CCL Home > Newsroom > Speeches
It gives me enormous pleasure to be invited to speak to you at this gathering of adult education stakeholders and researchers.
First, because progress in the field of continuing learning in Canada and in Quebec is something that I care deeply about. Indeed, the creation of the Adult Learning Knowledge Centre was a very special moment for me.
That this meeting is taking place in Montreal only increases my sense of satisfaction. On a number of occasions in the past, even when there was little political, financial and organizational support for adult education in the rest of Canada, Quebec’s fruitful and inspiring efforts on its behalf were a light in the darkness. Vivid and emotive is my recollection of the founding conference of the Adult Learning Knowledge Centre almost five years ago. Vivid because of the sense of empowerment that was achieved in so many minds and hearts—the feeling of possibility raised up for people who might previously have apprehended to be on the outside of education systems, peering through glazed, hazy and impenetrable windows.
Emotive because of the impact on us of the personal stories of learning that we heard—experience that propelled learners to professional and personal success of which they had previously only dreamed. This was proof positive of the transformative power of learning.
Since that time, through your efforts and those of colleagues across Canada, a vibrant network of support for adult learning has sprung up. There are many more stories of professional success and personal satisfaction for mature Canadian learners. There has also been a landmark national report on prior learning recognition by the Halifax Centre, a contribution not only of high quality and resonance for adult learners; but which also achieves a scope of analysis and international example that should help us chart a national course for portfolio learning.
So, I wish to seize this occasion to salute you and your colleagues across Canada who have built—through your commitment, your passion, your skills and knowledge—the powerful adult learning platform that has been represented by the Adult Learning Knowledge Centre.
I have come to think of this field as a million acts of adult learning—each perhaps a small event in the overall scheme of life, yet each contributory in its own way. I recall having been asked by a journalist at the time of this year’s launch of CLI what possible difference to learning could be made by her attendance at the local museum. “None at all at first glance, perhaps” I replied, “until you think of all the other similar deeds you undertake as a continuous learner, and those of your neighbours and community. In observing these, you begin to discern the notion of a culture of learning.”
If we think about the encouraging number of people whose lives have been altered by educational experience later in life, after their initial schooling, then we appreciate the transformative power of learning.
I am often asked at present to discuss important roles of formal and informal education in turbulent economic times and will do so shortly—and yet, I must first remind us not only that all epochs are turbulent, but also that the fundamental thrust of a learning culture in the modern world is equally and fundamentally applicable no matter what economic conditions prevail at any particular juncture.
On November 14, 2008, I published on the CCL website a short commentary entitled “The Role of CCL in a Period of Economic Challenges,” in which I hoped in part to set the stage for renewal of governmental resourcing for continuation of the unique function of CCL in support of a distinctively Canadian learning culture—a moment at which swine flu had not yet made its appearance. I wrote:
“The world is in transition in so many ways, and the rate of change may appear forbidding to many of us. But one of the welcome challenges is the growing shift from carbon energy to human energy. CCL’s work responds to the need for effective development of our country’s people—whether Canadian born or recently arrived in this country. “CCL provides evidence for informed decisions by learners and potential learners, by educators and employers and by governments. Its contributions extend far beyond the short term, to build a long term, sustainable advantage for our country. “My studies in medicine, with specialisation in Community Health and Epidemiology, instilled in me an abiding interest in the history of disease and of humankind’s attempts to avert or control illness. The influenza pandemic of 1918–1919 claimed the lives of tens of millions of people around the world. At that time few resources were available to investigate the dynamics of how disease spread and how to diminish transmission of disease. Had countries had greater resources and a greater capacity to organize a response, the outcomes would have been far less devastating. Think back to the SARS crisis in 2003, which commanded investment of considerable resources in a short time frame to prevent widespread transmission in Canada.
“Our society makes valiant efforts to understand the origin of both transmissible and chronic diseases. We invest in agencies such as the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) which gathers information about health care services and overall population health. Why? Because evidence is the key to understanding. Understanding is fundamental to tracking and controlling. And evidence and understanding are the scales on which different and opposing results hang in the balance.
“Today, not to invest in generating such evidence and understanding is unthinkable, even in times of financial stringency: the stakes are too high.” And we have seen that in the unusually non partisan concurrence of all political parties in dealing with the outbreak of swine flu.
“Learning and health care differ in many respects, but they are equally significant to the destiny of societies. In each case, pivotal to progress and successful outcomes is the availability of adequate information and independent analysis—through evidence. This is the reason why Canada cannot afford NOT to continue its investment in lifelong learning through CCL ….
“In challenging economic times, CCL is part of the solution. Investment in human capital will distinguish successful societies from their competitors. Those economies that are supported by powerful learning systems will perform best in good times and in bad. CCL represents a principal means for Canada to measure its progress in learning, and based on that evidence, take the short and long term steps that will sustain our economic growth and our social fabric.”
In fact, the work of an organization like CCL is always essential, whether the economy is expanding or in difficulty. Only this kind of organization is in a position to ensure the monitoring, information, research, knowledge mobilization and capacity building that we need.
Our monitoring and statistical studies of Canada’s progress in lifelong learning have had the effect of making CCL better known to the general public. Through these studies, along with our reports on post-secondary education, early childhood learning and development, literacy and adult learning and the Composite Learning Index, CCL contributes to a clearer picture of Canada’s strengths and weaknesses in comparison with other countries, as well as charting our progress over time. CCL concentrates primarily on the Canada-wide situation; we do not compare the performances of educational institutions or of the provinces and territories. We are interested in the development of Canada as a whole in the field of learning.
