Job Literacy: The Relationship between School Preparation and Workplace Actuality

THIS STUDY EXAMINED the literacy demands, competencies, and strategies present in the daily reading of students and workers in order to determine the extent to which literacy, as it is encountered in schools, is a preparation for various occupational literacy demands. Subjects included 48 high school juniors, 51 adult technical school students, and 150 workers representing a cross-section of occupations ranging from blue collar to professional/technical. Trained interviewers interviewed and tested subjects at their places of study or work to determine (a) the amount of daily reading; (b) its scope, depth, difficulty, and type; (c) the general and job literacy competence of each subject; and (d) the purposes, strategies, and alternatives to literacy employed by each subject. Results suggested that the students read less often in school than most workers do on the job, that they read less competently, face easier material which they read to less depth, and that the strategies students employ may be less effective than those employed by workers.