Education

The highlights in this annual report was the establishment of a Literacy Implementation Group to develop a national implementation plan for adult literacy. It also contains updates on the development of a national reporting system, on our assessment framework for literacy, our ESOL policy, our advocacy work and the launch of our Health Literacy Strategy Report.

This edition of Literacy Matters keeps you posted about literacy matters in Ireland and up to date about NALA's news, upcoming events and ongoing work. In this issue we have articles on the filming of our DVD 'Take on Learning: Take on Life', a radio interview with a literacy student, Gruntvig: Promoting innovation in adult education and much more.

This edition focuses on NALA's work in areas such as assessment, literacy as a barrier to health, English for Speakers of a Second Language and Models of Family Literacy. It also contains external reviews such as one from South Tipperary Riding Council of the Return to Learning Initiative for workplace basic education and another from Marie Dolan on the National Tutor's forum.

This journal contains contributions from NALA staff and external contributors. Some of the topics covered include, NALA's Strategy Review and Development, equality theory, ICT as a basic skill and the Adults Continuing Education (ACE) Awards.

The lead articles in this edition are, 'TV series helps break down barriers', 'Low levels of literacy obstruct justice', 'Making literacy family-friendly' and 'Dealing with specific learning difficulties'. This edition also had a special pull-out on NALA's assessment framework.

This is the Agency's first strategic plan. The plan was based on consultation with our Executive, staff and members and was developed in a time when the adult literacy issue was very much to the forefront, following the International Adult Literacy Survey, 1997.

The highlights of our 2005 annual report included our success in lobbying for a fund to develop intensive basic education programmes, finalising Mapping the Learning Journey; development of a homeless and literacy plan; work on family literacy, training and numeracy. It also looks at how we developed workplace basic education provision with FAS and the launch of our Plain English Mark.

The highlights in our 2007 annual report were the expansion of our distance education service, the launch of our new strategic plan 2007-2010, the start of a major new promotional campaign with An Post (the Irish postal authority) and our work on quality assurance at national level for students, leading to awards at Level 2.

The highlight in our 2008 annual report was our publicity work to raise awareness of the opportunities available to motivate people to return to learning, in particular our campaign work. It also contains a summary of our work in TV distance education (capturing 14% of the viewing audience), training developments in integrating literacy, clients of our Plain English Service and much more besides...