Literacies and Scotland
In the world today 1 in 5 adults are still not literate, two-thirds of them being women while 72 million children are out of school. Literacy is at the heart of basic Education for All, and essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy. UNESCO leads the United Nations Literacy Decade 2003-13 which aims to improve literacy levels and empower people worldwide.
Policy for adult literacies in Scotland is the responsibility of the Lifelong Learning Directorate of the Scottish Government. The Scotland Committee is working with partners at Learning & Teaching Scotland, in academic institutions and civil society to foster discussion about literacy and to help shape the new Scottish strategy for Literacies.
In 2010, the Scottish Government published Scottish Survey of Adult Literacies 2009: Report of Findings. The findings were presented and discussed at the 'Literacies Matter! Scottish and Global Perspectives' Seminar organised by the Scotland Committee in Sept 2010. A brief report from this event containing the challenges faced by, and recommendations made by literacies practitioners has now been published (please download the report from the sidebar). This report has been circulated to all key adult learning decision makers in local authorities and to the Scottish Government at the time of the Comprehensive Spending Review. The Scottish Government's Literacy Action Plan is due for publication in the autumn 2010, which will outline the next steps to further raise standards of literacy from early years through to adult learning.
Pages in this section
- The Scottish Literacy strategy
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- The Scotland Committee focuses on the the empowering role of literacy and its importance for participation, citizenship, health and well-being and social development.
