Theme 2: Impacts on Workplace Literacy Practices

During the foundation building years (1988-1995), and the beginning of the development and demonstration period, impacts on workplace literacy were widespread. Many projects focused on customizing a curriculum for a specific worker audience or workplace setting. As well, union training events helped to open up viewpoints and increased awareness about the importance of workplace change. During the period (1996-2000), the NLS-sponsored think tanks encouraged divergent points of view and helped consolidate an emerging field of workplace practice. These think tanks were national forums for all key stakeholders in literacy. Toward the end of this phase and in the beginning of the next period, the number of practitioner institutes increased. During the period of program change, pockets of best practices were spreading to regions where workplace literacy development was just beginning. Cutting across all three periods was the impact of the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) as a clearinghouse for current information on workplace education and the impact of both the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLSS).

Theme 3: Definitions of Partnership

There are various types and levels of partnership. There are partnerships with an upper-case “P” and partnerships with a lowercase “p”. Partnerships were found to have common qualities. Members of a successful partnership are trustworthy, persistent in obtaining goals and work in an atmosphere of openness. There is a genuine respect for each member and an acknowledgement of weaknesses. Members are all committed to making the partnership work. In the case of literacy, some type of trigger event, either positive or negative, prompted the formation of a partnership. This event acted as a catalyst for some type of action and led to the careful search for individual partners from business and labour.