Adult literacy: 'whole-of-service' policy and practice directions

The Salvation Army received triennial funding from the Tasmanian Community Fund in 2009 to research, trial and develop a range of literacy and numeracy tools and strategies to target people who do not access other literacy programs. This program, STeP123, involves three steps: assessment, engagement and referral. The target group for the project were children from 0-5 years, young people and adults. This report represents an evaluation of the STeP123 project undertaken by the Department of Rural Health at the University of Tasmania.

The evaluation involved an analysis of program documentation and consultation with project staff and allied stakeholders within the Salvation Army. The evaluators undertook a preliminary survey of Salvation Army frontline staff to ascertain their skills and knowledge of practice and resources for those clients presenting with observable difficulties with literacy and numeracy.