Irish Vocational Education Association

An Cumann Gairmoideachais in Éirinn

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Adult Literacy Schemes
Adult Literacy Schemes operated by the VECs are the main source of adult basic education (ABE) in Ireland. Each VEC employs at least one Adult Literacy Organiser (ALO) to organise ABE support in their local area. Overall, VECs employ 61 full-time and 80 part-time ALOs and 5,500 trained tutors - some 1,300 of these are paid and the rest are volunteers.
This service is provided by Vocational Education Committees who are funded by the Department of Education and Science with assistance from the European Social Fund.
40% of VEC literacy students only attended primary school, 62% left school before the age of 16. 70% were under 45 years of age, 14% received 1:1 tuition and 34% had received tuition for more than one (1) year.
VEC literacy students receive "on average, only two (2) hours tuition per week over 30 weeks in a year whereas research suggests that between 550-600 hours of instruction are needed to become fully literate and numerate."
Adult Literacy support, which is free to all participants, is learner centred and provided on either a 1:1 or group basis. Participants must be experiencing a severe degree of literacy or numeracy difficulties and have a literacy standard below FETAC Level 3 and they have the option of FETAC accreditation.
Please contact your local VEC for further information.
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