2.4.3. Organizations

The focus was primarily on literacy organizations within the context of the Nova Scotia School for Adult Learning (NSSAL). They include those organizations which are funded by the Nova Scotia Department of Education to provide literacy learning and the Adult High Schools in the Public School Program. However, the project was not limited to those organizations and our research involved others in the focus groups and survey work.

Disability Organizations included in this project were essentially those who from the TEAM Work Cooperative. Several other organizations responded to the survey and participated in the focus groups.

2.4.4. Programs

Programs reviewed included primarily those programs offered through NSSAL, although we learned about other programs available in the community and some of those are referenced in this document.

2.4.5. Out of Scope

This project was as much defined by those areas within scope as those outside the specific research approach. The following describes those areas which were out of scope for the project:

• There was no effort to explicitly include programs outside the HRM catchment area except where they offered potential models or alternatives to the programs available locally.
• While the project researchers learned much about the P to 12 education system, there was no attempt made to review the system or its impact on current literacy issues among youth and adults.
• Access to and use of technology is a recurring theme throughout this paper but the project did not specifically address the issue of computer literacy. That is, no deliberate research was carried out to determine issues related to training learners basic computer skills. (Interestingly, all participants in the learner focus group were computer users. Some accessed the Internet for research purposes, many used e–mail, some used desktop software programs and all used it to play games.)