This paper reviews international literature that has examined the demand-side barriers to the provision and take-up of adult foundation learning programmes. It focuses on factors that affect the facilitation and provision by employers of such programmes as well as the demand amongst adult learners for foundation-level learning, together with government policies and initiatives designed to address these factors.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on international approaches and studies that have examined the demand-side barriers to the provision and take-up of foundation learning programmes. This includes factors which affect the provision and facilitation by employers of foundation learning programmes, and the demand amongst learners for such programmes. This review was undertaken on behalf of the Department of Labour as part of that department’s contribution to the Ministry of Education’s Foundation Learning work programme in 2004.
Methodology
The review covers literature from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, from 1996 onwards. In New Zealand the term foundation learning for adults covers literacy and numeracy programmes as well as English as a Second Language (ESL) and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programmes. In the other countries reviewed, this field is variously termed adult basic education (ABE), adult and community education (ACE) and basic skills.
The combination of sources searched for relevant literature (see Appendix I) resulted in a total of 70 articles, reports and conference papers being obtained. All literature that was reviewed is listed in the bibliography. Some of this is not specifically referenced in the report.