This meeting will involve a discussion with representatives of the National Adult Literacy Agency. I welcome the two representatives, Inez Bailey, director, and Frances Ward, chairperson. Before we begin, I draw attention to the fact that members of the committee have absolute privilege but the same privilege does not apply to witnesses appearing before the committee. Members should be aware of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. It sounds like a bad start to a meeting but we must start with the formal matters. I invite Ms Bailey to make a presentation on behalf of the agency for ten or 15 minutes.
Presentation by National Adult Literacy Agency.
Ms Inez Bailey
We are delighted to be here to give a presentation. I will start with a brief introduction to the area of adult literacy, will take us up to date in terms of where the adult literacy service has developed and will then look at some of the current issues and challenges that face us.
It is only since 2000 that adult literacy has had a place in the education system in Ireland in a meaningful sense. Prior to this, Ireland had no national literacy policy and only a very small fund to cover minimal adult literacy services. Today, literacy is the top priority in national policy on further education and it is firmly embedded in policy agendas outside the education sector. This change has largely been the consequence of the Irish results of the first ever national adult literacy survey, the international adult literacy survey, also known as IALS, which was carried out in 1995. It showed that one in four of the Irish adult population scored at the lowest level of literacy on a scale of one to five. IALS also showed how poor literacy skills among the adult population negatively affected family, community and work life. This led to Government recognition of the importance of improving adult literacy levels for wider social and economic development.
Since the publication of IALS, the funding has increased eighteenfold and participation in literacy services has increased sixfold. The national development plan outlines a vision of the future that provides for greater economic and social development. Adult literacy is part of the NDP as a clear contributing factor to upskilling the workforce and facilitating greater participation of those on the margins of society.
Also in 2000, the Department of Education and Science published the first ever policy on adult education containing a national adult literacy strategy as the top priority in the document. This policy document, Learning for Life, recognises that adult education can make a major contribution in meeting the skill requirements of a rapidly changing workforce as well as improving social cohesion and equity in the emergence of a broadly inclusive and proactive civil society. The inclusion of a philosophy of literacy as broader than just workforce development distinguishes literacy in Ireland from the market-driven rhetoric dominant in UK and United States policy in this area.
Going back to the international adult literacy survey, it was conducted in 1995 and published in 1997. It provided Ireland with its first profile of the literacy skills of adults aged 16 to 64. The survey found that 25% of the population, or at least 500,000 adults, scored at the lowest level, level one, performing at best tasks that required the reader to locate simple information in a text with no distracting information when the structure of the text assisted the task. A further 30% of the population scored at level two. Ireland, thus, had a total of 55% of those aged between 16 and 64 scoring at below the minimum desirable threshold for a western industrialised nation. The survey showed, however, that people in the older age quintiles had poorer performance than those in the younger age groups. The reason for this was that many older Irish people had not participated in second level education because it was fee paying until 1967. The findings were met with shock and disbelief.
The publication of IALS, which provided a comparative analysis of the numbers of adults in many western industrialised populations who have difficulties with everyday reading tasks, greatly affected the adult literacy sector in Ireland and abroad. Up to that time, there had been no published adult literacy survey and very little attention was paid to the area by successive governments.
In 1997, the Government budget for literacy increased by 16% starting a trend that was to continue for the next five years. Provision for adult literacy increased from a base of €1 million in 1997 to €18.5 million in 2004. Literacy had become a top priority. In the past six years, numerous policy initiatives and dedicated funding from the Government through a variety of schemes have permitted the adult literacy service to expand and improve reaching a greater number of adults. This has been accomplished through three primary components — the national policy on adult education, Learning for Life, the first national strategy on adult literacy and the inclusion of an adult literacy target in the national anti-poverty strategy.
The Learning for Life White Paper established the national adult literacy programme, a strategy to improve adult literacy levels among the adult population in Ireland. This is the first strategy of its kind in Ireland and represents the blueprint for adult literacy development up to 2006. The goals of this plan over the six years are to increase the number of clients so that by the end of 2006, an estimated 113,000 will have benefited from these services; to prioritise those with the lowest literacy levels; to implement a quality framework to monitor the effectiveness of the service; to develop new modes of reaching out and recruiting people; to ensure adult literacy education is available for the unemployed; to develop new strategies to address the under-representation of men in adult literacy classes; to explore the potential of information communication technology and broadcasting; to continue to develop specific initiatives for disadvantaged groups; to expand provision of workplace literacy; and to increase collaboration with the public library service as well as other relevant organisations.
Since 2000 the programme has ensured that the number of clients being catered for annually has increased from 5,000 to 31,000 surpassing the accumulated target; provision includes free night-time and day-time classes, typically of two to four hours duration per week; the service provides a continuum from one-to-one voluntary tuition to group work to progression to certified learning options in recognition of the need to provide a suite of learning options; the adult literacy service is expanding and strengthening referral networks and typically includes libraries, farming organisations, community groups, trade unions, social welfare centres, etc.; additional practitioner training programmes are under way on a modular in-service basis as part of a higher education accreditation framework for adult literacy practitioners; NALA is mainstreaming the quality framework, a strategy to guide and monitor quality standards; in conjunction with adult literacy practitioners and learners, a national assessment framework based on a successful programme in the United States has been developed and is currently under discussion for its introduction into the VEC adult literacy service; with funding from the Department of Education and Science and in co-operation with RTE, NALA has broadcast a number of television and radio literacy programmes, most notably the "Read Write Now" television series, which will be broadcast for a fifth year in October; VEC adult literacy services and their local authorities are rolling out national workplace basic education programmes for their own workers after pilot programmes were 50% oversubscribed; FÁS-VEC programmes for people who are long-term unemployed have been developed on a pilot basis; the adult literacy service is successfully running a small number of family literacy programmes on a pilot basis; and the adult literacy service is developing ESOL to meet the needs of an ever increasing number of asylum seekers and refugees — policy guidelines on this area have been developed by NALA and the Irish Vocational Education Association, IVEA.
In line with the Government policy outlined above, the current national anti-poverty strategy, Building an Inclusive Society, includes a greater focus on educational disadvantage and, more specifically, literacy, and sets out three targets. These are to halve the proportion of pupils in primary school with serious literacy difficulties by 2006; to reduce the proportion of the population aged between 16 and 64 with restricted literacy to below 10% to 20% by 2007; and to reduce the number of young people who leave the school system early so that the percentage of those who complete upper secondary level or equivalent will reach 85% by 2003.
This is the first time a target has been set for adult literacy and there has been some debate about how this target came about and how it will be measured. The target is to be achieved by 2007 and, as yet, there are no plans for a further survey of adult literacy levels of the adult population. The national policy context outlined shows the Government commitment to addressing the adult literacy issue in Ireland, and for the first time ever it has security for the future. However, it is not possible to ascertain where Ireland would rate in a future IALS and the Government has not signed up to be part of the adult literacy and life skills survey, ALLS, the successor to the OECD's IALS, which not only covers literacy skills but measures a broader range of skills in the adult population.
