What’s Inside?Editorial and Speak, a poem page 2What is ANSCLO? page 3Understanding Low Literacy page 4How to Influence Policy page 8Violence and Learning page 8

Literacy...more than words on paper Spring 2010

Bringing Social Capital into the Literacy Debate by Brigid Hayes The literacy field has been working diligently for decades to present the case for public investments in literacy. In the 1990s, the International Adult Literacy Survey (and its successor survey), helped that work by situating literacy within the context of an economic system. Over the years, there has been strong evidence of the contribution of literacy to the national economy. Increases in literacy levels have been linked to increases in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and to the earnings of individuals over their lifetimes.

These economic arguments have been based on a conventional approach of literacy skills as human capital. For example,

…the recent findings from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the 2003 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL) suggest that Canada’s stock of human capital may not be increasing as rapidly as expected, at least as measured by increases in the average levels of adult literacy (Willms, 2005)1 . (emphasis added)

Last spring, Literacy Nova Scotia News published an article entitled “By the Numbers: The Economic Case for Investing in Literacy.”2 It reported on recent research that described literacy learners as a “market” and discussed

how improving the literacy outcomes of these different markets would produce various economic successes. The author acknowledges, “(w)hile not everyone will identify with the “market” approach favoured by statisticians and economists, this is another perspective on an issue that educators and learners know from the inside.”

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Literacy is the ability to use printedinformation to function in society, atwork and in the family. It is thecombination of thinking and social skills we need to analyze and use information to control our lives, achieve our goals and develop our knowledge and potential.

Literacy Nova Scotia (LNS) supportsthe literacy community in NovaScotia. Our mission is to ensure thatevery Nova Scotian has equal accessto quality literacy education.

We would like to hear from you ifyou have:• stories, news or ideas for articles• letters• announcements• new resources for adult learning• anything else others involved inliteracy would be interested in!

How to reach us...

& Literacy Nova ScotiaNSCC Truro CampusRoom 125, Forrester Hall36 Arthur StreetTruro, Nova Scotia

+ PO Box 1516Truro, NS B2N 5V2

( 902-897-2444 1-800-255-5203 Learn Line

+ 902-897-4020 fax

; literacyns@nscc.ca

: www.ns.literacy.ca Literacy Nova Scotia gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, HRSDC.

Design / Illustration: Elaine Frampton

How to Influence Policy

Havi Echenberg recently wrote in her blog (http://www.socialpolicycafe.wordpress.com/ ) sound advice about how to influence policy. Havi says she can summarize 30 years of work, in these three points:

Don’t make assumptions about the motives of others. Until given compelling evidence to the contrary, assume they are operating in good faith to further goals they believe in.Drive-by advocacy does NOT work. Without building relationships, you’re unlikely to achieve results with officials, media, or politicians. At any level. On any issue.Be very clear about what you want, and express it in a way that makes it easy for the other person to listen to it, hear it, and say “yes.”

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Great New Resources for Practitioners!

A set of 6 information sheets, Making the Connections, which focuses on violence and learning have been commissioned from Jenny Horsman and other members of Spiral Community Resource Group, for adult literacy practitioners. Each of the information sheets opens with a scenario, followed by the facts, how looking at the impact of violence supports learning, what you can do as a practitioner to help everybody learn, and where to find more information.

I’m doing everything I can, but I’m not seeing the success I hoped for

I can’t teach the students who aren’t really there

I find it hard to teach when some students are disruptive

If I find out about violence, what should I do?

I’m too tired: I’m not good at taking care of myself

I despair: What’s the point of teaching adults when nothing changes

The information sheets are available here: http://www.ns.literacy.ca/factsheets.htm

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The OECD defines Human Capital as “the knowledge, skills, competencies, and attributes embodied in individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social, and economic well-being.” Human capital is developed through learning within the family and childcare; through formal education; in the workplace; and through informal learning. Literacy and other essential skills are part of human capital.

Social Capital is defined as “networks together with shared norms, values, and understandings that facilitate co-operation within or among groups.” Social capital is based on an understanding of the importance of social networks and trust – that is, “society” matters. Social capital is different from physical and human capital.

This market approach, with its focus on the individual, does not sit easy with everyone involved in the literacy field. However, until a recent symposium sponsored by the “Connecting the Dots”3 project, there has been little discussion of alternative approaches. At that symposium, two action research teams reported on their efforts to bring another perspective to the discussion – that of social capital. By including social capital in their projects along with human capital, they were able to provide a more holistic approach to positioning adult literacy. Continued on Page 6

Editorial Ann Marie Downie Executive DirectorThis edition of Literacy Nova Scotia’s (LNS) Newsletter has something for everyone.

We continue our serious discussion of the economic impact of literacy on Nova Scotia, this time from a different perspective. I hope the Bringing Social Capital into the Literacy Debate article will cause our readers to think, as we have done, about this question: Are human capital and social capital mutually exclusive terms?

Havi Echenberg has a keen interest in literacy and, in fact, led a one day workshop for LNS several years ago. She has summed up her thirty years of experience as a social policy analyst in three excellent points on page 8.

LNS continues to focus its energies on how learners learn, what they need to be effective learners and the supports needed to make learning happen. ANSCLO, the province’s newest organization, shares that focus and this is LNS’s first opportunity to welcome the organization to the literacy field. Daniel Rector is a wonderful example of what adult learning means. His poem Speak which he read at LNS’s last annual meeting, inspires us to remember that learning opportunities change lives.

