Workforce - Workplace Literacy

Literacy Education with Employability in Mind

There are many ways for adult educators to work collaboratively with employers and their Local Work-force Development Boards on projects that build basic educational skills and train the student for employment opportunities.

The Equipped for the Future (EFF) Center for Training and Technical Assistance is now offering “Preparing for Careers in Sales and Service,” a customized curriculum and professional development package for programs wishing to form partnerships with their local Workforce board and area retail employers. EFF developed this curriculum in partnership with the National Retail Federation Foundation, the education and research division of the National Retail Federation. The result of this partnership is “a complete curriculum and training package that blends basic skills with industry standards to prepare adults for entry-level positions in retail sales and customer service.”

The EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance develops and disseminates training, materials and technical assistance that support the integration of EFF Standards and standards-based practices into instruction, assessment, and program management. The Center is sponsored and partially funded by the National Institute for Literacy and is operated by the University of Tennessee’s Center for Literacy Studies.

The National Retail Federation represents 1.4 million retail establishments with more than 20 million employees. In fact, nearly one in five Americans works in this industry. The NRF has established customer service skill standards which support critical work functions. To be effective, employees need strong literacy skills to continually learn about products and services, assess and meet customer needs, and gain customer commitment. These functions require skills that align well with the EFF Content Standards observe critically, communicate well, cooperate with others, guide others, reflect and evaluate, solve problems and make decisions.

Students studying this curriculum learn the retail industry skills required to pass the Professional Customer Service exam within the EFF Content Framework. The integrated curriculum develops transferable skills that students need to function well in their community and family while preparing them for a retail or customer service career. Two versions of the classroom course are available: one for English speaking adults (4-week, 120-hours), and one for limited English proficient adults (6-weeks, 180-hours).

An internship component of this program is optional but highly recommended. After the intensive classroom portion of the course which includes opportunities to role play customer situations, students transition into the five week internship with a cooperating employer. The number of days “on the job” increases week by week throughout the internship. Students are mentored and supported as they reflect on their job experiences, solve problems, and complete their portfolios, self-assessments and performance ratings.

For more information on EFF go to their web homepage at http://eff.cls.utk.edu/. From their homepage you can link to the EFF LINCS Special Collection web page and EFF Products and Publications. Email inquiries about materials and training costs may be directed to eff@utk.edu.

In addition to the Texas Retail/Sales Initiative, which is continuing the work of the EFF Texas ESOL Pilot Project, SWTJC is also pursuing new collaborative Workforce efforts. George Garza, the adult education program director at SWTJC, has begun collaborations with two national initiatives that seek to improve the skills and employability of targeted populations. Motivation Education & Training, Inc. was founded in 1967 to provide academic and vocational training for migrant and seasonal farm workers and further the participants’ economic self-sufficiency. MET has now broadened its mission to include other low-income or disadvantaged populations. Find out more at http://www.metinc.org/.

The second initiative targets 16 to 24 year-olds who did not finish high school and are unemployed. YouthBuild USA has its origins in East Harlem in 1978. Dorothy Stoneman helped unemployed youths begin the renovation of a dilapidated building in an effort to reclaim their neighborhood and provide low-income housing. Other projects followed, and in 1990 YouthBuild USA was founded to orchestrate the national replication of this project. The majority of students earn their high school diploma or GED Certificate while in the program. Each YouthBuild program secures its own funding, usually a mixture of federal, state, local and private or foundational grants. There are now more than 200 programs operating in 40 states. For more information go to http://www.youthbuild.org/about_history.html.