Italy: the second chapter on low literacy
Welcome back! As I promised in my last post, in this one I’ll discuss policies’ effectiveness.
Why can we still talk about illiteracy and disparities? What went wrong?
The differences that Italy displays in terms of infrastructures and resources worsens the adult training sector, already characterized by few policies and little regulation. The consequence is that Italy continues to have a low participation rate in adult education. Numbers speak for themselves: the OECD participation rate average of low literate adults is 31% while in Italy it corresponds to only 14 %.
Instead, Youth Guarantee has been relatively successful in integrating NEETs into the labour market. However, regional differences in implementation persist and information on the quality and quantity of offers is often not comprehensive. This explains the unawareness among youth.
What can be done to improve the system?
Skills are today the main source of economic success. Without strong investments at each level of education and without proper regulation and supervision, individuals lagoon at the margins of society. A wide gap between geographical areas calls for coordinated but at the same time areas’ differentiated interventions on skills policies. In addition, it is becoming increasingly difficult to adapt to new technologies and Italy is struggling to compete in markets that are increasingly based on specific knowledge and skills. Studies that consider comparisons with other countries, perhaps, could help us understand which could be the right path to follow, maybe in the next post.
However, there is no more time to wait, it is time to act… let’s keep in touch!
Photo credits:
Image 1 by Jonathan Bean from unsplash
Image 2 from unsplash
Hello, I just read both of your blogs and I think they are both extremely interesting! I really liked that in the first blog you kind of introduced the topic and then focused on actions done to combat the issue. The layout of both of your blogs was really great, I found them very easy to follow and understand!
I also quite liked your usage of pictures as a way of visualising your content.
Concerning your content, I have to say I was very surprised that low literacy was such a problem in Italy or Europe all together. I think usually in our environment we take it for granted that people can read and it is good to raise awareness that this is not the case for everyone.
In your second blog you talked about plans used to combat illiteracy, which I found very interesting. What especially stuck out to me was that most of these initiatives are directed at young people rather than the more mature population, which I understand but I believe the possibility to learn should be openly available for everyone.
You also shortly mentioned the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects. I would be curious to know more about this, do you think the Covid-19 pandemic had a very bad effect on Illiteracy and Education in Italy?
Hello Rachel!! Thank you for your comment. You raised quite interesting and challenging questions. I’ll do my best to answer as clear as possible. Well, first of all when I started researching on literacy I did not know either that the number of illiterates was that dangerous. My colleagues and I were concerned when we saw the averages of the Southern European countries in terms of literacy levels. I’m glad that by reading these two posts I made you reflect on the importance of low literacy and its size in terms of world challenges. It must not be undermined.
Thank you for raising the question about literacy or better illiteracy and COVID 19. The effects that the pandemic brought in terms of literacy levels in Italy are upsetting, especially in terms of school drop-outs. The pandemic has even worsened the already dangerous numbers of low literates in the country. Moreover, if the problem pre-pandemic had at its centre adult illiterates, the pandemic widened the focus on the whole population, both the youth and the older generation. This, more than ever should worry the Italian government and, way more focused and strong policies should be carried out to recover the recoverable and improve the general situation.
Hello Matilde, interesting post! In your previous post you touched upon the north-south divide in Italy. In terms of effectiveness, what do you think would be better? A regional (more fitting) policy or a nationally organised policy?
Hello Anne!!! Thank you for the question! I think that a nationally organized policy is needed. In fact, at regional level the same disparity in terms of available infrastructures and resources is reflected. So I personally think that a national and focused policy would be be the ideal solution.
Hey Mathilde! I just read your two blog posts and I must say that I find the topic very interesting! Even though I didn’t know that much about illiteracy in Italy before, your posts helped me a lot to get a good overview about the problems of the situation and possible solutions. You write that it is becoming more and more difficult for many people to adapt to new technologies. Do you think trainings to make it easier for people to deal with technologies would be useful in this respect? Or do you have other ideas to tackle this problem? Let me know what you think 🙂
Hey Nike thank you very much for the feedback and the question raised!! I think that practice is always the best solution whatever the problem is. So I think yours is an optimal solution. However, you have to take into account that obviously this requires dedicated resources that are not always available or targeted to this particular problem. Thank you again for the question Nike because it was relevant and pertinent.