Ó An Roinn Breisoideachais agus Ardoideachais, Taighde, Nuálaíochta agus Eolaíochta
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Minster for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Patrick O’Donovan today announced funding of €430,000 for two new innovative and groundbreaking literacy initiatives under the government’s Adult Literacy for All Strategy.
The Minister made the announcement to mark International Literacy Day by meeting with learners at Limerick City Library, Michael Street, Limerick where he also launched a new online literacy awareness training course aimed at front line workers.
The initiatives announced by the Minister will receive funding of:
Minister O’Donovan said:
"One of my key goals in this department is to help everyone, no matter their background, to reach their full potential.
"And while in many respects Ireland is a highly educated, modern and dynamic country, as a society we must acknowledge that there are people who have missed out and been left behind.
"There is no excuse for this, and it is something we are working very hard to address.
"Some of these people may struggle to read and understand everyday information and some have difficulty working with numbers, while even more are simply terrified of using the internet and other technology.
"Being able to critically engage with media content and to recognise and identify the massive amount of misinformation that floods our timelines on our phones and our computers is imperative.
"The Adult Literacy for Life Strategy is focused on improving lives by offering people free and local courses where they can improve their literacy skills and, most importantly, give them the confidence to fully participate in society and become the best informed they can be."
The Adult Literacy for Life programme office in SOLAS will lead on the delivery of the two initiatives.
Projects will be developed in partnership with ETBs, libraries, NALA and Media Literacy Ireland and will be aimed at:
Yvonne McKenna, Director of Adult Literacy for Life in SOLAS, said:
"Adult Literacy for Life aims to do two things.
"Firstly, it aims to make sure that anyone with an unmet literacy need is able to access the supports they need.
"Secondly, Adult Literacy for Life aims to make Irish society more accessible to people with an unmet literacy, numeracy or digital literacy need. It is really important that organisations – public, private and community and voluntary – deliver services in a literacy friendly and literacy aware way.
"We are also really delighted to be launching an online literacy awareness training course which will help all of us who have direct contact with the public in our work or volunteering, to respond better to unmet literacy needs.
"I want to particularly thank the participants in the course – Catherine, Maurice, Sarah, Denis and Matt – for sharing their life and work experiences, from which we can all learn."
In addition to today’s announcement the first of three eLearning courses on literacy awareness was also launched by Minister O’Donovan.
The course which will be available at www.adultliteracyforlife.ie is an awareness course for people who deal with the public.
It will help them to become literacy aware and respond sensitively to unmet literacy needs. Its aim is to increase literacy awareness and promote the message ‘Let’s talk about literacy’. Additional courses will launch later this year in the areas of health literacy and plain language writing.
Minister O’Donovan, who today met with Maurice Sammon, a literacy student and ambassador who helped develop the programmes, added:
"While we continue to offer learners opportunities to address their unmet literacy needs, it is also vital that the community around them becomes more aware and sensitive to the challenges these learners are facing.
"I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard to make these online learning courses a reality, and I am certain they will go a long way towards tackling the unwarranted stigma attached to this issue."
For further information or to arrange media requests, please contact press@dfheris.gov.ie or communications@solas.ie
This 10-year adult literacy, numeracy and digital literacy strategy, launched in September 2021, sets out a cross-government, cross-economy and cross-society approach to achieve the vision of an Ireland where every adult has the necessary literacy, numeracy and digital literacy to engage in society and realise their potential. The targets set in the Strategy are to:
A National Programme Office in SOLAS operates as a central, coordinating office for the Strategy across all departments and stakeholders. At local level, the strategy is supported by a network of 16 Regional Literacy Coordinators across the Education and Training Boards regions.
SOLAS is the stage agency responsible for Further Education and Training (FET) in Ireland. Our vision is to power the potential of individuals, communities and enterprise through lifelong learning and workforce transformation. In recent years we have led an ambitious FET Strategy Transforming Learning and driven change across the FET system – providing easier access; simplified pathways; a consistent learner experience; and a stronger identity. This has led to unprecedented growth and demand for FET, with the learner base growing by some 17% from 2022 to 2023. Indeed, we know that one in ten adults in Ireland – around 423,000 people – were engaged in apprenticeships, our construction skills schemes or other FET activity last year.
Further information on SOLAS can be found at: www.solas.ie.
Follow SOLAS on X (Twitter): @solasfet.