News & Views on Literacy

| Literacy as important as health and safety | Pioneering Manitoba program evolves | Selling learning without the L-word | New standards for Aboriginal learning | An urgent need for cooperation | Fort Erie first as a ‘learning community’ |

Literacy as important as health and safety

Following an evaluation of its national literacy program, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Canada’s largest union, plans further enhancements.

CUPE plans to set up pilot projects to deal with clear language in specific areas such as grievance procedures. It’s also proposing four regional forums to help centralize training of its members on the principles of clear language and working with management on literacy and basic-skills initiatives.

CUPE’s findings about its program are outlined in Evaluation of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Literacy Program, Summary Report (August, 2006) by Bev Burke, available at www.cupe.ca. Launched in 2000, the program has received funding from provinces and from the National Literacy Secretariat (now the National Office of Literacy and Learning), has worked collaboratively with the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators on numerous literacy programs and has, with the Canadian Labour Congress, encouraged labour-management workplace-literacy and clear-language initiatives. Speaking of the report’s findings, Sylvia Sioufi, CUPE’s National Literacy Coordinator, says: “One thing that surprised us was how much the issue of literacy resonates with our members and locals. It’s up there with bread-and-butter issues like health and safety.”

Sioufi adds that CUPE is involving itself more in community literacy programs as part of a worker-centred approach that looks holistically at the benefits employees receive from more proficient literacy and basic skills. “The connection to the broader literacy movement has only recently become a priority,” she says, “and that’s tied to the union’s strategic priority of building strong communities.”

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Pioneering Manitoba program evolves

Sandi Howell

A 16-year-old consortium of business, labour and government recognized as an influential model for the development of workplace literacy and essential skills in Canada continues to change with the times.

Workplace Education Manitoba Steering Committee (WEMSC), which formerly focused only on workplace literacy and upgrading essential skills, has in the last few years “morphed into workforce literacy,” says Sandi Howell, Provincial Coordinator of Essential Skills and Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition for Manitoba Competitiveness, Training and Trade.

While workplace literacy is still very much part of the mix, says Howell, the added attention to the unemployed and those facing job change reflects the changing landscape. “In businesses and educational institutions, there is increasingly the idea that we need to prepare people for the workforce by ensuring that they meet the essential skills demanded by employers. Regardless of the sector and the size of the company, whether urban or rural, you will hear employers say they want people who can communicate verbally, work with other people and employ problem-solving and decision-making skills.”

The prose and document-reading skills, numeracy and problem-solving skills reported in the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS) are important indicators of what would meet employer requirements, but these should not be considered in isolation. “The focus should be on the specific tasks demanded on the job and work context where IALSS testing would have some bearing.”

Using a process that has influenced the development of workplace and work force essential skills in other jurisdictions, including Alberta, Nova Scotia and PEI, WEMSC identifies the skills needed on a job from the employee and management perspectives, and makes an assessment of the gap between skills available and skills needed. The committee has helped numerous companies, including Boeing Canada Technology, New Flyer Industries, Loewen, Great West Life and IGA.

For a review of WEMSC’s work and contributions, see A Case Study on the Workplace Education Manitoba Steering Committee (WEMSC) and its Work: 1991-2006, prepared by Sue Folinsbee of Tri En Communications. Go to: http://triencommunications.com/publications

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Selling learning without the L-word

Almost 5 million working-age Canadian adults are marginally literate, which means below the ‘job standard’ level necessary to function fully in the workforce. Many of these do not perceive themselves as literacy challenged, and as such represent a silent majority of adults who will not respond well to the idea of literacy classes. In response, the Conference Board of Canada (CBOC) suggests that employers present programs that emphasize such essential workplace skills as communication and teamwork, but drop the word ‘literacy’ from course descriptions. “This strategy can make literacy programs appear more germane to employees who might otherwise consider them irrelevant to their needs and abilities,” CBOC says in Literacy, Life and Employment: An Analysis of Canadian International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) Microdata

This is one recommendation in CBOC’s study of adults scoring in the high Level 2 literacy range (scores between 226 and 300), a target group of 4.7 million Canadians who would require a relatively small investment in training. “The good point about higher Level 2 [people] is that they do have some literacy skills, and it wouldn’t take that much to push them over the edge into Level 3 [over a score of 300],” says Alison Campbell, CBOC’s Senior Research Associate and co-author, with Natalie Gagnon, of the report.

Among other findings: the higher Level 2s are more likely to be unemployed compared to those scoring well into Level 3 (10 per cent unemployed vs. 4 per cent); they are likely to have less education (44 per cent did not complete high school vs. 10 per cent in the higher-scoring group); and, while having about the same amount of reading materials in their homes, spend more time watching TV or videos than reading.

While not meeting Level 3 standards (the minimum required to function well with the demands of the workplace, according to Statistics Canada and the OECD), the Level 2 group is “overly confident” when assessing their own abilities. More than 80 per cent rate their literacy skills as good or excellent for their main job, and more than 80 per cent believe their reading, writing and math skills do not limit their opportunities.

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Fort Erie first as a ‘learning community’

An experiment is underway in Fort Erie, ON that could provide a blueprint for municipal literacy programs across Canada.

The town has taken a lead role to develop a literacy agenda with literacy groups (such as Literacy Link Niagara and the Adult Literacy Council of Greater Fort Erie), public schools and community colleges, literacy advocates, libraries and special-interest groups. Mayor Wayne Redekop is championing the process, which had its genesis six years ago at a Bathurst, NB conference of the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) that gave birth to the idea of “literate cities”, and then of “learning communities.”

In 2003, CAMA struck a national committee that solicited ideas about how a “learning community” might work. Fort Erie is the first experiment in practice. Its organizing committee for a two-year pilot project is awaiting approval of additional funding from the National Office of Literacy and Learning (formerly the National Literacy Secretariat) for a needs assessment. The town is splitting the cost of the assessment with CAMA.

The theory of a learning community is that everyone – workers, businesses, service providers, educators, youth and seniors – cares about continuous learning and should share the responsibility for it. Promoting lifelong learning makes a real difference in all areas of people’s lives – as citizens, in their jobs and in the economy. “In early meetings [of the Fort Erie committee], individual groups naturally brought their own ideas and needs to the table,” says Patricia Nutter, Project Director for CAMA’s workplace literacy initiatives. “But the model for a learning community has all stakeholders working together to do what is best for the whole community. This model is being watched by municipalities across the country. Nova Scotia has expressed interest in working with local governments to form learning communities.”

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