What is Government doing?

What is Government doing?

In Learning for Life, the 2000 White Paper on Adult Education, the Department of Education and Science placed adult literacy as its top priority and set out the National Adult Literacy Programme. This was a plan to improve literacy levels among the adult population in Ireland. It was the first such plan in Ireland and provided a guide for action in developing adult literacy up to 2006.

In 2007, there was a target set in the National Action Plan on Social Inclusion to reduce the proportion of the population with a significant literacy difficulty from 25% between 20% and 15%.

In terms of the qualifications and the workplace, the National Skills Strategy (Tomorrows Skills, Forfas, 2007) identifies that 539,500 people, some 30% of the workforce, have Level 3 (Junior Certificate) qualifications or less (with an estimated 10% having no qualifications). The strategy identifies the need to reduce this figure to 7% (180,000) workers by 2020 to maintain Ireland's competitiveness and progress towards a knowledge economy.

The Government plans to participate in the next International Adult Literacy Survey, PIAAC. The survey findings will be published in 2013.