The newly-elected Chairman of the Literacy Development Council describes the group as an umbrella for literacy in the province.

Dr. William Fagan, who was elected to the position last September, says Council should never lose sight of its "umbrella" function.

"We have to be aware of what's happening under the umbrella," he says. "We have to be aware of which programs have been deemed successful and also know why they are successful."

In addition to being aware of successful programs, Dr. Fagan says it's important for Council to recognize the various needs within the province.

"It's important that Council is knowledgeable of the specific needs as perceived by different groups, organizations

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"We have to be aware of which programs have been deemed successful and also know why they are successful."
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and people," he says. "Our goal is to respond to the needs that we know are there."

Dr. Fagan believes literacy programs have to be viewed on a province-wide basis to discover similarities.

"There have been a lot of needs surveys done within the province and we need to try and pull these together in a coordinated fashion to see if we can find an overall picture of these perceived needs," he says.

Forming an overall picture will require collaboration and cooperation within the literacy movement.

"Collaboration deals with trying to form partnerships amongst current literacy stakeholder groups in the province," he says. "How you go about forming partnerships is something else. You can't tell people to form partnerships, to coordinate, or to collaborate. You have to provide them with a framework for participation."

He admits this is a challenge.

"How do you get collaboration or establish partnerships? To me, that's a challenge because it isn't the kind of thing you can legislate or have forced down from the top. You have to have leadership, but it has to be a cooperative spirit that somehow moves out into the communities and province."

Dr. William Fagan

Since one of Council's objectives is coordination/collaboration, Dr. Fagan believes the Council is in the best position to assess the broad picture and make connections. However, he views this as one of Council's biggest challenges because, while there is a spirit of cooperation among

DR. WILLIAM FAGAN

literacy stakeholders, there is a also a spirit of competition. Dr. Fagan says the competition stems from the many literacy groups having to compete for limited funding.

Distributing grants to stakeholders is also an important role of Council.

"In terms of distributing funds we have to look very carefully at the projects that are being funded and to look at how those projects accomplish the Council's objectives," he says.

Dr. Fagan believes Council needs a more composite picture laid out in a matrix.

"I have begun thinking of a matrix to lay this out," he says. "This would allow us to build on our strengths and to let us see what programs are unique to this province."

Such a matrix would also enable Council to see what programs are currently operating in the various regions of the province and whether any of them might be relevant elsewhere.

"If groups are working on something quite similar, then they can begin to form a

larger network," says Dr. Fagan. "The collaboration, therefore, goes beyond the immediate geographic area into a larger context.

"What we need is a much more systematic way of looking at the research data we have. Only when we begin to look at the whole thing systematically can we begin to see trends in what has been happening out there," he says. "Then we can begin to project where something may be leading and how the Council can move in to support this."

That spirit of coordination and collaboration extends from adult literacy to

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"Literacy has so many definitions and that's one of the problems of it. To me, literacy is always changing."
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elementary and high school programs. Dr. Fagan says the Council has to work with all literacy stakeholders, including the Department of Education. He says adult education and high school programs go hand in hand because problems occurring in high school, such as students dropping out, will eventually make their way into adult literacy programs.

One of the more controversial topics in literacy today lies in the definition of the word literacy.

"Literacy has so many definitions and that's one of the problems of it,' says Dr. Fagan. "To me, literacy is always changing."

Dr. Fagan recently saw a change in literacy while conducting a research study.

"It's amazing the change in the literacy needs in the pre and post cod moratorium periods in the areas in which I worked," he says. "During the pre-moratorium period people worked in fish plants and had very satisfactory social, personal and economic lives. They had basic literacy needs, but felt quite secure and had a good self image. However, they no longer feel quite as confident. People now find themselves frustrated with all the new regulations because they don't know how to use their literacy skills to deal with them."

Dr. Fagan explained that the structure of the fishery has changed and now people

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