We welcome our readers’ comments about the contents of the Newsletter, as well as articles about literacy in the province.

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The dialogue about literacy in Canada, based on the International Adult Literacy Skills Survey (IALSS), generally goes something like this: “there are over 42% of Canadians with low literacy skills; we need to change those numbers.” The focus on moving individuals from one literacy level to another in order to increase the stock of literacy skills is based solely on a human capital argument. This argument, while valid, neglects the incredibly important aspect of creating social capital.

A social capital perspective necessitates conceptualising adult literacy and numeracy education and training as an intervention embedded in wider spheres of activity, including the sociocultural and economic activity of the community in which the training is taking place. It also requires viewing the learner as a member of networks.5

Positioning literacy within both a human and social capital argument requires the development of tools and methods to document social capital outcomes. It requires practitioners and curricula they use to acknowledge the interconnected nature of literacy skills. It requires governments to make investments in literacy that encourage the development of social capital through partnerships, community engagement, and social cohesion. It requires the literacy field to bring public attention to the full scope of the contributions made by literacy to Canadian society.

Introducing the notion of social capital into the discourse on adult literacy in Canada will bring about a balance that has been missing. As the OECD has indicated: “…the significance of human and social capital for individual life changes is so great that the promotion of social inclusion must take account of both types of capital.” 6

For Further Reading:Balatti, Jo, and Ian Falk. “Socioeconomic Contributions of Adult Learning to Community: A Social Capital Perspective.” Adult Education Quarterly Vol. 52 No. 4, Aug 2002.

Balatti, Jo, Stephen Black, and Ian Falk. Reframing Adult Literacy and Numeracy Course Outcomes: A Social Capital Perspective Adelaide, Australia: National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 2006.

Balatti, Jo, Stephen Black, and Ian Falk. A New Social Capital Paradigm for Adult Literacy: Partnerships, Policy and Pedagogy Adelaide, Australia: National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 2009.

Connecting the Dots. http://www.literacyandaccountability.ca/literature-reports.htm.

GPIAtlantic. “Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic Canada”. www.gpiatlantic.org/gpi.

Institute for Wellbeing. “How are Canadians Really Doing? A closer look at Select Groups.” Dec 2009. http://www.ciw.ca.

Literacy Nova Scotia News. “Learning Communities – A New Approach to Creating Resilient and Sustainable Communities across Canada.” Spring 2007.

Literacy Nova Scotia News. “By the Numbers: The Economic Case for Investing in Literacy.” Spring 2009.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Centre for Education Research and Innovation. The Well-being of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital. Paris: OECD, 2001. Quinte (Ontario) Adult Day School Action Research Team Report – http://www.literacyandaccountability.ca.

Storytellers (British Columbia) Action Research Team Report – http://www.literacyandaccountability.ca. Willms, J. Douglas, & T. Scott Murray. International Adult Literacy Survey: Gaining and Losing Literacy Skills over the Lifecourse. Statistics Canada. Catalogue no. 89-552-MIE — No.16. 2007.

5 Balatti, Jo, Stephen Black, and Ian Falk. A New Social Capital Paradigm for Adult Literacy: Partnerships, Policy and Pedagogy Adelaide, Australia: National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 2009. p 7 6 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Centre for Education Research and Innovation. The Well-being of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital Paris: OECD, 2001. p 65

Speak Daniel Rector

NSCC opened this and that door for me,My future’s that direction, it’s laid before me,Truth be known society did ignore me,But their life would truly bore me,So just listen, really just listen,“Connections” with constant rejections,A young street kid, blindly crossing intersections,I wasn’t blind to the fact that this life was wrong,But I was blind to the fact that I could sing my own song,Didn’t know that I didn’t have to be just another follow along,I am different, we are unique,Here, now and tomorrow is our time to speak,Listen in but not too deep,The future’s brightened, now not so bleak,NSCC helped me find it,No longer held back, no longer blinded,I’m afraid of clocks because God may rewind it,Locked back up in a ten by ten cage,With no means of expression but a broken pencil and a crinkled page,So now I look out into life with a blind daze,Wondering how I escaped such a defined maze,No longer will I throw fists when I’m distraught,No longer will I forget what grandfather taught,No longer will I be that drug you bought,No longer will I quit sleep, worrying of getting caught,No longer will the questions come “is this hot?” or “what you got?”Times did change, I have a brand new page,Literacy, you freed me and now society does see me,So one last word to that soul in the street,Following his father’s or older brother’s beat,You don’t have to go that way,The life you live doesn’t have to stay,So grab my hand little brother,Come to a place like no other,Where friends are plenty and you may find your metaphorical mother,Listen my little brother, my door’s always open,When you put down the gun and stop smoking,Just come see me, down the road at NSCCAnn Marie Downie and Daniel Rector

In eastern Ontario, the Quinte Adult Day School asked: “Can we develop a tool that will measure and evaluate changes in learners’ self-management, self-development (SMSD) skills, and use it to demonstrate the importance of SMSD skills to a learner’s future success?” Learners often report their successes not in terms of literacy skill gain but in terms of how their self-confidence and self-esteem have increased. Typically, programs focus explicitly on literacy skill development and often assume increased self-confidence is a by-product. In this project, the research team began to work to increase self-management and self-direction (SMSD) skills through explicit interventions and developed a tool to chart progress. They recognized the necessity of addressing self-direction goals first. The learner needs to commit to change in order for the practitioner to facilitate change in self-management skills. The strength of these two skills is critical to success in other areas including literacy skill development.

