Despite best efforts, literacy rates have changed little for decades
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Updated: July 05, 2009 1:42 PM
Adult literacy rates remain relatively stable, despite efforts by organizations and programs to improve the numbers.
About 40 per cent of adults in B.C. - and more than 35 per cent of working-age people - do not have the literacy skills needed to work and live in modern society. That represents more than one million people, according to the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey.
The province is doing slightly better then the national average, which sits at 42 per cent. However, the 2003 survey found the average literacy score for Canadians didn’t change significantly over the nine-year period between the two studies.
“Unfortunately the numbers are just stuck and everybody is trying to figure out why they are not moving,” said Ruth Derrick, Literacy Victoria executive director.
“It’s a very difficult, persistent and complex issue to try to get at. It’s a really tough nut to crack and it’s being fed constantly by individuals coming forward and saying ‘I don’t have the skills I need.’”
As people lose jobs they’ve held for more than a decade due to layoffs or company restructuring, they realize they don’t have the needed skills to re-enter the workplace, said Derrick.
There’s a big digital divide right now, and a lot technology people don’t know how to use. They have to retrain themselves in this knowledge-based economy, she added.
One University of Victoria literacy education professor believes the literacy gap is being partially caused by people abandoning their literacy practices.
“Literacy is like many other intellectual skills that humans have. If you don’t use it, you lose it,” said Robert Anthony.
“People at one time read at a certain level and certain proficiently level and sort of maintained their intellectual chops in dealing with printed material.
“In so many aspects of adult life that isn’t part of their normal daily existence now.”
The definition of literacy is also changing which makes it more difficult to measure improvement, or lack of improvement, over a period of time, he said. There isn’t a single indicator that shows a person is literate anymore. For example, a bus driver’s ability to read maps might become enormously developed as an adult but they don’t read novels anymore, Anthony said.
“People need to be literate in a sense of being thoughtful and not just reading words, but dealing with ideas and all these high-level things that we now call literacy,” he said.
“Literacy now involves a lot more brain activity and less you might do with your eyes and mouth.”
Organizations like Literacy Victoria and Victoria Read Society are helping adults improve their literacy skills through a variety of programs. However, improving literacy rates isn’t as easy as teaching someone to read, write, do math and use a computer, Derrick said.
“It’s not a standalone issue that you can take a really good charge at with a lot of money and a lot of training and hope it goes away.
“It’s been proven that it doesn’t work,” she said.
“Numbers are important, but I think outcomes are the more important things to be tracking. Like how many people are getting back into the workforce who have minimal literacy skills.”
editor@saanichnews.com
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