After the huge success of the fly-on-the-wall documentary Written Off? RTE and the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA ) are now looking for adults in the Leinster area to take part in the next series that will be filmed in early 2009.
Earlier in the year, Written Off? followed the lives of 11 Irish adults as they came together to attend a unique course in Wicklow. While all the participants came from different parts of the country, very different backgrounds, and ranged in age from 17 to mid-50s, they all had difficulties with reading and writing. Written Off? covered all the highs and lows as they went on a journey back to education that transformed their lives.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for anyone who wants the chance to change their life around,” said Tom O’Mara, NALA. “All over Ireland there are people who have so much to offer but often feel held back because they don’t have good literacy skills. When I say literacy I mean reading, writing, spelling, working with numbers or even using a computer. Maybe they didn’t get the best out of their education first time around or have been in a job where they haven’t had to write much so they’ve simply got rusty. With this new TV series we are going to offer a group of 10 people the chance to take part in a unique course run by experienced tutors that is specially designed for them,” he said.
Having difficulties with reading and writing is something that affects thousands of adults. In 1997, the Education Research Centre carried out a survey which examined how well adults could handle different types of reading and numeracy tasks which crop up regularly in work and in daily life – such as reading timetables, the labels on medicine bottles, or calculating and estimating quantities. This survey concluded that one in four – that is, about half a million - Irish adults ‘have problems with even the simplest literacy task’ such as reading instructions on a bottle of aspirin. It also found that one in six of those who are in employment are at the lowest level.
If you would like to find out more about participating in this new TV series, please contact NALA on 1800 20 20 65.
