Adult Literacy

Courses can be accredited or non-accredited.

• Accreditation can be offered though QQI Major and Minor Awards from Level 1 to Level 3.
• Non-accredited courses are short courses designed to meet specific training needs.

Fees

All courses are free.

How to apply

The ETB Adult Literacy Service is available through your nearest FET centre and in some local community/resource centres.  You can join at any stage during the year.  Students and tutors interact on an equal basis and classes focus on the needs of the learner as an individual.

Volunteering

In some cases, people don’t feel ready to join a group. A one-to-one class can be arranged for a limited time to help build confidence and in preparation to join a small group class. Volunteers are essential to offering this service. One-to-one classes are usually just 1-2 hours per week. Training is provided for all volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering to help someone make a change in their life by improving their literacy skills, please submit an expression of interest form here. 

Adult Literacy for Life (ALL)

Adult literacy for Life is a ten year, whole-of-society government strategy dedicated to ensuring that everyone in Ireland has the necessary literacy skills to meet their needs, and that literacy is valued and supported at every level of society.  Minister Simon Harris launched this strategy in 2021 and you can read it here.  

Literacy effects everyone, everywhere. Good literacy skills are essential if you want to fully engage in society. In Ireland, more than 500,000 people have unmet literacy needs. Even more have unmet numeracy and digital literacy needs. This means they may be unable to fill in a form, vote, read instructions on medicines, add up a bill, help children with homework or search the web for information. This can negatively impact their confidence and prevent them from participating fully in society. ​

Bridging the literacy gap is something we can all do. Everyone has a part to play. As part of the ALL strategy, Donegal ETB’s Regional Literacy Coordinator, Adele McElhinney, offers Literacy Awareness training. If you would like to play your part and access this free training, contact Adele for more information.