LITERACY IN NEW BRUNSWICK

Literacy is a basic need. Without an ability to read, write, or speak well, people suffer poverty, poor health, and unemployment.¹

Close to 60% of NB adults over the age of 16 have difficulty with reading printed text for daily requirements at home, at work, and in the community. It means that more than half of our adults lack sufficient skills to survive daily in a text-based society. Over 350,000 adults in this province need better literacy skills.²

There were 143 CASPs (62 anglophone, 77 francophone, & 4 bilingual) in operation in late 2002, with more than 1700 students enrolled.³

LLNB currently has 18 literacy councils. Their 2001 report indicated that they had 470 tutors registered, and tutored over 20,000 hours in the year, while working with 383 students.

“There needs to be a long-term commitment from the provincial government to literacy training in New Brunswick.”⁴

Some success indicators of literacy programs are: helping adults to become independent learners, meeting personal goals, improving family life, obtaining academic and non-academic skills (like lifeskills, social and teamwork skills, improved attitudes and self-esteem).

This document contains 26 learner stories that represent the experiences and voices of people seldom heard, but who deserve to be. May these stories cause us to rethink our idea about literacy.