Regulations: concepts that can be addressed
via training
- numbering conventions in regulations
- headings and sub-headings (size, position, font)
- text layout (sections and subsections)
- Roman numerals (many people have difficulty reading Roman numerals)
- specialized legal wording (where this, then that; no person shall;
in accordance with; subject to; shall be deemed; etc.)
- notes to tables (how to use)
- intersecting lists (table)
- font (size, italics, capitalization, bolding)
- acronyms
Use it or lose it
“The man whose whole life is spent performing a few simple operations…
has no occasion to exert his understanding, or to exercise his invention…
He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally
becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature
to become.” (Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations
1776)
- the demand for literacy at work has been found to be a significant
factor in predicting adult literacy competence
- a history of employment in low skill jobs is associated with lower
levels of adult literacy
- if you don’t keep using your literacy skills, you will lose
them
- technical and employment training programs must afford learners the
opportunity to use their workplace literacy skills and to improve them
- literacy is not like riding a bicycle (could you pass your high school
examinations today?)
In Conclusion:
- workplace essential skills are very important and cannot be overlooked
in college and institute training programs
- WES can and should be taught
- workplace essential skills are transferable
- education level is not always an indicator of WES proficiency –
formal training may not focus on WES
- if we don’t use it, we lose it
- addressing essential skills empowers learners and gives them the
workplace skills they need to be more than “automatons”,
the skills they need to move forward, the capacity to learn
- reading, writing, numeracy, document use and computer skills are
only the beginning – individuals must use these skills as problem
solving tools
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