Some Implications of Award Restructure Proposals for Adult Literacy and Basic Education Provision.

Award restructure poses questions about appropriate response to the retraining and education needs of workers in Australia who have literacy difficulties. The following actions should be taken: (1) the government should fund a research project that will evaluate workplace efficiency outcomes for employers who have participated in the Workplace Basic Education Project (WBEP) of the Council of Adult Education (CAE); (2) the government's development of a national languages policy should clarify the different as well as overlapping training needs for industry; (3) employers and unions should be encouraged to identify the literacy, English language, and basic education skills for each broad-banded classification or production-related skill; (4) Technical and Further Education (TAFE) should be required to develop award classifications for courses in the areas of literacy and numeracy, English skills, and basic education; (5) the use of literacy and numeracy assessment of workers should remain on a confidential and voluntary basis until the issues related to job selection, job security, and work satisfaction in the use of literacy assessment are resolved between employers and unions; and (6) the government should fund CAE to develop train the trainers curriculum and training programs for tutors in workplace literacy and basic education programs. (Nineteen references and three appendices are included.) (CML)