The core adult literacy service is provided by the VECs in 135 locations. Although each VEC is unique in its approach to the provision of adult literacy, especially in structural matters, in most cases service is available during the day and in the evening, Monday to Friday. Adult literacy organisers, ALOs, manage the service, working alongside paid group tutors and volunteer one-to-one tutors. Most adult learners are now in tuition groups, although some are given the option of starting with a tutor on a one-to-one basis. Most services offer classes on a two hour a week basis; some services are able to offer more where requested. However, in a small number of locations, only one hour sessions can be offered, due to a shortage of facilities. This equates to two weeks full-time education per year.
Although the adult literacy service has gained funding through VECs, the service has retained volunteer tutors as the only feasible means by which to provide one-to-one tuition. In addition, there is a strong feeling within the NALA membership that volunteer involvement in the adult literacy service adds value, enriches the type of service provided and maintains its deep roots in civil society. As funding for adult literacy has increased over the past six years, the role of the volunteer tutor has not been eroded, as was feared by some practitioners.
For the most part, there are no full-time permanent tutors or resource workers assisting ALOs employed within the VEC adult literacy service, which is a major gap in the infrastructure of the service. Many tutors working part-time eventually find more secure employment in other parts of the education and training sector. Losing its most experienced and competent practitioners is not a new phenomenon, but it is less acceptable at a time the service is receiving increased financing. The adult literacy sector does not appear to be attracting people to work in the area due to the lack of career structure. Although this was the case when most of the present incumbents became involved, the economy and society were also very different at the time. When the current generation of practitioners retires, it will be interesting to see who will take their places. Recently, paid professional tutors organised an association, the Basic Education Tutors Association, BETA, which is principally concerned with advancing tutors' terms and conditions of employment within the VEC sector.
Raising capacity is a difficult task facing the adult literacy service. ALOs are developing and implementing strategic plans for their programmes that cover the period of funding and targets set out in the National Development Plan 2000-2006. These plans are being incorporated into wider strategic plans for each VEC, which will enable practitioners to answer the burning question in Ireland at the moment, "When is a literacy programme full?" Practitioners need to provide a wider range of services to adults with literacy difficulties, including more flexible instruction times to attract new learners. This will also entail an expansion of family and workplace initiatives, as well as an increased usage of information communication technology and open and distance education modes of learning. Currently, the service caters only for 5% of the target population.
Each VEC needs to develop the local infrastructure. There is a shortage of existing premises for adult learners and the national capital budget made available to VECs does not cover expenses. VECs are seeking local solutions, with the emphasis on greater utilisation of all local public premises. However, these facilities are often temporary and do not meet ideal standards. VECs also need to provide classes on weekends and during the summer and other holiday periods. Traditionally, literacy services closed completely for three months over the summer. Different staffing arrangements will be required to facilitate greater access.
The adult literacy service also needs to review how it provides services. Most VECs provide classes in cities and towns and, therefore, people must travel for tuition. There has been little exploration of how services could be expanded to provide support to people engaged in self-study and what would be required to make this happen.
Adult literacy providers have, however, increased their capacity to use ICT. However, ICT is mainly delivered separately, as an ICT course. Providers will need training, not only in ICT skills, but in integrating ICT in the learning situation.
In addition to the traditional method of provision of adult literacy services, there are a number of other literacy programmes in Ireland. "Read Write Now" was broadcast in the autumn of 2000. It was accompanied by a learner pack, which was distributed free to the general public upon request and supported by experienced tutors available via a free telephone line. After the programme concluded, NALA commissioned an evaluation and concluded that the series had successfully attracted an audience of new independent and existing centre-based learners.
Viewing numbers for these television programmes were high, averaging 136,000 viewers for the evening time slot and 19,000 viewers for the repeat, morning broadcast in its first year. Viewing figures for the series were equivalent to other mainstream programmes broadcast at these times. This was an achievement for an educational broadcast aimed at adults with low literacy levels. It is the highest rated educational broadcast ever by RTE. Of the 30,000 people who requested learner packs, 11,000 were sent to independent learners. Participants interviewed by the NALA evaluation stated that the series and the learning pack helped them learn in a practical and proactive way. "Read Write Now 5" will be broadcast on RTE2 in October.
NALA has also developed an interactive website for literacy learning, www.literacytools.ie. It is a highly accessible resource for people wishing to improve their skills on their own at home, work or in a training environment. As ICT increasingly becomes a basic skill and Ireland faces the development of the digital divide, the use of technology for basic education learning is vital for the future. Over the past five years, there has been a significant increase in the number of people whose first language is not English, including refugees and asylum seekers residing in Ireland. Asylum seekers do not have the right to work and the State restricts their access to public educational services, except for the adult literacy service, which will provide them with “free access to adult literacy, English language and mother culture supports”. To accomplish this the service has been developing an ESOL — English for speakers of other languages — provision without an additional budgetary allocation.
Much more research in the area of ESOL is needed, focusing on the effectiveness of provision and ensuring that ESOL tuition is meeting the needs of all potential learners. Anecdotal evidence shows that asylum seekers without the right to work who are taking ESOL classes want more than the two or fours hours tuition per week currently offered. There is also an ongoing debate about how best to structure services in this area and it is unclear what will be the extent of the role, if any, of the adult literacy service in the future, in particular, if a dedicated ESOL service is established. The Department of Education and Science needs to develop an interdepartmental approach to address the needs of asylum seekers, refugees, and non-nationals, as well as develop a national ESOL strategy.
A key issue for research, training, and policy is to define an approach to family literacy that builds on the philosophy of adult literacy work, which recognises and respects the experience and views of learners. This is particularly important as some family literacy programmes are designed to increase the child's literacy skills, using the parent as an instrument in that process, whereas others are concerned with the literacy needs of both children and parents.
NALA has set up a project with the aim of developing a family literacy policy and guidelines for adult literacy services. NALA is undertaking this through research and consultation with parents, educators, and those working in family services. Over the past decade, a small number of adult literacy services developed family literacy programmes to meet particular needs. For example, in the early 1990s, one VEC developed a family literacy programme for parents of children up to 12 years, with the focus on pre-school. Important features of this project included day care provision for younger children and an emphasis on an adult education approach to working with parents and care givers. The programme was funded under an EU initiative and when the funding ran out, the VEC could not maintain it.
Another model that has become a popular feature of family literacy work in various settings involves encouraging and supporting parents and care givers to read to babies and young children. The national reading initiative promoted this in 2000 and it has been adapted to meet local needs and conditions. Recent programmes, such as dads and lads courses have also focused on encouraging fathers to become more involved in their children's learning, as most family literacy participants are women.
