Some are lost
Functional illiterates lack confidence, and it is their tutors' main duty to give them their confidence back.
Subjects have to be made interesting so that people stay and learn, voluntary tutor Ken Cook describes; gardening for example works well in one class. However "the teachers have to deal with each student individually and find out what their needs are".
Teacher Lesley Jordan adds that she has to be "careful not to embarrass them, not to bring up things they do not know anything about". She says she has to take it slowly, as the adult learners have lost their sense of urgency and commitment.
She sees further difficulties: the Skills for Life Strategy is accreditation driven and quite a lot of time is spent on working towards the accreditations, "get spellings right for example". This means students have to work harder than before and people are lost; which might be doubly tragic when they have attended courses not only for learning but also for social reasons. "Many come to meet people and make friends", Mrs Jordan explains.
A different case are the learners referred to by social services or job centres. Mrs Jordan says: "They do not want to be here, they have to. It is difficult to find out what level they are on. They might even be below pre Entry Level and then we can't really take them. There is nothing, no funding for those."
"Dumped in a corner "
"It is embarrassing" - this sentence falls in every conversation with functional illiterates.
Adult learners lacking basic reading skills talk quite openly about their deficiencies but become silent when asked how life was and how they coped. One can only catch glimpses: a young woman says she panicked in certain situations; an elderly lady admits she was inhibited in life. A third relives some frustrating moments. A pensioner describes how he felt guilty when he could not fill out a form; his friend confesses he still keeps quiet about it. There is just one who says it did not bother her at all, as long as she could do what she wanted and that was dancing.
Despite their lack of reading skills they have managed well in life. Most are married, have families, own their own houses, have had satisfying jobs. John (69) for example was even a manager and supervised 15 people. Many say their social life was not affected at all, some are pillars of the community. Joan (68) grins: "It does not take a lot to have a drink and a dance."
However, regret can be detected: Rachel (37), Mandy (37) and Michelle (31) want to make more of their lives, Joan is sure she could have had better jobs. Clive (72) and June (71) resigned early to work with their hands, but Sarah (21) does not want a future in "dead-end jobs". June describes how she went to her doctor for help telling him she could not read. He answered that she should not worry he would fit her with glasses.
The reasons why they attend literacy courses now are manifold: they have children or grandchildren they want to help with their homework, they want to get better jobs and they do not want to depend on their partners and families anymore - who have done everything for them.
Bad memories
All of them praise the courses. "I feel comfortable, it's a friendly environment and the teachers are very supportive," Rachel explains. Sarah simply "loves" them. Clare (55) adds that it is good to see that other people have the same problems. "Learning with others is so motivating," Kirsty (18) emphasises. Many have made new friends, and they all proudly say they have gained confidence, something they never had in school.
Each of them has bad memories. Joan says she left school quite ignorant of many things: "I hated school, to be frank. I hated pens and paper, I never learned anything." She was not pushed; she just got dumped in a corner or hit with a cane. "I had problems in school," John tells us, "our teachers were not brilliant. If you could not get along, you would be left behind, they did not bother with us. I sat there and did nothing." Katie (24) says although she was recognised as being dyslexic she was left to it most of the time. "I struggled so much but by the time they acknowledged my problems I didn't want help anymore and dropped out", Sarah admits.
June remembers being six and reading, but "when I came to the stage of spelling, I kept asking my mother and she would only answer: what's the teacher doing. I didn't know my parents couldn't read." She says the teacher would not bother with her and she got so embarrassed that she stopped using her brains. Margaret did not like her new school and was left behind. She also mentions that she could not cope with the pressure she was under.
There is no pressure in the courses offered by the adult learning centres. But for these adults learning is not easy. Rachel says her brain "was not geared up to learning" and that she had to learn how to learn again. Clive admits his memory "is a bit weak" while June "can only grasp few things at a time". Clare finds it difficult to be a learner too but refreshing. She was bold enough to enter a competition which was advertised in one reading campaign. Mandy is so proud that she can do crosswords now, and Clive says with bright eyes: "This year I read my first book!"