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Bringing Social Capital into the Literacy Debate: Continued from Page 1

Listening to the reports of these two research projects was an “aha” moment. Improving literacy skills is not, on its own, sufficient to ensure individual success in life. There is another piece of the equation – the context in which individuals come together and create a society that is more than the sum of individual skills. The capacity of individuals to form relationships, of communities to support and encourage learning, and of societies to re-distribute resources is as important as individual skills. The OECD reports:

Countries and regions with high levels of trust and civic engagement tend to be more equal in terms of income, adult literacy, and access to further learning. The higher the initial endow-ment of social capital, the more likely is it that individuals will acquire more throughout life.4

Literacy Nova Scotia News readers will recall the case made a few years ago for Learning Communities. While increased skill levels are critical, the capacity for communities to support learning is equally critical. Learning communities foster formal and non-formal lifelong learning for both individuals and for groups. The goal is to enable sustainable economic development, promote social inclusion and cohesion, and encourage civic and social participation. The Learning Communities concept brings human

capital and social capital to bear on issues of the economy and society.

Efforts have been made to develop tools that measure more than the total value of all the goods and services as is measured by the GDP. The Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) is one such effort. Unlike the GDP, which goes up in response to all economic spending (including tobacco purchases, depletion of natural resources, construction of prisons), the CIW distinguishes between beneficial activities (including those that don’t involve any exchange of money such as volunteering) which it treats as assets and harmful ones (such as the impact of pollution) which it treats as deficits.

The search for a more holistic approach has strong roots in Atlantic Canada. GPI Atlantic has shaped this type of tool into the Genuine Progress Index (GPI). The GPI examines six main categories – living standards, population health, time use, community vitality, education, and environmental quality. The GPI is able to point out the inadequacy of conventional education indicators like graduation and drop-out rates, and the need for new indicators of educational attainment that assess how educated and knowledgeable the populace actually is. The emphasis is on the outcome (how knowledgeable citizens are) not on the output (number of graduates). However, many reporting frameworks for adult literacy programs do not account for social capital outcomes. As discovered by the Quinte Adult Day School action research team, there was no tool available to report outcomes on key social skills. However, until we can report on these outcomes, we will not be able to draw an accurate picture of the contribution that adult literacy programs make to individuals and communities.

1 Willms, J. Douglas, and T. Scott Murray. International Adult Literacy Survey: Gaining and Losing Literacy Skills over the Lifecourse Statistics Canada. Catalogue no. 89-552-MIE — No.16. 2007. p 8 2 Literacy Nova Scotia News Spring 2009. p 1 3 http://www.literacyandaccountability.ca/literature-reports.htm 4 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Centre for Education Research and Innovation. The Well-being of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital Paris: OECD, 2001. p 56

What is ANSCLO?

The Association of Nova Scotia Community Learning Organization [ANSCLO] was incorporated in October 2008 after a series of public meetings and consultations, over a couple of years, established a need for an umbrella organization.

This internal analysis of community organizations identified many common issues including:

• Isolation – chiefly from other learning networks. A lack of a governing umbrella for the networks, any real mechanism for bringing networks together, and a transparent funding process, leads to – if anything – mutual suspicion and perceived disparities of funding, rather than any kind of constructive collegiality. When coordinators do huddle in small groups - at conferences for example - there is often a sense that things could be different. The “side bar” meetings are often very informative, but lacking a coordinating body, discussions rarely proceed much beyond complaining about the inequities of the situation.

• Lack of representation – the absence of a strong voice for the community-based networks either within government, or without.

• Remuneration of key people – whether practitioners or administrative staff – is not in keeping with our colleagues in the public school or college systems (no pensions, (rarely) health benefits, hourly rate -15-20$/hr - etc). The entire budget for many adult literacy organizations is less than the yearly salary and benefits of one senior public school teacher. This makes it difficult to recruit and keep qualified people.

• Infrastructure costs not adequately covered. What would be considered quite normal and necessary expenses for most schools (classroom space, office space to assess students, meet the public, bookkeeping, administration, etc…) is often a frill for many community networks.

One common sentiment among learning networks is that they do not feel treated the same as other parts of the continuum of adult learning programs. This differential of treatment extends to learners in their programs. One example of this relates to skill development funding. Adult learners who have been on Employment Insurance in the past three years and want to attend programs at the community college or the adult high school level are routinely able to access funding to offset the financial cost of going to school. This is not the case for learners at levels I and II attending community-based learning programs, and remains one of the key advocacy issues of ANSCLO.

In the past year, ANSCLO has been working on a celebration of learner-achievement in community-based programs (to be held in June in Wolfville), a health-benefits package for staff, establishing a regular dialogue with government on areas of mutual concern, as well as continuing to provide opportunities for community-based learning networks to get together and share best practice.

ANSCLO is governed by a volunteer board of directors of 12, and meets quarterly. Currently, the membership stands at 25 of the 34 adult learning organizations.

For more information on ANSCLO, visit the website: www.ansclo.ca.

In eastern BC, the Storyteller’s Foundation asked: “How can we measure social capital progress among literacy learners? In what ways is social capital acquisition connected to literacy development?” The project started with the understanding that the literacy field often focuses on human capital and less so on social capital. The project took place in a “jobless economy” community. This created challenges for improving literacy, as work did not exist where learners could hone and practice these skills. By approaching literacy from a social capital perspective, the team was able to link literacy skills explicitly to full participation as members of the Gitxsan First Nation. This approach to understanding literacy broadened how we can define literacy outcomes to include both social and human capital development. This approach can lead to the creation of a healthy, vibrant learning community.

