Derv Ryan from Irish NALA discusses the Literacy Ambassador Programme, which supports people who struggle with reading and writing to outreach to their peers. Since 2022, NALA has run the programme in ten prisons.
- What are the goals of the project?
The Literacy Ambassador Programme of the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) is run with men and women in prison to support them to become ambassadors for literacy and learning among their peers. Their role as Literacy Ambassadors is to start conversations about learning in the prison with other people and to try to reduce the embarrassment around struggles with reading, writing, maths, computers and other digital devices.
We know from our awareness work that people with the lived experience of going back to education as adults are the best people to promote the benefits of adult education to others.
Ambassadors also can act as a bridge between men and women on the prison landings and the teachers in the Education Centres in prisons. This support encourages more people to return to learning.
The project is funded by the SOLAS Building Bridges Fund and the Adult Literacy for Life strategy.
2. What have been the biggest achievements in the project?
The biggest achievement has been the level of engagement we have had with participants across the ten prisons we have worked in during the last two years.
Included in the members of our programme delivery are NALA Student Ambassadors, who have struggled with literacy as adults. They have played a vital role in the workshops by speaking about their own experience of going back to education. This has created a non-judgmental atmosphere for the participants to talk openly about their own experiences.
The Student Ambassadors have talked about all the barriers they have faced, for example not being able to take up promotions in work or not being able to help their children with homework. They have also talked about how beneficial it is to go back to education and what a positive impact it has had on their lives.
This talk has helped participants to feel more comfortable in the group and to open up about their own struggles throughout the programme. Participants have consistently said this part of the workshop has been one of the highlights of the programme. We believe it has been essential to the programme’s overall success.
That I am not the only one who struggled in school as a child and that I related to the lad’s story.
The combination of our literacy-friendly programme content, our experienced team, and our community development approach seems to have created a positive atmosphere in each group. Using literacy-friendly content means that no one is required to read or write during the programme, and they can do all the activities through speaking or with the support of others.
Participants have engaged well with all the activities and there has been a lot of discussion. Many of the participants have shared their negative experiences of school, their struggles with reading and writing, and going back to learning as an adult. For us, this has been a real sign that they have felt comfortable during the programme.
3. What have been the biggest challenges? How have you tackled them?
Prisons are big and busy places. Each of the ten prisons we delivered the programme in has had a different environment. As a result of this, we have had to learn to be adaptable and flexible with the programme activities, depending on each group setting.
We are grateful to the education centres in each prison, run by the Education and Training Boards in Ireland, for their support throughout the programmes. They have helped us recruit participants, provided facilitation support during the workshops and support for ambassadors in their role following delivery of the workshops.
It’s important to encourage other people to come to school so they can have better lives.
In general, it is important to make sure all participants feel comfortable to take part in the activities. Inclusive activities like the ’One Word’ exercise, small group work and image-based activities were used to support less confident people to take part.
4. What has given you the most joy? What has worried you the most?
What has given the team the most joy is the feedback participants have shared about the programme. Some have said they feel less alone around their struggles with literacy and education. Others said they realised that it is never too late for them or for others to go back to learning.
5. What has been the biggest surprise?
We have been proud that there has been so much interest in the programme from the education centres in the prisons. We are delighted that so many people in prison have been interested in taking part in the programme and want to become Literacy Ambassadors.
6. What about the future of the project?
We hope to build on the success of this project by working with prison Education Centres and the Irish Prison Service to explore ways to reach more people in prison and to promote literacy to those who cannot attend education classes.
You can make a change to help others and yourself. It’s not too late.
The quotes within the text are responses from participants of the Literacy Ambassador Programme to the question: ‘What have I learned?’.
The NALA Literacy Ambassador Programme in prisons aims to reduce barriers among people in prison, such as embarrassment which might stop them asking for help with reading, writing and everyday maths.
The project is run as part of the Irish Government’s Adult Literacy for Life Strategy and with the support of the Building Bridges Fund from Ireland’s Further Education and Training Agency, SOLAS. The strategy aims to raise levels of adult literacy, numeracy and digital literacy in Ireland by 2030. It focuses on people who are more likely to experience educational disadvantage. This means they may have had unequal access to education for example because of where they live, a lack of supports for learning difficulties or because of caring responsibilities. People who are in prison are one of the priority groups named in the strategy.
The programme is for people who have taken up education in prison but experienced educational disadvantage in the past or might have struggled with reading, writing, maths and digital technology as adults.
Derv Ryan is a Literacy Development and Outreach Worker with the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) in Ireland. She has worked as part of a project team to deliver the Literacy Ambassador Programme.
The National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) is a charity and membership organisation based in Ireland. Its vision is that everyone in Ireland should have the chance to develop their literacy, numeracy and digital skills to take part fully in society.
