Vegetable Worker (Indoor)
Literacy and Numeracy Summary
Indoor Vegetable Crop Worker
Literacy and Numeracy Profile Summary
Many adults in New Zealand would benefit from gaining better reading, writing and maths skills to function productively at work and at home. Every industry is striving to help in achieving this goal and as part of this effort the NZHITO, in association with our main funding body the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), have been working on a Literacy and Numeracy (LN) project. Our ultimate aim is to increase individuals’ literacy and numeracy skills in order to make workplaces safer and more productive, as well as to ensure learners have the skills to succeed in their everyday lives. As part of this project we have completed a Literacy and Numeracy profile for indoor vegetable crop worker trainees within the vegetable production industry. The profile:
· Gives those working with trainees an understanding of the skill levels required by their goal occupations, which can be compared with TEC Assessment Tool reports of trainees’ levels of ability.
· Gives trainers some guidelines for embedding the teaching of literacy and numeracy skills along with vegetable production vocational skills and knowledge.
Read with understanding – Step 3
· Texts read in the course of everyday employment average step 2 on the Literacy and Numeracy Learning Progressions.
· However, crop workers may need to read some simple equipment manuals and/or spray instructions from time to time, which is why step 3 skills are preferable.
· Reading demand will vary from one workplace to another and some crop workers may not be expected to have any reading skills to complete their roles satisfactorily.
· Decoding is the most consistently higher-ranking reading skill needed.
Documents at step 3 would include: some general workplace forms, a spray diary, some simple equipment manuals etc.
Write to communicate – Step 2
· A crop worker only needs basic writing skills for everyday tasks.
· Forms requiring detailed descriptions (e.g. injury and incident form) involve greater consideration of purpose and audience (step 4-5), but are needed infrequently and, in some workplaces, will only be completed by supervisors.
Tasks at step 2 would include: general workplace forms, timesheets or spray diaries etc.
Listen with understanding and speak to communicate – Step 4
· Indoor vegetable crop workers need adequate communication skills in order to work safely and efficiently.
Listening and speaking tasks at step 4 would include: Communicating with other staff members or team leaders etc.
Numeracy – Step 5
· Indoor vegetable crop workers need adequate number knowledge and number strategies to complete simple counting tasks and time allocation.
· Proficient measurement skills are helpful.
Tasks using numeracy at step 5 on the Literacy and Numeracy Learning Progressions include: allocating time and understanding and recording times and dates etc.
For full details of the learning progressions please refer to: www.literacyandnumeracyforadults.com
