Section 1.2: Literacy in Canada
The
most recent national level data regarding literacy in Canada
comes from the 1994 International
Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) mentioned in the previous section.
As suggested by the National Literacy
Secretariat, these data indicate that:
- 22% of Canadians are at Level
1. These people have difficulty reading and have few basic
skills or strategies for decoding and working with text. Generally,
they are aware that they have a literacy problem;
- 26% of Canadians are at Level
2. These are people with limited skills who read but do
not read well. Canadians at this level can deal only with
material that is simple and clearly laid out. People at this
level often do not recognize their limitations.
- 33% of Canadians are at Level
3, which means that they can read well but may have problems
with more complex tasks. This level is considered by many
countries to be the minimum skill level for successful participation
in society.
- Only 20% of Canadians are at Levels
4 or 5. These people have strong literacy skills, including
a wide range of reading skills and many strategies for dealing
with complex materials. These Canadians can meet most reading
demands and can handle new reading challenges.
As
these data suggest, there is a substantial portion of the Canadian
population at the lower end of the literacy continuum. That
is, they cannot function well in many situations in which they
need to deal with information. Putting a more human face on
this data, what this means is that at home these individuals
are unable to help their children with homework, to write a
note to a child's teacher, read/understand the information on
medicine
bottles, do their own banking, and so on. It also means
their employment and/or academic opportunities, and so on, are
significantly reduced, their community involvement will be limited
and their self-esteem/confidence is likely to be affected. In
short, illiteracy reaches into all corners of individuals' lives
as well as those around them.
Simply
put, the main purpose of adult literacy programs is to assist
individual's to raise their level of literacy. How this is accomplished,
however, varies widely between programs depending on the curriculum
and the target population. In terms of curriculum, at present
there is no standardized curriculum at the provincial or regional
level as there is in the case of public education. As such, curriculum can and does vary from
program-to-program, region-to-region, and province-to-province.
Based on target populations, literacy programs in Canada also
vary widely and can be loosely grouped into two categories:
General Literacy - These programs are open to any adult and do
not have any particular focus other than the general improvement
of basic literacy skills. Frontier
College, for example, is a Canada-wide, volunteer-based,
literacy organization that teaches people wherever they are.
Specialized Literacy - These programs are generally open
to specific groups and have a specialized focus. Some examples
include:
·
Family
literacy - these programs offer literacy instruction
for the whole family versus adults only. Often training in parenting
is offered in addition to literacy instruction.
·
Workplace literacy
- these programs offer literacy geared toward employment. In
some cases the program will be situated at an employer's site
and will focus both on general literacy instruction (e.g., reading
skills), as well as specific literacy skills related to the
business (e.g., reading technical manuals).
·
Academic upgrading
- these programs are geared toward preparing learners for adult
high school (often referred to as Adult Basic Education [ABE]),
or a General Education Development [GED]
diploma program
·
Aboriginal literacy - these programs are specifically geared to
address the different learning styles, experiences and preferences
of Native learners
·
Life skills
& literacy - these programs offer a combination of life
skills and literacy instruction for specific at-risk populations
such as inmates in federal/provincial corrections
facilities. Another example would be family literacy programs
in which parenting classes are offered in conjunction with literacy
instruction.
·
English as
a Second Language (ESL)
& literacy programs - although learners in these programs
most often have moderate to high literacy levels in their primary
language, they are not as competent in English. Thus, these
programs necessarily combine literacy and language instruction.
The
National Literacy Secretariat (NLS)
is the primary federal government organization in the area of
literacy. It is part of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC)
and among other things, provides and administers funding for
special projects and research related to adult literacy. Project
and research monies are distributed to national, provincial,
regional or local level organizations based on an annual proposal
submission and review process. The types of projects sponsored
fall into the categories shown in the pie chart below.
NLS
also funds the National
Adult Literacy Database Inc. (NALD) which provides a single-source,
comprehensive, up-to-date and easily accessible database of
adult literacy programs, resources, services and activities
across Canada.
Non-government
literacy organizations of note at the national level include:
- ABC Canada Literacy Foundation
- a joint initiative of business and labour, supporting the
development of a fully literate Canadian population by raising
awareness in the general public and in the private sector
and by providing support to local literacy groups across the
country.
- Movement for Canadian Literacy
- a non-profit organization representing
many literacy coalitions, organizations, and individuals from
every province and territory.
- Laubach
Literacy of Canada - a national non-profit, charitable
organization committed to raising literacy levels by providing
trained tutors. Laubach provides training for people to improve
their basic and functional skills in reading, writing, speaking,
listening, numeracy and other life skills.
- Frontier
College - a Canada-wide, volunteer-based, literacy organization.
Resources:
On to Section 1.3
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(Page updated
23-Sep-2002
)
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