it appears to have a fair amount of
validity as a research measure in large-scale surveys (Vogel & Reder
1998). Notice that the data shown in the figure are the percentages of
self-reported learning disabilities among low-proficient adults in the
core population, not the overall incidence of learning disabilities in
the adult population. These percentages vary widely among the
participating countries, ranging from 29 percent of the low-proficient
core population in New Zealand down to 3 percent in Sweden. As a likely
indicator of perceived internal barriers to adult learning, these
self-report data seem to reflect widely varying personal contexts and
perceived obstacles to literacy growth that face low-proficient adults
in the various OECD countries.

### Three Contexts for Lifelong Learning

Results in the above sections suggest that there are extra-school
contexts in which individuals develop basic skills, and that
international differences in these contexts---perhaps more than
differences in their formal educational settings---are at the root of
major differences in adult literacy among OECD countries. To illustrate
these points in a different way, consider figure 11, which displays the
percentage of the core population *not* completing a secondary education
that nevertheless develops relatively high levels of literacy (Level 3
or higher). For example, the figure indicates that in New Zealand about
30 percent of the core population that did not complete secondary school
nevertheless attain document literacy Level 3 or higher.

The international differences among the IALS countries in figure 11 are
profound. In some countries such as Germany and Sweden, of the core
population that does not complete secondary school, about 50 percent
have document literacy abilities at Level 3 or higher; at the other
extreme, the corresponding figures for the United States and Poland are
below 20 percent. These results remind us again that educational policy
and programs must focus on factors beyond formal education if most of
the core adult populations are to reach this standard of functional
literacy.

The remainder of this section explores three potential contexts for such
adult literacy development and lifelong learning: basic skills training
programs; interpersonal relationships (especially relationships in which
literacy assistance occurs spontaneously); and workplaces.

### Basic Skills Training

Although there are significant numbers of low-proficiency adults in each
of the IALS countries, the programmatic attention to improving basic
skills varies widely among the countries. Only three of the
participating IALS countries chose to include the optional questions
about basic skills training in their surveys: Canada, the United
Kingdom, and the United States. There is therefore only limited
comparative information available about basis skills training in the
IALS countries.

Overall, only a small percentage of the core populations of these three
countries report having ever participated in basic skills training
(other than in school): 11 percent, 5 percent and 12 percent of the core
populations of Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States,
respectively. When these overall participation rates are displayed as a
function of assessed literacy abilities, the pattern displayed in figure
12 emerges.

There is little apparent relationship between literacy level and
previous basic skills participation evident for the three countries
shown in figure 12. Previous researchers have found this lack of
relationship between skill level and participation. Reder (1997)
reported a number of logistic regression analyses of NALS data,
predicting basic skills participation in terms of literacy proficiency,
educational attainment and other variables. Neither literacy proficiency
level nor educational attainment was a significant predictor. Kwang,
Collins and Stowe (1997), analyzing data from the National Household
Education Survey, similarly found that educational attainment did not
predict participation in basic skills training unless GED preparation
were isolated from basic skills training.

If neither educational attainment or literacy proficiency is a major
determinant of participation, then what factors might be? Adult
educators have long believed that individuals participate when programs
meet perceived or felt needs for improved skills. Reder (1997),
analyzing the NALS data, found that individuals' self-ratings of their
own literacy skills were not a significant predictor of participation,
casting doubt on the utility of felt needs as a determinant of
participation. In the present IALS data, this relationship can be
examined for the three countries. figure 13 displays the percent of the
core populations that reported ever participating in basic skills
training as a function of their self-rated satisfaction with their
skills. In each of the three countries, there is a substantial increment
in previous participation rates when individuals report being "very
dissatisfied" with their skills. The form of the self-rating question
asked in IALS, one that directly tapped individuals' level of
satisfaction with their basic skills, appears to be a much better
predictor of participation than the self-rating question asked in NALS,
one that asked directly for self-ratings of proficiency.

Figure 14 displays another potentially important factor underlying
participation in basic skills training. For each of the three countries,
the percentage of the core population reporting having ever participated
in basic skills training is shown as a function of whether they had
received training for job- or career-related purposes. Particularly in
Canada and the United States, adults who engage in work-oriented
learning activities are far more likely to participate in basic skills
training. Unfortunately, we are not able to examine this relationship in
the other IALS countries at the present time, but this is clearly a
topic in need of additional research. In addition to confirming this
relationship for other OECD countries, it would be very useful to know
more about how basic skills and job- or career-related learning
activities are related. In particular, it would be important to know
whether the basic skills training was offered in conjunction with or
separately from the work-related training, and whether and how
low-proficiency adults were effectively included in such arrangements.

