As recently as the 1960s, what mattered in most industrial jobs was physical endurance. Bosses or supervisors would give a new employee a tool, tell them what job needed to be done and that employee would be considered hired and trained. There were no instructions regarding technique, reports to write on the computer, health and safety forms to fill out or training manuals to consult.

Not so today. The skills needed to be successful in the workplace – any workplace – have adapted over time as our society has become more knowledge-based and technologically-advanced.

Now, in our changing economy and rapidly evolving world, it is virtually impossible to separate literacy and work. People learn at work and they also learn for work. People seek training in order to find, keep, upgrade and change jobs.

The basic skills needed for successful employment today – as throughout history - are expanding and we need to keep up.

Stories from Literacy in the Workplace

The following stories give insight into the struggle of establishing and maintaining literacy programs in or near the workplace. They show the passion of the workers and volunteers who fight endlessly for the right of workers to have access to literacy programs in the workplace.

The following stories give insight into the struggle of establishing and maintaining literacy programs in or near the workplace. They show the passion of the workers and volunteers who fight endlessly for the right of workers to have access to literacy programs in the workplace.

“Masters of Their Own Destiny:” Moses Coady and the Antigonish Movement
The Antigonish Movement is today “the most famous adult education project in Canada and the best known outside our borders,” according to adult education historians.

Taking Literacy to the Frontier: Canada’s Frontier College
This is one of literacy’s most remarkable stories – a Canadian literacy success story that begins with Reverend Alfred Fitzpatrick.

Frontier College: On The Farm
For over 100 years Frontier College, a national, volunteer-based literacy organization, has recruited university students for a unique program: labourer-teachers share the lives and the work of the labourers they teach, volunteering their services after hours for classes, recreation and support.

Labour Education Centre: Demand Your Education
Labour balues literacy as helping workers develop skills and knowledge at work, at home, in the union and in the community. Unions recognize literacy as a tool for equity and social change.