ABSTRACT

Understanding the origins of poor literacy and numeracy skills in adulthood and their consequences for individuals in adult life is of increasing importance in modern industrialized societies where an ever higher premium is placed on profi ciency in these basic skills. The origins of this concern lie in the technological transformation of employment and globalizing pressures, which have been a dominant feature of their economies since the 1970s. For this reason there have been major initiatives in all societies to raise skills levels for which the basic skills of literacy and numeracy supply the foundations.