Interpersonal Relationships: From Helping to Teaching to Learning

Previous research has suggested another important factor that may
underlie participation in basic skills programs: the extent to which
individuals receive assistance from others in performing everyday
literacy tasks (Reder 1997; Reder & Green 1985; Wikelund, Reder &
Hart-Landsberg 1992). An earlier statistical analysis of this
relationship was conducted with the NALS data (Reder 1997). Adults
reported how much help they received from family members and friends
with five common literacy tasks: filling out forms; reading or
understanding newspapers or other written information; understanding
printed information from government agencies, companies and businesses;
writing notes and letters; and using basic arithmetic in filling out
such things as order forms, and checkbooks. For analytical purposes,
individuals who indicated they received "a lot" (as opposed to "some,"
"a little," or "none") of help on one or more of these tasks were
designated by Reder (1997) as not being *literacy-sufficient*; 17
percent of all adults were *not* literacy-sufficient, whereas 83 percent
of adults were. Further analyses found that self-sufficiency in everyday
literacy activities increased regularly with both educational attainment
and literacy proficiency. When *literacy-sufficiency* was added to the
aforementioned logistic regression analysis of participation in basic
skills training, it was a statistically significant predictor within the
NALS data set (Reder 1997). A very substantial fraction (38 percent) of
low-proficiency adults received regular assistance from individuals whom
Reder and Green (1985) termed "literacy helpers." Such naturally
existing patterns of collaboration may be strategic contexts for adult
literacy development.

Figure 15 displays some related data for the core populations of the
IALS. The percentage of adults reporting that they "often" received help
from friends or family members with everyday literacy tasks is shown for
each country. There is perhaps somewhat less variation here among

the IALS countries than in some of the other data we examined above; in
most of the countries, between 10 and 20 percent of the core population
reports often receiving help from friends and family members on everyday
literacy tasks.

For the three countries that included information about basic skills
participation, figure 16 exhibits the relationship between participation
and receiving help with everyday literacy tasks. The positive
association between participation and assistance appears to be confirmed
by the data in the figure, though the relationship appears weakest in
the IALS data from the United States. Larger sample sizes and data from
additional IALS countries are needed to extend this line of research.
Considering the positive findings from the previous research, there
continues to be good reason to explore ways in which to link
literacy-assistance relationships with programmatic efforts to increase
adult literacy.

### Workplace Learning

We saw above in figure 14 that there may be an important relationship
between work-related learning in general and participation in basic
skills training. Since adults spend so much of their everyday time in
workplaces, it is essential that policies and programs be developed for
the workplaces that facilitate adult literacy development and lifelong
learning. To demonstrate the potential of the workplace as a learning
context in which concerted efforts by employers can result in widespread
learning and development, this section presents some data from an
innovative company in the automotive industry that we will call Hardy
Industries. Hardy manufactures specialty parts like locking hubs,
winches, and other specialty components for both domestic United States
and international customers, including automakers and after-market
retail customers. Hardy has innovated a number of significant changes in
its manufacturing and assembly processes and technologies as well as a
skill-based compensation system that are of particular interest to us
here. Detailed ethnographic accounts of Hardy and these innovations are
available elsewhere (Hart-Landsberg & Reder 1995). A detailed
description of the compensation system, termed "Pay-for-Knowledge
(PFK)," is available in Reder (in press).

Hardy designed its PFK compensation system in order to create direct
financial incentives for employees to acquire new work-related skills
and knowledge, including a range of functional literacy skills such as
blueprint reading, gauge reading, shop, math, and introductory
statistical process control. Hardy carefully developed a matrix of
skills that it believed to be essential not only for immediate
production purposes but also for increasing flexibility, adaptability,
and lifelong learning among its manufacturing and assembly workers. The
PFK skills were classified into one of five levels of difficulty (termed
"skill blocks"), voluntary training courses were developed for many of
the skills, and careful assessment criteria and instruments were
developed for certifying acquisition of each skill. Workers received a
flat base hourly wage plus increments based on the number and difficulty
level of PFK skills they could demonstrate mastering. Skills at the
highest difficulty level were worth more than those in the next lower
level, and so forth. Workers able to acquire the maximum number of PFK
skills could earn approximately three times the base pay.

