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The Tuition
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WHAT IS LITERACY ? All good adult literacy work starts with the needs of the individuals. Literacy involves the integration of listening, speaking, reading, writing and numeracy. It also encompasses aspects of personal development - social, economic, emotional - and is concerned with improving self-esteem and building confidence. It goes far beyond mere technical skills of communication.
Extent of the Literacy Problem Any estimate of the extent of the literacy problem will depend on what counts as a literacy difficulty. Thus for some, this may mean not being able to send a birthday card and for others it may be a problem with writing reports at work. In 1995 the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) in co-operation with the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), carried out the first multinational assessment of adult literacy. The Irish results of the international survey were published in 1997. The aim of the I.A.L.S. was to provide a profile of the literacy skills of adults in different countries aged between 16 and 64. The question asked of individuals by the IALS was not "Can you read ?" but rather "How well can you read ?". This approach recognised that all individuals are literate to a degree. This approach also acknowledged that no single standard of literacy could be set. The IALS demonstrated that literacy is a fundamental life skill that enables individuals to participate socially, culturally and politically in society. It also demonstrated that literacy is an essential work skill. The active use of literacy skills in every aspect of one’s life throughout life is essential. Throughout this report the term "literacy" is used to refer to the ability to understand and use printed information in daily activities at work, home and in the community. This definition recognises that society is becoming more complex and demands more comprehensive literacy skills from individuals if they are to be able to function in every sphere of life.
Measurements of Literacy The study sought to identify five literacy skill levels to cover such demands at work, in the home and the community in three domains. These three domains cover the many different kinds of written material people encounter every day and they require different skills to understand and use the information. Prose Literacy: the ability to understand and use information from texts such as news stories, editorials, poems and fiction. Document Literacy: the ability to locate and use information from documents such as job applications, payroll forms, transportation schedules, maps, tables and graphs. Quantitative Literacy: the ability to perform arithmetic functions such as balancing a cheqbook, calculating a tip, or completing an order form. Level 1 indicates very low literacy skills, where the individual may, for example, have difficulty identifying the correct amount of medicine to give to a child from the information found on the package. Level 2 respondants can deal only with material that is simple, clearly laid out and in which the tasks involved are not too complex. This is a significant category, because it identifies people who may have adapted their lower literacy skills to everyday life, but would have difficulty learning new job skills requiring a higher level of literacy. Level 3 is considered the minimum desirable threshold in many countries but most occupations require higher skills. Levels 4 and 5 show increasingly higher literacy skills requiring the ability to integrate several sources of information or solve more complex problems. These levels appears to be a necessary requirement for some jobs. In addition to the literacy tasks which respondants were set, questions were asked concerning their background, labour force participation and literacy activities at work and at home.
OVERVIEW OF RESULTS 25% of the Irish population were found to score at the lowest level, Level 1. This means that 500,000 individuals are only able to cope, at best, with the most basic literacy tasks in society. An unemployed person is three times more likely to experience a lower level of literacy compared to someone who is employed. 20% of people never read a book and 60% claimed to never use the public library. More than 60% of individuals who left school without completing the Junior Cycle scored at Level 1. An alarming aspect of the current situation is the number of young people who leave school each year with inadequate reading and writing skills. In l995, 7% of young people left school with very poor educational attainment (ESRI Survey, May 1996). Experience shows that many people with few or no qualifications have problems with reading and writing. The IALS also found that 17% of those aged between 16 and 25 years scored at Level 1. This is a relatively poor figure when compared to other European countries such as Sweden’s figure of 3% and Germany’s 5%.
International Comparison This problem is not unique to Ireland but exists in other western industrialised countries which also provide a free secondary education. Low literacy was a much larger problem than previously assumed in the 11 OECD country surveyed, but Ireland faired poorly in comparison with the other ten countries.
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