Training and reference material

Welcome to

Move with Literacy. This resource has been designed to be used by adult

literacy students and their tutors as well as adult and youth educators who lead sport and

physical activity.

Move with Literacy contains lots of information and fun literacy and

numeracy activities about many of the sports and physical activities that we take part in.

You will find lots of useful tips and advice on how to get fit and lots of information on

planning physical activity sessions.

Move with Literacy also contains contact details for all

the local Sports Partnerships in Ireland, advice on how to find out more about getting

started in physical activity and useful websites that you might want to visit

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.

A NALA Resource Pack for Vocational Education and Training Programmes.

This report outlines the experience of Fingal Centre in becoming literacy-friendly.  The Fingal Centre whole-organisation project was a research study that was conducted on behalf of the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) by Elizabeth McSkeane. The project set out to explore the process of developing a whole-organisation approach to supporting literacy in a community-based organisation.

This report presents the findings of usability testing undertaken on NALA’s new e-learning literacy tool ‘www.writeon.ie’. This is a website that supports learners in improving their reading, writing and number skills. The research was conducted by National College of Ireland and usability testing took place in NCI’s usability laboratory; the National E-learning Laboratory (NELL).

The evaluation of the Return to Learning Initiative was conducted with reference to criteria of relevance, linkage, benefit and quality. The researcher combined a number of methods in her approach to the evaluation. These included desk research in relation to project and organisational documentation; participation in national meetings of LANPAG-NALA-VEC personnel who were involved in implementing the Initiative and visits to each of the five local settings in which Return to Learning was being piloted.

This report concerns the Return to Education initiative which has been designed to meet the basic education needs of Community Employment (CE) participants. There have been three parties to the initiative, FÁS, VECs in each local area and NALA which instigated the first Return to Education programmes in 1998 and which has been fulfilling a support role since then. NALA now plans to adopt a reduced support role in relation to the initiative. The purpose of this report is to provide a resource and a guide to individuals and organisations who will be involved in implementing Return to Education programmes in the future.

The Guidelines are intended to encourage and assist centres of Further Education and Training to embed literacy support into their programmes.

A key element of accountability in adult literacy is the annual Department
of Education and Science (DES) VEC adult literacy returns, through
which VECs report on activities and provide statistics on such issues as
participation, services and accreditation, as well as assessments of level.

These guidelines are intended to support the change in the definition of
levels used to record and report on activity and participation in VEC adult
literacy services in 2008 and onwards.

At the request of the DES, the Mapping the Learning Journey (MLJ)
Mainstreaming Steering Committee submitted a report entitled ‘Exploring
Assessment for Accountability Purposes in Adult Literacy’ in February 2007.
This report recommended that the DES levels used in the VEC adult literacy
return forms should be updated.

The DES have concluded that the current level descriptors used in the
VEC adult literacy returns are no longer suitable and a more appropriate
reference is to the National Framework of Qualifications and the national
standards of the Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC)
Levels 1-3. The DES commissioned NALA to produce guidelines to
support this change, in consultation with the MLJ Mainstreaming Steering
Committee and FETAC.

In recognition of the planning and preparation implications for VEC reporting
systems, these guidelines are produced in September 2007, and supported
by a briefing session for Adult Education Officers (AEOs) and Adult Literacy
Organiser (ALOs).

Following this introduction:

• Section 2 of the guidelines sets out the background and the context for change.
• Section 3 outlines the overarching National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) and the development of standards and awards by FETAC.
• Section 4 describes assessment practices in adult literacy, and identifies key developments including MLJ and Intensive Tuition in Adult Basic Education (ITABE) programmes. It also makes connections between these developments and the overarching National Framework of Qualifications and FETAC.
• Section 5 sets out the definitions of levels to be used in VEC adult literacy returns for 2008 and afterwards.
• Section 6 provides guidelines to support the assignment of levels by VECs for the purposes of reporting adult literacy activity and participation to the DES, including indicative level summaries.
• Section 7 is a glossary to support the reader.
   

This guide has been written primarily for tutors, organisers, resource workers and policy makers with responsibility for some part of adult literacy and numeracy education in Ireland. You may have years of experience or just be starting out. The people we have in mind most of all are tutors and, as you will see, tutors’ experiences feature fairly widely throughout this report.

This curriculum guide is based on an understanding that literacy and numeracy are a social practice. Beginning from a set of key concepts, it offers examples, commentaries, questions, strategies and resources within which to frame the learning and teaching of adult literacy and numeracy. It provides tutors with a way to recognise approaches they are following already and to imagine how they could extend and enlarge these. It also
offers a resource to show key stages in the development of effective learning.