Lesson 2: Government must make its “big picture” policy objectives known

The case study also reveals that to realize program objectives the government must explain its “big picture” policy interests. Part of the success of the foundation building and development and demonstration years of the Program lies in the fact that the government took time both to research the implications of literacy for the economy through, for example, its support for the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the more recent Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLSS), and that the government also invested in the dissemination of those results to the partners and stakeholders to increase knowledge and spur further developments. The evidence presented here suggests that an appreciation of the “bigger picture,” and infusions of new knowledge helped the Program to bring often-opposing interests together. By providing a broad environmental scan of literacy, the federal government encouraged joint action to realize its strategic policy objectives.

Lesson 3: The importance of policy steadfastness

The case study also demonstrates the importance of policy steadfastness in long-term and slowly evolving fields like literacy and essential skills. This means that once policies are established they must be systematically adhered to in order to succeed. The evidence suggests that this objective was accomplished in the initial periods of the Program by a skilful, long-range focus on multisectoral partnerships and by a commitment to involve employers, employees, governments, and literacy providers. The foundation building period of the Program used the workplace “as an innovative venue for advancing literacy”. The development of a cadre of trained workplace instructors gave credibility to workplace literacy as a legitimate adult learning enterprise. During the period of development and demonstration, the commitment to collaborative multi-party partnerships and the workplace venue remained unshaken. For example, government-sponsored policy conversations were held that provided national forums for key stakeholders resulting in increased intersectoral and multi-sectoral investments in the government’s strategic objectives for literacy.