Overcoming the literacy problem

Your Royal Highness,

Distinguished guests,

It is a real pleasure to be here with all of you today for this discussion on literacy. This afternoon, I would like to recall the situation of literacy in Europe and look at what we are doing to address the challenges in this field.

Still too often, we say that poor literacy is a thing of the past, when sadly, that is not so. Today, in the 21st century, we see in Europe millions of young people and adults who are struggling with reading and writing. And we see little improvement of the situation. Considering that more textual types have developed over the decades, it becomes essential to develop further our literacy skills.

Without these skills, it is impossible to participate fully in the community. Good literacy skills are the foundation of all learning – and they are the basis for any democratic society. And yet, despite the actions already taken in the Member States to improve literacy levels, still more than one in five Europeans has a poor level of functional literacy.

I believe that reaching a high level of literacy across the EU is a matter of social justice and a crucial element of Europe's growth. That is why the EU has set a benchmark to reduce the share of low achievers in literacy to less than 15% by 2020 - a target that only three Member States have reached so far.

EU Education Ministers fully approved the recommendations on actions to be taken by Member States and EU. These recommendations include:

- providing advice to parents on how to make reading a pleasure for their children;

- developing guidelines on what competences teachers should have for teaching reading;

- ensuring free, high-quality early childhood education for all;

- reviewing teaching materials to adapt reading skills to the digital age;

- providing more learning opportunities for adults, especially in the workplace.

I am sure that everyone can do more to support literacy, especially when we talk about reading. One of our aims is to organize a yearly 'Europe Loves Reading' week, to raise awareness of the importance of reading. I know UNESCO is already doing a lot to promote International Literacy Day across the world.

Before I conclude, I would like to mention a problem that we sometimes overlook, when we really should not. It is the problem of adults suffering from poor literacy. And it is the social taboo that is linked to this. This taboo means that people are too ashamed to admit that they have a problem; they search ways for concealing it, and may never have the confidence to ask for help. So we should never forget that what we are doing is vital not just for our future generations but also for ours.

We are really trying hard to make progress in this area too. In October this year, we will publish the results of the survey of adult literacy. It will be the first time that we'll have a clear picture of adult literacy levels across Europe, and it should help stimulate our further work.

However, we need to understand that we can make the vision of 'literacy for all' in Europe a reality only by combining all our efforts. I am confident that together we can do this.

I’m looking forward to our continued collaboration.

Thank you.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16