National Adult Literacy Database

News from the literacy and essential skills field is posted daily to NALD and NALD@Work. If you see news happening in your area or come across an interesting story online, let us know by emailing contactnald@nald.ca.

September 13-19, 2010, is Adult Education and Family Literacy Week in the United States. It has been designed to raise public awareness of adult education and family literacy, assist adult learners in need of literacy services, and support increased access to adult education and family literacy programs.

Sixty-four community based literacy programs will help B.C. adults upgrade their education and enhance their basic skills so they can make the most of their potential and careers, announced Moira Stilwell, Minister for Advanced Education and Labour Market Development.

Several Nova Scotians were honoured with literacy awards at the province's 20th annual International Literacy Day celebrations. Premier Darrell Dexter and Labour and Workforce Development Minister Marilyn More attended a celebration in Halifax today, Sept. 8, honouring adult learners, and the literacy organizations and volunteers who support them.

TORONTO, Sept. 13 /CNW/ - The Ontario Teachers' Federation and its Affiliates, AEFO, ETFO, OECTA and OSSTF, are all attending the Government of Ontario's conference, Building Blocks for Education being held today and tomorrow in Toronto.

OTTAWA, Sept. 10 /CNW/ - While college and university students across the country have started their classes, thousands of Aboriginal students are unable to access post-secondary education due to a lack of funding.

In 2006, one in five (20%) off-reserve First Nations children aged two to five were able to understand an Aboriginal language, regardless of whether it was learned as a mother tongue or second language. Cree and Ojibway were the languages understood by the largest number of these children.

A new study projects that the number of Canadians with low literacy skills will rise 25 per cent over the 30-year period from 2001 to 2031.

OTTAWA — Current low literacy rates in Canada's biggest cities are expected to be about the same in 20 years unless some serious efforts to improve them are made now, a new report released Wednesday warns.

Canadians are better educated than they were a decade ago and have some of the highest rates of post-secondary attendance in the developed world, a new report suggests.

Each month NALD releases Library user statistics in a feature known as the Top 20 downloads/20 Plus téléchargés. The report examines the number of NALD Library documents, in both English and French, which are viewed and downloaded by visitors to the websites NALD, NALD@Work, BDAA and BDAA@uTravail.

First Nations languages are on the verge of extinction unless future governments help children learn their traditional languages, says an expert.

September 1, 2010—Choosing which university or college to attend can be a daunting task for students and their parents. As high school students return to school and begin to consider which post-secondary institution they would like to attend, a new report from the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) is proposing a tool that would help students select the educational path that best meets their needs—as part of a new comprehensive framework for post-secondary education in Canada.

VICTORIA – British Columbia’s public post-secondary education system is preparing students to take their places in the province’s knowledge economy. Here’s a statistical* profile showcasing higher learning in B.C.: