As this brief overview suggests, over the past five years, most provinces have launched important initiatives that have significantly improved their adult education systems. While these initiatives represent major investments and should be applauded as such, our research suggests that provincial adult learning systems remain complex, fragmented, and incomplete. As our analysis of various adult learning scenarios (Section 7) demonstrates, there are significant gaps in co-ordination, information and counselling, financial aid, and employer support. What follows is a brief summary of these gaps.

Lack of co-ordination – Provincial adult learning environments are extremely complex. In no province does a single government organization have overall responsibility for adult education (Powley, 2005). In most provinces this responsibility is split between several ministries. For example, in Ontario, three ministries are involved: the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities; the Ministry of Education; and the Ministry of Community and Social Services.

Lack of information – Easy-to-navigate, plain language information about adult learning opportunities is hard to come by. While all provinces (except Ontario) have a website targeted to adult learners, these websites are typically text heavy and hard to navigate. Essential information is often difficult to find. Only Québec and Alberta have hotlines and service centres that provide face-to-face counselling. In British Columbia, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, the only way prospective learners can gather information is to visit specific service providers. The drawback to this approach is that agencies often only have information about their own services. Only Nova Scotia formally trains agency staff to ensure that they provide appropriate referrals.

Limited financial aid – As the scenarios in Section 7 demonstrate, costs associated with returning to school are quite high. Even in Québec, where post-secondary tuition fees are relatively low, learners still need to figure out a way to cover their living expenses while they are in school. While single part-time students and students with dependents may be eligible for small grants, these grants do not come close to covering school-related costs. Moreover, as discussed in Section 5, the rules for accessing student aid are designed for young people and do not work well for most mature students. Married students are at a particular disadvantage. Even learners with a modest family income and asset base may be ineligible for student loans.

Minimal employer support – Canada has lower rates of participation in job-related training than many other advanced nations including the United States. As the Conference Board recently noted, the competitive human resource strategy of too many Canadian employers is based on a low-cost/low-added-value approach. This approach perpetuates a low-skill/low-wage equilibrium in which neither employees nor employers demand higher levels of skills. While Section 6 highlights a number of successful workplace initiatives targeted at less-educated learners, these initiatives are the exception rather than the rule.

Insufficient government investments – While the federal and provincial governments have increasingly recognized the importance of lifelong learning, in practice, skills upgrading is not very well supported. Although governments recently launched a number of important initiatives (e.g., the Sector Councils and the Canadian Council on Learning), there is still little support available to offset the direct costs of skills upgrading.

Lack of research data – There is a striking lack of reliable longitudinal data on adult learning participation and outcomes. As a result we have very little understanding of the forms and types of learning that work best for less-educated adult learners. Data are also missing when it comes to assess the effectiveness of policy initiatives such as the Sector Council Program on the skills and knowledge of workers.