At present, approximately half of the VEC literacy services provide a family literacy programme drawn from the models outlined. However, development has slowed recently, due to limited funding for outreach work. Lack of funding for day care makes it particularly difficult to run family literacy courses with parents of pre-school children as pre-school care is, in general, under developed in Ireland. However, it may be possible to move forward through the promotion of partnerships between adult literacy services, schools, pre-schools, libraries and training centres for young people as well as community development and family centres. Schools, in particular, expend considerable energy trying to involve parents in their children's education while many of the same parents are involved in local adult literacy and community projects. Linking education and other community services is also part of a wider phenomenon of joining Government and public services aimed at providing a better service for those who need it. From an adult literacy perspective, there is a great opportunity to be part of a wider educational agenda, sharing experience and expertise with other educators.
The return to learning project supported by the National Adult Literacy Agency is a partnership initiative between the local authority national partnership advisory group, LANPAG, and the Department of Education and Science. The focus of the return to learning programme is on ensuring that employees in local authorities have an opportunity to access training in literacy, communications, computers, numeracy, personal development and job skills. The objective of the workplace literacy programme is to create a safe and supportive learning environment for staff. In 2000-01, the project was piloted in five counties with a budget of €133,000, funded 50% byLANPAG and 50% by the Department. The local VEC literacy service provided the programme in each of these areas. The programme consisted of four hours per week over a 20 week period during work time. The course cost an estimated €8,900 for each group of seven to eight people. This included the full cost of promotion/awareness and recruitment by the project co-ordinator. In the pilot project, a total of 120 people, twice the anticipated number and mainly men, completed the course in the five pilot areas.
The evaluation showed that employees benefited from the course in the following ways: increased self-confidence, as well as improved communication and interaction with others; literacy skill development in, for example, filling out forms, writing letters, and reading the newspaper; greater familiarity with computers and some development in computer skills; positive influence on their home and family lives and a reawakening of interest in learning.
The VEC adult literacy service and NALA have begun making efforts to extend workplace basic education into the private sector, with a very small number of projects operating in local areas in large industry. It remains difficult to implement these types of programmes in Ireland due to a weak culture of workplace learning, especially with regard to basic education, as well as the lack of entitlement to paid educational leave. In addition, there is no dedicated fund for workplace basic education initiatives available to employers or the adult literacy service.
The NALA workplace basic education strategy was drawn up by a working group made up of representatives from IBEC, ICTU, ISME, the Construction Industry Federation and others and was submitted to the Departments of Education and Science and Enterprise, Trade and Employment for their consideration in 2002. We are still awaiting a response.
The 1997 OECD survey concluded that an Irish person who scored at level 1 would experience a higher incidence of unemployment than a person who scored at level 1 in any other country surveyed. The ratio of unemployed to employed people scoring at the lowest literacy level in the Irish survey was 2:1.
The return to education programme was initiated by NALA and brought together FÁS and the VECs, to see how mixing their expertise and resources could result in better provision for this client group. Community employment, funded and administered by FÁS, is the main State funded work experience programme for unemployed people. People unemployed for more than six months are eligible to apply for supported work in their local area and are paid a salary for 19.5 hours of work. In addition, participants are given a small budget to pay for limited specific training they might require. For participants with literacy difficulties the training available was insufficient to meet their needs and a barrier to their progress into mainstream employment resulted.
Return to education aims to give participants in community employment programmes an opportunity to attend a basic reading and writing skills course as part of their community employment work experience programme. Participants are released from their community employment work for nine hours per week to attend this course. Community employment participants receive the same entitlements as if they were working for the full 19.5 hours. The course was designed to ease participants back into education, regardless of their education levels. Participants receive accreditation in some cases, depending on the level achieved. Due to the nature of the course, a flexible approach is adopted to suit the requirements of each student. One-to-one or small-group instruction is available to suit the needs of the students. The programme concentrates on English, communication skills, computers, and numeracy. It also teaches personal development. The programme continues to expand and at the start of 2003, there were 46 community employment programmes in 26 VEC areas, catering to approximately 700 participants with literacy difficulties.
One could say the adult literacy movement in Ireland has come out of obscurity and into an intense spotlight in the past 35 years. Under such scrutiny, practitioners, providers and policy makers, despite getting much of what they have lobbied for, may feel somewhat overwhelmed by current challenges, as well as those that lie ahead. Fundamental to ensuring that their fears are heard and addressed is the availability of a range of forums for debate and support, as well as a means by which they can feed into the policy realm.
Following are some key areas of debate. Individual members states of the EU have responsibility for their own education and training systems. However, the EU for many years has taken a strong role in the promotion of lifelong learning. Lifelong learning is now seen as an overarching strategy of European co-operation in education and training policies and for the individual. The EU's focus on adult literacy is of great benefit to an area that has traditionally had a low profile. The EU has prioritised adult literacy in the context of its work in stimulating and supporting the implementation of lifelong learning across the European area and this has raised several issues, both positive and negative. Developing basic skills and upgrading existing skills are eligible for support under the European Social Fund and this is currently providing the bulk of resources for adult literacy work in Ireland, although these funds come with some restrictions. Adult literacy is now firmly embedded in the EU agenda for lifelong learning and is fully supported by Ireland, which provides additional security to adult literacy development into the future.
The EU focus on new basic skills, such as foreign languages and computer skills as well as entrepreneurship, may overshadow the traditional areas of literacy and numeracy and lose sight of the needs of adult learners. In the wider context of what the EU wants to achieve, there needs to be a focus on both the traditional and new basic skills as the foundations for EU citizens in the knowledge society. The approach to adult literacy work in Ireland, which is beyond a skills approach, may be threatened by an overriding narrower focus on upskilling the labour force. A critical factor in achieving common goals within the EU is that all involved can agree on priorities for future action. Currently, no such agreement exists.
Adult literacy organisers established their own association, primarily so they could join a trade union to negotiate for better pay and conditions at a time of mass expansion. The Teachers Union of Ireland represents the adult literacy organisers and has recently offered membership to paid, part-time tutors as well. The TUI negotiates from the position that members with mainstream teaching qualifications are entitled to a permanent job and the appropriate pay scale. However, members who do not hold such qualifications but have adult education qualifications are not guaranteed permanent jobs because they are not entitled to new or existing jobs if their current jobs cease to exist. In a climate of relatively low unemployment and high inflation, it remains difficult to recruit and retain staff — paid and voluntary — pending the development of attractive career structures and better employment conditions, and joining trade unions has not greatly enhanced the career structure for adult education practitioners.
