O alfabetismo funcional na indústria: estudo exploratório sobre a medição do seu índice e análise da correlação com variáveis sóciodemográficas

Abstract

This study measured the functional literacy in a sample of employees from the industrial sector, and analyzed the relation between such rate and the social-demographic features involved in the sample, such as level of education, place of birth, gender, age and reading habits. Such measurement was used in validating an instrument known as INAF Empresarial (National Indicator of Functional Literacy for Companies), which was created by Instituto Paulo Montenegro and will soon be used as standard for conducting such measurements in Brazilian industrial units. The study was conducted by using a sample comprised by 255 employees of two companies located in the metropolitan area of São Paulo. In addition to INAF Empresarial, two other different questionnaires were used one with the purpose of gathering social-demographic information relating to the sample and the other, named SWLS (Satisfaction with Life Scale) and developed by Diener (1985), for measuring the employees level of satisfaction with life. This study showed that INAF Empresarial is apt to identify different levels of functional literacy, thus allowing us to classify the employees within the sample into four different levels, plus one level zero representing illiteracy as we know it. The figures regarding functional literacy as shown in this study are consistent with those shown in other previous studies, such as the national INAF, which reflects general features of the Brazilian population. The functional illiteracy rate in the sample was 76.1%, which shows that the majority of the employees under analysis is underprivileged when it comes to their level of literacy, which is insufficient to fulfill the demands of today s society and to promote personal or professional development. The correlations between social-demographic variables and functional literacy levels confirm, in general terms, the results found in previous international studies.