Shame keep adults out of literacy programmes

EMBARRASSMENT, fear of the unknown and lack of information are the main factors preventing most adults with literacy problems from participating in learning schemes, according to a new report.

Less than 5 per cent of the 100,000 adults with severe literacy difficulties receive tuition, says the interim report prepared by the National Adult Literacy Agency.

"In addition, there are many more people who require help in improving their reading, writing and spelling, in order to participate more fully in a society which requires increasingly complex literacy skills' "it says.

Lack of finance hampers the expansion of such schemes, according to the agency. The annual budget for adult literacy and community education is under £2 million; the education budget is more than £2 billion.

As a result, the 100 local schemes rely on the goodwill of volunteers who provide about 85 per cent of tuition.

About 146 literacy students were interviewed for the report, which says that young women face considerable barriers to participation.

These include heavy home commitments and a lack of childcare facilities and transport. Older men have to deal with low self esteem and peer pressure, though in rural areas the increasing emphasis on form filling and record keeping is driving many to seek tuition. Older women and younger men are generally more likely to participate in schemes.

More than half the respondents never attended school or left before the age of 15.

Many left feeling "uneducated, angry or a failure" and now fear being exposed and experience discomfort in a classroom, which makes them "too frightened to come forward".

The report suggests there is an urgent need for more readily available tuition information together with a sharper media focus on literacy issues, in public discussion and in TV drama such as Glen we or Fair City.

Four fifths of the survey group were interested in further education. Almost 65 per cent of men, but only 36 per cent of women, were in paid employment. More than 60 per cent said their job prospects had improved greatly since beginning tuition.

Many suggested a change of name for the literacy schemes to Reading and Writing or Adult Basic Education.

"The word `literacy' is linked in many people's minds with `illiteracy' and appears to reinforce the . . stigma cited by so many respondents as a barrier to participation", says the report.

To help overcome the lack of rural participants, the report suggests the school bus service be made available to daytime adult students.

It also calls for more outreach work to contact adults not availing of tuition.

The report, Access and Participation in Adult Literacy Schemes, was formally presented to the Minister for Education yesterday to coincide with National Literacy Awareness Week.