While Canada’s education consistently ranks above the United States many adults still struggle with literacy, numeracy and technology skills

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

The nature of work and the skills needed to successfully participate in the Canadian labour market are quickly changing, and in many ways, the pandemic has intensified these needs. We are now dealing with newer levels of technology including: automation and artificial intelligence, coupled with demographic changes and large sectoral disruptions. This has opened up both opportunities and challenges for the future of work and the skills development priorities of Canada. It is because of this that a postsecondary education (PSE) has become more important for labour market success, but for some, this is now a challenge.

In many ways, Canada is already a leader in adult education, having exercised global influence in policy, practice and research for over a century. While Canada consistently ranks above the United States in all these assessments, many adults still struggle with literacy, numeracy and technology skills, and this is disproportionately found in the African Canadian community.

Those who return to education report a range of barriers that impede their access to PSE and/or successful completion of their chosen programs. These barriers are hard to categorize because adult students comprise a diverse group with wide-ranging needs, experiences, and goals.

Thankfully, there are reskilling initiatives to support the redeployment of workers to other sectors; however, adult education has sat at the margins as the poor cousin to both secondary and post-secondary education. Unfairly, adult education in Canada continues to be associated with basic education, illiteracy and people who “Screwed up at school.” Even the status of adult education teachers is much lower than that of regular schoolteachers given the widely held belief that they are less qualified, and there are no regulatory mechanisms in place to assure that indeed they are.

I had the chance to read an interesting report titled, “Poor Cousin No More: Lessons for Adult Education in Canada from the Past and New Zealand,” written by Jude Walker an Associate Professor of Adult Learning & Education at the University of British Columbia, where she researches and teaches in the areas of educational theory, practice and policy. In her paper she examines a country that has managed to set up an overarching education system, which fully encompasses adult education and skills: Aotearoa New Zealand.

She discusses that unlike Canada, New Zealand now has a centralized, coordinated, standardized and professionalized adult education system. They have brought all adult education under the same agency that governs universities, and imposed uniform standards of accountability and professionalization. These have helped bring adult educators into the professional fold of education, enhancing the legitimacy of adult education programming.

I had a chance to speak with Dr. Walker, and she exuberantly shared her passion on this topic.

“It was my first year university class that I learned about Adult Education. I was honoured to meet Paulo Freire, a great educator out of Brazil who began work with adult illiterates in Northeast Brazil. It was after meeting him that I really began to think about education as long lasting. It is about empowerment. With education, you can change yourself and change your society.

One thing that I focus on is how have we understood education? One thing that I have learned is that you have to start with where people are at, and work from there. There is a misconception that when you reach a certain age, we should give up on people. People are missing out on who they can become, and believe me we are always becoming!”

Dr. Walker explained to me that there is still this sense of resistance when it comes to adult learning.

“People think that adult education is for people who have not finished high school. We have to understand that this is a continuum. This is how we adapt and move in this society.

“I have noticed,” Dr Walker shares, “that men do not participate in adult education. There is this residual stigma. We go to a class and there are 20 women and one man. It is unfortunate because it seems like society has given up on adults. My question is, how can we help address that? New Zealand has looked at the professionalization of adult learners. They have the same credentials as a high school educator but get less pay. They encompass adult education under the umbrella of tertiary education, and this helps to manage it more holistically.

One thing that has been a real shame is how we understand outcomes of adult learning. We don’t consider the amazing outcomes outside of getting a job. How about the fact that some of my students can now make a phone call confidently, or that they can get to work on time? These are not looked at as benefits. I believe that when looking at outcomes, we have to look at multiple levels of success.

I bumped into a student two years after I worked with him. He was able to put into practice what he had learned when taking classes with me. It is the longer-term outcomes, when they are able to apply what they have learned. They are not always that predictable.

We have to empower Indigenous leaders; it is about learning the context, and the context in which you teach. It is learning about culture and language. It is about giving a voice to the communities that you are teaching in.”

Canada now appears to be making a renewed effort to build a more robust adult education and skills system. The encouraging signs include the Future Skills initiative, numerous proposals to map skills needs and training options, and the recent establishment of Skills for Success. There are still questions that need to be asked in order to make adult learning a more holistic experience in Canada: What do adult students need? What did you as an adult educator notice?

We need to turn to the educators, empower them, and then encourage adult learners to not worry about the stigma that is attached to continued education. It is something that in the end benefits all of society.