There is now a growing awareness of the fact that one in four Irish adults have a literacy difficulty. Far from this being a problem associated with older people who did not have the benefit of free second-level education, a recent survey has shown that one in 10 children are leaving primary schools with literacy difficulties.
What do we mean by literacy? First of all, we mean the technical skills of reading, writing, spelling, and speaking. But literacy is also about confidence and self-esteem, the ability to be in control of your life and its direction. Information is power and if you cannot access and understand it, you become disempowered and disaffected. This explains the well-documented links between poor literacy, poverty, crime and social exclusion.
The response of past governments to this problem has been shameful. It was not until the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) highlighted the economic importance of adult literacy skills for industrialised nations, and revealed Ireland's poor performance relative to our trading partners, that action was taken.
Since 1997, the Department of Education and Science has increased spending on adult literacy tenfold, under the stewardship of junior minister Willie O'Dea. In addition, adult literacy is the number one priority in the long-awaited and much-lauded White Paper on Adult Education, which was published more than a year ago.
The impact of Government attention is tangible. The numbers of people in VEC literacy services has increased to over 17,000, a threefold increase in four years. However, this still only represents a mere 3 per cent of all those with poor skills. NALA is striving to support the expansion of literacy learning opportunities. Special programmes between the VEC literacy service and F┴S for people on Community Employment have been very effective in working with a hugely disadvantaged client group.
Workplace programmes have also proved effective in meeting the literacy needs of men, often the most reluctant to return to education. Teagasc staff are now trained to address the literacy needs of young farmers in agricultural colleges as are staff in the Youthreach programme for early school-leavers. A quality framework and national assessment system are being put in place by NALA to ensure learners get the best possible service to meet their needs.
Not everyone will join a literacy programme and in a brave departure from traditional education, TV and radio literacy and numeracy programmes are being broadcast by RT╔, supported by free study packs and a tutor helpline. The first TV series, Read Write Now, made by AV Edge and broadcast last autumn, was a huge success. It had an average audience of 140,000 per night, with a peak audience figure of 192,000. This was more than were watching Friends. More than 10,000 people, not in any form of education, rang up requesting packs to follow the series.
With continued funding from the Department of Education and Science and the support of RT╔, a new Read Write Now series commences on RT╔ 1 Wednesday at 7.30 p.m., with repeat slots on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. and Tuesday at midnight. A numeracy series is being broadcast on RT╔ Radio 1 on Thursday nights at 8.30 p.m. starting October 18th.
But more needs to be done. We need to have an open debate as to why children are still leaving primary schools with poor literacy skills. This must involve hearing the views of the many young adults currently in the literacy service. They should be asked what went wrong and what they think might have resulted in a more positive educational experience when they were in school. It must also involve parents. We cannot expect parents with literacy problems and a negative experience of school to be reading stories to their children and helping them with school, without support. Family literacy programmes could provide that support, and yet there is no funding for such initiatives on a nationwide basis.
The Government must follow through on its commitments. It is pointless to go through the very lengthy and costly process of publishing a White Paper if there is no money for its implementation. Among the proposals our members identified as critical are the establishment of the National Adult Learning Council, the Local Adult Learning Boards, a seed fund for employers and trade unions to set up workplace literacy programmes and a capital budget to provide urgently needed premises.
It is clear that only through continued investment and new approaches will a marked decline in the numbers of people with poor literacy skills occur. However the only process by which this can be achieved is partnership, most notably within the education sector. Strong leadership with modern structures and realistic funding are what is required to achieve the goal of a lifelong learning culture. By international comparisons we are a long way off realising such a goal and some might think it would be wiser to forget about those at the bottom of the educational spectrum and continue to give the opportunities for education to the most educated. Leaving aside the very obvious equality argument against such a proposal, and considering our skills shortage and economic growth, it would seem unwise to ignore the needs of so many people who could contribute to a better Ireland. Let's write everyone into Irish society.
Inez Bailey is the Director of NALA, the National Adult Literacy Agency.
