Unlike the case of youth education, in which progressivism was thoroughly domesticated through its collision with the state and with business values, adult education has remained a relatively marginal phenomenon, exempt from some of the same strong institutional and ideological pressures. For this reason, it has maintained its original progressivism in a relatively undiluted and unreconstructed form. Ideological and practical components of progressivism like the concept of "facilitation" (as opposed to authoritarian direction of the learning process), the approach of responding to the felt needs of learners, etc. remain relatively intact since the time of their initial development. They provide Canadian adult educators, and adult basic educators, with an opening to closer engagement with learners at a political level. This remains only an opening because the liberal progressivism of adult education shys away from the next logical step--critical analysis of the concrete context of the lives of learners and collective action to transform it. However, this is considerably closer to such a step than is provided for in most professional ideologies, and in the presence of the "social movement" orientation mentioned above, it has sometimes translated into more radical developments.

What the historical, structural and ideological factors outlined above do is create a certain propensity to a more radical, anti-capitalist consciousness on the part of many adult basic educators, in spite of their contrary tendency toward self-identification as a privileged professional elite. This manifests itself as a certain receptivity on the part of some adult basic educators to the critical perspective on illiteracy.

Freire and Canadian ABE

It has been argued that the theoretical underdevelopment of the critical perspective in Canada cannot be fully explained by resistance to such ideas on the part of adult basic educators as based on their professional and class interests. Many in the profession possess a readiness to accept it. However, there exists one further obstacle which must be taken into account. This is the fact that there is a good deal of ambiguity around Freire's writings and their meaning for Canada, even for those adult basic educators who strive to maintain a progressive political stance and are sincerely curious about his critical perspective.

On a superficial level, Freire's ideas are well known. For example, the ideas of radical educators like Freire and Ivan Illich are often incorporated in the curriculum of training programs for adult educators. But this often amounts to little more than lip service. According to Jane L. Thompson, speaking of a similar situation in Great Britain: