Despite his age, Gaetano Falzon, 53, who is illiterate, does not feel it is too late to go back to school and learn how to write. On the contrary, he knows he has no choice if he is to find employment.

Mr Falzon was a shipbuilding worker, who took advantage of the early retirement scheme, only to find that he could not land a job without being literate.

"I'm a carpenter, but, these days, everyone needs certificates - no matter what the job is. I have no choice but to improve my writing skills," he said. "Today's world requires it!"

"I don't remember if I knew how to read and write as a child, but I never needed to on the job. So, as the years went by, I lost the skill.

"I could only help my children with sums. But, today, my 10-year-old son and I study and learn together and it encourages him."

Mr Falzon was sent to the Paulo Freire Institute by the Employment and Training Corporation, and plans to follow other ETC courses.

"It was hard to start and I used to be embarrassed, but we help each other in the course and I have no problems talking about my illiteracy," which is what he did at a seminar on Literacy and the Right to an Education yesterday.

The annual seminar is organised by the Paulo Freire Institute, whose executive director, Fr Edgar Busuttil, SJ, was praised for the sterling work he was carrying out in the field of education.

The seminar questioned why some students still left school without knowing how to read and write; whether the educational system was up to date with today's needs; whether competitive exams after Year VI were helping children in their education; how parents and teachers could work together; and whether children, the adults of the future, were being prepared for the working world.

The seminar was also addressed by 35-year-old Anthony Miles, who also fell through the literacy net and was trying to catch up.

"I used to know how to read and write until I was six. But then, I just blanked out and the teachers at my school in Yorkshire (the UK) simply never bothered about me.

"I've been unemployed for four years now. Before then, I was a porter in a hotel, but had problems due to my illiteracy, although I never told anyone."

Speaking about how schools in Malta were promoting literacy and what more could be done to help those who had difficulties reading and writing, area secondary school head Angela Callus noted a slight anti-school, anti-establishment culture, lingering on from the past, in schools located in villages, where the approach to education was more traditional.

She found it alarming that an anti-school culture still existed among pockets of the students (and their parents) in her all-girls school.

They just refused to learn, she said, worried about their future. Many had major social problems and were unable to concentrate on their studies, she pointed out. They were angry girls, who vented their rage on everyone at school, she said, adding that social problems of the sort seemed to be on the rise. In these situations, services set up to help were sometimes seen as humiliating, Ms Callus said.

Dr Charles Mifsud from the university's Literacy Unit said the results of a value added study, monitoring progress in literacy in students between seven and 10 years old, were being fed back to schools so that they could adopt strategies to promote a better level of literacy.

The study was carried out in conjunction with the Education Division among all seven-year-olds in 1999 and again when they were 10.

The unit was also looking at models of good practice to disseminate among the schools, Dr Mifsud said.

Speaking about dyslexia, the co-ordinator of the Specific Learning Difficulties service, Christine Firman, also stressed that it was "never too late to learn". With the right teaching methods and support from the family, or the work environment, everything was possible.

What was important was that employers understood their dyslexic employees, she insisted.