Minister blasts poor Kiwi literacy rates

More than a million New Zealand adults are being held back because they lack essential literacy and numeracy skills, the tertiary education minister says.

Speaking today at a symposium for literacy and numeracy for adult educators, Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce said it is the government's priority to improve New Zealand's track record in this area.

"We have this worrying statistic ... that there are more than a million Kiwi adults lacking the essential literacy and numeracy that they need.

"It's holding them back from the contribution they could otherwise make.

"We cannot afford to take our eye off the ball in this respect, we've got to keep this momentum going and I can assure you as the minister that that's something I'm going to be very focused on."

The Minister acknowledged the work of adult educators at wananga, private training organisations and polytechnics, and recognised that the country is seeing some improvement in increasing adult access to numeracy and literacy programs.

He said opportunities for adults to learn skills while in the workplace is of key importance to improvement.

"The reality is we can't fund every proposal for funding that comes along, but I am expecting to see more examples of business reporting encouraging results, including improved literacy and numeracy which leads to other gains like staff retention, product quality and health and safety."

The Minister said the improvement of adult literacy would have a positive impact on the wider economy.

"Our challenge is to ensure that Kiwis from all educational backgrounds have the right opportunities to gain, at a level that suits them, the world class skills and knowledge to allow them to get ahead in life.

"When they get ahead in life the whole country gets ahead."

- © Fairfax NZ News