Certification systems for adult learners used in the 1990s set the bar too high and many adult learners were not able to achieve them through their course work and thus could not get on the qualifications ladder. In 2003, the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland launched the national qualifications framework, which will bring about significant changes in the systems and structures of education and training. It is the single entity through which all learning achievements may be measured and related to each other in a logical way. The framework defines the relationship between all education and training awards. The result is a clearer and more understandable qualifications system enabling and encouraging learners to achieve awards for learning on a lifelong basis. It contains a grid of level indicators which cover knowledge, skill and competence and denote learning outcomes within these areas. The framework has ten levels from low level learning up to PhD level and introduces two new levels I and II. This has created an opportunity for people to obtain recognition for smaller learning achievements and is particularly useful for adult literacy learners.
NALA is launching an assessment framework for adult literacy entitled, Mapping the Learning Journey, designed and developed on the basis of consultation with key stakeholders, best practice in assessment in Irish adult literacy services and international research, particularly in the United States. Mapping the Learning Journey has four cornerstones that complement the knowledge, skill and competence structure of the qualifications framework and is being used to inform the development of level I and II qualifications by the Further Education Training Awards Council.
The slowdown in Ireland's growth during the past 18 months has seen a decrease in public spending across all Departments. As a result, the adult literacy budget for 2004 at €18.5 million, a 3% increase from a total education budget of €6.5 billion, which increased by 12%, falls short of projected requirements. In short, adult literacy received approximately €3 per €1,000 spent on other educational services. Adult literacy services are already cutting back as the 3% budget increase goes towards the wage bill, which has increased under Sustaining Progress. This creates challenges for the adult literacy service to meet demands not just from learners seeking to join programmes, but also from employers and other vocational training providers. It is understood that the costs associated with the part-time workers legislation will consume a large proportion of the 2005 budget.
The vast majority of current funding for the adult literacy service in Ireland comes from the European Social Fund. However, as more countries joined the EU on 1 May 2004, there is increasingly less aid available to current EU countries. The Government will need to ensure that current levels of expenditure on adult literacy will be at least maintained through State expenditure in the future.
As a result of poor funding of adult literacy work in Ireland, there is a dearth of research and evaluation publications in the area. Most of the published material has come through the Department of Education and Science and NALA with small but increasing contributions from some VECs. There has been no national evaluation of the adult literacy service primarily due to the size and nature of the service. There has always been great interest in evaluation at local provider level. However, with increased expenditure in the area and the need for greater accountability that comes with it, the Department of Education and Science will need to place greater emphasis on research and evaluation in the future.
The NALA-WIT project which provides higher education qualifications for adult literacy practitioners is generating research through course work and assignments at certificate and diploma level. This will be added to as the programme extends to develop degree and postgraduate qualifications. Furthermore, the project aims to engage in more research and to build up an adult literacy academic discipline separate and distinct from adult or community education. An area of concern is the lack of consistency in the level of quality of numeracy provision nationally. A contributing factor is the lack of a unified concept of numeracy among service providers who are not operating to a generally agreed vision or concept of numeracy in the context of adult basic education in Ireland. NALA recently published a development strategy for numeracy and a series of recommendations for all stakeholders working in this area.
Increased funding for adult literacy has attracted new players keen to be involved in this growth area. Adult literacy practitioners are experiencing competition in terms of their services and clients and are grappling with ownership issues. The prioritisation of adult literacy has also meant that it is no longer the preserve of only those who work in literacy but now involves the full range of statutory and voluntary sector staff that also deal with clients. On the positive side, this has led to a greater emphasis on working in partnership at local level whereas previously practitioners often worked in isolation.
NALA has convened a working group representing relevant stakeholders from the literacy service and Departments to develop an implementation plan for the literacy service with a focus on the development of a more structured and permanent adult literacy service. The group has drawn up a model for the adult literacy service including a variety of other service providers within the VEC and outside detailing how the service should be integrated into the wider VEC and beyond. In addition, the group has developed staffing norms for the service and although the VEC adult literacy service is a long way from putting these staffing structures in place due to lack of resources, having a blueprint available to those responsible for managing and funding the service should improve this situation and may be critical for future development. The plan will be presented to the Minister of State with responsibility for adult education in November.
Major developments have occurred in literacy in Ireland since the publication of the IALS. However, that was seven years ago and all concerned need to be focused on the next stage of development of the sector. In the current economy, the future is more uncertain and funding for education is under threat as it is in all other public services. Although adult literacy services have not yet felt the adverse affects, many fear that after only a recent spell in the political limelight, the position of adult literacy is set for the same fate as the economic boom and the bubble may be about to burst. In examining the future of the adult literacy sector there will need to be greater collaboration between stakeholders. Ongoing Government support of the sector, in particular by the Department of Education and Science, is critical to the future of adult literacy.
Accountability is an increasingly important part of funding debates. Literacy providers are faced with the inevitability of a transparent system that provides taxpayers with evidence of success and value for money. How to achieve this while ensuring that the quality of the service is not undermined is a growing concern. Many fear that the learner-centred ethos of adult literacy work in Ireland is its most vital characteristic and is the key to its success to date. It must be retained as the adult literacy sector embraces the changes being brought about by the knowledge society.
We can no longer assist people with literacy difficulties with just one core service nor can we look at this issue in a narrow and linear fashion as this does not reflect the diversity of people in today's society. People with adult literacy needs may often have other, more important concerns and adult literacy will therefore most successfully be addressed within those contexts, not by a referral to a dedicated service. This is the theory behind an integrated approach. Any strategy for raising adult literacy levels will need to provide a range of options and opportunities. This will require research and innovation, both of which have been chronically under-funded. It will also require greater levels of partnership across the public, private and voluntary sectors. It is hard to find an organisation that would not be able to assist in this area. However, no single organisation or sector has the definitive answer. The social partnership process in Ireland continues to be instrumental in continuing this type of work. Working together may be the greatest challenge for us all but the most effective in terms of individuals with literacy needs.
I welcome the delegation to the committee. I met Ms Bailey last year and note from today's presentation that the position remains similar. In that regard, I do not have many questions to ask. However, the committee will have to consider how and where it is to deal with the issues raised. The committee may need to ask questions of not just the Department of Education and Science, but the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in terms of its role in the back to education programmes and whether its training budget can be utilised in conjunction with the education budget.
Ms Bailey stated that the courses are generally held for two hours per week over 30 weeks and that lack of facilities was creating problems. Do courses take place during the day or at night or a mixture of both? Has the option of using school buildings been considered or is that an option NALA prefers not to take perhaps due to bad experiences and so on? What co-operation does NALA receive from, for example, health authorities or those who have facilities available for use? I am sure VECs do not have facilities in every town.
