Summer 2005

HOT time for literacy: Opportunities and Challenges

THERE IS A LOT HAPPENING around literacy this Summer, and more to come this Fall.

In July, Minister of State (Human Resources Development), Claudette Bradshaw went on the road to see how literacy plays out on the front lines. She spent the summer gathering information and perspectives to help build the comprehensive literacy strategy named in the federal budget of February 2005. Minister Bradshaw took a similar direct approach to finding solutions for homelessness in 1999.

In addition to her cross-Canada tour, she has asked the seven national literacy organizations to provide a literacy community blueprint for action. She wants to know "What's it going to take?" In response, MCL and the other nationals are developing a "results-based action plan." It will be based on the National Literacy Action Agenda developed with and endorsed by the community over the past couple of years. You'll find this 2002 document online at: http://www.literacy.ca/govrel/agenda.htm.

The plans is to move our earlier Literacy Action Agenda from vision to concrete steps. The new Action Plan is scheduled to be presented to the Minister in late September, and will be widely available after that. We hope it will be useful not only to government but to us as a field.

International Adult Learners Week (IALW) will also be celebrated in September, beginning on International Literacy Day, September 8. This year, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO is coordinating a more decentralized approach. This will allow government authorities and other organizations to schedule celebrations and activities throughout the year, as part of their own strategies to promote adult learning.