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Individuals require a high level of literacy to take advantage of the full spectrum of opportunities available in a competitive, technologically driven, knowledge-based economy. Literacy skills are also necessary to enjoy the best possible personal health and overall quality of life.
Given Canada’s wealth and well-developed education sector, literacy rates among Canadian adults are less impressive than many would imagine. Two major international literacy surveys—the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) in 1994 and the International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (IALSS) in 2003—revealed that more than four in 10 Canadian adults aged 16 to 65 have literacy skills below the international standard considered necessary for an individual to function fully in today’s world.
Canada’s literacy challenges cannot be resolved by a single jurisdiction or sector. Rather, literacy is a shared responsibility. Only through a concerted, collaborative effort can we hope to improve literacy in all realms—and preserve Canada’s prosperity.
This special feature on literacy, part of CCL’s first annual State of Learning in Canada report, uses a host of indicators to outline the scope of Canada’s literacy challenge. It addresses the importance of literacy for individual and collective well-being, and examines some approaches to literacy adopted in other countries. The report calls for public policy reforms in Canada and a collaborative approach. Put simply, there is no room for complacency around an issue so urgent.
Literacy today means more than the ability to read and write. To succeed economically and socially, adults need the ability to analyze information, understand abstract ideas and acquire many other complex life skills.
High literacy skills are critical to a healthy economy and society. Even small changes in the literacy skills of a population can have a profound effect on a national economy. A 1% rise in literacy levels can result in a 1.5% increase in GDP per capita and a 2.5% improvement in labour productivity. Importantly, increased labour productivity was the most important driver of economic growth among most industrialized countries over the past decade.
Literacy is also important because of its impact on individuals’ employment opportunities, income, health and participation in society, which are all significant to their quality of life. In that respect, literacy is a great equalizer. It is well understood that literacy improves the efficiency of our consumer markets, especially with respect to education and health. It is far less expensive, for example, to provide education and health care to a literate population.
Between 1994 and 2003, the proportion of Canadians with high levels of literacy declined slightly—a troubling trend in an economy that depends upon skilled and knowledgeable workers.
A significant proportion of Canada’s immigrants have insufficient literacy and numeracy skills, and compared with other countries, a low proportion of Canadian adults engage in formal learning. Although the average level of literacy of Canada’s youth is among the highest in the world, they are too few in number to increase the overall proportion of adults with high literacy skills.
Until recently, economists and policy-makers have not had sufficient means or knowledge to diagnose and address Canada’s literacy problems. While our knowledge base has improved, significant challenges remain with respect to the availability, collection and analysis of vital data.
CCL has interpreted Canada’s literacy challenge in the context of the organization’s five knowledge centre themes: Aboriginal learning, early childhood learning, adult learning, work-related learning, and health and learning. For each of the first four themes, CCL has identified one defining literacy issue. For health and literacy, the implications are too broad to limit the discussion to one issue alone.
Aboriginal literacy—It is widely recognized that the adoption of languages such as English or French in Aboriginal communities and schools will help create jobs and generate investment. But it is also recognized that those benefits come at a high cultural price. The use of a language in the home largely determines whether or not that language will survive. In the 2001 Census, roughly four out of five Aboriginal people said that they speak only English or French in the home. Just one in 20 reported that they speak only an Aboriginal language at home. The implication is that a focus on English and French literacy among Aboriginal Peoples risks further eroding the vitality of Aboriginal languages, if at the same time access to Aboriginal language literacy is not maintained. Early childhood literacy—Children’s home environments—in particular the extent to which they acquire literacy skills and habits from the adults raising them—are the key to early childhood literacy. Data have shown that vocabulary in early childhood develops at widely divergent rates. This is partly because of gender (girls tend to talk at an earlier age than boys do), but mostly because of differences in socialization. Adult literacy—Both IALS and IALSS confirm that lifelong learning is the key to the preservation of high levels of literacy in adults. Formal education—even if it is well funded and of high quality—does not set a person’s literacy levels for life. Rather, people can lose the literacy skills they learned in the classroom if they fail to use those skills. Conversely, adults can improve and maintain their literacy skills through practice, even if they have only had minimal formal schooling. This fact is clearly represented by research that compares Canada’s literacy scores with those of Sweden. Sweden was the highest-scoring country on the IALS scales, while Canada was in the middle of the pack. A critical factor is that Swedish adults are far more likely to engage in lifelong learning activities (62%) than Canadians are (43%). Work and literacy—An analysis of the IALS data found that for roughly 75% of workers there is a reasonable fit between their literacy skills and the skill requirements of their jobs. However, one in five Canadian workers is in a job that does not make full use of the individual’s literacy skills. And roughly 700,000 Canadians with low prose literacy are in jobs that demand higher literacy than they possess. Health and literacy—Health literacy affects us profoundly. Health information comes from a wide range of sources, including nutrition labels on foods, medical instructions and safety instructions for using machinery and recreational vehicles. Health literacy is also critical for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including acquiring information about exercise, the risks of smoking and the overall risks of poor diet. Seniors, who represent a large and growing group in Canada, use the health-care system often and have relatively low health-literacy levels. They account for one-third of hospitalizations, and nine out of 10 report taking at least one medication. Only 12% of Canadians older than 65 has health-literacy skills considered adequate. Potential solutions include improving seniors’ literacy skills and finding better ways to communicate health information to them (e.g. the use of videos or simpler instructions).