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Many of these adults face personal barriers. A school or college can be an intimidating place; and to enter a literacy program is to “admit you’re stupid.” They also have trouble navigating the complexities of the education system (web sites present pages of dense text). And then there are the barriers of cost and family responsibilities.

While the economic and social costs of low literacy are already high, they are expected to

accelerate in the next decade when Canada’s labour force growth will decelerate; selected labour shortages will stall economic growth; and, growing inequality in incomes and employment will magnify social exclusion and promote an underclass.

The Canadian Council on Learning has forecast that Canada’s rate of low-literacy in 2031 will remain virtually unchanged since our 1994 levels. Several factors are contributing to keeping us “stuck in a rut” when addressing low literacy in Canada. These include:

About 25 percent of the high school students graduating each year will not have adequate literacy skillsAnother 10 percent of high school students, on average, will not graduateThe influx of immigrants who were educated in another language means there is a growing population with literacy limitations in English or FrenchAdults tend to lose their literacy skills if they are not being used regularly

Our adult education system was rated as “inadequate” by the OECD in 2006. It reaches less than 10% of people with low literacy skills, and 30% of those who enrol drop out, partly because of financial problems and partly because the programs don’t respond to their needs.

The notion that community economic and social development will be the primary lever to strengthen the literacy system is becoming more widely recognized. Community programs are better able to engage people on what matters to them; open their eyes to their own capacity to learn; and, help them gain the self-confidence they need to be able to consider a more formal learning program. Informal learning activities organized locally in response to local needs are therefore the foundational infrastructure for a literacy system. When literacy and social services organizations work together, they can create a powerful lever for local economic and social development.

But the community networks that underpin informal learning have been eroded. A combination of tenuous financing and growing management complexity has driven many

•

•

•

•

community organizations delivering these much needed literacy programs to the edge and left their staff and volunteers suffering burnout. Three critical steps are required to “reboot” education for Canadians with low-literacy skills and establish a robust literacy policy in Canada. These are:

Address Personal Barriers to Literacy Education – by strengthening community-based and workplace programs. In this transition to learning, literacy programs need to partner with local social and economic development initiatives. Governments need to show that they value the contribution of community organizations by improving funding arrangements and becoming more creative about social development.Create a Coherent Infrastructure for Adult Learning – with better assessment tools, credits for prior learning, stronger professional development programs, and a curriculum framework for credit recognition. Every province likely does some of these functions well, but no province has mastered the whole package. It is astonishing to think that, in this day and age, the basics for good adult education are not yet in place.Set Ambitious Goals – How could anyone believe that serving 10% of the need with 30% dropping out is good enough? Several provinces are trying to come to grips with the problem.

The good news is that many provinces are now in the process of enhancing their literacy programs. Alberta has just set an ambitious goal: to raise the share of Albertans with Level 3 skills or higher by 10 percentage points to 70 percent by 2020. The Council of Atlantic Ministers of Education and Training also released a literacy plan in the fall of 2009; Manitoba and New Brunswick are working on a strategy; and Ontario is redesigning its curriculum.

The federal government is largely silent on literacy. The Office of Literacy and Essential Skills limits its role to providing tools and supportsto employers, practitioners and trainers. This is not enough. After all, the federal government has a clear responsibility for economic recovery

1.

2.

3.

However the reasons to take action are compelling. Canadian society and the economy would be much better off if literacy skills were higher. Improving literacy would also make a significant positive impact on efforts to reduce poverty and inequality and improve the productivity and economic vitality of communities and regions across our nation.

Related Links:•Read Judith Maxwell’s paper, It’s Time to Reboot Education for Adults with Low Literacy Skills:http://tamarackcommunity.ca/downloads/index/Time_to_Reboot.pdf

•Visit the Canadian Council on Learning website:http://www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL/Home/

•More resources on the Canadian Policy Research Network website :http://www.cprn.org/index.cfm?l=en

Who are These Men and Women with Low Literacy Skills?

The majority were born and educated in Canada. Most have a high school certificate but not the Level 3 literacy skills that should go with it. 70% are employed, but 60% earn less than $25,000 a year. They live in poor neighbourhoods in our cities, as well as rural areas and First Nations reserves. There are more immigrants and Aboriginals than you would expect given their presence in the population. (The immigrants may have strong literacy in their first language but have trouble coping with English or French.)

•

•

•

•

Understanding and Addressing Low Literacy

By: Judith Maxwell with Sylvia Cheuy

An estimated nine million working age Canadians – including one in three people aged 26 to 35 and over 40 percent of people aged 36 to 45 - have low literacy skills. Someone with low literacy may not be completely illiterate, but he or she lacks the reading, writing and numeracy skills to deal with the challenges of daily life in a modern economy: keeping safe in the workplace; managing one’s own health; helping the children be successful in school; making appropriate financial decisions; and,

and renewal. It must also take much more responsibility for the fate of both Aboriginal and immigrant Canadians, since Ottawa has direct responsibility for Aboriginal education and for immigration and settlement.