Data shown in the following series of figures pertain to Hardy's
manufacturing and assembly workers who meet the criteria for the core
population studied in this chapter. Figure 17 displays over a 4-year
period from 1993--97 the average number of skills acquired by these
workers at each PFK "skill block" level. The same set of 130 workers is
shown for each year. Steady learning of work-related skills is evident
at all levels of difficulty.

Figure 18 shows the overall growth in the total number of PFK skills per
worker and the associated increases in their average hourly wage. It is
important to emphasize that Hardy Industries was not trying to be
charitable to its workers through this very expensive compensation
system; it chose to deploy a competitive strategy based on increasing
its workers' skills and this strategy appears to have been extremely
successful. Workers have participated actively in learning, their skills
have grown, their wages have correspondingly increased dramatically, and
the company has competed successfully and has expanded considerably
during this period of time.

Figure 19 displays the PFK learning curves of these manufacturing and
assembly workers according to whether they had high school (or
equivalency) diplomas. It is very important, in evaluating the potential
of such workplace interventions to promote lifelong learning for all
workers, to note that the low-education workers have been well served by
and responded well to these innovations designed to support learning.
Statistical analyses of these data, controlling for demographic
variables and job-tenure, indicate that there were no significant
effects of education level on the learning of these work-related skills.

Though formal training was available for many of the PFK skills,
participation in training was voluntary for most courses and many
workers acquired skills through a variety of informal means
(Hart-Landsberg & Reder 1995; Reder, in press). Figure 20 displays the
relationship between formal training and learning of specific skills.
The particular skills displayed in figure 20 were chosen for this
analysis because they are clearly workplace literacy skills, and ones
for which specific training courses were available on-site at Hardy:
blueprint reading, gauge reading, shop math, and introductory
statistical process control.

For each skill shown in figure 20, three bars are displayed about
workers' development of the given skill during the first year of the PFK
implementation at Hardy. The left-hand bar in each group shows the
percentage of workers who chose to take the training offered for the
particular skill. The middle bar displays the percentage of workers who
took the given training that acquired the given PFK skill. The
right-hand bar shows the percentage of workers who did *not* take the
training that acquired the given PFK skill. For example, about 63
percent of the workers took the blueprint reading course; 79 percent of
those who took the course acquired the blueprint reading skill, whereas
only 37 percent of the workers who did not take the course acquired the
skill. Statistical analyses of these data indicate that a significantly
higher percentage of workers taking the training acquired the skill than
of those not taking the training, with the exception of shop math, for
which the two rates of skill acquisition are statistically equivalent
(Reder, in press).

These results from Hardy indicate that, given both incentives to learn
and training opportunities, many workers will learn and develop
work-related literacy skills. Furthermore, although formal training may
be relatively effective for many workers, many other workers choose to
learn and do learn through more informal means. For some skills,
informal and formal approaches to learning may be equally effective.
Such programs can offer effective opportunities and contexts for
lifelong learning even for low-education workers.

### Summary and Conclusions

Adults need both well-developed literacy abilities and educational
credentials to advance socially and economically in the IALS societies.
Is some countries, a policy focus on educational attainment may be
sufficient, whereas in other societies, such as the United States,
advancement seems to require a focus on increasing literacy proficiency
even after education is taken into account. The underlying differences
among countries are likely related to differences in what have been
termed "literacy development" and "literacy selection processes."
Further research in this area will be very helpful in understanding how
to attain more equitable distributions of adult literacy.

There is considerable evidence that formal education is only one of the
contexts in which adult literacy develops. The dramatic differences in
adult literacy observed among the IALS countries may be more closely
related to differences in these extra-school contexts and processes than
to differences in their formal educational systems. Three contexts
deserving further research and consideration in this regard include
basic skills training, interpersonal relationships (especially those
providing "literacy help"), and workplaces.

Previous adult education research in the United States suggests that
participants in basic skills programs are diverse and constitute a
microcosm of the wider society. A small and relatively constant
proportion of adults with any given combination of levels of literacy
proficiency and educational attainment participate, seeking to improve
their skills (Reder 1997). This suggests that some formal literacy
education programs for adults could be effectively designed as part of
broader society-wide efforts to improve literacy rather than as remedial
programs only for low-proficiency adults. The observed relationships
between participation in basic skills programs and work-related
learning, as well as between participation and getting help from friends
or family members with literacy tasks, point to some promising new
directions for serving broader audiences of lifelong learners. Since
most spells of participation in basic skills programs are quite brief,
it may be especially effective to design programs as supports for
literacy development as a lifelong learning process. Certainly the
results from innovative companies like Hardy Industries suggest some
practical approaches and lines of experimentation that could be
effective with low-education adult learners.

