Adult basic training for storekeepers equips these blue-collar workers with the basic education skills that they need to perform optimally.
Storekeepers perform a vital service. Regardless of the industry in which they operate, most companies import raw materials for their operations. They also stock replacement parts to repair and maintain capital equipment.
Competent storekeepers efficiently manage these materials in a storeroom. They know exactly how many items are stocked and where they can be found on the many shelves in these facilities. By constantly ensuring the correct quantity of goods and materials, they avoid disruptions to production.
To function effectively, storekeepers must be able to communicate effectively verbally and in writing. They also rely on sound active listening, numeracy and critical and logical thinking skills. This is in addition to an ability to quickly learn how to work with new technologies.
These skills are honed via quality ABET training, which includes both adult literacy training and numeracy training.
Passed basic training
Employees who have passed adult basic training possess basic education skills at a National Qualifications Framework Level 1. Refer to https://www.saqa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Fact-Sheet-SAQA-FPI.pdf. Equivalent to Grade 9, this NQF Level is a pivotal point. This is the stage at which employees gain skills that are fundamental to all further learning. They are also considered to be the absolute basic education skills required to perform entry level and general work efficiently. Competence in these skills is denoted by a General Education and Training-ABET Level 4 certificate [http://www.wc.cetc.edu.za/Academic/Academic-Programs/GETC-ABET-Level-4-NQF-L1].
This upskill training for unskilled employees is supplied by a professional mathematical and literacy training provider. Such an AET provider is accredited by Umalusi Council [https://www.umalusi.org.za/] to do so.
Importantly, choose an ABET provider that specialises in onsite-based training for employees to assist you with education development for employees. This means that adult education and training is undertaken at your premises. The workplace is the best “classroom” in which to learn workplace literacy skills. This is over-and-above being a more cost-effective and convenient way of providing basic education to employees. Furthermore, an onsite-based training provider tailors English and maths training to suit the specific needs of individual workplaces. Its ABET training is never generic. In this way, employees see the relevance of partaking in adult education programmes. They remain motivated to succeed no matter how difficult AET becomes in its more advanced levels. Meanwhile, employees who find training for staff development too easy will eventually drop out or skip ABET training classes. This is considering that they are not being stimulated by education development for employees.
A reputable mathematical and literacy training provider will assess your employees’ skills to determine where they should begin ABET training. If undertaken correctly, workers should seamlessly transition from previous education attainment into adult basic education and training.
Adult basic training for employees
Adult basic training is for employees who have not completed basic education. Their basic education skills are, therefore, not up to standard, preventing them from performing at their peak. It also stifles individual career and personal growth. Without literacy and basic numeracy skills, it is difficult to continue learning new skills to improve one’s circumstances. With industry increasingly relying on skilled employees, it is critical that blue collar workers have an opportunity to continue learning. As South African industries increasingly harness sophisticated digital technologies, basic education for employees has never been more critical.
The adult literacy component of ABET teaches employees how to communicate in the written and spoken word. Furthermore, AET training focuses on developing your employees’ active listening skills, which are also crucial for effective workplace communication.
Basic education for employees develops literacy skills incrementally. Covering Grades 1 to 3, ABET training level 1 teaches how to read and write. Adult education and training level 2 develops these skills to a similar level as someone who has completed grade 5. Covering grades 6 to 7, adult basic education and training level 3 refines employees’ reading and writing skills. Employees who completed this level of adult education programmes should have obtained baseline knowledge of GETC content learning areas. This enables them to complete the last level of education development for employees. Language, literacy and communication are one of the fundamentals of ABET training level 4. Together with mathematics as a subject, they constitute 39 credits of education development for employees. The core and elective components make up the balance of credits of upskill training for unskilled employees.
Education curricula
Reading is a critical area of quality adult basic education curricula.
Effective storekeepers can read for meaning. For example, they will regularly read signs and short texts as part of their daily work routine. They will also frequently be exposed to safety signs that are usually pictograms with one or a few words. These employees will also read hand-written or computer-generated notices consisting of a few short sentences. Moreover, they are expected to comprehend the meaning of labels on products and pallets. This is in addition to serial and stock numbers; job abbreviations; dates; and other codes that they are confronted with daily. They must be able to read information from the display of their scanning devices.
