Adult literacy: The invisible problem

Deanna Allen has been the executive director of Laubach Literacy New Brunswick since 2004.

Allen is a board member of the Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick and the Greater Moncton Literacy Advisory Board.

She also works on literacy issues with the New Brunswick government, other provincial Laubach organizations and regionally-based community efforts.

Most adult New Brunswickers both French and English can't read, write or do math well enough to meet the challenges of every day life and work.

That's not debatable. It's a fact.

As New Brunswickers, we haven't taken the issue of literacy seriously, seriously enough to make it a priority up there with job creation and health care.

It's one issue that isn't being talked about in this election campaign.

But, it's one issue every political party can agree on.

Raising literacy levels, even by just a bit, would significantly improve health care, employment, education, the economy, the environment, the justice system, cultural richness and diversity, democracy and civic engagement, and countless other areas that translate into quality of life and provincial prosperity.

So, just how desperate is the situation?

In 2005, the results of the International Adult Literacy Skills Survey (IALSS) said more than 50 per cent of New Brunswickers aged 16 and older are at Levels 1 and 2.

That represents approximately 300,000 people in our province.

Those numbers should belong to the first 10 years of the last century, not the first 10 years of the new one.

Based on the skill level definition below, there are approximately 85,000 adults in New Brunswick at Level 1, 54 per cent of whom are employed; and 173,000 adults at Level 2, 64 per cent of whom are employed.

In other words, any adult below Level 3 literacy and numeracy skills has a tough time getting through the day.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Council on Learning released more alarming, and distressing figures.

The council expects to see the number of adults living with low literacy in Canada to increase by more than three million to 15 million in one generation. It also predicted that 47 per cent of adults in Canada would be living with low prose literacy skills by 2031.

Canadian Council on Learning literacy calculator, which can be used for New Brunswick, shows that 295,000 of the predicted 2016 population of 639,000 will be below functional literacy.

That's six years from now. Obviously, what's been done so far is not enough.

That being said, there have been some steps taken to address the issue.

Provincially and regionally, the 2009 release of action plans from the New Brunswick Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour as well for Atlantic Canada from the Council of Atlantic Ministers of Education and Training point to the following priorities:

Their reports called for:

• Increasing awareness
• Learner recruitment and retention
• Adult literachy practitioner development
• Quality standards and guidelines
• Reducing barriers and increasing participation Increasing the numbers and range of effective adult literacy learning opportunities
• Ensuring the quality and effectiveness of adult literacy programs
• Strengthening partnerships to develop a robust and effective adult literacy system

Big business also knows low literacy levels are a drag on provincial and national economies, and that it makes good economic sense to raise those levels.

The Toronto-Dominion Bank did its own study called Literacy Matters: A Call for Action, with the foreword written by Frank McKenna, former New Brunswick premier and current TD Financial Group deputy chairman.

The TD study argues the strong relationship between literacy and personal income is a result of better employment opportunities.

The average income level of individuals with strong (level 3) literacy skills in 2003 was $42,239, more than double the $20,692 of those with poor (level 1) literacy skills.

Other workplace surveys have consistently reported benefits of improving literacy skills of employees: increased ability to undertake training; better team performance; improved labour relations; improved quality of work; increased output; fewer errors; better health and safety records; and better employee retention.

A Statistics Canada study says a one per cent increase in literacy relative to other countries produces a 2.5 per cent increase in the level of labour productivity and a 1.5 per cent increase in output per capita compared to other nations.

In 2007, this represented a potential boost in national income of $32 billion.

A 2008 analysis by Murray and Maccracken estimates the cost of raising the literacy levels of all adults at levels 1 and 2 to level 3 nationally (based on 2003 IALSS data), to be $6.4 billion.

Assuming that the economy can absorb all the new skills, the estimated increase in tax revenues and reductions in social assistance and Employment Insurance. would be $16.1 billion, an estimated rate of return of 251 per cent.

'Invisible problem'

Most reading/educated adults find it difficult to believe we have such a significant problem in New Brunswick find it difficult to relate to the non-reading population. It is not an "attractive" cause and the subject can often be an uncomfortable one.

Literacy is, in effect, an "invisible problem." For those who don't see it, and for those who hide it.

First, there is a social stigma to low literacy levels. These individuals are often so embarrassed and concerned they go to great lengths to hide their lack of skills.

Significant numbers of people becoming marginalized and disenfranchised.

If you want to know first hand what it's like, pick up a copy of Breaking the word barrier, a series of both heartbreaking and uplifting stories by New Brunswickers who have met their challenges.

Laubach Literacy New Brunswick volunteers have been helping people read and write for the last 25 years. LLNB has enough experience to know we need sustained resources more money, more effort to get done what needs to be done.

Other Canadian provinces and other countries are a great deal farther ahead in terms of recognition of the issue, understanding the impact (both social and economic) and developing effective, inter-agency, context-driven support.

It has been proven elsewhere that a multi-prong approach, in partnership with government and business, will have real impact on the numbers.

We need to develop well-proven models for New Brunswick to make a significant and lasting impact, breaking through the stigma and multi-generational nature of this issue.

We know investing in literacy can be a win-win.

We know every dollar invested in improving literacy has a high rate of return.

We know reading, writing, the ability to do math are essential skills, absolutely necessary in today's economy and today's world.

We don't have those skills today.

We can have them tomorrow.

Let's have that conversation on how we get there.