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“Always loved dogs, but never thought I’d be able for a course. Now I’d like to do another course relating to animals” – Laura, adult learner
Many adult learners find it easier to engage with learning when it connects to something they enjoy. For this project, animal welfare was the starting point.
The Canine Care Guide project supported adults returning to education. This project used the topic of dog care to build literacy, numeracy, and digital skills.
Learners worked through practical topics like feeding, health care, space, and enrichment—while also learning how to use computers, write short texts, do basic sums, and understand legal responsibilities such as the Animal Welfare Act.
This programme was developed with Dogs Trust Ireland and took place at City of Dublin FET College Finglas, Barry Rd., Northwest Campus (Adult Education Service Finglas) from September to December 2024. A workbook was created using universal design principles so that it would be easy to read and use for everyone.
The workbook will be launched in 2025 as a resource for local groups, community partners, and schools.
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"I haven’t touched a computer in years. Now I can look things up online, type projects, and send emails.” – Brian, adult learner
This project was a collaboration between City of Dublin Further Education and Training College Finglas (Adult Education Service Finglas) and Dogs Trust.
For more information about the project, please contact Andrew Connolly, Regional Literacy Coordinator in City of Dublin ETB, at andrew.connolly@aes.cdetb.ie
The Adult Literacy for Life Collaboration and Innovation Fund
The Collaboration and Innovation Fund supports projects for adults with unmet literacy, numeracy and digital literacy needs and projects that support organisations to be literacy friendly. The closing date for 2024 applications has now passed but keep an eye out for information on our 2025 fund which will be launched in December.
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