Functional Literacy - Qualifications - Work

Abstract

Functional literacy is the capacity to process universally encountered written information needed in everyday life and in professional work. An international study of the functional literacy of adults (IALS) was carried out on the tum of 1994 -1995. The project was realised in six countries of Western Europe, in Canada and the United States and in Poland. In Poland the research was conducted by a team from the Centre for Science Policy and Higher Education, University of Warsaw. The study made it possible to measure the literacy level of the respondents and also to identify and describe the social variables connected with literacy, namely those which determine the level of functional literacy, those which accompany it and those which are an outcome of the level of functional literacy. This article presents basic information on the procedure followed and discusses some of the results. The emphasis is on a presentation of those determinants and consequences of the literacy level of Poles which are related to the nature of professional work and participation in additional job-related schooling. The research method used made it possible to follow the same procedure in all countries participating in the project, thereby enabling fully justified international comparisons.