Providing specialized services to low-proficiency adults does not
require that lifelong learning initiatives be implemented through
programs that segregate or otherwise differentially treat adults with
poor basic skills. Not all of the OECD countries participating in IALS
have well-developed national adult literacy education programs. Indeed,
among the dozen countries participating in the first two rounds of the
IALS, only three (Canada, England, and the United States) chose even to
include the optional questions in their surveys about basic skills
training.

During the OECD/U.S. Department of Education cosponsored conference,
"How Adults Learn," there was sharp disagreement and debate among
countries and individuals over how best to connect literacy education
programs for low-proficient adults to broader initiatives and programs
seeking to facilitate lifelong learning throughout society. Certainly if
the two types of programs remain separate entities as they currently are
in some countries, they will likely have different relative priorities
among the various OECD countries, given the vastly different
concentrations of low-skilled adults among the various countries.

Even in contexts where there is good reason to advocate for services and
resources targeted to the particular needs of adult learners needing
better basic skills, it should not be assumed that *all* such resources
and services should be delivered in contexts which segregate low-skilled
adults from other adult learners. Participation research in adult
literacy education indicates the need for policies and programs that
infuse learning support into diverse contexts and activities in which
long-term engagement in basic skills development and lifelong learning
are feasible (Wikelund et al. 1992). Some promising approaches suggested
in this chapter include harnessing relationships between learners and
literacy helpers and innovating new types of policies and programs
within workplaces. No doubt approaches grounded in other contexts and
institutions within communities will emerge as well. The challenge will
be to find effective and appealing ways of including active support for
adult literacy development within some of these newer settings and
approaches while continuing to actively support the more established
types of basic skills programs.

**[Figure Captions]{.underline}**

**Figure 1**. Lifelong learning and literacy. The percentage of adults
who have taken formal training or education courses during the preceding
year is displayed in relation to their document literacy level. Includes
adults who are age 16-55, born in the surveyed country and native
speakers of the language of the interview. Source: International Adult
Literacy Survey, author\'s calculations.

**Figure 2**. Earnings by literacy and education (USA). Median personal
income for year preceding survey, plotted as a function of highest
educational credential and document literacy level. Includes adults who
are age 16-55, born in the United States, native speakers of English and
not currently students. Source: National Adult Literacy Survey, author's
calculations.

**Figure 3**. Wage Income by literacy and education (USA). Mean personal
income quintile (1-5) within each country is plotted by highest
educational credential and level of document literacy. Includes adults
who are age 16-55, born in the surveyed country and native speakers of
the language of the interview. Excludes individuals still in school and
those without any personal income. Note sample size is too small to
calculate a reliable estimate for lower right-hand bar. Source:
International Adult Literacy Survey, author\'s calculations.

**Figure 4.** Wage Income by literacy and education (Sweden). Mean
personal income quintile (1-5) within each country is plotted by highest
educational credential and level of document literacy. Includes adults
who are age 16-55, born in the surveyed country and native speakers of
the language of the interview. Excludes individuals still in school and
those without any personal income. Note sample sizes are too small to
calculate reliable estimates for Level 1 bars. Source: International
Adult Literacy Survey, author\'s calculations.

**Figure 5**. Wage Income by literacy and education (Poland). Mean
personal income quintile (1-5) within each country is plotted by highest
educational credential and level of document literacy. Includes adults
who are age 16-55, born in the surveyed country and native speakers of
the language of the interview. Excludes individuals still in school and
those without any personal income. Source: International Adult Literacy
Survey, author\'s calculations.

**Figure 6**. Document literacy as a function of educational attainment.
Includes adults who are age 16-55, born in the surveyed country and
native speakers of the language of the interview. Source: International
Adult Literacy Survey, author\'s calculations.

**Figure 7**. Years of schooling as a function of document literacy.
Includes adults who are age 16-55, born in the surveyed country and
native speakers of the language of the interview. Source: International
Adult Literacy Survey, author\'s calculations.

**Figure 8**. Percent of adults at lowest level of document literacy
(Level 1). Includes adults who are age 16-55, born in the surveyed
country and native speakers of the language of the interview. Source:
International Adult Literacy Survey, author\'s calculations.

