Literacy levels need to be maintained and improved

Tuesday, 05 April 2011 08:27

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The provision of properly staffed schools and the necessary funding are vital if our education system is to tackle falling literacy levels.
This was the clear message from the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) president, Jack Keane, when he warned against over-reliance on testing as he called for greater focus on developing students' motivation, self-esteem and social skills as well as their academic abilities.
International test scores published in December showed the reading ability of Irish 15-year-olds fell more than in any other developed country between 2006 and 2009 and are now below OECD averages.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn made a startling statement recently, claiming that a child who is not read to going to bed at night is an abused child.

Surely, this is taking it a bit too far. But certainly it is of the utmost importance that young children are read to at bedtime and are encouraged to take up reading in the home at a very early age as it is a skill that will benefit them for the remainder of their lives.
Mr. Keane has made one of his priorities in his new job the development and implementation of a national literacy strategy, including the setting of targets by each school.
A draft national literacy and numeracy strategy, launched by Mr. Quinn's predecessor, Mary Coughlan, last November, is strongly focused on reforms of how primary and second-level teachers are trained, including extending the length of degree courses.

But Mr. Keane told an ASTI seminar on curriculum development that, while a national literacy plan is welcome, it must be based on sound policy, evidence-based research and international best practice.
But two years of cutbacks across the educational sector have placed limitations on staff and funding.
Surely one of the most basic of skills must be reading and writing. However, the mobile phone texting phenomena has played havoc with spelling and it is slowly creeping into everyday correspondence.
Mr. Quinn told the Dáil recently he intends to give principals and teachers greater autonomy to obtain the required learning outcomes, with a particular focus needed on literacy.

If youngsters get the basic skill at home they thrive on going to school. When I was a youngster comics were all the go. We bought them weekly and swopped them among our friends.

Unfortunately, technology has advanced to such a stage that youngsters now get their kicks from ipads, iphones and computers.
Libraries, too, are a great source of reading material and they actively encourage participation by children.
Let us hope the new government do give the resources necessary to increase literacy levels.