“There is a reluctance to divulge, to come forward. There are many hiding places for low literacy clients.” – Government Representative during Consultation

“Getting people to admit they have a problem or need to gain more skills is a big challenge.” – Employer in the Supplemental Business/Labour Telephone Survey

“The bar for literacy keeps going up. For older clients, the bar is just too high. They don’t want to go back to school, and experience doesn’t count.” – Community Development Worker during Consultation

• Many of service providers – college outreach workers, learning center staff, tutors, etc. – are concerned that they are not serving the people who need help the most. They struggle to draw people out who, for whatever reason, are not motivated to return to learning or are too fearful of doing so.

• Throughout the consultation we heard that people with low levels of literacy take a long time to build trust, connect, and come forward for help. They may not have had any reading before school and then, when they had problems in school, were made to feel they would be judged or even punished based on their ability to read or write – so they learn to isolate themselves as students, then leave school early.

• One college outreach worker said that many adults only come in the door after having got up enough nerve, but only 10% come back. Most never come back. Barriers include lack of confidence and social issues.

• In one community, a study revealed that 44% of adults (some 800 people) are without their high school diploma – yet only 12 came in to a storefront upgrading centre for upgrading.

• In one school district, we were told that there were 5 continuing education centers with teachers and assistants and they are open until 9 pm – accessible but very expensive. They take people at whatever level they are at up to Grade 12 and there are successes, but the biggest concern is all the people who don’t come forward. Many people have given up and do not see the need for upgrading. Literacy students are shy about studying with other students. They need to empathize with these clients because they are very fragile.

Setting Realistic Expectations…

• Students come into programs loaded with many issues besides just literacy – and they need to do more than just upgrade their reading and writing.

• Slow learners do not have the literacy skills to get on with life; those with less than grade 5 have reasons for low skills that are complex. There is a lot of pressure on the students because they think they are going to learn to read and it will change their life – but it is a very slow process and a long task. We need to give them clearer expectations, small successes, and be supportive.

• The biggest challenge is to nurture the trust and confidence to go into a program and hope to create an interactive, social, and participatory environment so the student will be ready for the task of learning.

• We need to recognize individual aspirations and work with that – and we must give them realistic timeframes to achieve their goals – whether it’s employment or something else.

• The issue is complex and there are no easy answers. As one person put it, “You have to feel your way through it to come up with individual solutions.”

Adjusting Our Vision

The following are our reflections on what all of the foregoing implies in terms of future action around literacy and learning in BC:

13) Continue to Promote and Implement a Learner-Centered Approach

Throughout the consultation, numerous and very specific learner-centered strategies and “best practices” were identified. Appendices A and C in particular document these in detail. We recommend the full support for all efforts to follow, implement, and expand on these. More specifically, we recommend forming a provincial group or task force who might further discuss, strategize, and report back with recommendations on some key challenges.