Measuring the impact of literacy programs on social inclusion, health and labour market participation: A study of a Dutch program

Abstract

Nowadays, 24.5% of the European population is still at risk of poverty and can be considered as citizens risking social exclusion. A low level of proficiency in literacy skills is indicated as one of the important reasons for social exclusion. It is argued that literacy programs for vulnerable adults act as a lever for the improvement of literacy and, in turn, for enhancing participants' social inclusion, health, as well as labour market position. However, to date, evidence of the impact of these programs is scarce. This study aims to fill this gap by measuring the outcomes of the Dutch program 'Language for Life' ('Taal voor het Leven'). The findings indicate that after five months, for many social inclusion indicators, more than half of the participants' group showed an increase. Improvement in physical and psychological health and labour market position is less prominent than improvement in the social inclusion indicators. This study does not only support the importance of a policy in literacy (on the national or regional level) aiming at increasing social inclusion by offering possibilities to improve language proficiency. Moreover, it aims to contribute to the investment in research aiming to monitor the outcomes of language programs.