Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 1 Dec 1999

Vol. 512 No. 1

Written Answers. - Literacy Levels.

Michael Bell

Question:

119 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the recently published UN human development report which suggested that almost 23% of Irish people were functionally illiterate; and the steps, if any, he will take to deal with the matter. [25376/99]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. Martin)

The UN human development report draws its information from the OECD international adult literacy survey published in 1997. The aim of the survey was not to assess population in terms of literacy or illiteracy, but rather to identify five levels of literacy to cover demands at work, in the home and the community. The survey found that about 25% of the Irish population were found to score at the lowest level, Level 1, performing at best tasks which required the reader to locate a simple piece of information in a text, with no distracting information, and when the structure of the text assists the task. Low literacy levels were strongly associated with low education levels, early school leaving, and were more prevalent among older adults and the unemployed.

Provision for adult literacy has increased from a base of £0.850 million in 1997 when this Government took office, to £5.665 million in 1999. There will be a further increase to £7.825 million next year. The Government's Green Paper, Adult Education in an Era of Lifelong Learning, which was published late last year recommended that investment in this area should increase to at least £10 million per annum on a phased basis, and this will be further progressed in the context of the national development plan.

A range of initiatives have been progressed as part of the expansion of the adult literacy service to date in co-operation with the VECS, the National Adult Literacy Agency, and training and employment interests. These include the establishment of an adult literacy development fund to support awareness, outreach, referral networks and flexible provision; a doubling of the number availing of the service to 10,000 and the development of innovatory approaches such as family learning programmes, distance learning, and services for specific groups such as travellers, those with special needs, refugees and immigrants etc; staff development initiatives, including the commissioning of programmes leading to national certification; piloting of literacy over the radio and an evaluation of this; development of a quality framework for the service; initial commissioning of a programme of TV literacy; and development of an adult guidance service on a pilot basis.

An interdepartmental committee on literacy for the unemployed has also been convened by my Department, which is working with the National Adult Literacy Agency, FÁS, the local employment service, the vocational education committees and the Departments of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Social, Community and Family Affairs on the development of an integrated strategy in this area. In that context, a number of joint literacy projects with the FÁS funded community employment scheme are under way and are now being expanded to all FÁS regions.

These developments are being accompanied by curricular reforms within the school system, an increased focus on the development of literacy within the context of whole school planning, provision of guidelines school planning, in-career development courses for teacher in this area and in relation to learning difficulties, development of revised guidelines on remedial teaching, enhancement of staffing arrangements so that all schools will have access to a remedial service, an allocation of £6.5 million to schools for the purchase of library books, expansion of the school psychological service, and a range of targeted initiatives aimed at promoting a multi-agency community based approach to improving retention within the school system.