Handbook on best practice methods for Basic skills trainings Best practice handbook | Page 11

11
especially from non-western countries, have a low score. Those numbers are a challenge and
there is a national initiatives ongoing to deal with it, called “Programme for Basic Competence
in Working Life”. Skills Norway has the administrative responsibility for a programme directed
towards developing basic competence for working life. The aim of the SkillsPlus is to give
adults the opportunity to acquire the basic skills they need to keep up with the demands and
changes in modern working life and civil society. Funding and participation have increased
every year since the programme was established in 2006. The number of participants who
have received training now exceeds 30 000.

Romania
In Romania the proportion of the adult population without lower secondary education is
situated between 3 % and 4 %. Romania has the largest proportion of adults (67 %) who have
either never used a computer or performed any easy tasks ( using a mouse to launch
programmes such as an Internet browser or word processor; copying or moving a file or
folder; using copy or cut and paste tools to duplicate or move information on screen; etc).
Adult participation in learning continues to be very low, at 1.2 % in 2016, well below the
EU average (10.8 %). The unemployed are less likely to engage in learning (2.1 %) compared
with the EU average (9.5 %), as well as older people (0.3 % versus 6.9 %) and low-qualified
adults (0.3 % versus 4.3 %). The adult learning system in Romania remains fragmented, and
its different components have developed in disparate ways. For example, the validation of
prior learning is well developed, but there is no database of possible courses where adults
can go to supplement the competences they lack, which would make it possible to match
adult learners’ needs and demands with the educational offer. In addition, there is poor data
collection and a limited culture of participation in lifelong learning, particularly among the large
population living in rural areas and working in subsistence and semi-subsistence agriculture,
where there is poor educational infrastructure and limited access to learning opportunities.
Based on Eurostat data, Romania has a particularly high proportion of adults with
inadequate ICT skills.
In Romania, the 2011 National Law of Education establishes sustained public support for
'second chance' programmes targeting the completion of lower secondary education.
The biggest challenge is that there is a gap in provision for adults who want to re-enter the
labor market and displaced workers. Programmes are not usually offered part-time.
Underachievement in basic skills remains one of the highest in the EU. This is due to
educational factors and equity challenges. Access to quality mainstream education is
particularly a challenge for students in rural areas and for Roma.

Turkey
Compared with adults in the other participating OECD countries, adults in Turkey show
below-average proficiency in all three domains assessed – literacy, numeracy and problem
solving in technology-rich environments. As many as 45.7% of adults in Turkey attain only
Level 1 or below in literacy (a considerably higher percentage than the OECD average of
18.9%) and 50.2% attain Level 1 or below in numeracy (above the OECD average of 22.7%).
Some 38.0% of adults in Turkey (compared with 14.7% of adults in all participating