Region moving to harmonise literacy data

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will be implementing a programme designed to harmonise the measurement of literacy data.

This programme will advance the production of reliable information for better decision making in this area, revealed the CARICOM Fourth Technical Workshop on a Common Framework for a Literacy Survey under an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Regional Public Goods Project, held in Barbados last week with education officials, statisticians and other experts.

The project, which is being conducted in phases, saw workshops in Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados respectively to familiarise participants with the theoretical and practical aspects of literary assessments, and the critical importance of literacy measurement in policy formation.

Those workshops had also streamlined the key deliverables of the common literary framework for the region and an Action Plan to ensure its implementation.

The meeting in Barbados expanded on the work done so far, focusing on recommendations for the improvement and finalisation of the regional survey instruments as well as other features including methodology, training guides and an interviewer’s manual which is expected to guarantee the harmonisation of literacy data collected in the future.

Efforts are ongoing to assist Member States with implementation through the development of National Implementation Plans for the conduct of at least two literacy surveys, expected to produce sound and comparable literacy statistics across the Caribbean Community. (TL)