National Adult Literacy Database

Authors: Canadian Council on Learning (CCL)

This annual survey provides a look at Canadians’ opinions, beliefs and experiences with learning across the lifespan. The 2008 edition covers four learning domains: early childhood learning; structured learning at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels; work-related adult learning; and health-related learning.

Within each of the four domains, questions were designed to elicit information on a variety of topics, including child-care arrangements; access to post-secondary education; participation in work-related training; and sources of health-care information.

The survey was designed by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) in consultation with Statistics Canada, which administered the survey on behalf of CCL. A total of 5,488 Canadians aged 18 to 74 were surveyed by Statistics Canada. All respondents had previously participated in Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey. Canadians living in institutions, on reserves, or in the northern territories were not included in the sample.

Added: 2010-02-10

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See also:

• L'Enquête de 2008 sur les attitudes des Canadiens à l'égard de l'apprentissage : Résultats pour l'apprentissage tout au long de la vie

Lessons in Learning – July 25, 2006

Series: Lessons in Learning

Authors: Canadian Council on Learning (CCL)

In Canada, apprenticeship offers the potential to address both labour shortages in the skilled trades, and youth unemployment. However, there are negative attitudes towards apprenticeship, as well as a lack of information about apprenticeship.

The authors note that overcoming barriers to youth participation in apprenticeships will require changing attitudes among teachers, parents, and young people. As well, establishing clear pathways from pre-apprenticeship training through to employment would make this route more attractive to young people.

They also point out that family, peers, teachers, and counsellors tend to steer women away from the trades, and there is resistance toward accepting female tradespersons in the workplace. Removing those barriers involves changing attitudes and overcoming social expectations.

However, generating interest among potential apprentices is only useful to the extent that employers are willing to hire and sponsor apprentices. Therefore, efforts to encourage apprenticeship candidates must be accompanied by efforts to encourage employers to provide apprenticeship training.

Employers tend to be reluctant to take on apprentices because they perceive the investment in training to be risky and slow to return a benefit. However, a study by the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum indicates that returns to investment in apprenticeship training are realized much more quickly than employers expect.

Added: 2013-02-27

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• Les programmes de formation des apprentis au Canada

Lessons in Learning – March 31, 2006

Series: Lessons in Learning

Authors: Canadian Council on Learning (CCL)

This paper examines whether workplace wellness programs can actually improve employees’ health and wellbeing, while enhancing an organization’s bottom line. Specifically, the authors looked at innovative workplace health and safety practices in 12 Canadian firms, both large and small, in a variety of sectors.

They concluded that workplace health pays, noting that all the workplaces studied had seen improvements either in employee health indicators, workplace performance, or financial returns. Several organizations pointed to reduced workers’ compensation premiums.

All the workplaces were sufficiently convinced of the value of their programs to continue their workplace health activities.

The authors also identify the characteristics of effective workplace wellness programs, which include clear delineation of roles and responsibilities for employees and management; the establishment of well-defined objectives; consistent gathering of data to monitor progress; and the building in of audits and reviews to assess the effectiveness of programs.

Added: 2013-03-22

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• La formation en milieu de travail peut-elle créer des employés en meilleure santé?

Authors: Canadian Council on Learning (CCL)

In this report, the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) has, for the first time, been able to offer literacy projections for Canada’s four largest cities: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa. Prior to this, the CCL’s free online program Projections of Adult Literacy – Measurement Movement (PALMM) was capable of offering projection only on a national, provincial and territorial basis.

The authors of this report offer a picture of literacy in the four cities in 2031, providing figures for both the percentage of adults with low literacy skills and the total population of adults with low literacy skills. They also point out factors driving the changes in each city, including rising numbers of immigrants and an aging population.

Added: 2010-09-27

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See also:

• L'avenir de la littératie dans les métropoles canadiennes

Lessons in Learning - July 22, 2009

Series: Lessons in Learning

Authors: Canadian Council on Learning (CCL)

The authors of this document note that in Canada, there has been much progress in recent years on several key indicators of adolescent sexual and reproductive health. For example, the teen pregnancy rate has declined noticeably since the 1970s. However, many Canadian teenagers still take risks with their sexual health, including not using condoms during sex.