Reprinted with permission from author. The entire article can be found at http://tamarackcommunity.ca/downloads/index/Time_to_Reboot.pdf

54

Many of these adults face personal barriers. A school or college can be an intimidating place; and to enter a literacy program is to “admit you’re stupid.” They also have trouble navigating the complexities of the education system (web sites present pages of dense text). And then there are the barriers of cost and family responsibilities.

While the economic and social costs of low literacy are already high, they are expected to

accelerate in the next decade when Canada’s labour force growth will decelerate; selected labour shortages will stall economic growth; and, growing inequality in incomes and employment will magnify social exclusion and promote an underclass.

The Canadian Council on Learning has forecast that Canada’s rate of low-literacy in 2031 will remain virtually unchanged since our 1994 levels. Several factors are contributing to keeping us “stuck in a rut” when addressing low literacy in Canada. These include:

About 25 percent of the high school students graduating each year will not have adequate literacy skillsAnother 10 percent of high school students, on average, will not graduateThe influx of immigrants who were educated in another language means there is a growing population with literacy limitations in English or FrenchAdults tend to lose their literacy skills if they are not being used regularly

Our adult education system was rated as “inadequate” by the OECD in 2006. It reaches less than 10% of people with low literacy skills, and 30% of those who enrol drop out, partly because of financial problems and partly because the programs don’t respond to their needs.

The notion that community economic and social development will be the primary lever to strengthen the literacy system is becoming more widely recognized. Community programs are better able to engage people on what matters to them; open their eyes to their own capacity to learn; and, help them gain the self-confidence they need to be able to consider a more formal learning program. Informal learning activities organized locally in response to local needs are therefore the foundational infrastructure for a literacy system. When literacy and social services organizations work together, they can create a powerful lever for local economic and social development.

But the community networks that underpin informal learning have been eroded. A combination of tenuous financing and growing management complexity has driven many

•

•

•

•

community organizations delivering these much needed literacy programs to the edge and left their staff and volunteers suffering burnout. Three critical steps are required to “reboot” education for Canadians with low-literacy skills and establish a robust literacy policy in Canada. These are:

Address Personal Barriers to Literacy Education – by strengthening community-based and workplace programs. In this transition to learning, literacy programs need to partner with local social and economic development initiatives. Governments need to show that they value the contribution of community organizations by improving funding arrangements and becoming more creative about social development.Create a Coherent Infrastructure for Adult Learning – with better assessment tools, credits for prior learning, stronger professional development programs, and a curriculum framework for credit recognition. Every province likely does some of these functions well, but no province has mastered the whole package. It is astonishing to think that, in this day and age, the basics for good adult education are not yet in place.Set Ambitious Goals – How could anyone believe that serving 10% of the need with 30% dropping out is good enough? Several provinces are trying to come to grips with the problem.

The good news is that many provinces are now in the process of enhancing their literacy programs. Alberta has just set an ambitious goal: to raise the share of Albertans with Level 3 skills or higher by 10 percentage points to 70 percent by 2020. The Council of Atlantic Ministers of Education and Training also released a literacy plan in the fall of 2009; Manitoba and New Brunswick are working on a strategy; and Ontario is redesigning its curriculum.

The federal government is largely silent on literacy. The Office of Literacy and Essential Skills limits its role to providing tools and supportsto employers, practitioners and trainers. This is not enough. After all, the federal government has a clear responsibility for economic recovery

1.

2.

3.

However the reasons to take action are compelling. Canadian society and the economy would be much better off if literacy skills were higher. Improving literacy would also make a significant positive impact on efforts to reduce poverty and inequality and improve the productivity and economic vitality of communities and regions across our nation.

Related Links:•Read Judith Maxwell’s paper, It’s Time to Reboot Education for Adults with Low Literacy Skills:http://tamarackcommunity.ca/downloads/index/Time_to_Reboot.pdf

•Visit the Canadian Council on Learning website:http://www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL/Home/

•More resources on the Canadian Policy Research Network website :http://www.cprn.org/index.cfm?l=en

Who are These Men and Women with Low Literacy Skills?

The majority were born and educated in Canada. Most have a high school certificate but not the Level 3 literacy skills that should go with it. 70% are employed, but 60% earn less than $25,000 a year. They live in poor neighbourhoods in our cities, as well as rural areas and First Nations reserves. There are more immigrants and Aboriginals than you would expect given their presence in the population. (The immigrants may have strong literacy in their first language but have trouble coping with English or French.)

•

•

•

•

Understanding and Addressing Low Literacy

By: Judith Maxwell with Sylvia Cheuy

An estimated nine million working age Canadians – including one in three people aged 26 to 35 and over 40 percent of people aged 36 to 45 - have low literacy skills. Someone with low literacy may not be completely illiterate, but he or she lacks the reading, writing and numeracy skills to deal with the challenges of daily life in a modern economy: keeping safe in the workplace; managing one’s own health; helping the children be successful in school; making appropriate financial decisions; and,

and renewal. It must also take much more responsibility for the fate of both Aboriginal and immigrant Canadians, since Ottawa has direct responsibility for Aboriginal education and for immigration and settlement.