Our mandate in research and knowledge mobilization leads CCL to tackle the most important learning issues, those that are most likely to influence strategies and planning. Strategies are not exclusively for governments; parents make use of strategies, as do workers, unions and many other stakeholders. CCL’s major contribution to research and knowledge mobilization is to analyze practices and approaches employed at every stage of learning, starting from early childhood, and everywhere that learning happens, whether at school or in the workplace. The goal: identify the most effective practices, those most conducive to success. What really works, and why?
Capacity building depends on developing information and carrying out studies and research based on daily realities. All of the intellectual work carried out as part of this effort is for the purpose of capacity building. In the final analysis, it comes down to getting Canadian society as a whole, and not just a few policy groups, to recognize the importance of learning. The achievements of the Adult Learning Knowledge Centre are a perfect example of capacity building.
Twinned to the unique functions of CCL is the philosophical or conceptual foundation underpinning all of its work.
One aspect of that basis emerges from my characterisation of the monitoring and research function: we believe that it is through national information and analysis on learning that Canada will set optimal conditions for improved learning throughout the country. Pan Canadian coherence in policy, and cooperation and action will be driven by establishing national means of analysis. And this is truly independent of legal and constitutional structures, if we can agree on benchmarks of progress and set goals for the future on a national basis—as do all other developed countries.
On our ability to act coherently and cohesively in learning on a national basis depends our likelihood of succeeding as a prosperous and vibrant society. Lots of folk confuse destiny with bad management. It is bad management not to construct the coherent pan Canadian learning architecture that would encourage societal success.
The second basic characteristic of CCL’s approach is that it conceives of learning in the broadest possible sense, expanded far beyond the classroom model. CCL supports the international vision of learning expressed in UNESCO’s landmark report establishing four key pillars of learning: learning to know (structured education), learning to do (acquiring skills and abilities), learning to be (personal development) and learning to live together (creating the social environment most favourable to learning). The Composite Learning Index reflects this vision, which is grounded in the understanding of basic human needs and motivations. The CLI provides Canadians in every community in the country with numerical ratings on the state of learning in their region. The Index may have been inspired by international experience, but it was developed and perfected in Canada. Its rapid spread all over Europe, as a result of partnerships between CCL and organizations there, demonstrates that the expanded vision of learning on which it is based strikes a universal chord.
A distinct challenge presented itself at the inception of CCL as the first national independent organisation with a remit as described; the needs and expectations—given the enormous gaps on pan Canadian learning information—have been as huge as those lacunae. Consequently, CCL’s audience is vast in scope, responding to needs from government policy makers to persons at the bus stop whose interest is in making best decisions for their children’s schooling. Between the extremes of societal audiences at one end and individuals in the other lie most of our partners; they are labour unions, business groups, municipalities, civic groups, aboriginal organizations, educational institutions and groupings and NGOs of many types.
CCL’s goal in bridging policy concerns to issues in individuals’ daily lives has been to relate the two, so that an understanding develops about how policy will affect individuals and groups. But we also attempt very consciously to strike a balance in our efforts between providing the analysis that policy makers require for informed decisions and providing the tools that communities and individuals can use in improving their own learning through their own efforts. Much of our monitoring and reporting and some of our research support policy. The series of tool boxes for individuals and communities now emerging from CCL includes:
The argument for emphasis on learning and on the role in support of it that we all can play scintillates even more during tumultuous economic times.
The road to economic recovery is not just about filling potholes and repairing bridges. It must include a plan for skills infrastructure as well.
Human infrastructure will help us to respond to immediate crisis and to ensure sustainable growth—the conditions for future success.
That is how you build a resilient workforce: the ability to anticipate change and adapt to the new economic context.
We characterise human infrastructure in relation to learning as not an afterthought when all other necessary investments have been made. In both the short and the long term, learning creates the skilled workforce needed for the country’s prosperity.
In a time of heightened pressure on government purse strings, it reduces burdens on the health-care system through improved health literacy, reduces crime rates and stimulates economic growth through increased productivity and innovation. As an example, adult literacy affects GDP more than most other investments. Research indicates that a 1% rise in literacy produces a 1.5% increase in GDP per capita and a 2.5% improvement in labour productivity.
When we emerge from this downturn, we will have even more pronounced shortages of critical skills: engineering, health professions, skilled trades, high tech—unless we use the period that this reduced economic pace now affords us.
In this country there is a gap between skills and jobs: we cannot have jobs without people and people without jobs.
Human and learning infrastructure and architecture is not just, or even, about spending more money. It is about spending smarter: we require sets of clear, shared and agreed indicators and measures to allow for continuous national assessment of progress and performance towards accepted goals.
The European Union furnishes an example of that which we must achieve in Canada. Sixteen indicators on education and training agreed and common to member countries include: information and communication technologies skills, language skills, mobility of students across the EU, adult skills, investment in education and training, number of graduates from higher education; proportion of GDP expended on research and innovation.
Benchmarks and targets are also held in common across Europe and are measured and reported publicly both for the EU as a whole and for each member country. For example: targeting for 2010 a 15% increase in the number of tertiary graduates in mathematics, science and technology; or 12.5% adult participation rate in lifelong learning programs.
Not all EU goals will be achieved, either for the Union as a whole or for the country. However, it is the very process of establishing targets and reporting transparently on them that will drive Europe forward in their building of human infrastructure.
What could Canada accomplish immediately to improve our human infrastructure?
In a knowledge society, knowing how to learn is perhaps the quintessential skill. The aspiration is that we can assist in creating those optimal learning conditions.
Our voice, our contribution nationally, is only a modest constituent part of what we hope will be a growing harmony of efforts to move up the Canadian learning curve.
Top