Ciao a tutti!
Why are you reading this post? Because of interest? Because of curiosity? Or maybe because you’re required to? In any case, you’re engaging in a literary activity, an indirect conversation between you and us, the poster, where we intend to share our knowledge. But, not everyone can engage in such activities.
When people think about illiteracy, the first thing that comes to mind is a problem which is far from our European reality, like a defeated plague of our society. However, illiteracy is still a relevant issue in our continent that is far from being solved. Among all, southern European countries are the ones performing worst. So it is highly important to have a closer look at them, focusing on Portugal, Italy, Spain and Greece.
What is literacy?
Even though there are several different definitions of literacy, for simplicity we will use the one reported by UNESCO. Contrary to general assumptions, literacy is not a black and white concept: it is a complex and nuanced issue.
But what do we exactly mean by that?
Low literacy influences all aspects of everyday life, from the private to the public sphere. It can lead to social marginalization, difficulties in accessing the labour market and being an inactive participant in public life. Even though Mediterranean countries were on the same level literacy-wise at the beginning of the twentieth century, it has impacted those countries in a different way, depending on different infrastructures and policies. Also, the European Union has supporting competences when it comes to education, meaning that it is up to the individual countries to tackle this problem at a national and local level.
Differences between countries
In an attempt to understand and compare how the Mediterranean countries tackled the problem, Dario will focus on how the Portuguese government responded to the problem. He’ll discuss the introduced policies, or lack of them, and how they affected Portugal’s situation.
Giovanni will put the same focus on Greece with a general summary of the problem.
It is followed by possible causes of this situation and by an overview of the policies that Greece introduced to tackle it.
By focusing on Italy, Matilde will carry out the approach outlined above; meaning that she will will firstly have a look at the existence of eventual policies concerning the issue of low literacy in the country and will then state the effectiveness of such, by also considering and drawing around the current literacy situation of the country.
In line with the approaches of other bloggers, Anna will consider literacy levels of Spain. Her analysis will complete the overview of the most important Mediterranean countries described in this section. By evaluating different policies that governments have adopted during the years, she will analyze the current Spanish situation, both in terms of causes of the problem and consequences the proposed initiatives have led to.
In sum, by focusing on policies and their effectiveness in those countries, we will try to provide a critical insight of the illiteracy problem in the Mediterranean countries. It sheds light on the difficulties of tackling the problem and its hidden consequences.
Last but not least…
… about the bloggers.
We are Anna, Matilde, Giovanni and Dario, we are four second year European Studies students at Maastricht University. We all come from Mediterranean backgrounds, more specifically from Italy and Portugal. Since we have all spent a significant part of our lives in these countries we have developed a deep understanding on the issues of our countries.
We hope our contribution will help you have a better understanding of the Mediterranean situation.
Buona lettura! 😁
Photo credits:
Picture in the ‘what is literacy’ section: Photo by Inaki Del Olmo on unsplash
Spanish flag: Photo by Ralph (Ravi) Kayden on Unsplash
Italian flag: Photo by Michele Bitteto on Unsplash
Greek flag: Photo by Sandro Gonzales on Unsplash
Portugal flag: Photo By Pedro Santos on Unsplash