NALA put in place an implementation plan up to 2006, including priorities post-2006. What progress has been made in that regard? Ms Bailey mentioned that the pilot programme with FÁS and City of Dublin VEC and Westmeath had been extended to all FÁS regions. What noticeable effect has the CE cutbacks had in that regard? Perhaps the delegation will also give some time to the problem of basic education opportunity and the drawbacks in that area.
Family literacy is important. While NALA is here to discuss adult literacy, it is important to look at the issue in the context of school children who must go home to a house where the parents are not in a position to help them with their homework. Those children are at a disadvantage compared to others. Can we have an update on the development of the national family literacy policy which was already mentioned? What progress has been made in that regard?
NALA has pointed out the lack of a national evaluation process and stated that this is something to which it is open. If we want the best practice and standards, we must have some form of evaluation. Many people are unwilling to accept this and I welcome the views expressed by NALA on the matter.
I welcome both delegates and congratulate them on the work they are doing. As we received much information in the comprehensive presentation, we may not have many questions. However, I want to follow up on a few issues.
My first query relates to the issue of monitoring and surveying as mentioned by Deputy Enright. NALA said that Ireland has not signed up to the successor to IALS. Does NALA intend lobbying on this matter and how can we assist? I presume the answer is that we should state we believe Ireland should sign up or that we should encourage a national approach. From what has been said, the results in the original survey are what set off the spending that took place. To borrow a phrase, there is "A lot done, more to do". What has been said suggests there has been good progress in recent years, but that NALA fears, for various reasons, that this progress may be slowing down. Our assistance would be helpful in that regard.
The delegates mentioned three targets with regard to the national anti-poverty strategy, one of which related to adult education. While I know the target does not have to be met until 2007, is progress being made towards achieving it? I was interested in what was said about men being under represented in literacy classes, although the project involving the local authorities is successful with regard to men. What ideas do the delegates have on how this can be addressed?
When I met NALA representatives last year, they referred to the basic education fund at the time as a priority. That was agreed under the partnership process and was to be advanced through it. Has there been progress in that regard? That scheme seemed to be an effective mechanism for addressing workplace illiteracy. This may also relate to NALA's concern that in the upskilling area we are, perhaps, leaving behind the people in the workforce who are most in need of upskilling, those with literacy problems.
I too welcome the director and chairperson of NALA and thank them for their comprehensive presentation and the document we received earlier this week.
Many students, through the leaving certificate applied programme or the Youthreach programme, are now able to leave school with a leaving certificate. However, I am sorry to say that many of them who take up apprenticeships with FÁS still run into difficulties because they do not have adequate numeracy and literacy levels. They leave school with authentic and impressive certificates because much of the examination is based on their interview and oral presentation in which they do well because they are tuned into the studies they have done in the particular area. However, when it comes to written examinations later, they get caught out. This serves to reinforce the lack of confidence they had in school before they got a boost from getting their certificates and knowing that they were intelligent, as proven by the work done, particularly at leaving certificate applied level. This is a problem I have come across.
I apologise for having to leave during part of the presentation. What is NALA's experience of school leavers in this area with regard to the age profile of the adults who seek literacy services? I feel they would be unwilling to return to the learning situation although it would be useful and good for them. The classroom experience or one-to-one tuition might not be attractive to them, although it is exactly what they need if they are to achieve the skills of the apprenticeship course. What is NALA's experience of students in their late teens or early 20s?
Asylum seekers and non-nationals were mentioned. However, I am interested in hearing of NALA's impact with regard to Travellers. What progress is being made in that area, particularly with regard to adult and male Travellers?
While I have never had the time, if I was in a different area, I would love to get involved in the literacy area. I am familiar with how it works in North Tipperary VEC where it is still very much pen and paper based or deals with the skills of letter writing. Now that we have moved into the technology age, how is technology being integrated by NALA, particularly for the person who has the courage to look for the service? Is technology an integrated part of NALA's programme?
There is a difficulty with regard to the advertising of the excellent services that are available because those with literacy problems cannot always read notices on boards, such as supermarket notice boards. I have been impressed by the excellent programmes on television I have seen. However, I am amazed that those who need the service often do not know how easily help can be made accessible to them. Should this committee assist by seeking greater funding to make information on the service available to people through radio and television? Otherwise it needs a caring person who knows their situation to introduce them to the service.
I welcome both delegates and thank them for their comprehensive presentation which I will have to read again to take in all the information. NALA said in 1997 that the results of the survey commissioned in 1995 were met with shock and disbelief. This brings to mind the words "shock and awe" as used in the context of the war in Iraq. It was right to use the words "shock" and "disbelief". Some 55% of the population surveyed were lower than the desirable threshold and levels for older people were worse than those for younger people. This is staggering. Given that most people spend at least eight years in primary school, this is surely an indictment of what happens in schools. I am not blaming the teachers or anybody else, but the system has failed these people through the years.
We clapped ourselves on the back for decades for our great education system, yet this continued under our noses. It is easy to look back and be wise in hindsight. The more we learn, the more we know how much we do not know. Before this survey was undertaken little was known about dyspraxia, dyslexia, DCD, ADHD, ADD, etc. How much of an impact do these difficulties have on or bring to the adult literacy area? Dyslexia, for example, was only being recognised in schools in the early 1980s and dyspraxia, DCD, ADD and ADHD are even more recent. In the past, if people said a pupil had ADD or ADHD, they would have been told, even by educationalists, that such a disorder did not exist and that it was just bad behaviour.
I ask this in the context of the recently passed Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act, which I hope will have an impact on this area. How much of it was linked to socio-economic and sociological factors, for example, the lack of support at home, the lack of reading materials in the household and the lack of reading with or to children?
What are the witnesses' views on the current phenomenon of the one-eyed monster in the corner or the electronic babysitter, the television, that can have so many benefits but can also lead to children not reading? While I know we are discussing adults, I am concerned with prevention. I would like to see NALA out of business, as no doubt would the witnesses. While I am sure it has a long-term aim to work itself out of business, it will take some time. Is NALA concerned at the impact of PlayStations, other electronic games and televisions given that we are told children spend an increasing amount of time playing and watching them? Does NALA believe that children are now reading a considerable amount?
On many occasions in her presentation Ms Bailey mentioned the need for more research into this area. She said that the system of adult education in Ireland is different from that in other countries in that we have a more integrated approach rather than just a market driven approach. If Ms Bailey became Minister for Education and Science tomorrow, what would be her three priorities regarding adult education?
I welcome the delegation. Some 55% of Irish people aged between 16 and 64 score at below the minimum desirable threshold of literacy skills for a western industrialised nation with 25% scoring at the lowest level. While many of these people can be identified, their reluctance to become involved is based on shame and embarrassment among their peer group. How can any organisation make inroads to embrace them in a comprehensive way? We see the secrecy involved in participation at local level. If anyone present today was to offer his or her services as a tutor on a voluntary basis, the participants would immediately withdraw because of embarrassment, as they would have spent their lives without anyone being aware of the level of their literacy. Have we really made any progress?
