On an integration site in Côtes-d’Armor, a technical supervisor notices that an employee systematically bypasses written safety sheets. He does not read them because he cannot read. The fight against illiteracy often begins with this type of situation, far from grand statements, in a workshop, an employment office, or a municipal training room.
Territorial mapping of illiteracy: targeting before acting
ANLCI, Insee, and DEPP have developed a method to identify territories that combine factors associated with illiteracy: low diploma levels, an aging population, isolation, or educational paths started abroad. This approach does not directly measure illiteracy from one municipality to another, but it allows for targeting interventions where needs are most concentrated.
By 2026, ANLCI made available around a hundred departmental sheets incorporating these indicators. The most exposed departments can now adjust their training programs based on localized data rather than national averages.
For associations and local authorities, these sheets change the game. We move from intuition-based management to data-driven management. Organizations like those referenced on encrages.org leverage this type of territorialized approach to adapt their programs to the realities on the ground.
Illiteracy at work: detection and training in companies
The professional world is a blind spot. A person with illiteracy often holds a job for years, having developed workaround strategies: memorizing procedures, relying on a colleague, avoiding written tasks. The problem becomes visible when the company digitizes or when a job change requires new skills.
Detecting does not mean stigmatizing. Discussing reading shortcomings remains taboo in a professional context. Proximity supervisors, HR managers, and training referents play a key role, provided they are trained themselves to detect weak signals.
The most common signals in companies:
- An employee who systematically refuses internal training requiring writing, without apparent explanation
- Recurring errors on order forms, tracking sheets, or written safety instructions
- A marked dependence on a colleague for any administrative task, even simple ones
OPCOs (skills operators) fund basic skills training programs directly in companies. These trainings often take place during work hours, in small groups, with adapted materials. We do not ask a skilled worker to return to school: the training starts from their daily professional gestures.
Digital illiteracy and digital skills: the new frontier
Illiteracy is no longer limited to paper. Digital illiteracy, meaning the difficulty in using everyday digital tools, affects a significant part of the population. Filing taxes online, making a medical appointment on Doctolib, responding to a job offer on a platform: all these actions require the ability to read, write, and navigate a screen.
Digital inclusion without mastery of writing is a dead end. Training someone to use a tablet while they cannot decipher a form is like building a floor without foundations. The most effective programs combine the acquisition of basic skills (reading, writing, arithmetic) and digital initiation in the same pathway.
The Lifelong Learning survey, conducted by Insee and DEPP in partnership with ANLCI, has updated national data on adults’ skills in reading, writing, arithmetic, and Internet use. The first results, released in April 2024, confirm that difficulties with writing and digital difficulties largely overlap.
Local actions against illiteracy: what works on the ground
Programs that produce results share some common characteristics. They can be observed in both associative structures and programs led by local authorities.
- A grounding in the person’s daily life: we do not work on abstract texts but on real documents (administrative mail, medication instructions, employment contracts)
- Individualized support that respects the learning pace, without imposing certification objectives too early
- An articulation with other barriers (mobility, housing, health) because illiteracy is rarely an isolated issue
- A partnership among local actors: libraries, social centers, local missions, integration companies
In Nouvelle-Aquitaine, ANLCI has strengthened its regional presence to coordinate these actors. Cap Métiers, the regional agency for orientation and training, emphasizes that illiteracy is at the root of many other barriers to employment. Without mastery of writing, access to vocational training, a driver’s license, or administrative procedures remains blocked.
The National Days of Action Against Illiteracy (JNAI), held every year in September, provide visibility for these initiatives. The broad mobilization of associative and institutional actors across the territory enhances the impact of these annual events.
The fight against illiteracy cannot be won with a single national plan. It progresses when a trainer adapts an exercise to the profession of their trainee, when a media library opens a reading workshop for adults without requiring formal registration. It also advances when a company agrees to free up two hours a week for its employees to improve.
It is a work of local networking, patient, and structurally underfunded. Feedback from the field shows that each successful individual journey permanently alters a person’s trajectory.
