involvement in a pilot adult literacy survey taking place across the globe.

Some 30 delegates from ten different countries will be meeting at the Fairmont Southampton Princess to plan the next stage of the survey, which will be held this month or next.

Bermuda is being joined by Canada, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, and the US, in organising a trial survey on adult literacy in preparation of a main one, which is to be carried out around the world next year.

The idea is to have a trial run so that any problems can be ironed out and lessons can be learned before the major survey gets underway.

The meeting of interested countries next week will be the fifth in the mammoth planning process of the surveys to discover the break down and distribution of adult literacy and life skills.

The pilot survey will test the overall process and provide information on the suitability of the items on the questionnaire.

The results of the main international survey next year will enable governments around the world to measure adult literacy and life skills, and how they can be improved.

Once they have the results, governments can begin to implement policies that will assist the sectors of the world population found to be most at risk.

Up to 20 countries could participate in the main survey. A similar survey was conducted in 1994 and concluded: Important differences in literacy skills do exist across and within countries.

Literacy skill deficits are found, not just among disadvantaged groups, but affect large portions of the adult population.

The results led countries to investigate these matters further and have resulted in this present study being organised.

However, this will be Bermuda's first involvement with the international study, which is being conducted in association with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).