Functional illiteracy has become a
\nwidespread topic in Romania in recent years. At first, the existence of this
\nglobal phenomenon was regarded with skepticism in our country, although international
\nPISA, PILS and TIMSS testing indicated that as much as 42% of Romanian pupils
\nunder 15 could not read, had difficulty understanding written texts and also
\nhad major shortcomings in assimilating scientific information. Gradually, the
\npublic and government institutions started growing more aware of functional
\nilliteracy. Today, after two years of online schooling, which has amplified
\neducational gaps, the problem can no longer be avoided. A recent study
\nconducted by the BRIO digital testing platform was analyzed by the Education
\nMinistry in order to streamline testing mechanisms across public schools. The
\nreport on literacy confirmed that over 40% of pupils had trouble assimilating
\nvarious information and skills taught in schools. The pupils were tested online
\nby means of 40,000 free tests provided by BRIO. University lecturer Drago\u0219 Iliescu, the creator of this platform
\nand an expert in psychology and teaching, explains how pupils were tested.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
They were each rated with a score from
\n0 to 100. Then we broke down the level of literacy in several categories: the
\ncompletely illiterate level from 0 to 20, followed by the minimum literacy
\nlevel and an acceptable literacy level. We picked a sample population of 31
\nthousand pupils that would give us a fair share of representation for the final
\nresults. The final score was 26.9 points. On a scale from 0 to 100, this puts
\nthe pupils a little above the completely illiterate threshold. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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\n
<\/p>\n
This means that, on average, pupils’
\ncognitive abilities are on a fine line between literacy and illiteracy. Exactly
\nhow this score is translated into school performance we found out from Drago\u0219 Iliescu. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Right now we’re only looking at that
\npercentage of the population that is rated in the functional illiteracy area,
\nwhich stands at 42% in our study. 47% is the share of those who are in-between functional
\nand dysfunctional. Only 11% are highly functional illiterates. This is a
\nworrying figure, because it shows we have a big percentage below this mark.
\nBesides, the number of people who are rated as dysfunctional illiterates does
\nnot differ radically from one age category to the next: 37% at the age of six
\ncompared to 41% in 14-year-olds. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Another fact that confirms the findings
\nof the literacy report is the gap between boys and girls, the former being much
\nbetter trained than the latter in the same age bracket. The only element that
\nhas not been fully confirmed is the link between the degree of social and
\neconomic development of a region and its degree of functional illiteracy. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I discovered something unexpected,
\nnamely that regions with high poverty rates didn’t have a high degree of
\nilliteracy, correlated with their economic performance, contrary to my
\nexpectations. Interestingly enough, our data did not confirm this, which makes
\nit a social problem. Another thing which is unreasonable is to expect the
\nministry to solve this problem. People in Romania always think ‘this isn’t my
\nproblem, it’s the education. Whoever’s in charge of education, namely the
\nministry, should deal with it’. It’s exactly what’s wrong about the way parents
\napproach school, which has been confirmed by many surveys. As a parent, it’s
\nunreasonable to expect the school to solve your kid’s drawbacks and problems.
\nThis will never happen. It’s time civil society stepped up. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
To this end, we should better understand
\nthe root causes behind this phenomenon. Lumini\u021ba Costache from UNICEF Romania
\ndescribes it as learning
\npoverty. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
More often than not, when we speak
\nabout the right to education, we tend to think more about access and often
\noverlook participation or the quality of education. These three elements are
\nintertwined – you can’t have access to education without a proper participation
\nand a high quality of the education process. This leads to the kind of results
\nthe report points to. I would like to introduce a term that has been circulated
\na lot globally, and which is relatively unknown in Romania – learning
\npoverty. It’s an indicator measuring
\nilliteracy in children under 10. Romania doesn’t fare well in this respect.
\nOver 20% of children in Romania suffer from learning poverty. 7% of children of
\nprimary school level are not enrolled in the system. Why is learning poverty so
\nimportant? We often speak about poverty, and studies reveal that financial
\npoverty affects children in Romania to a large extent. A recent report drafted
\nby UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank shows the lifelong economic impact on an
\nindividual affected by learning poverty. Basically, this drawback extends to
\nthe entire lifespan of the person’s adult life, and worse, it can be passed on
\nto future generations. While reports often speak about education as the most
\nsustainable road to prosperity, they should also say it’s the most sustainable
\nway out of poverty. Eliminating learning poverty leads to financial
\nprosperity. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The report on literacy in Romania was
\ndrafted jointly with the Education Ministry, meaning the phenomenon has started
\nto sink in at institutional level as well. Countermeasures are expected to
\nemerge starting next year, by changing the way pupils are tested, which is
\nhopefully but the first stage in a much broader process. (VP)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRIO drafted a comprehensive report on functional illiteracy in Romania<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":85363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[43896,34201,39830,43898,43897],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-144151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-brio","tag-education-ministry","tag-functional-illiteracy","tag-learning-poverty","tag-report-in-literacy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n