Great credit is due to the VECs. Nobody got involved in adult education until the VECs and their adult education officers started operating in the small centres and under the conditions to which we have referred. The Department and successive Ministers regardless of political affiliation ignored that and starved the VECs of proper funding for that purpose. I do not believe the Department is convinced the problem is as great as it is because even as recently as last year many VECs had to curtail, and in some cases close down, the adult literacy programmes they ran. There is no better way of developing a programme for the needs of the particular participants than from the bottom up through experience at that level as opposed to the top down. Does NALA believe the Department is willing to recognise the seriousness of the problem highlighted in its report?
How would the witnesses prevent the literacy problem being brought into adulthood? Clearly there is a question of intervention at primary school level. Has NALA made any recommendations in this regard? Would it concur with the analysis of the National Education Welfare Board that the €25 million funding it needs to introduce its 300 officers is crucial because lack of attendance is one of the major issues? Deputy Stanton referred to the PlayStation generation. Children not going to school will not learn to read and write. Does NALA believe school attendance is important and that this message should be sent to the Minister for Education and Science?
I am pleasantly surprised by the viewing figures, of more than 30,000, for the television programme "Read Write Now". Has this addressed the issue of the stigma that people feel on this issue? A television programme in itself will not help individuals who must also follow up on it. Does NALA have any before and after statistics to show that the stigma issue has been overcome by highlighting that for many reasons many people did not receive the literacy training they needed? There should be no stigma. Each individual with literacy difficulty is one of many and the difficulty can be overcome very easily. Are any new programmes that would further highlight the matter planned?
In the area of ESOL, anecdotal evidence suggests that asylum seekers want more than two to four hours training a week. Does NALA believe that two to four hours would make any difference? What would be the minimum weekly requirement to obtain proficiency in English for those for whom it is not their first language?
Ms Bailey mentioned the lack of an interdepartmental approach. To which Departments does she refer? Is it purely the social Departments or is a wider context involved? Does it, for example, include the Department of Health and Children in terms of how the health boards operate? Is an interdepartmental approach required to identify problems and then find the best ways to address them?
I also welcome the delegation. I apologise for having to leave for a portion of the presentation. Difficulty with adult literacy is one of the huge hidden tragedies in Irish society. In an effort to move it forward, I would like to tell the committee of an experience I had with an employee. He was a tremendous employee and I wanted to advance his career by moving him forward for promotion and needed to send him on a course. He consistently declined to go forward until I told him he had to go forward at which point he came clean and told me he could not read or write. I was astounded. He had conned me for two years. He was superbly efficient in what he could do. He had developed all other skills to bring about a result particularly in numerical figures on which he was working.
We set about correcting the problem privately and entered him in a course in Swords. We got him as far as the door of the school, but he refused to enter because of the stigma. Eventually we succeeded in getting him one-to-one tuition. The culmination came 12 months later when he came to me and thanked me for my efforts, as he was then able to read a story to his child for the first time and help with primary school homework.
I tell that story to highlight the stigma associated with joining a group of people at the age of 30 and being unable to read or write the most basic text. In correcting these problems, should the emphasis be on privacy and one-to-one tuition, as opposed to classroom tuition? Is this a huge problem, particularly for those living in urban areas? Such people will meet those they normally encounter as they go through life, thereby exposing themselves to such problems. The report refers to the utilisation of resources such as schools for after-hours activity. Is that a problem in itself? Do we have to concentrate on privacy and one-to-one tuition, which brings its own problems?
The voluntary sector is willing to help. I know that many volunteers have helped people in their own homes as part of schemes throughout the country. Such people should be complimented on and acknowledged for what they have done. Does Ms Bailey see that as being as big a problem as I have described it? Is it something that can be overcome?
I invite Ms Bailey to take a few minutes to respond to the questions.
Ms Bailey
I will start by responding to the first point which was made. The difficulty with premises is that the different local educational bodies see the utilisation of their spaces as a cost in their budget, in effect. In the main, they are not willing to open their premises to allow another local educational authority to work there. Great levels of co-operation between the different venues are not evident at a local level, generally speaking. Where co-operation exists, it works on an ad hoc basis rather than through a formalised agreement. There is a serious problem in respect of premises. The localised, temporary and ad hoc arrangements which are put in place do not do anything to build up the profile of the service which exists. No capital is available to the VECs to avail of better purpose-built or rented premises for this type of work. It is a major problem throughout the adult education sector. There is not enough co-operation at local level because of the cost of such co-operation to the other educational bodies, which do not want to co-operate.
The post-2006 priority will be to build on the service. As I have said, the service has come out of its obscurity and become relatively decent. On an international level, Ireland's provision of adult literacy services is still far behind. A far more advanced level of service is provided to people in countries such as the UK, Canada, the United States, Australia or New Zealand. Issues such as adult basic education are addressed on an ongoing basis in such places. We would like an appropriately funded and supported workplace basic education system to be put in place in Ireland. Employers should provide their workers with the skills they need to make progress in their jobs and to help their children when they get home from work. Workplace basic education should be made available, in the interests of family literacy. An appropriate funding regime should be offered to bring the service to an acceptable international standard. It is considered to be something of an international joke at present.
The FÁS community employment system, which was greatly involved in this area, has been affected by the recent cutbacks. There was no extension of the return to education programmes, which I discussed earlier, last year and in part of this year. The programmes, which are primarily aimed at people on community employment schemes, are funded by FÁS and delivered by the VECs. Such localised partnerships are working reasonably well, but they were put on hold when community employment was interrupted. We understand that FÁS will keep the partnerships going at the same level, so that each FÁS region will run a number of programmes. If it is not enough to meet the demand among community employment participants, at least there will be a programme in each region. It is based on FÁS's view that such skills are needed on an intensive basis, rather than on the basis of two hours each week, if those on community employment are to progress into further education, training and employment. FÁS favours a new community employment programme which will provide such education on a more formalised basis into the future.
The final draft of the family literacy policy will be launched at a conference in Ennis on 1 November next. It calls for greater co-operation between the various educational providers in this area so that some of the problems to which I alluded earlier can be avoided. For example, teachers in schools, pre-school operations and adults in literacy services work in an isolated way. It is hoped that partnerships can be forged between such groups, so that their expertise can be combined. Adult literacy practitioners may work with child educators on family literacy programmes which can develop the needs of children and parents. Many of the educational disadvantage initiatives we have seen have concentrated on children, a point which was made earlier in the context of prevention.
