Most provinces and territories now have civil service positions or units concerned specifically with literacy, and most have, since the mid-1980s, established or revised plans, initiatives, policies or strategies for literacy; others are in process. In half the provinces, plans have been developed over the last three years through provincial literacy advisory committees, task forces or councils, whose membership includes not only educators but also representatives of business and other sectors of society — labour, native people, immigrant service organizations, libraries, and various government ministries. In a number of provinces there are interministerial committees to plan literacy activity.

Developments everywhere have occurred by expansion and consolidation of the traditional organization of adult education. However, patterns of development are not strictly determined: traditions are contradictory, and are always drawn on selectively.

There is great variety in the organization of teaching. The number of teaching hours per week ranges from two to thirty. In some programs, students enter and leave at any time; other programs schedule classes according to academic terms.

Literacy teaching is done by people in a wide variety of organizational forms. Some teaching takes place in educational institutions, and some in non-formal settings. At one extreme there are volunteers who devote a few hours a week to literacy, for a few months. Volunteer tutoring is the usual teaching arrangement in Laubach Literacy, Frontier College, and many English-Canadian community programs.⁵¹ As well, many school district programs and about one-fifth of community college programs use volunteer tutors. In some provinces, especially those with strong volunteer traditions, most teachers are volunteers. In francophone community programs in Québec, "militants" sometimes teach, and sometimes have active roles in recruitment and public awareness.