Reactions to ABE literacy programs

Four of the women and one of the men were participating in a one-to-one tutorial type of program. The others were in class situations. Some of the tutoring was done in a learning centre with a variety of people rather than on a matched one to-one. These people liked the flexibility and individual attention they received. They were all pleased with the atmosphere and with their progress. Their self esteem had been boosted. One woman said that she wanted "to learn overnight" and was upset that it was taking so long, but that she had settled down now. One young woman in a part-time class situation wanted it to be full-time; she felt progress was too slow. She wanted to get Grade 12 so she could go into bookkeeping or nursing. She also felt that instructors needed to be more strict about homework and attendance. Another comment from someone who attended a literacy class under "Special Education" was that she felt people were staring at her when she came out of class. "Do they think I'm queer or something? I can't read, that's my problem... I go in late and I leave early so people won't know I'm in that class." (Similar comments to this have been made to the writer on other occasions by past participants.)

The two participants in the class with the Life Skills component really appreciated its inclusion. Both of them said that they never would have been able to talk to the writer the way they had, if the interview had been held two months earlier.

Program strengths

What did these people like about their programs that they thought would attract others? The list included: relaxed atmosphere, working at own pace, anonymity (of one-to-one tutoring), flexible schedule, free service, caring instructors, tutors who became like a friend, storefront location, computers.

Recruitment

In answer to the question: "How can more people be reached?", advertising was high on the list. Most people found out about the program through someone else, although one of the mothers learned of the program through a brochure brought home from school by one of her children. Most did not know the programs existed. Comments made were: "People need to know about the services." "They don't advertise this place", "I couldn't find it in the telephone book", "People weren't sure whether the program was still going", and "I walked past the building several times, then I wondered what it did."

A long list of what else was needed to make programs effective also developed out of the group and personal interviews. As there was some repetition from respondents in other groups, the list will be presented later in this report.