Aboriginal literacy—It is widely recognized that the adoption of languages such as English or French in Aboriginal communities and schools will help create jobs and generate investment. But it is also recognized that those benefits come at a high cultural price. The use of a language in the home largely determines whether or not that language will survive. In the 2001 Census, roughly four out of five Aboriginal people said that they speak only English or French in the home. Just one in 20 reported that they speak only an Aboriginal language at home.
The implication is that a focus on English and French literacy among Aboriginal Peoples risks further eroding the vitality of Aboriginal languages, if at the same time access to Aboriginal language literacy is not maintained.
Early childhood literacy—Children’s home environments—in particular the extent to which they acquire literacy skills and habits from the adults raising them—are the key to early childhood literacy. Data have shown that vocabulary in early childhood develops at widely divergent rates. This is partly because of gender (girls tend to talk at an earlier age than boys do), but mostly because of differences in socialization.
Adult literacy—Both IALS and IALSS confirm that lifelong learning is the key to the preservation of high levels of literacy in adults. Formal education—even if it is well funded and of high quality—does not set a person’s literacy levels for life. Rather, people can lose the literacy skills they learned in the classroom if they fail to use those skills. Conversely, adults can improve and maintain their literacy skills through practice, even if they have only had minimal formal schooling.
This fact is clearly represented by research that compares Canada’s literacy scores with those of Sweden. Sweden was the highest-scoring country on the IALS scales, while Canada was in the middle of the pack. A critical factor is that Swedish adults are far more likely to engage in lifelong learning activities (62%) than Canadians are (43%).
Work and literacy—An analysis of the IALS data found that for roughly 75% of workers there is a reasonable fit between their literacy skills and the skill requirements of their jobs. However, one in five Canadian workers is in a job that does not make full use of the individual’s literacy skills. And roughly 700,000 Canadians with low prose literacy are in jobs that demand higher literacy than they possess.
Health and literacy—Health literacy affects us profoundly. Health information comes from a wide range of sources, including nutrition labels on foods, medical instructions and safety instructions for using machinery and recreational vehicles. Health literacy is also critical for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including acquiring information about exercise, the risks of smoking and the overall risks of poor diet.
Seniors, who represent a large and growing group in Canada, use the health-care system often and have relatively low health-literacy levels. They account for one-third of hospitalizations, and nine out of 10 report taking at least one medication. Only 12% of Canadians older than 65 has health-literacy skills considered adequate. Potential solutions include improving seniors’ literacy skills and finding better ways to communicate health information to them (e.g. the use of videos or simpler instructions).
Canada must improve the overall literacy skills of its workers to ensure we remain economically competitive on the world stage. The global supply of workers with higher levels of literacy is rising rapidly, which puts Canada at risk of losing jobs to competitors who are equally skilled, but paid lower wages.
In addition to the imperative of raising literacy levels among the Canadian population as a whole, there is a need to focus on specific groups. Investing in youth alone will not solve our literacy problems because there are simply too few students at present to improve the overall literacy statistics of the Canadian workforce. Among those Canadians facing specific challenges requiring attention are Canadian-born workers with below-adequate literacy skills, immigrant workers and Aboriginal adults.
Several countries have launched major national-scale programs aimed at increasing literacy and other skills.
These countries have much in common with Canada. They are open societies that trade in the global economy and, as such, are exposed to shifts in trade and to an increase in the international supply of economically productive skills, such as literacy. Canada should examine these and other models to inform its own approach.
It will take a concerted, collaborative effort from all sectors of society to address Canada’s literacy challenges. All levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, labour, educators and individuals have critical roles to play.
Studies have shown that the loss of literacy skills among Canadian adults between 1994 and 2003 offset the gains in skills we enjoyed owing to better quality education and higher participation in education. This is reason enough for CCL to call for recognition of literacy as a major public policy issue.
By working together in a sustained and collaborative manner, we will understand better the forces that link literacy, economic prosperity, social cohesion and social equity. We must explore further how literacy skills are transferred from generation to generation, and we must examine the major barriers to learning for adults with low literacy skills. What keeps adults from investing time, effort and money to improve these critical skills—and by consequence, their overall quality of life?
We must also profile the literacy sector. Little is known about what people spend to improve or maintain their skills, the ideal qualifications for remedial teachers and the kinds of people who participate in remedial programs.
CCL will continue to monitor and report on the state of literacy with the publication of annual literacy reviews. Additional reports will describe how the organization’s knowledge centres are approaching Canada’s literacy challenges and will help keep Canadians abreast of developments in literacy research and practice. CCL will also continue to explore what works in literacy through other publications, including its Lessons in Learning series. Through strategic relationships with a wide range of organizations and agencies, CCL encourages its partners to embed literacy as a fundamental element of their work on learning.