**Figure 9.** Mean personal income quintile (1-5) of low-proficiency
adults. Includes adults who are age 16-55, born in the surveyed country,
native speakers of the language of the interview and functioning at the
lowest document literacy level. Excludes individuals still in school and
those without any personal income. Source: International Adult Literacy
Survey, author\'s calculations.

**Figure 10.** Learning disabilities among low-proficiency adults. The
percentage of adults self-reporting learning disabilities is shown.
Includes adults who are age 16-55, born in the surveyed country, native
speakers of the language of the interview, and scoring at the lowest
document literacy level. Source: International Adult Literacy Survey,
author\'s calculations.

**Figure 11.** High literacy with little formal education. Displays the
percentage of adults not completing secondary education who function at
Document Literacy Level 3 or above. Includes adults who are age 16-55,
born in the surveyed country and native speakers of the language of the
interview. Source: International Adult Literacy Survey, author\'s
calculations.

**Figure 12**. Basic skills training and level of literacy skills. The
percentage of adults who have ever participated in basic skills training
(other than school) as a function of their document literacy
proficiency. Includes adults who are age 16-55, born in the surveyed
country and native speakers of the language of the interview. Source:
International Adult Literacy Survey, author\'s calculations.

**Figure 13**. Basic skills training and satisfaction with literacy
skills. The percentage of adults who have ever participated in basic
skills training (other than school) is displayed as a function of their
satisfaction with their own reading and writing skills. Includes adults
who are age 16-55, born in the surveyed country and native speakers of
the language of the interview. Source: International Adult Literacy
Survey, author\'s calculations.

**Figure 14.** Basic skills training and workplace learning. The
percentage of adults who have ever participated in basic skills training
(other than school) is shown as a function of receiving training for
job- or career-related purposes. Includes adults who are age 16-55, born
in the surveyed country and native speakers of the language of the
interview. Source: International Adult Literacy Survey, author\'s
calculations.

**Figure 15**. Literacy assistance among low proficiency adults.
Displayed is the percentage of adults \"often\" receiving reading and
writing help from family members or friends on one or more everyday
literacy tasks. Includes adults who are age 16-55, born in the surveyed
country, native speakers of the language of the interview, and scoring
at the lowest document literacy level. Source: International Adult
Literacy Survey, author\'s calculations.

**Figure 16**. Basic skills training and literacy assistance among
low-proficiency adults. The percentage is shown of adults who have ever
participated in basic skills training (other than school) as a function
of \"often\" receiving reading and writing help from family members or
friends on one or more everyday literacy tasks. Includes adults who are
age 16-55, born in the surveyed country, a native speaker of the
language of the interview, and scoring in the lowest document literacy
level. Source: International Adult Literacy Survey, author\'s
calculations.

**Figure 17**. Skill acquisition in a workplace. The acquisition of
work-related skills is shown over a 5-year period for manufacturing and
assembly workers in Hardy Industries. Data are shown for the same set of
workers at each time point. The five curves correspond to skills in
different \"blocks\" or levels of complexity, with Block 5 consisting of
the most complex skills.

**Figure 18**. Learning and earning in a workplace. The parallel growth
of skills and wages are shown over a 5-year period among manufacturing
and assembly workers in Hardy Industries. Data are shown for the same
set of workers at each time point. Each curve is plotted against a
different axis: Hourly wages (\"PFK\") is shown in U.S. dollars on the
left ordinate; the total number of PFK skills acquired is displayed on
the right ordinate.

**Figure 19**. Education and learning in a workplace. Average
skill-based wages in a pay-for-knowledge (PFK) compensation system are
shown (in US \$/hr.) over a 5-year period for manufacturing and assembly
workers in Hardy Industries. Data are shown for the same set of workers
at each time point. The two curves are for subsets of workers with and
without high school or equivalency diplomas.

