Sir, - I wish to focus on two issues in this European Year of Lifelong Learning, namely, adults who are educationally disadvantaged and adult education structures. Of the approximate 67,000 young people who leave school each year, some 12,000 have minimal or no qualifications.
Along with the long-term unemployed, it is well known that these young adults have the greatest difficulty in obtaining employment. A cohort of these have difficulty carrying out basic literacy and numeracy tasks.
This cohort, though difficult to quantify, is likely to be greater than is generally realised. It annually increases the already significant number of adults who have basic education needs, and therefore face an uphill struggle in normal day-to-day living, and the social marginalisation that results from low educational attainment. Society has a duty to ensure that those who are in this situation and wish to pull out of it are given an opportunity to do so.
We are ii-ow in a period of accelerated change in education. Adult education should he given parity of structure with primary, secondary and tertiary branches. Otherwise, there is a danger that adult education may be ignored, or that attention may he confined to accommodating the present system. - Yours, etc.,
Dundrum, Dublin 16.