This fourth edition of the Guidelines will be published at an historic and critical time in the area of adult learning. VECs and FÁS will disappear from the landscape and education and training boards (ETBs) will populate the local landscape instead, with SOLAS providing the first further education and training authority in Ireland. Such immense change brings great opportunity for taking stock and clarifying what is required going forward. There is a unified voice on the importance of the adult learner being at the centre of their learning experience. There are also concerns of how to fully realise this. To that end, the Guidelines provide the rationale as to why we do literacy work the way we do, as well as how we put that philosophy into practice. The Guidelines have been refreshed so as to situate adult literacy work in the new environment of further education and training. This, we believe, provides us with the best method of ensuring a good quality teaching and learning experience and outcome for the student and the practitioner.

In this revised edition, NALA has again drawn on the knowledge and insight of experienced literacy students and practitioners. “At the core of all this wisdom is the understanding that any good educational service must take its inspiration from the world of the learner” (NALA, 1991, p. 5). As adult literacy work continues to develop and evolve, NALA is indebted to all those who are willing to share their experiences, to raise issues and to contribute to ongoing debates on
policy and practice in adult basic education and we welcome feedback on this document.

Inez Bailey, Director

Gretta Vaughan, Chairperson

NALA -  https://www.nala.ie/