1.5m learners beat their skills gremlins and gain qualifications as Government hits skills target

‘Over 1.5 million people have gained crucial basic skills qualifications through the Government’s Skills for Life strategy, hitting a key target set back in 2001, Skills Minister Phil Hope announced today.

Skills for Life provides free literacy, language and numeracy tuition for adults in England who have skills below Level 2 (broadly equivalent to a GCSE at grades A* – C.) Since the launch of the strategy in 2001, 4.7 million adults have taken up 10.5 million Skills for Life learning opportunities with 1,619 000 learners achieving their first Skills for Life qualification in literacy, language or numeracy. This figure includes achievements by over 138,000 offenders.

The Government has a public service agreement (PSA) target to improve the skills of 2.25 million adults by 2010, with an interim target of 1.5 million by 2007, measured by the number of learners achieving their first national Skills for Life qualification in literacy, language or numeracy.’

Source: DfES