Reprinted with permission from author. The entire article can be found at http://tamarackcommunity.ca/downloads/index/Time_to_Reboot.pdf

36

Bringing Social Capital into the Literacy Debate: Continued from Page 1

Listening to the reports of these two research projects was an “aha” moment. Improving literacy skills is not, on its own, sufficient to ensure individual success in life. There is another piece of the equation – the context in which individuals come together and create a society that is more than the sum of individual skills. The capacity of individuals to form relationships, of communities to support and encourage learning, and of societies to re-distribute resources is as important as individual skills. The OECD reports:

Countries and regions with high levels of trust and civic engagement tend to be more equal in terms of income, adult literacy, and access to further learning. The higher the initial endow-ment of social capital, the more likely is it that individuals will acquire more throughout life.4

Literacy Nova Scotia News readers will recall the case made a few years ago for Learning Communities. While increased skill levels are critical, the capacity for communities to support learning is equally critical. Learning communities foster formal and non-formal lifelong learning for both individuals and for groups. The goal is to enable sustainable economic development, promote social inclusion and cohesion, and encourage civic and social participation. The Learning Communities concept brings human

capital and social capital to bear on issues of the economy and society.

Efforts have been made to develop tools that measure more than the total value of all the goods and services as is measured by the GDP. The Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) is one such effort. Unlike the GDP, which goes up in response to all economic spending (including tobacco purchases, depletion of natural resources, construction of prisons), the CIW distinguishes between beneficial activities (including those that don’t involve any exchange of money such as volunteering) which it treats as assets and harmful ones (such as the impact of pollution) which it treats as deficits.

The search for a more holistic approach has strong roots in Atlantic Canada. GPI Atlantic has shaped this type of tool into the Genuine Progress Index (GPI). The GPI examines six main categories – living standards, population health, time use, community vitality, education, and environmental quality. The GPI is able to point out the inadequacy of conventional education indicators like graduation and drop-out rates, and the need for new indicators of educational attainment that assess how educated and knowledgeable the populace actually is. The emphasis is on the outcome (how knowledgeable citizens are) not on the output (number of graduates). However, many reporting frameworks for adult literacy programs do not account for social capital outcomes. As discovered by the Quinte Adult Day School action research team, there was no tool available to report outcomes on key social skills. However, until we can report on these outcomes, we will not be able to draw an accurate picture of the contribution that adult literacy programs make to individuals and communities.

1 Willms, J. Douglas, and T. Scott Murray. International Adult Literacy Survey: Gaining and Losing Literacy Skills over the Lifecourse Statistics Canada. Catalogue no. 89-552-MIE — No.16. 2007. p 8 2 Literacy Nova Scotia News Spring 2009. p 1 3 http://www.literacyandaccountability.ca/literature-reports.htm 4 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Centre for Education Research and Innovation. The Well-being of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital Paris: OECD, 2001. p 56

What is ANSCLO?

The Association of Nova Scotia Community Learning Organization [ANSCLO] was incorporated in October 2008 after a series of public meetings and consultations, over a couple of years, established a need for an umbrella organization.

This internal analysis of community organizations identified many common issues including:

• Isolation – chiefly from other learning networks. A lack of a governing umbrella for the networks, any real mechanism for bringing networks together, and a transparent funding process, leads to – if anything – mutual suspicion and perceived disparities of funding, rather than any kind of constructive collegiality. When coordinators do huddle in small groups - at conferences for example - there is often a sense that things could be different. The “side bar” meetings are often very informative, but lacking a coordinating body, discussions rarely proceed much beyond complaining about the inequities of the situation.

• Lack of representation – the absence of a strong voice for the community-based networks either within government, or without.

• Remuneration of key people – whether practitioners or administrative staff – is not in keeping with our colleagues in the public school or college systems (no pensions, (rarely) health benefits, hourly rate -15-20$/hr - etc). The entire budget for many adult literacy organizations is less than the yearly salary and benefits of one senior public school teacher. This makes it difficult to recruit and keep qualified people.

• Infrastructure costs not adequately covered. What would be considered quite normal and necessary expenses for most schools (classroom space, office space to assess students, meet the public, bookkeeping, administration, etc…) is often a frill for many community networks.

One common sentiment among learning networks is that they do not feel treated the same as other parts of the continuum of adult learning programs. This differential of treatment extends to learners in their programs. One example of this relates to skill development funding. Adult learners who have been on Employment Insurance in the past three years and want to attend programs at the community college or the adult high school level are routinely able to access funding to offset the financial cost of going to school. This is not the case for learners at levels I and II attending community-based learning programs, and remains one of the key advocacy issues of ANSCLO.

In the past year, ANSCLO has been working on a celebration of learner-achievement in community-based programs (to be held in June in Wolfville), a health-benefits package for staff, establishing a regular dialogue with government on areas of mutual concern, as well as continuing to provide opportunities for community-based learning networks to get together and share best practice.

ANSCLO is governed by a volunteer board of directors of 12, and meets quarterly. Currently, the membership stands at 25 of the 34 adult learning organizations.

For more information on ANSCLO, visit the website: www.ansclo.ca.

In eastern BC, the Storyteller’s Foundation asked: “How can we measure social capital progress among literacy learners? In what ways is social capital acquisition connected to literacy development?” The project started with the understanding that the literacy field often focuses on human capital and less so on social capital. The project took place in a “jobless economy” community. This created challenges for improving literacy, as work did not exist where learners could hone and practice these skills. By approaching literacy from a social capital perspective, the team was able to link literacy skills explicitly to full participation as members of the Gitxsan First Nation. This approach to understanding literacy broadened how we can define literacy outcomes to include both social and human capital development. This approach can lead to the creation of a healthy, vibrant learning community.

Editorial Ann Marie Downie Executive DirectorThis edition of Literacy Nova Scotia’s (LNS) Newsletter has something for everyone.