The authors point out that a recent review of 48 studies of comprehensive sex-education programs concluded that effective programs can reduce the incidence of such risky sexual behaviours as unprotected sex by one-third to one-half.

Based on their study, they identify a number of key components of effective sexual health-education programs, including allocating sufficient time in the classroom to achieve program goals; providing enough training and support to teachers; focusing on the particular behaviours that lead to unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs); including classroom activities that address social pressures influencing adolescent sexual behaviour; and offering opportunities to practise communication skills around the topics of setting limits and using condoms.

Added: 2011-09-26

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See also:

• En savoir plus sur la sexualité et la santé sexuelle

Series: Reading the Future: Success Stories

Authors: Canadian Council on Learning (CCL)

This five-minute video is one of a series prepared by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL), featuring adult learners who explain how improved literacy skills have changed their lives.

The subject of this video is a 34-year-old Inuit woman whose first language is Inuktitut. She has two young children and is very aware of the importance of education in providing them with opportunities in life.

Once her own children started school, she decided it was time for her to go back to school herself and began attending an adult high school. She explains that she wants to still be able to help her children with their homework as they progress through school.

Added: 2011-04-08

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Series: Reading the Future: Success Stories

Authors: Canadian Council on Learning (CCL)

This five-minute video is one of a series prepared by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL), featuring adult learners explaining how improving their literacy skills changed their lives.

The subject of this video is a 44-year-old man who grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan and, from the beginning, struggled academically in his small rural school. He dropped out of school and eventually ended up in jail.

After getting out of jail, he turned to a literacy organization in Saskatoon where, with the help of tutors, he learned to read fluently. By the end of the video, he is working as a waiter in a large hotel in Ottawa.

Added: 2011-03-22

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Series: Reading the Future: Success Stories

Authors: Canadian Council on Learning (CCL)

This five-minute video is part of a series prepared by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL), featuring adult learners explaining how improving their literacy skills changed their lives.

This video focuses on a 23-year-old man who went from being a strong student in elementary school to being a high school dropout, working at dead-end jobs. Eventually, he realizes that if he wants a better life for himself and his young family, he will have to go back to school.

He enrols in a self-paced upgrading program and decides that he wants to become an electrical engineering technician.

Added: 2011-04-15

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Series: Reading the Future: Success Stories

Authors: Canadian Council on Learning (CCL)

This video, about four minutes in length, is one of a series prepared by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL). The videos feature adult learners discussing how improving their literacy skills broadened their horizons.

In this video, a 24-year-old woman describes growing up in Guyana, South America, with few opportunities for schooling. After moving to Canada in her late teens, she realizes that poor literacy skills are limiting her opportunities in her new home.

She enrols in upgrading classes at a community college and, with hard work, makes good progress. The video ends with her discussing possible careers.

Added: 2011-04-01

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Lessons in Learning – February 17, 2006

Series: Lessons in Learning

Authors: Canadian Council on Learning (CCL)

While there has been greater recognition in recent years of the value of workplace learning, issues regarding inequality of access need to be addressed, according to the authors of this paper.

They note that the most educated workers in Canada receive the most training, but the less educated workers are twice as likely to report that any training they received helped them achieve positive results. Also, participation in training declines with age, and older workers are more likely to be paying for their own training. Workers in larger firms engage in more formal job-related training than those working in smaller firms.

To help employers retain older workers and to cope with looming skills shortages, older workers must have an opportunity to participate in workplace training, the authors note. However, this is part of a larger issue of finding ways of encouraging older workers to remain in the workforce.

Ways must also be found to sell low-skill workers on the benefits of lifelong learning, including the reduction of cost barriers they face.

Initiatives undertaken by sector councils in Canada show that there are innovative ways to increase the amount of formal training that smaller enterprises can offer, the authors say. Such training must be expanded and adapted to make it accessible to small firms in a variety of sectors.

Added: 2013-04-11

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See also:

• Comprendre la nécessité de stratégies ciblées en matière d'apprentissage en milieu de travail