Spelling out the future

LET’S CELEBRATE playing Scrabble.

Or reading Hello magazine. Or writing a few lines on a birthday card. Or reading a simple bed-time story to a child. Or being able to research a holiday online.

This week is National Adult Literacy Awareness Week (Sept 24-28). It’s true that 25% of Irish adults struggle with reading, writing and maths. It’s also true that due to increased State funding over the last decade, there has been a 200% increase in the number of adults participating in Vocational Education Committee (VEC) adult literacy services.

“Making the first step is the most difficult part. The entire way that you’re taught as an adult is different, and it’s according to your own needs and interests,” says spokesperson for National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA), Clare McNally. NALA offers information, distance education and tuition for adults who wish to improve their skills in reading, writing and maths.

There are now over 50,000 adults attending literacy classes in their local VEC adult literacy centres.

Let’s celebrate their courage.

Gus Barker, 41

Gus Barker*, 41, doesn’t have time to attend regular adult evening classes. A long-distance lorry driver, he opts for NALA’s phone-in tutor service. Once a week, he pulls his lorry into a lay-by and completes a 30-minute lesson with his tutor over the phone.

“My tutor started me off from scratch. I had the same page as she had and we’d work together from it,” says Barker, the youngest of nine children who grew up on a small farm in Armagh. Barker left school at 16 without being able to read or write.

“I didn’t touch a book when I came home from school. The headmaster would write something on the board and it would be rubbed off before I had it written down. I never read anything in school, and after 3 letters I’d be lost,” he says.

However, this never affected his job.

“I love my job, and I’ve driven all over the continent. Luckily, every road is numbered, and I think if you’ve a tongue in your mouth you won’t get lost. I can’t read much, but I can read the road. I can read a map and have no bother with directions. I can also count, which is important for mileage,” he says.

“NALA gave me a start and some confidence, and my tutor couldn’t do enough for me. I couldn’t believe it was free. I got nothing free in my life before,” says Barker.

Like many of the adults who have returned to education, Barker marvels over the advantages that education provides.

“If you can read anything, you can do anything. You can look up anything on the internet, you could even be a doctor. If you can’t read, you’re stuck,” says Barker, who once dreamed of becoming a guard.

He is determined that his two young children will not suffer the same disadvantages as himself.

“I am paranoid about my own children and I make sure I’m up to date with their education. I show my daughter books all day long and when she goes to pre-school we will monitor her progress,” he says.

Barker is currently taking a break from adult education but hopes to return to it eventually.

“I can lift a children’s book and get through it now, but I’d be slow at writing and my writing is like a child’s writing. I could do it more but it just doesn’t suit me at the moment. I don’t have time to go down to the centre and I can’t afford to take time off. That’s the biggest thing, it’s very easy to learn if you have lots of time. You have to push yourself, nothing comes easy. Everybody is in a different boat,” he says.

Maura O’Sullivan, 62

Maura O’Sullivan*, 62, left school at 13 and worked in 24 jobs over her working life, including cleaning and restaurant work.

“I learned coping skills and how to cover up. I’d be sweating if someone asked me to fill out a form, but there’d always be someone to do it for me. I’d tell them I forgot my glasses,” says O’Sullivan.

“I could read the newspapers. But when I was writing a card, I used to write down the first word, and scribble the rest. You’d be afraid that people will laugh at you, and you don’t want anybody to know that you don’t have these skills.

“When my children were teenagers, I was never able to help them with their homework. Instead, I would sit at the top of the stairs and tell them stories.”

Fourteen years ago, O’Sullivan saw an advertisement in her local library and decided to return to education to “learn how to read and write properly”.

“The first night I was terrified because I thought it would be like going back to school. But no-one gave out to me. I realised I wasn’t slow at all, I was just a late developer.

“I learned to write properly and to use proper English.

“I learned that the English language is one of the most difficult languages to learn,” says O’Sullivan, who loves writing fiction and poetry, as well as wordsearches and crosswords.

Her next goal is to learn to play Scrabble.

“You go through a grieving process, and feel a certain amount of regret, thinking about what would have happened if only you had learned to read and write in school,” she says.

“If I won the Lotto, you couldn’t give me as much as I got in adult learning. It’s the happiness of being able to do the small things,” says O’Sullivan, who has completed FETAC Levels 1 and 2.

(*not their real name).