We seem to be very narrow in our approach to literacy issues. Many people seem to believe that if we can put preventative measures in place, everything will be fine eventually. The reality is that the adult literacy problem has not been sufficiently addressed in the countries I mentioned, despite massive investment since the 1970s. If one examines the figures available to us, one will see that 10% of children leave primary schools with literacy difficulties. It appears that we will not be out of a job in my lifetime, unfortunately. There has been a narrow emphasis on prevention, for example, by ensuring that children are given the necessary skills in schools.
Schools cannot provide the level of literacy needed by children, in a robust sense, in an isolated fashion. Children develop such skills after they are born with their parents, guardians and siblings in the home. Such development is not always fostered or supported. It is a particular socio-economic issue because such problems develop quickest in poorer families. If parents are not supported at an early stage, children will be disadvantaged when they start school. It is extraordinarily difficult for primary school teachers to bring such children to the level of all other children over their eight years in the primary system. A great deal of support and intervention is needed before children go to school. We do not go far enough by placing an emphasis on what schools and teachers can do and on getting parents to see the value of education. The educational levels of the adults in question have to be examined — we know they are poor. Literacy is an inter-generational issue. We see family literacy, which is a complex matter, as a key issue. It involves bringing together many educationalists, who may see themselves as being right, to work in co-operation. It is a challenge, but we feel it will be worthwhile.
We recognise that evaluation needs to be examined. The Department of Education and Science receives a detailed set of quantitative information from the VECs' adult literacy services in respect of the moneys they receive. While such information reveals how many people are in the service and breaks down the profiles of such people, it does not say whether an adult's literacy level has improved. Details of the proportion of men and women are available, but we do not know whether people's skills are improving. It may be that at a local level, providers and practitioners are confident that people are improving their skills. They want to be able to demonstrate their confidence in a more robust fashion than simply giving the number of bums on seats, but they do not have a mechanism to do so. The Department is challenged with developing a means of showing that the service is working, gives value for money and needs further investment.
Deputy Enright mentioned workplace basic education, in respect of which we have been trying to make progress for a number of years. We have wide agreement from a variety of stakeholders that workplace basic education is worth investing in into the future, but it seems to be falling between two stools — the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which is responsible for training through FÁS, and the Department of Education and Science, which feels that it does not have responsibility in the workplace. Although we believe the Departments are trying to consider how to make progress, it seems that nobody wants to take responsibility for the service's budget and to move the issue forward. No dedicated fund is being spent in this area. Traditional workplace learning favours those with higher education. We are all familiar with the concept of "the more you have, the more likely your employer is to support you". The provision of basic educational support in the workplace, at a low cost to the employer, has been shown in the UK and the US, in particular, to show great dividends for the employer and the individual. There is a very high level of return on the investment.
The monitoring issue is similar to evaluation which I have just discussed. We do not have an appropriate monitoring system in place. Not only do we not have it in the Department, we have not signed up to the next survey. There are many reasons we have not and, perhaps, should not sign up. While that survey is very costly for Ireland to participate in, we need some form of survey. It rests with the Department to make a decision. As I understand it, the Department has decided not to opt for the OECD survey but may investigate opting for a national survey. Otherwise I do not see how we can respond to the targets which have been set.
The targets are very broad. By virtue of moving those aged 55 to 65 who would have been in the last survey into the post-65 age quintile which we do not monitor, the targets will probably be reached. The targets are rather vague in that respect and will not necessarily be very helpful. That has not necessarily been a bad thing given that the service was very underdeveloped. Requiring it to deliver on significant targets in a short period of time would not have been helpful. Now is the time to consider future targets which will be more robust.
Men traditionally are very poor participants in further education and community-based adult education in particular. In terms of literacy, the figures are not too bad and some 40% of men join. However, the programmes to which they are most attracted are workplace based. As I said, not only was the local authority project massively over-subscribed despite the fears of higher level local authority workers who felt stigma would be a significant issue, 98% of the programme participants were men. Men make up the majority of general operatives in the local authority sector. The workplace seems a key area to attract men as they are motivated to develop literacy and a whole range of skills for their careers. That is the context they consider rather than local literacy schemes which require major motivation and an outlook that it is useful for career, family and beyond. That does not seem to be a major motivating factor for men who are not necessarily identifying the literacy service as something which will improve their careers.
We mentioned workplace education and we are looking for funding. In order to get this initiative off the ground, core funding must be made available by the relevant Department or State agency to support employers to develop the programmes provided by the VECs or other entities. The matter is included in Sustaining Progress and while we understand it has been discussed, there has never been any determination made in that respect. Our worry is that while the matter has been discussed, it has not been progressed to any great extent.
The system has failed people. I have met hundreds of adults with literacy difficulties, the majority of whom will say that while they attended for the greater part of their primary school time, they were in large classes, had illnesses, came from poorer backgrounds and felt discriminated against in school. Sometimes, they had behavioural problems and did not necessarily pick things up quickly, becoming the bored children who caused problems and who were excluded from classrooms. At issue is the way in which we provide education in schools to children who are perhaps a little different and do not form part of the 80% mainstream. We are certainly not very good at catering for the other 20% and we have been very slow to recognise that one size does not fit all in the context of schools.
We believe specific learning difficulties account for between 4% and 7% of the adult population with a literacy difficulty. As no survey has been carried out in Ireland, this belief is based on anecdotal evidence and surveys which have been carried out in other countries. The literacy service caters for the needs of these people and they do not need a different service to be provided. Where there have been problems, a great deal of the difficulty has centred on access to educational psychological services. The National Educational Psychological Service does not cater for the needs of adults in the education system, it only caters for the needs of children. There has been a very strong exclusion of adults. We had a task force on dyslexia which did not take adults into account and I understand the special needs Bill will not consider them. They are being excluded left, right and centre in this particular area.
There is no doubt that there are very strong socio-economic reasons people end up with a literacy difficulty and I have spoken about many of them in broad terms. To a great extent, it comes down to the context of the family and the supports available in the family to support children. Television can be very useful or detrimental. The IALS survey showed that the people scoring at the lowest level of literacy were those with the highest level of television viewing. There is some level of correlation whereby the more one watches television, the more likely one is to have a literacy difficulty as one is not spending time reading.
However, there are many factors involved in terms of what people might be watching and so forth. The Harry Potter books and the publicity around them encouraged many people to read. However, my feeling is that the phenomenon involved a very middle class drift around the types of books children read and which are bought by parents as opposed to being something that is permeating lower socio-economic groups.
Family literacy, workplace basic education and the permanent funding structure which needs to be put in place should be prioritised to ensure that we move beyond ad hoc responses to an issue which has been permanent for a number of decades here and abroad. Stigma continues to be a major issue. Television has had a profound impact on trying to break the problem down as each programme in the RTE literacy series profiled a real learner who had joined a literacy service and made a major achievement in terms of his or her literacy level. That has helped people. Between 1997 and the end of 2003, the adult literacy service has significantly increased its numbers from 5,000 to 31,000. People have come forward to say they will overcome the stigma, take a chance and return to learning even if it represented a negative experience for them in the past. People are coming back where there are options for them to do so.
