HOME What is literacy/numeracy and how does it affect learning? Where do I find the literacy/numeracy requirements of training packages? How do I find the literacy/numeracy requirements of the workplace? How do I identify students' literacy/numeracy needs? What should I do to support students' literacy/numeracy needs? Who can help me support students' literacy/numeracy needs?
   
How do I identify students' literacy/numeracy needs?

Why do some people have literacy or numeracy difficulties?

There are many reasons why people have difficulty with literacy or numeracy. In some cases, it may be that they have an intellectual or specific learning disability. But in other cases, people may have missed learning basic skills during their schooling due to illness or frequent changes of school.

Other factors include:

  • living in remote areas
  • parental issues such as divorce/separation, or negative attitudes to education
  • coming from a language background other than English
  • racial discrimination
  • financial issues.

It is very important that students with LLN difficulties are treated with sensitivity. Adults in this category often feel frustration and anger. They know they are not stupid, but are seen to be so because of poor LLN skills.

Emotional factors may include:

  • low self-esteem
  • lack of confidence
  • negative view of their learning ability ("I can't do that" or "I'm so stupid")
  • unwillingness to take risks because of fear of failure
  • embarrassment over lack of skills
  • depression
  • isolation.

 

Providing support for LLN skills development is often very successful and results in an increase in self-esteem, change in attitude and increased work productivity.

However, people often develop survival strategies to hide the degree of difficulty they really experience, and disclosure of literacy/numeracy problems may be an issue.

Identifying students with LLN needs, and providing appropriate support, is a critical step towards building their motivation towards training.

Identifying LLN needs

Click the link below for a summary of strategies for identifying LLN needs. What approaches would work best in your industry context?

Activity 6  

The most common and least intrusive approach for identifying LLN needs is observation. But you need to know what you are looking for.

Click the link opposite for a list of common indicators that students may need help with communication or numeracy tasks.

Use the table provided to note examples from your own industry context.

 
If your observations tell you that one of your students may have LLN needs, your next step is to raise the matter sensitively with the student. Note also in the table how you might do this.

Indicators that students may need help with literacy/numeracy (54 kb)
Activity 7  

This activity integrates all of the steps we have been considering.

  • Consider the LLN requirements of the units you are teaching, and how they might be customised to the workplace context.
  • Using the observation strategy, together with the indicators of LLN difficulty above, reflect on one of the groups of students you are currently teaching.
  • What are the LLN requirements relevant to this group?
  • What LLN support needs do you think are present in the group?

 
Click the link below for a table to record your thoughts. Use the first two columns only at this stage. We will return to this table during the following sections.
Planning to support LLN needs (30 kb)