Some Realities of Working in Adult Literacy: Snapshots from Focused
on Practice
Newfoundland and Labrador: “The
bulk of literacy programs are provided by community –based
organizations that may or may not receive funding for the literacy
work they do. These programs are of ten run by volunteers and some
have a minimal core staff person who is paid far less than their
professionally recognized counterparts at colleges and school boards.”
PEI: “The practitioners
who facilitate these programs are hired by Holland College and
require a PEI Teacher's Licence as well as experience or formal
training in adult education. They are hired on short-term contracts
and receive health and retirement benefits. The instructors in
this setting have generally been par t of the system for several
years and are comfortable with that arrangement. Their issues are
not so much around the terms of their employment as they are around
the methods and supports needed to help those with low literacy
skills to move forward.”
In New Brunswick, most teachers in the more than
100 Community Adult Learning Programs “have Education degrees
or other relevant post-secondary education. They are paid $14.14
per hour for 35 hours a week” for 34 weeks between mid-September
and June.
In Nova Scotia literacy practitioners perceive
that there is “a ‘two-tier ’ system of literacy
delivery…in the province, with institution-based adult educators
having more status and being much better paid than community-based
practitioners, even when delivering the same Level 3 curriculum….
In spite of these concerns, one of the common themes that emerged
at focus group meetings that brought people together from community
and institutional groups was the surprising similarity of their
issues and the need for continued connection and sharing of information.”
Nunavut: “Most
literacy programs offered at the Community Learning Centres must
rely on short term third-party project-based funding…. Adult
Educators must compete in a formal process that includes the submission
of proposals…. With an increased awareness of literacy needs,
competition for these funds has increased over the last few years.
However, the amount available in each fund has remained unchanged.”
In the NWT, “[m]ost adult educators work
alone. They have to address a broad range of needs, from low-level
literacy, to GED, to preparation for apprenticeship examinations.
They often feel ver y isolated, and are able to come together only
once or twice a year on their respective campuses. Some campuses
have instituted buddy systems or regular teleconferences to bridge
the isolation. Given the distances and the costs of travel, face-to-face
meetings are prohibitively expensive.”
At a National Aboriginal Literacy Gathering in
2002, practitioners reported that “funding criteria often
precluded literacy programming in Aboriginal languages except in
the territories, where Aboriginal languages are official. A handful
of programs in other provinces were creative in how they incorporated
Aboriginal language literacy. Most certainly, practitioners were
doing their level best to ensure that methodologies and resources
were at least culturally relevant, if not culture-based. However,
such resources were minimal, and often required that practitioners ‘burn
the midnight oil’ to produce them.”
Manitoba: “In
recent years community programs have felt increasingly beleaguered
by accountability requests. They do not feel their training and
learning needs are met and are concerned about how to provide quality
instruction and quality programming that meets learners’ needs
(including appropriate supports such as travel and child care).”
Saskatchewan: “Many
CBOs [community-based organizations] and regional colleges rely
heavily on volunteer tutors. This allows them to serve the diverse
learners in their programs, including ESL learners, in a more cost-effective
manner. Although there are advantages to this approach, there are
also concerns. Over the last few years many organizations have
noticed a shortage of volunteers. Some programs do not have the
staff needed to effectively support the numbers of tutors and learners
in their programs. Additionally, it is often the highest need learners
who end up in volunteer programs and these learners may need more
support than can be expected of an average volunteer tutor.”
British Columbia: “In
contrast to the optimistic picture of the BC economy, there are
many still-growing and unmet needs in the BC literacy field. Funding
for program development and expansion for the secondary and post-
secondary institutional programs is limited or lacking for the
community literacy programs. This fiscal insecurity for literacy
programs has a serious impact on literacy workers and their programs
throughout BC.”
Ontario: “The
literacy practitioners contacted in this project talked about the
heavy demands of this accountability framework . They described
a sense of exhaustion at meeting all the administrative and reporting
tasks expected by funders while trying to meet the needs of learners
who often face personal crises, all on very limited resources.
In particular, practitioners talked about the lack of resources
and poor working conditions. They described a sense that there
is always more work for less money and that they constantly have
to justify their existence.”
SOURCE:
Snapshots of Our Reality. In Jenny Horsman and Helen Woodrow (eds.),
Focused on Practice: A Framework for Adult Literacy
Research in Canada (2006).
Vancouver: Literacy BC.
Canada lacks an adult literacy system
As the provincial snapshots reveal, adult literacy is a patchwork,
often charity-based, remedial “system.” The patchwork
includes programs run by community-based organizations, school
boards, community colleges and workplace programs run by business
and unions. Some programs focus on family literacy, youth or specific
language groups. There is very little “system” to support
students moving from one program to another, from basic literacy
to adult basic education or upgrading, or to job or career training.
Very few programs across the country have adequate or stable funding.
Over the last ten years, changing measures of literacy have created
a bigger “literacy” problem. In 1989, the National
Literacy Secretariat asked Statistics Canada to profile Literacy
Skills Used in Daily Activities (LSUDA). The survey was based on
the idea of literacy as a continuum rather than something people
did or did not have. LSUDA concluded that 7% of Canadians couldn't
read at all, that 9% were barely literate, and that 22% of adults
were not literate enough for success. The first IALS study (Statistics
Canada, 1996) ranked adults at various levels of proficiency: 22%
of Canadians were at the lowest level, 26% were at level 2, and
proposed that both levels would benefit from instruction. At the
same time resources for literacy programs largely stayed the same.
Programs were given no increases to enable them to meet this growing
need. Awareness of the complexity of adult literacy issues and
of the importance of alternative approaches continues to be limited.
Access to programs is inadequate: less than 1% of Canadians ranked
in levels 1 and 2 (Statistics Canada, 1996) attend adult literacy
programs.
The provincial and territorial snapshots reveal that:
• Most practitioners work in positions that expect them to
assume a great range of responsibilities with few supports.
• Practitioners in many parts of the country work part-time
for relatively low pay.
• Programs in many parts of the country rely on year-to-year
grant funding.
• Many practitioner networks rely on project funding and
must recast their work each year as a special project rather than
as ongoing work.
This excerpt is from:
Horsman, Jenny (2006). A National Snapshot. In Jenny Horsman and
Helen Woodrow (eds.), Focused on Practice: A Framework for
Adult Literacy Research in Canada. Vancouver: Literacy BC,
85.
SOURCES:
Statistics Canada and National Literacy Secretariat. (1996). Reading
the future: A portrait of literacy in Canada. Ottawa: Statistics
Canada
