Tilburg, the Netherlands—
The Hart of Brabant region in the Netherlands has launched a programme to overcome challenges related to functional illiteracy. People who experience difficulties in reading and writing Dutch can receive support by choosing training courses that are tailored to their needs.
The initiative, that was fist implemented in Tilburg, has been expanded to other cities in the region.
The key objective of the ‘Approach Functional Illiteracy: together we can understand each other’ (Aanpak laaggeletterdheid ‘samen begrijpen wij elkaar) project is to improve the basic skills of people who are functionally illiterate in close cooperation with a range of partners in the region. Functional illiteracy can hamper people’s participation in society and public life, create difficulties for interaction between individuals and institutions, and significantly worsen labour market outcomes.
In the Hart of Brabant region in the Netherlands, a significant number of inhabitants are struggling with functional illiteracy, which means that their reading and writing skills are inadequate to manage daily living and employment tasks. This is the case for both those individuals who have and who do not have Dutch as their mother tongue. Difficulties with functional illiteracy often create work and health problems for individuals, including higher unemployment rates, lower income and lower quality jobs, more workplace accidents, reduced access to lifelong learning and low self-esteem, which can lead to isolation.
The programme offers students language, reading and writing courses that take place in small groups to take into consideration individuals’ needs, and at different times of the day, including evenings. It is possible to sign up for courses all year round and an intake interview takes place before signing up to make sure that the offer is tailored to the need of the student. The programme relies on voluntary input from individuals, organisations and enterprises that are willing to donate resources and time to set up language courses.
The cooperation between partners and education actors is seen as one of the success factors of the programme since initially challenges existed in motivating the target group. In future initiatives potential participants should be involved or consulted in the development of the programme.
OECD (2022), "Future-proofing adult learning systems in cities and regions: A policy manual for local governments", OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Papers, No. 2022/03, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/11fa26cc-en.
