Leave for workers to 'upskill' urged

The National Adult Literacy Agency (Nala) is calling on the Government to introduce paid educational leave for all adult workers who hold less that a Junior Certificate qualification.

Some 500,000 Irish adults have poor literacy skills, putting Ireland behind the UK, Germany and Sweden in terms of literacy levels, Nala director Inez Bailey told an Oireachtas Education committee yesterday.

Only 6 per cent of adults requiring literacy and numeracy tuition are availing of adult literacy services, despite a large demand for basic education opportunities created by Nala, VEC services and other stakeholders, Ms Bailey said.

However, she said, at a time of such dire need in the sector, the State's employment and training authority Fás had cut funding for its programme which provided nine hours of literacy tuition per week to Community Employment (CE) workers, through their local VEC.

"Fás has recently reduced the number of hours CE participants in the VEC adult literacy programme can do, without giving any explanation."

The vast majority of adults with poor literacy skills were in the workforce she said, but were typically in low skilled jobs.

The loss of these jobs to countries with lower wage rates was putting serious pressure on adults with literacy difficulties to "upskill".

A pilot workplace basic education programme, Return to Learning, which secured four hours study release each week for workers in the local authority sector had proved a success.

However, she said, in the absence of any statutory requirement, attempts to develop basic education programmes in the private sector had proved very difficult.

"What is needed is paid educational leave entitlement for all workers with less than a Junior Certificate or equivalent level qualification, wishing to improve their literacy and numeracy."