We continue our serious discussion of the economic impact of literacy on Nova Scotia, this time from a different perspective. I hope the Bringing Social Capital into the Literacy Debate article will cause our readers to think, as we have done, about this question: Are human capital and social capital mutually exclusive terms?

Havi Echenberg has a keen interest in literacy and, in fact, led a one day workshop for LNS several years ago. She has summed up her thirty years of experience as a social policy analyst in three excellent points on page 8.

LNS continues to focus its energies on how learners learn, what they need to be effective learners and the supports needed to make learning happen. ANSCLO, the province’s newest organization, shares that focus and this is LNS’s first opportunity to welcome the organization to the literacy field. Daniel Rector is a wonderful example of what adult learning means. His poem Speak which he read at LNS’s last annual meeting, inspires us to remember that learning opportunities change lives.

We welcome our readers’ comments about the contents of the Newsletter, as well as articles about literacy in the province.

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The dialogue about literacy in Canada, based on the International Adult Literacy Skills Survey (IALSS), generally goes something like this: “there are over 42% of Canadians with low literacy skills; we need to change those numbers.” The focus on moving individuals from one literacy level to another in order to increase the stock of literacy skills is based solely on a human capital argument. This argument, while valid, neglects the incredibly important aspect of creating social capital.

A social capital perspective necessitates conceptualising adult literacy and numeracy education and training as an intervention embedded in wider spheres of activity, including the sociocultural and economic activity of the community in which the training is taking place. It also requires viewing the learner as a member of networks.5

Positioning literacy within both a human and social capital argument requires the development of tools and methods to document social capital outcomes. It requires practitioners and curricula they use to acknowledge the interconnected nature of literacy skills. It requires governments to make investments in literacy that encourage the development of social capital through partnerships, community engagement, and social cohesion. It requires the literacy field to bring public attention to the full scope of the contributions made by literacy to Canadian society.

Introducing the notion of social capital into the discourse on adult literacy in Canada will bring about a balance that has been missing. As the OECD has indicated: “…the significance of human and social capital for individual life changes is so great that the promotion of social inclusion must take account of both types of capital.” 6

For Further Reading:Balatti, Jo, and Ian Falk. “Socioeconomic Contributions of Adult Learning to Community: A Social Capital Perspective.” Adult Education Quarterly Vol. 52 No. 4, Aug 2002.

Balatti, Jo, Stephen Black, and Ian Falk. Reframing Adult Literacy and Numeracy Course Outcomes: A Social Capital Perspective Adelaide, Australia: National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 2006.

Balatti, Jo, Stephen Black, and Ian Falk. A New Social Capital Paradigm for Adult Literacy: Partnerships, Policy and Pedagogy Adelaide, Australia: National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 2009.

Connecting the Dots. http://www.literacyandaccountability.ca/literature-reports.htm.

GPIAtlantic. “Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic Canada”. www.gpiatlantic.org/gpi.

Institute for Wellbeing. “How are Canadians Really Doing? A closer look at Select Groups.” Dec 2009. http://www.ciw.ca.

Literacy Nova Scotia News. “Learning Communities – A New Approach to Creating Resilient and Sustainable Communities across Canada.” Spring 2007.

Literacy Nova Scotia News. “By the Numbers: The Economic Case for Investing in Literacy.” Spring 2009.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Centre for Education Research and Innovation. The Well-being of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital. Paris: OECD, 2001. Quinte (Ontario) Adult Day School Action Research Team Report – http://www.literacyandaccountability.ca.

Storytellers (British Columbia) Action Research Team Report – http://www.literacyandaccountability.ca. Willms, J. Douglas, & T. Scott Murray. International Adult Literacy Survey: Gaining and Losing Literacy Skills over the Lifecourse. Statistics Canada. Catalogue no. 89-552-MIE — No.16. 2007.

5 Balatti, Jo, Stephen Black, and Ian Falk. A New Social Capital Paradigm for Adult Literacy: Partnerships, Policy and Pedagogy Adelaide, Australia: National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 2009. p 7 6 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Centre for Education Research and Innovation. The Well-being of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital Paris: OECD, 2001. p 65

Speak Daniel Rector

NSCC opened this and that door for me,My future’s that direction, it’s laid before me,Truth be known society did ignore me,But their life would truly bore me,So just listen, really just listen,“Connections” with constant rejections,A young street kid, blindly crossing intersections,I wasn’t blind to the fact that this life was wrong,But I was blind to the fact that I could sing my own song,Didn’t know that I didn’t have to be just another follow along,I am different, we are unique,Here, now and tomorrow is our time to speak,Listen in but not too deep,The future’s brightened, now not so bleak,NSCC helped me find it,No longer held back, no longer blinded,I’m afraid of clocks because God may rewind it,Locked back up in a ten by ten cage,With no means of expression but a broken pencil and a crinkled page,So now I look out into life with a blind daze,Wondering how I escaped such a defined maze,No longer will I throw fists when I’m distraught,No longer will I forget what grandfather taught,No longer will I be that drug you bought,No longer will I quit sleep, worrying of getting caught,No longer will the questions come “is this hot?” or “what you got?”Times did change, I have a brand new page,Literacy, you freed me and now society does see me,So one last word to that soul in the street,Following his father’s or older brother’s beat,You don’t have to go that way,The life you live doesn’t have to stay,So grab my hand little brother,Come to a place like no other,Where friends are plenty and you may find your metaphorical mother,Listen my little brother, my door’s always open,When you put down the gun and stop smoking,Just come see me, down the road at NSCCAnn Marie Downie and Daniel Rector

