“Everyone works from isolated perspectives, yet literacy is an overlapping issue.” – Educator during Consultation

“We need more cooperation. Everyone has to play a part to ensure that varied skills are learned. Not just financial support – but emotional and physical support and encouragement. Everyone needs an opportunity to gain new skills.” – Employer in the Supplemental Business/Labour Telephone Survey

“Literacy connects, and needs to be connected, with health, learning, work, individual well-being, self-esteem, confidence, citizenship, justice, safer neighbourhoods, and sustainable communities. Otherwise, left alone, literacy becomes a marginalized activity, not an essential community and societal priority.” – Report on Literacy Practitioner and Learner Visioning Conference

The Big Picture

• While numerous programs and strategies to foster literacy and learning are in place throughout the province, they are far out-stripped by need.

• Greater inter-agency cooperation and coordination, and more of a community-based approach to intervention, are necessary. Effective interventions around literacy require collaboration among government agencies, training providers, and business and labour.

• Collaboration is hampered by issues of trust, time, resources, and rivalries over funding. Confidentiality issues are also problematic.

• Throughout the province, Regional Literacy Coordinators play a meaningful role – but are significantly under-resourced.

• Despite the mutual benefit they would derive from working together on basic skills upgrading and workplace learning strategies, tensions between labour and management continue to impede action.

• Partnerships and collaboration around literacy and learning do exist throughout the province and provide a rich variety of models on which we can build, including:
  • collaborative education delivery
  • “in kind” contribution arrangements
  • program-specific partnerships
  • partnerships with First Nations
  • educator/employer partnerships
  • labour/management partnerships
  • dialogue, liaison, and referral
  • strategic alliances and “learning community” initiatives