Saskatchewan

In Saskatchewan, literacy programming began to develop in the early 1970s in a few community colleges and in two high-profile volunteer programs, the Regina Public Library program, formed in 1973, and READ Saskatoon, formed in 1978. Community colleges, formed after 1973, are the traditional institutional providers of adult education, including ABE, in Saskatchewan. They were most recently restructured in 1987, when various colleges and technical institutes were reorganized into eight regional colleges, a northern career college, and a four-campus Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST). Most programs have used volunteer tutors for literacy students, although all the colleges and SIAST offer ABE classes or drop-in centres at the 1-10 level. Most students in the ABE program are sponsored by social agencies, including the Saskatchewan Skills Development Program (SSDP), initiated in 1984 to provide upgrading for social assistance recipients, and the Non-Status Indian and Métis Program (NSIM).

ABE program arrangements in the colleges and institutes have been recurrently reviewed in government documents, with particularly noteworthy reports in 1983 and 1987. A 1983 report¹¹⁴ proposed a recognition of adults' right to basic education; a comprehensive plan for ABE, including funding arrangements for both traditional and innovative programs; student supports in child care, housing, and counselling; and professional development for teachers. A 1987 report¹¹⁵ argued for a comprehensive approach to literacy education, envisioned a range of program types — including rural and neighbourhood community education centres, and professional ABE programs — in relationship to the different types of students they attract; it recommended a positive, de-stigmatizing approach to "penetrate deeper" into communities; and it called for systematic co-ordination of the various programming arrangements for literacy, ABE and GED (Graduate Equivalency Diploma — a high-school equivalency certificate earned by examination). This 1987 report was one result of a 1986 post-secondary education conference, and a series of high-level consultations, during which literacy was named an area for action.