In eastern Ontario, the Quinte Adult Day School asked: “Can we develop a tool that will measure and evaluate changes in learners’ self-management, self-development (SMSD) skills, and use it to demonstrate the importance of SMSD skills to a learner’s future success?” Learners often report their successes not in terms of literacy skill gain but in terms of how their self-confidence and self-esteem have increased. Typically, programs focus explicitly on literacy skill development and often assume increased self-confidence is a by-product. In this project, the research team began to work to increase self-management and self-direction (SMSD) skills through explicit interventions and developed a tool to chart progress. They recognized the necessity of addressing self-direction goals first. The learner needs to commit to change in order for the practitioner to facilitate change in self-management skills. The strength of these two skills is critical to success in other areas including literacy skill development.

What’s Inside?Editorial and Speak, a poem page 2What is ANSCLO? page 3Understanding Low Literacy page 4How to Influence Policy page 8Violence and Learning page 8

Literacy...more than words on paper Spring 2010

Bringing Social Capital into the Literacy Debate by Brigid Hayes The literacy field has been working diligently for decades to present the case for public investments in literacy. In the 1990s, the International Adult Literacy Survey (and its successor survey), helped that work by situating literacy within the context of an economic system. Over the years, there has been strong evidence of the contribution of literacy to the national economy. Increases in literacy levels have been linked to increases in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and to the earnings of individuals over their lifetimes.

These economic arguments have been based on a conventional approach of literacy skills as human capital. For example,

…the recent findings from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the 2003 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL) suggest that Canada’s stock of human capital may not be increasing as rapidly as expected, at least as measured by increases in the average levels of adult literacy (Willms, 2005)1 . (emphasis added)

Last spring, Literacy Nova Scotia News published an article entitled “By the Numbers: The Economic Case for Investing in Literacy.”2 It reported on recent research that described literacy learners as a “market” and discussed

how improving the literacy outcomes of these different markets would produce various economic successes. The author acknowledges, “(w)hile not everyone will identify with the “market” approach favoured by statisticians and economists, this is another perspective on an issue that educators and learners know from the inside.”

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Literacy is the ability to use printedinformation to function in society, atwork and in the family. It is thecombination of thinking and social skills we need to analyze and use information to control our lives, achieve our goals and develop our knowledge and potential.

Literacy Nova Scotia (LNS) supportsthe literacy community in NovaScotia. Our mission is to ensure thatevery Nova Scotian has equal accessto quality literacy education.

We would like to hear from you ifyou have:• stories, news or ideas for articles• letters• announcements• new resources for adult learning• anything else others involved inliteracy would be interested in!

How to reach us...

& Literacy Nova ScotiaNSCC Truro CampusRoom 125, Forrester Hall36 Arthur StreetTruro, Nova Scotia

+ PO Box 1516Truro, NS B2N 5V2

( 902-897-2444 1-800-255-5203 Learn Line

+ 902-897-4020 fax

; literacyns@nscc.ca

: www.ns.literacy.ca Literacy Nova Scotia gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, HRSDC.

Design / Illustration: Elaine Frampton

How to Influence Policy

Havi Echenberg recently wrote in her blog (http://www.socialpolicycafe.wordpress.com/ ) sound advice about how to influence policy. Havi says she can summarize 30 years of work, in these three points:

Don’t make assumptions about the motives of others. Until given compelling evidence to the contrary, assume they are operating in good faith to further goals they believe in.Drive-by advocacy does NOT work. Without building relationships, you’re unlikely to achieve results with officials, media, or politicians. At any level. On any issue.Be very clear about what you want, and express it in a way that makes it easy for the other person to listen to it, hear it, and say “yes.”

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Great New Resources for Practitioners!

A set of 6 information sheets, Making the Connections, which focuses on violence and learning have been commissioned from Jenny Horsman and other members of Spiral Community Resource Group, for adult literacy practitioners. Each of the information sheets opens with a scenario, followed by the facts, how looking at the impact of violence supports learning, what you can do as a practitioner to help everybody learn, and where to find more information.

I’m doing everything I can, but I’m not seeing the success I hoped for

I can’t teach the students who aren’t really there

I find it hard to teach when some students are disruptive

If I find out about violence, what should I do?

I’m too tired: I’m not good at taking care of myself

I despair: What’s the point of teaching adults when nothing changes

The information sheets are available here: http://www.ns.literacy.ca/factsheets.htm

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The OECD defines Human Capital as “the knowledge, skills, competencies, and attributes embodied in individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social, and economic well-being.” Human capital is developed through learning within the family and childcare; through formal education; in the workplace; and through informal learning. Literacy and other essential skills are part of human capital.

Social Capital is defined as “networks together with shared norms, values, and understandings that facilitate co-operation within or among groups.” Social capital is based on an understanding of the importance of social networks and trust – that is, “society” matters. Social capital is different from physical and human capital.

This market approach, with its focus on the individual, does not sit easy with everyone involved in the literacy field. However, until a recent symposium sponsored by the “Connecting the Dots”3 project, there has been little discussion of alternative approaches. At that symposium, two action research teams reported on their efforts to bring another perspective to the discussion – that of social capital. By including social capital in their projects along with human capital, they were able to provide a more holistic approach to positioning adult literacy. Continued on Page 6