Last month saw the long-awaited publication of the Government's White Paper on Adult Education, Learning for Life. Since the initiative by Willie O'Dea, junior minister at the Department of Education, to publish a Green Paper at the start of his term in office, adult education providers, tutors, trainers and learners have looked forward eagerly to claiming their place in the sun.
Successive governments, in developing an educational infrastructure for Ireland, had targeted their often-meagre resources at the youth of the State. As a small emerging, post-colonial country, the argument went, our youth was our future - and, indeed, this was difficult to argue with, especially when hard choices needed to be made.
In the 1980s, it was extremely difficult to persuade education ministers that adults were worth any kind of investment; indeed, when cutbacks in spending were imposed later in that decade, adult education was one of the first areas to be targeted. This not only badly damaged the already fragile infrastructure, but it sent a clear political message to those of us involved in adult education: it was not a priority. Small wonder then that adult education earned the title of "Cinderella of the education system".
Two reports, Murphy in 1973 and Kenny in 1981, drew attention to the need for access to education for adults as well as young people. Even though they made a strong case for a system of continuous education for all the citizens of the State, their recommendations were largely ignored or, as in the case of the ad-hoc adult-education boards, implemented in a half-hearted way with minimal investment.
In the early 1980s, the establishment of literacy provision, which was organised almost entirely by volunteers, revealed that many Irish adults had problems with reading and writing. The new National Adult Literacy Agency in 1981 suggested that 200,000 Irish people had difficulty with literacy. In fact, the figures were hotly contested by the Department of Education and, like the reports on adult education, were largely ignored.
The message was only brought home to the Government in 1998 by the force and stature of the OECD research which showed that as many as 25 per cent of the Irish adult population had low levels of literacy - a much higher figure than that quoted by NALA almost 20 years earlier.
The rapid growth of the Irish economy and the ensuing skills shortages spurred the Government into action. The message was finally becoming clear: it is not possible to sustain growth, to address issues of poverty and disadvantage and to develop a civil society where people can live without fear of discrimination and exclusion without a huge investment in education as a lifelong activity.
The European Lifelong Learning agenda and the lobby work of organisations such as AONTAS have all been instrumental in bringing about one of the most important advances in adult education in the history of the State. The appointment of a minister with political responsibility for the area was a crucial move and one for which AONTAS and its sister organisation NALA lobbied in the run up to the last election. And it must be said that Willie O'Dea's determination to put adult education on the political agenda has certainly moved things forward faster than was first envisaged.
This White Paper contains many far-reaching proposals, including an adult-literacy initiative, expansion of provision for targeted groups, the employment of adult-education personnel, training of trainers and the development of national and local structures. While it proposes to widen the categories for non-fee-paying learners, it does not, however, go far enough in addressing the issue of fees, a major barrier for adult students.
Through the net
Many people will still fall through the net, especially people in low-paid jobs and women working at home who have no independent income. As more and more people enter the workforce, doing jobs at the lower-paid end of the scale, the concessions made in the White Paper could quickly become irrelevant. There is also an onus on employers, who have benefitted greatly from the economic boom, to invest in training and education for their workers, ensuring they have some flexibility should there be a downturn in the economy.
AONTAS has also been approached for assistance by Irish people returning from abroad, who do not qualify for free college fees until they have resided here for three years. At a time when people are being encouraged to return to fill the skills gaps, this is a huge discrimination and one which AONTAS plans to challenge vigorously.
We also plan to continue to lobby Government on the fees issue, consistently cited as the biggest barrier to access.
Another major obstacle is the provision of adequate and affordable childcare. While this was identified in the White Paper as a major issue, no specific recommendations were made about how it would be addressed. Soon-to-be-published research by AONTAS on the role of women's community education in addressing issues of poverty and disadvantage will make practical recommendations on this issue - and AONTAS will lobby strongly for their implementation.
The White Paper is an important beginning. It has made adult education a key part of lifelong learning, put it on the political agenda and has the potential to bring it in from the cold. However, much remains to be done. While the funding for the adult-literacy initiative, the back-to-education initiative and the Adult Guidance Service has been earmarked within the National Development Plan, all other investment is still to be committed by the Department of Finance.
The process of drawing up the Government's spending estimates for next year is now underway. It is imperative that investment be made to ensure that the proposals in the White Paper are quickly implemented. Such a commitment will finally send a message to the adult sector that the Government is serious about lifelong learning.
Cinderella is dressed and ready for the ball. All she needs now is the golden coach to take her there.
Berni Brady is director of AONTAS, the national adult-education organisation.
