Online tool targets youth literacy and numeracy

Educators now have a new online tool to assess the literacy and numeracy skills of young New Zealanders.

The ‘Youth Option’ for the Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool, the key diagnostic tool of literacy and numeracy competency for adults, is specifically for those learners between 15 and 25 years.

Steven Joyce, the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, and Employment, launched the tool this week at the National Symposium for Literacy and Numeracy for Adults.

“The tool will help educators improve the literacy and numeracy skills of young learners, including the increasing numbers of young Māori and Pasifika learners participating in tertiary education through programmes such as Youth Guarantee and Māori and Pasifika Trades Training,” Steven Joyce says.

The new Youth Option will assist with lifting adult literacy and numeracy, getting at-risk young people into a career, and boosting achievements for Māori and Pasifika, three of the key priorities of the Tertiary Education Strategy, says Joyce.

“As the New Zealand economy recovers, it is crucial that all New Zealanders have sufficient skills to take up opportunities and succeed in the modern labour market,” he says.

“Improving literacy and numeracy for young second-chance learners is an important part of lifting their confidence and their participation in New Zealand’s economic recovery.”

Further adaptations are planned for the Assessment Tool. Government-funded enhancements targeting Māori learners and learners with English as a second language are expected to be available in 2015.