Adult literacy

Adult Literacy Organisers Forum 2012 Report

SOLAS is the new national authority for further education and training  that will be established in 2012.   The Department of Education and Skills issued a consultation paper (20/12/2011) on the establishment of SOLAS.   NALA provided the following response (19/1/2012) to the consultation paper.  The submission responds to the set of specific questions provided in that paper, in the order they were asked.   If you have any feedback on this submission, please contact jstewart@nala.ie.

In 2010 the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) carried out a project with 12 adult literacy centres across the country to introduce and use www.writeon.ieas a part of traditional face to face centre based tuition.  Participating organisations were invited to take part in an evaluation of this blended learning approach with a view to documenting how the literacy centres worked with www.writeon.ie and NALA to deliver blended learning opportunities to adult literacy learners. 

In total, 110 adult literacy learners took part in the project.  Site visits to each of the centres took place after learners from the sites started using www.writeon.ie.  The data gathered at each site visit details and describes how blended learning worked in each of the sites.  The visits were conducted while blended learning activities were taking place and allowed us to observe how the learners and tutors participated in the activity, their level of engagement and the interaction between learner and tutor.

The main findings from the research show that;

●      centres and NALA collaborated effectively in providing additional flexible learning opportunities to learners;

●      centres found that basic literacy learners were interested in using ICT to improve their literacy skills;

●      www.writeon.ie was proven to be a useful tool in providing accreditation options to interested learners, both from the learners and from the centres’ viewpoint;

●      learners’ ICT skills improved as a result of taking part in the project;

●      blended learning provided a means of extending learning time and encouraging independent study;

●      the approach allowed tutors to more effectively address individual learning needs in a group context.

Since this pilot project,www.writeon.iehas been used by 63 different learning centres across Ireland. NALA believes that the information in this report will be of value to practitioners interested in working in this area.  The www.writeon.ie  programmes at both Level 2 and 3 are on the FETAC Register for theRecognition of Prior Learning (RPL).  The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs report Developing Recognition of Prior Learning described the NALA RPL process available in www.writeon.ieas “an effective RPL mechanism”, and recommended it as a platform for the development of RPL within further education and training services at Levels 1-3.

NALA welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the High Level Group (HLG) on Literacy. We hope to contribute to the Group‟s aim of finding ways of improving the literacy performance of young people and adults and to help Member States meet the benchmark to reduce the EU average proportion of low performing 15 year olds to 15% by 2020.

This paper puts forwards findings and recommendations from NALA research on the benefits and impacts of family literacy for both adults and children. NALA believes this information will be of value to practitioners and policy makers working in the area of family literacy in Ireland and elsewhere.

This report aims to document the development of Literacy Tools in its first six months and make proposals for its improvement.
The three objectives are to:

• give an overview of the growth of ICT and how this impacts on adults with literacy difficulties;
• evaluate Literacy Tools in pilot mode; and
• and make proposals for the future development of Literacy Tools.

Each objective is examined in separate chapters.

The research that we have conducted has concentrated on identifying the specific educational needs of the fishing community and to use this knowledge to develop a programme which will benefit the target group and initiate positive change in their lives. Ab-Sea is a themed literacy programme developed specifically for people who are employed in the fishing industry and whom have literacy and numeracy difficulties that such a programme could address.

NALA is delighted to provide an input into the review of further education and training set up by the Department of Education and Skills (DES).  This submission sets out how we believe the DES in conjunction with key stakeholders can improve outcomes for adults with literacy difficulties in Ireland in line with the objectives of the National Skills Strategy (NSS). We developed this submission based on our strategic plan (2010) and consultations with adult literacy students, our members and other key players in adult literacy.

Ireland now faces a far more difficult economic situation and much changed labour market.  These circumstances will increase pressure on people who may need greater and more targeted literacy support to take part in society and improve their chances of employment.  Progress will have to be achieved within two parameters:

            - those most in need should receive the most State support, and

            - the value of public investment needs to be maximised.

NALA has outlined what it believes needs to happen to proactively address the critical national challenge of raising adult literacy and numeracy levels in Ireland.  Our submission involves new thinking rather than new funding. It contains three overarching recommendations, in particular on integration and the use of distance and blended learning that will lead to more adults raising their adult literacy levels and contributes to the agenda of the National Recovery Plan by using existing resources more efficiently. It does require however strategic leadership from the DES and genuine partnership working between all stakeholders.

This literature review of international adult literacy policy was completed by the National Research and Development Centre for Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC), Institute Of Education, London, following a public tender process. 

The literature review focuses on research from 1990 to date and identifies specific policy developments and interventions aimed at people with literacy and basic skill needs from eight countries.  As well as education policies, there are examples which impact on wider policy agendas, such as health, employment and active citizenship.  As well as providing national perspectives, the review addresses cross-cutting themes, before identifying key messages for adult literacy policy development in Ireland.

The literature review will assist NALA to advance one of our strategic objectives to 2013, namely to ensure that adult literacy policy priorities are implemented.  This complements recent NALA work such as the Review of Adult Literacy Policy in Ireland, and a Cost Benefit Analysis of Adult Literacy Training, both published in 2009, and builds on NALA’s advocacy work going back to 1980.

This report presents the findings of the final evaluation of the National Adult Literacy Agency’s (NALA) distance education project – The Really Useful Guide to Words and Numbers. The evaluation process commenced in December 2006 and was completed in April 2007. An interim report was compiled in February 2007. This report incorporates the findings of the interim evaluation report.