Scott Murray, in his keynote address (the second of two delivered at the conference) entitled Making Sense of the IALS Statistics, told delegates that Canada must invest in literacy. . .

Scott Murray, in his keynote address (the second of two delivered at the conference) entitled Making Sense of the IALS Statistics, told delegates that Canada must invest in literacy in order to succeed economically. Murray, who has over thirty years of experience measuring public policy issues at Statistics Canada and is known for his recent work on connecting adult skill data to long-term economic growth, said two international adult literacy surveys suggest that over 40% of Canadian adults lack the literacy skills to function effectively in everyday life. In his address, Murray identified the six demographic groupings that are most affected by low literacy and urged attendees to consider how programming that was better aligned to meet the specific needs of the different groups would improve outcomes.

In the workshop Reading the Future, Murray teamed up with Nadine Valk to deliver detailed results of the Reading the Future report, released in 2008 by the Canadian Council on Learning. The groundbreaking report shows that the number of adults with low literacy skills is growing across Canada. Valk also presented an overview of CCL’s PALMM (Projected Adult Literacy – Measuring Movement) tool – an online interactive tool that calculates adult literacy rates into the future.

Demonstrating how employers can also play a role in workplace literacy, Laurell Ritchie presented the CAW BEST Curriculum Approach session. The Canadian Auto Worker’s BEST program. . .

Demonstrating how employers can also play a role in workplace literacy, Laurell Ritchie presented the CAW BEST Curriculum Approach session. The Canadian Auto Worker’s BEST programprogram is one of the best known workplace literacy programs in Canada. It is delivered by peer instructors on a 50/50 paid time/own time basis. However, encouraging some businesses to invest in literacy can be challenging, especially in hard economic times. In the workshop Making the Business Case: Essential Skills, Judith Bond showed participants how literacy programs and literacy program graduates use Essential Skills to help employers understand the value of literacy.

Recognizing that delivering a workplace literacy program is very different than delivering a traditional literacy program, the National Adult Literacy Database presented NALD@Work – a workshop on the resource of the same name that is an online repository of everything practitioners need to know to support workplace education programming.

Literacy programs in Ontario have long played a role in preparing people for employment by using instructional materials that reflect actual workplace documents. Some literacy practitioners. . .

Literacy programs in Ontario have long played a role in preparing people for employment by using instructional materials that reflect actual workplace documents. Some literacy practitioners have changed their language, referring to Essential Skills which are the skills needed for work, learning and life rather than the traditional 3Rs of reading, writing and arithmetic. Through the Worker’s Eyes: Developing Authentic Workplace Activities, a workshop delivered by Cindy Davidson, showed attendees how to develop authentic workplace instructional materials through an Essential Skills lens. Stephanie Hobbs, in the session Essentially Yours: Essential Skills in Tutor Training, focused on the need to introduce volunteer tutors to Essential Skills so that tutors will be better prepared to work with adult learners who have employment goals.

Aleks Popovic urged practitioners to integrate the teaching of literacy skills with job content in the workshop Programming for Workplace Literacy: Curriculum, Programming, Assessment. Anne Kelland and Alison Wasielewski, acknowledged that addressing the employment goals of people with lower levels of literacy can be a challenge and offered a workshop entitled Bridging the Employment Gap in which practitioners were provided with materials and information on processes that help people with low literacy skills to enter and remain in the workforce.