Community education courses in Ireland could return the Government's €10 million investment almost threefold in the benefits from increasing volunteering alone, research has suggested.

COMMUNITY education courses in Ireland could return the Government’s €10 million investment almost threefold in the benefits from increased volunteering alone, research has suggested.

National Research

During the National Adult Learners’ Festival organised from 22 to 26 February, AONTAS launched a new research report on the outcomes and benefits of community education in Ireland. The report entitled “More than just a Course” was the first national study of its kind and was funded by the Department of Education and Skills (DES). This research explored the outcomes of DES-funded community education and looked at whether learners’ experience benefits related to:

• Civic and political engagement (e.g. voting and volunteering),
• Social engagement (e.g. developing trust and tolerance of others),
• Progression (e.g moving on to other learning) and
• Health (e.g. self-esteem and eating more nutritious foods).

 surveyed

One in four of the 673 learners said they volunteered more often after taking part in community education and the 57% who had done some voluntary work in the previous month is more than three times national rates. Half of the recent volunteers said they had worked for a social or charity organisation and religious or Church groups. Sports organisations and political or cultural groups were among the other bodies they supported.

Applying calculations of the value of volunteering and estimating that as many as half of the learners become involved in voluntary work as a result of their learning, the researchers conclude the return to the state could be somewhere between €9.1m and €28.9m a year. The Irish Department of Education and Skills spent just over €10 million in 2010 on community education initiatives delivered to almost 60,000 adults each year.

“Community education has the potential to make a significant financial return to the state in terms of the creation of volunteers in communities throughout Ireland. At the very least, it almost pays for itself in this regard,” the report states.

The study also found that the health, social and civic engagement of participants improved significantly. The results provide policy makers, providers and learners alike with evidence to make decisions about the support of community education. This information is of vital importance as difficult decisions are made about funding statutory services in the context of the current recession. Find the report at www.aontas.com.

Volunteers in Adult Education

Ireland has a long tradition of voluntarism and a strong voluntary sector providing services across the board including health, education, sport and leisure activities, culture and so on. In particular, adult and community education has traditionally been strongly dependent on volunteers to deliver its services. Until the mid-nineties, the sector commanded minimal funding but this did not deter people from creating their own learning opportunities. The last recession during the eighties saw the growth of a strong women’s community education sector as women came together in small groups to provide programmes at a local level delivered mainly by a large cohort of voluntary workers.

Before the establishment of the National Adult Literacy Programme in the late nineties, adult literacy was almost exclusively delivered by voluntary tutors. Currently it is estimated by the National Adult Literacy Agency that 4000 volunteers deliver literacy programmes to adults, amounting to 240,000 hours of unpaid service each year. Many more work in the community education sector as tutors, facilitators, organisers and support workers.

AONTAS STAR

An example of such a service was the winner of an AONTAS STAR Award at the opening of the Adult Learners’ Festival. A project providing basic education to 18-21 year olds in County Cork started in 1999 as a result of a casual conversation between the two ‘founding fathers’, one of whom had just completed early school leaving studies and the other who had returned to Ireland with considerable experience of adult literacy tuition in England. Together they formed the Ballincollig Adult Basic Education Service starting in 2000 with 6 voluntary tutors and 6 learners.

In October 2010, approximately 50-55 voluntary tutors worked with more than 200 learners providing individual and small group tuition on skills in basic literacy and numeracy, confidence building and IT. Courses accredited through the National Framework of Qualifications from levels 1 to 5 are also provided. The project is supported by the local Vocational Education Committee which provides training for the volunteers, and links are made with local youth and employment services. Examples such as this can be found all over Ireland. The current recession has also led to increases in the numbers of volunteers as unemployment rises. AONTAS is promoting volunteering as a way of keeping skills fresh, keeping connected and sharing experience and expertise.

Volunteering Ireland, as National Coordinating Body of EYV 2011, has launched a website entirely dedicated to volunteering: www.eyv2011.ie. It will be planning a series of events throughout the year which celebrate and promote volunteering in Irish society.