**Figure 20**. Formal and informal learning in a workplace. The chart
shows the acquisition of four specific skills over a one-year period
among manufacturing and assembly workers at Hardy Industries. Formal
training courses were offered for each of these skills. The percentage
of workers participating in associated training is displayed in the left
bar for each skill. The percentage of workers taking the training who
learned the skill is displayed in the middle bar for each skill. The
percentage of workers who did not take the training who learned the
skill is displayed in the right bar for each skill

**Figure 1. \-- Lifelong learning and literacy**

**Figure 2. \--Earnings, by literacy and education in the United
States**

**Figure 3. \-- Wage income, by literacy and education in the United
States**

![](media/image1.wmf){width="7.1402777777777775in"
height="4.882638888888889in"}

**Figure 4. \-- Wage income, by literacy and education in Sweden**

![](media/image2.wmf){width="7.1402777777777775in"
height="4.882638888888889in"}

**Figure 5. \-- Wage income, by literacy and education in Poland**

![](media/image3.wmf){width="7.1402777777777775in"
height="4.882638888888889in"}

**Figure 7. \-- Years of schooling as a function of document literacy**

**Figure 8. \-- Percent of adults at lowest level of document literacy**

**Figure 9. \-- Mean personal income quintile (1-5) of low-proficiency
adults**

**Figure 10. \-- Learning disabilities among low-proficiency adults**

**Figure 11. \-- High literacy with little formal education**

**Figure 12. \-- Basic skills training and level of literacy skills**

**Figure 13. \-- Basic skills training and satisfaction with literacy
skills**

**Figure 14. \-- Basic skills training and workplace learning**

**Figure 15. \-- Literacy assistance among low-proficiency adults**

**Figure 16. \-- Basic skills training and literacy assistance among
low-proficiency adults**

**Figure 17. \-- Skill acquisition in a workplace**

![](media/image4.wmf){width="7.1402777777777775in"
height="4.882638888888889in"}

**Figure 18. \-- Learning and earning in a workplace**

![](media/image5.wmf){width="7.15in" height="4.888888888888889in"}

**Figure 19. \-- Education and learning in a workplace**

![](media/image6.wmf){width="7.1402777777777775in"
height="4.882638888888889in"}

**Figure 20. \-- Formal and informal learning in a workplace**

![](media/image7.wmf){width="7.1402777777777775in"
height="4.882638888888889in"}

### References

Hart-Landsberg, S., & Reder, S. (1995). Teamwork and literacy: Teaching
and learning at Hardy Industries*. Reading Research Quarterly*, *30*(4),
1016--1052.

Kirsch, I.S., Jungeblut, A., Jenkins, L., & Kolstad. A. (1993). *Adult
literacy in America: A first look at* the *results of the National Adult
Literacy Survey*. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics.

Kwang, K., Collins, M., & Stowe, P. (March 1997)*. Participation in
basic skills education: 1994--1995*. Statistics in Brief (NCES 97--325).
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for
Education Statistics.

Murray, T.S., Kirsch, I.S., & Jenkins, L.B. (1998). *Adult literacy in
OECD countries: Technical report on the first International Adult
Literacy Survey* (Technical Report NCES 98--053) Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

National Education Goals Panel. (1993). *The National Education Goals
report: Building a nation of learners. Volume One: The national report*.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, & Human
Resources Development Canada. (1997). *Literacy skills for the knowledge
society: Further results from the International Adult Literacy Survey*.
Paris: Author.

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, & Human
Resources Development Canada. (1995). *Literacy, economy and society:
Results of the First International Adult Literacy Survey*. Paris:
Author.

Reder, S. (in press). *Learning to earn: Direct incentives for
work-based literacy learning*. Philadelphia: National Center on Adult
Literacy, University of Pennsylvania.

Reder, S. (1998). Literacy selection and literacy development:
Structural equation models of the reciprocal effects of education and
literacy. In M.C. Smith (ed.). *Literacy for the 21st century: Research,
policy and practice* (139--157). Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing
(Praeger).

Reder, S. (1997). *First level learners: Characteristics and
participation of adult basic literacy learners.* Bethesda, MD: Abt
Associates.

Reder, S. (1995). *Literacy, education and learning disabilities*.
Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

Reder, S., & Green, K.R. (1985). *Giving literacy away: An alternative
strategy for increasing adult literacy development*. San Francisco: Far
West Educational Laboratory.

Rubenson, K. (1997). *Adult education and training: The poor cousin. An
analysis of Review of National Policies for Education*. Paris: OECD
mimeo.

Vogel, S.A., & Reder, S. (1998). Educational attainment in adults with
learning disabilities. In S.A. Vogel & S. Reder (eds.), *Adult literacy,
education and learning disabilities* (43--68). Baltimore: Paul Brookes,
Inc.

Wikelund, K.R., Reder, S., & Hart-Landsberg, S. (1992*). Expanding
theories of adult literacy participation: A literature review*
(Technical Report TR 92--1). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania,
National Center on Adult Literacy.