Source: Authors’ calculations using Statistics Canada Adult Education and Training Survey (2003)

Lack of awareness: It is possible that at least for some individuals this lack of interest may be due to lack of awareness or lack of information about how to access learning opportunities. In a study based on a nationally representative survey of 866 individuals with less than a high-school education, Long et al. (2002) found that 60 percent of respondents were aware of upgrading programs in their communities. This study, however, did not ask these respondents whether they knew how to access these opportunities. It is possible that an individual may have a basic level of awareness that upgrading programs exists but is unsure of how to learn more about these programs. For example, a recent review of Ontario’s adult education system (Wynne, 2005) found that potential learners often had difficulty navigating through an array of available program options. Moreover, the study found that while service providers are usually knowledgeable about the services provided by their own organizations, they often do not know about programs and services offered by other providers. Therefore, a given service provider may not be able to connect individuals to other potentially more appropriate opportunities (Wynne, 2005). Indeed, a recent OECD report (2003b) on adult education found that in every country studied, providing adults with information about learning opportunities was a significant problem.

As part of our research for this paper, provincial officials were asked to outline the various ways in which individuals can find out about potential learning opportunities in their province. All of the provinces studied have created various mechanisms for providing information including websites, online tools, telephone hotlines, in person services and information packages. While the sheer variety of information sources suggests that provinces have taken considerable steps to reach out to adult learners, most available information sources fall short in terms of reaching educationally disadvantaged adult learners. For example, while all the available provincial websites provide useful information, most of the content is ‘text-heavy’ and not presented in a plain language or ‘step-by-step’ manner. Moreover, the content of most of these websites is not targeted specifically to adults, which may make it difficult for adult learners to find the information they need. The targeted, plain language style of the website for Nova Scotia School of Adult Learning is a notable exception to this trend. (See Box 4.3 for more information on the school.) Alberta and Ontario have telephone hotlines but these hotlines are geared more towards helping individuals to access job search or employment preparedness programs than they are towards helping individuals determine the skills upgrading program that is right for them. Hotline representatives are not trained to provide counselling but instead refer callers to inperson services. In Québec, the website of the “Direction de la formation générale des adultes” does not present all the available options but rather provides orientation towards local services available to deliver in-person counselling and appropriate referral, on the one hand, and access to two hot-lines run by experienced personnel under the purview of the Literacy Foundation (InfoAlpha and InfoApprendre). In most provinces, the bulk of in-person services are geared either to EI eligible individuals, social assistance recipients, or youths.