It is very interesting to ask, as I have, whether the Department recognises the extent of this problem. There is probably a distinction to be made between the Department's further education section which is trying to develop the whole sector — not just literacy programmes — and the wider Department. Is this something which features at the higher echelons or something one ever hears a Minister talking about? That seems not to be the case. The Department tends to concentrate on primary, secondary and tertiary education. On the day that is in it, one will hear a great deal about tertiary education. One does not hear this issue being discussed. Lifelong learning as a reality in Ireland is a very long way off and we are very far behind the rest of the EU, especially the countries against which we are competing. We are not putting a system in place primarily due to the Department of Education and Science which must take a lead in this area and see it as something beyond the traditional three tiers of education to which we are used.
The National Educational Welfare Board is clearly lobbying hard for funding. The results of its survey demonstrate poor attendance levels which are contributing to the fact that people have literacy difficulties. Another OECD survey, the Programme for International Student Assessment, surveyed 15 year olds across a range of disciplines in schools. Very interestingly, the survey showed that Ireland was doing reasonably well in the areas of reading and writing though we were not shown to be doing very well in maths and sciences. The survey only took account of 15 year olds who were in schools whereas the percentage of 15 year olds who are not in school is probably far greater than we have thought. Congratulating ourselves that we are coping with or catering for 80% of the school-going population is not adequate especially given the fact that the results for other countries are better. Those countries are generally spending more money on education which might constitute a quick answer as to why that is the case.
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland is now subject to the Broadcasting Act's provisions on future adult literacy programming. We hope we will be able to extend the "Read Write Now" initiative as well as other types of adult learning initiatives under that guise.
As regards proficiency, two to four hours is not sufficient in ESOL or literacy terms. The programmes having an impact are intensive programmes of around ten hours a week, at a minimum. Surveys from, and research carried out predominately in, the United States and the United Kingdom have shown that around 550 hours of tuition is required to bring people up to a level of proficiency that allows them to speak, read and write better. We are not providing the service people need.
NALA works using an interdepartmental approach. We have received funding from the Department of Health and Children to examine how low literacy levels affect the health service in the sense that it costs the service a substantial amount to provide services to people who cannot understand health promotion information. As a result, they do not keep as healthy as they should and require much longer stays in hospital. The Department believes this is having a major impact on its services and raising adult literacy levels would remove some of this burden.
Another point related to privacy in general. People want to be offered some level of confidentiality when availing of a literacy service. Many people are very nervous about being seen entering a literacy service premises, especially where it is located in their local area. Recently, a man from County Offaly who appeared on "Read Write Now" met a friend who congratulated him and told him he had not realised he was "thick". There is a misunderstanding abroad that people with a literacy problem lack intelligence, which is clearly not the case as those who know people with literacy difficulties would agree. The man in question found this encounter very difficult but he also believed he had succeeded in getting across a message about the particular issue he faced with regard to reading and writing. While he was proud that he was addressing the problem, he still had to face the perception that those without literacy skills have something wrong with them or lack intelligence.
We need to reinforce the message that there is no correlation between intelligence, even in its narrow sense, and literacy levels. This association is made in the public mind and we must take every opportunity to tackle it and the associated stigma. We work very hard with public service broadcasting, particularly RTE, to try to send out these kinds of messages and would welcome similar initiatives in the future.
Ms Frances Ward
I will speak briefly on some of the questions raised from a practitioner's point of view. I am an adult literacy organiser working on the ground. As regards the age profile of a young man entering an apprenticeship having completed the leaving certificate applied and whether he would come to a literacy scheme, it is unlikely he would at that age. However, he certainly would arrive at my door at the age of 22 or 23. This usually happens where a small child is involved or a young man has taken a dead end job such as accompanying a van driver.
Around the age of 23, young men in this kind of situation begin to grow up and understand they are stuck unless they do something about literacy. It is important to ensure that people in this situation are aware that a service is available. Some people come to us at an earlier age but they are usually referred by their parents, girlfriends and so forth. These cases are often unsuccessful as the person making the approach needs to have personal motivation. While young men aged 23, 24 and 25 come to us, few young men in the 19 or 20 age group avail of the service.
A question was asked about the take-up of services among the Traveller community. This is a very difficult area. I am based in the south-west of Dublin city and my work covers Labre Park, a long-standing Traveller housing development located near the Kylemore Road. It is predominately Traveller women who use the service. Unfortunately, Travellers need incentives to take up opportunities in education. Our difficulty is trying to find an allowance to incentivise the women because they are often required to produce financial incentives before being allowed to leave the home and enter education. We always find it difficult to find an incentive in one of the various schemes.
Traveller men are very reluctant to avail of the service. Some do so but their number is very small. We have not managed to persuade significant numbers of them to avail of literacy services and it would be a major advance if we could get men from the Traveller community involved.
Technology forms a major part of what we offer and we regard it as an essential literacy skill. We offer training in computer skills to all students. Learning to use computers and the realisation that one can use them as well as anybody else is a major confidence-building tool for adults. This is also the case as regards using programmes on computers. Technology is, therefore, a significant part of the literacy service.
If we could find a way to offer a financial incentive, however small, to attract people back to education, it would be a major step forward and would encourage many people to enter education. Adults taking literacy courses have missed out on their education and have been deprived of funding they should have received earlier. In other words, they did not attend secondary school or proceed to third level and, as such, miss out on money that should have been invested in them. This investment is not being given to them now.
Adults with literacy problems in disadvantaged areas have other serious problems with which they must contend before they can find time to return to education. Much of their time is spent ensuring they receive the allowances due to them.
I was asked what areas I would address if I had funds. Child care provision presents major problems for us in that young parents cannot return to education because we cannot provide child care to give them the time required to attend intensive courses. We also need to find a way to give adults a financial incentive to return to education as is almost their due.
As regards the idea of one-to-one versus group education, we hope to offer as many choices and options as possible to allow people to make the correct decision. If only Senator Minihan had managed to get his friend over the threshold of the door. We have a problem in this regard but once an adult crosses the threshold, meets the organiser and unburdens himself or herself of the many problems and so forth that have lain on their shoulders for so long, we find they become motivated and anxious to stay to acquire skills. Our retention figures for adults who return to education are very high.
I thank the representatives for their presentation and for answering questions. The matter was very interesting and I am sure it will arise in the context of discussions with the Minister on the budget. We will adjourn until 30 September when we will deal with Hibernia College.
The joint committee adjourned at 1.10 p.m. until 11.30 a.m. on Thursday, 30 September 2004.