The Government's Skills for Life programme was launched in 2001, and is a key initiative aimed at improving adult literacy, language and numeracy skills in the UK. The shocking statistics are that 5 million adults in the UK have skills below Level 1 in literacy and 15 million adults have skills below Level 1 in numeracy.
Sure Skills Literacy and Sure Skills Numeracy are brand new interactive e-courses designed especially to motivate adult learners to develop their skills and confidence in Literacy and Numeracy.
Sure Skills offers learners the opportunity to refresh and improve key skills in literacy and numeracy at a level and pace that suits them. Reinforcement of these topics through interactive activities and mini-tests helps learners to retain what they have covered, and gives them the confidence and motivation to progress to the National Test in Literacy and Numeracy.
This can be used with adults who have mixed ability levels, and enables tutors to cater for individuals by building personalised learning routes around their unique skills' needs. A Learner Management System sits behind the whole e-course, allowing tutors to monitor and track individual progress and see exactly how they well are performing.
Sure Skills is written by a team of expert authors who are practising lecturers and educational consultants in Skills for Life. Tina Lawton is the Senior Business Development Manager at CTAD, Cambridge Training and Development and Jane Langford is a Lecturer in Additional Learning Support at Dudley College and is available for interview.
Jane comments: " As a practising lecturer I know how important it is that learners on these courses have access to a high level of input and practice materials. Tutors need to be able to offer learners lots of reinforcement and consolidation, with relevant examples and contexts. We are constantly striving to find high quality resources for our learners that are aimed at the appropriate levels. Sure Skills is a revolutionary solution, providing a stimulating, engaging and positive experience for the learners. The scheme is totally flexible, allowing learners to be directed up or down an ability level, according to their individual needs. At long last, lecturers will have a fantastic bank of online resources at their fingertips that match the National Curricula."
Jill Duffy, MD of Vocational learning at Heinemann adds: "We are extremely excited about Sure Skills, our aim is to create resources that inspire generations and allow tutors to plan lessons as effectively as possible within the constraints on their time, never is this more critical than with adult learners. Sure Skills has the power to make a difference through its potential to break down barriers to learning in adults and we look forward to developing this area further ."
Find out more about Sure Skills at www.heinemann.co.uk/sureskills | 