Competent storekeepers will also read charts, graphs and tables to understand what is being communicated. They also use their reading skills to decipher weight restriction charts in table format on fork hoists. Furthermore, these employees are regularly expected to read maps of courier zones and of the store to locate materials. They must also be able to interpret production and quality statistics correctly.
In performing their duties, storekeepers will also read many different forms. This includes inwards goods documentation and packing slips, as well as picking lists and dispatch instructions. These employees will also manage outwards goods documentation, such as consignment slips and delivery instructions. Moreover, personnel working in a storeroom will regularly read control checklists and health and safety forms.
Adult basic training develops skills
Adult basic training develops your employees’ reading skills so that they can comprehend standard operating procedures or standardised job instructions. This is a must for all employees.
Employees who have completed adult education and training will also be able to cope with more complex reading tasks. For example, they can easily understand employment-related documents. These include leave forms; job descriptions; employment agreements; and codes of conduct. This is in addition to performance review forms and training agreements.
Importantly, employees who have completed adult education and training can also read to learn more skills. Equipped with basic education skills, they can read training materials for specific courses. This is important considering the many different courses storekeepers are expected to complete. In this way, they develop their competence and ensure compliance with legislation, regulations and quality standards. For example, they may be required to obtain a forklift operation license and undergo regular occupational health and safety training. Depending on the industry in which they work, employees may have to complete first aid; biosecurity; dangerous goods; and food courses.
Employees who have completed reading and writing programmes can match numbers or identifiers across different texts. They can also recognise the features of a range of texts and interpret information from graphical material. In addition, they can follow written instructions that include diagrams.
Moreover, they can predict what will be contained in a text by skimming it for gist. They can also scan a piece of writing, tables and labels to quickly find specific information and identify the main points.
The basic numbers skills that employees learn during numeracy training enables them to read various number formats. This is required to work with serial, product and phone numbers.
These reading skills are underpinned by knowledge of common vocabulary; technical and industry jargon; and abbreviations.
Writing during adult basic training
Certainly, employees also have ample opportunity to exercise their writing skills during adult basic training. This is considering that writing is also an important component of adult literacy training.
Equipped with basic education skills learnt during training for staff development, employees can write short notes with ease. Storekeepers, for example, are required to notate goods documentation. This is by adding their initials, as well as quantities; weights; cubic metreage; times and dates; and delivery addresses.
Moreover, they can complete important forms and questionnaires independently. This includes damage reports; dispatch schedules; inward goods records; and stocktaking and biosecurity documentation. They are also able to work with employment-related documentation, including time sheets, leave forms and employee details forms.
Employees who have completed AET training also possess the basic education skills needed to complete forms with the help of others. This includes health and safety documentation, such as hazard notifications; incident forms; and quality control checklists.
By completing ABET training, employees also possess the skills that are needed to write for training or learning purposes. For instance, they will be able to write answers to questions for unit standard assessment and dangerous goods instruction.
Adult basic training imparts skills
Adult basic education imparts speaking and active listening skills which facilitate effective two-way communication. This may be between members of high-performance teams or among employees and their higher-ups.
Employees who have completed upskill training for unskilled workers can repeat messages back to the sender. They can also summarise instructions in their own words. This is in addition to being able to use cues, such as “yes”, “certainly” or “okay”, to show understanding of what is being communicated.
They can also ask for assistance; provide information in a sensible order; and use suitable body language to facilitate communication.
Equipped with basic literacy skills they can also use questioning techniques to clarify information. They also know when to use open- or closed-ended questions to obtain information; verify understanding; and encourage further discussion.
Quality adult basic training
The basic education skills that employees learn during quality adult basic training enables employees to read information out loud. Employees can also discuss topics that are relevant to work and use language appropriate to a situation or context. Moreover, they can plan and deliver verbal instructions in a logical order and to suit their audience. Employees can also determine if another person has understood what they have said.
These abilities are underpinned by an understanding that communication is a two-way process. Employees are also aware that there is a range of spoken language styles which change with purpose, topic and audience. Moreover, they know that there are different ways of making positive and negative statements that add value to a conversation. Attending adult education programmes, employees also learn that there are ways of initiating and concluding conversations. They can also summarise to verify and clarify points. Furthermore, they are aware of how pronunciation and tone influence a conversation. Training for staff development also teaches that messages can be further conveyed by body language and facial expressions.
Adult basic training teaches maths
Adult basic training also teaches maths, considering the importance of basic numbers skills in most jobs.
A reputable educational accredited provider will offer mathematics or “pure maths” as opposed Math Literacy. “Pure” maths is more abstract and entails studying theories that provide a sound understanding of mathematical laws and principles. This develops the basic numeracy skills required in most workplaces.
As is the case with adult literacy training, adult literacy training imparts basic numeracy skills incrementally. This is over four levels of education development for employees.
Storekeepers must be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide whole and decimal numbers.
Basic numeracy skills also enable these employees to use the 12- or 24-hour clock to estimate, measure and record time.
Numeracy training also equips employees with the basic education skills that they need to estimate using metric measuring systems. Common measurements used by storekeepers include width, length, depth, volume and weight.
They also use basic numbers skills to interpret information presented in graphs and tables and graphical map keys and zones.
Employees who have completed ABET training understand what numerical concepts mean and how they are used to perform their work. They can also recognise different formats deployed to present data. These include pie graphs, pictograms and bar charts. Moreover, they can round numbers up and down and count up and back to reach the required number.
Adult basic training develops thinkers
By teaching literacy and basic numeracy skills, adult basic training develops critical and logical thinkers. Employees who have completed adult education and training can make sound decisions on their own. They can also do so as part of high-performance teams or with their higher-ups.
Therefore, they can judge if they can perform a task using their existing skills, knowledge and experience. If they realise that they cannot, they possess the wherewithal to request help. This is opposed to attempting an assignment that is beyond their capabilities, resulting in mistakes, waste and lost production time.
Critical and logical thinking skills enable storekeepers to deal with contingencies. For example, they need to take action if stock is unavailable, broken or damaged. Moreover, they use their intuition to determine what to do if important documentation is missing. They may encounter quality-, biosecurity- or health and safety-related issues that need to be dealt with swiftly.
Storekeepers also use critical and logical thinking skills to determine how and where to store goods. This while also considering the most efficient picking flow and best health and safety outcomes.
Moreover, they use their basic education skills to determine the best order to pick stock. This while considering the most efficient movement in the warehouse.
Employees who have completed English and maths training will also be able to identify discrepancies. For example, this may be between actual stock and records on a computer, or inward goods received and documentation. There may also be disparities between stock on pallets and the picking list that need to be dealt with.
Employees complete adult basic training
Employees who complete adult basic training can also perform other important storekeeping functions that require logical and critical thinking skills.
For instance, storekeepers also use their logical and critical thinking skills to perform an array of stacking functions. They need to stack items on a pallet in a stable and secure manner. These employees must also know how to stack uniform numbers of cartons on each layer or pallet to assist with tallying. Moreover, they are required to identify how to pack fragile or unusually shaped items in a safe and secure manner. Storekeepers also use logical and critical thinking skills to determine ways of packing trucks or containers. This while also considering the way in which goods are quickly and efficiently unloaded by colleagues.
They also need to be able to work systematically and meticulously through records to identify where orders are in the supply chain.
Furthermore, they must be able to apply a systematic approach to find discrepancies between lists of stock and actual stock.
Importantly, storekeepers also harness knowledge of safety requirements or principles when performing their jobs. They also need to understand the quality assurance process and the implications of this on work performance.
AET training also equips employees with the basic education skills that they need to apply knowledge of efficient work practices.
Quality adult basic training
Quality adult basic training also imparts the basic education skills that your employees need to use technology.
Employees who have completed adult education and training can use scanners and barcode technology to label, track and trace stock. They can also look up records on a computer and enter data onto an electronic system. This is so that they can record goods movement progress; print labels; close off jobs; and send notifications. These processes usually involve selecting options from drop-down menus or entering single words or numbers.
Employees with solid basic education skills can identify elements of computer application. They can also associate the type of functionality expected of elements; menus and their options; command buttons; and icons. They also know how to format and use mouse pointers; toolbars; check boxes; radio buttons; and create a chart; and spell check.
Triple E Training is a leading educational accredited training provider. Our quality AET training has helped countless companies to improve the productivity, efficiency and accuracy levels of their workforce. This while ensuring that our AET training also unlocks opportunity for employees to grow and develop.
Learn more about Triple E Training and how we are raising the quality bar in adult literacy training and adult numeracy training. www.eee.co.za
