It appears that once the federal or provincial government has divided up its financial pie into major ministerial segments, each of these ministries: must then balance out its own concerns rather than co-operating to find a balance between ministries. In fact, the competition and territorial imperative between ministries and levels of government is as ferocious as that which occurs within ministries and the victim is often the disadvantaged adult. It would appear more reasonable to hope that the government could develop an approach which centered on a co-operative problem-solving process to which all ministries and levels of government would contribute.

Other problems which relate to this issue are:

1.

Educational services that are preventative in nature are most often delivered at the

elementary-secondary level; while rehabilitative and remedial services are delivered at the adult level. For example, if we assume that the lack of certain basic skills contributes to a person's inability to effectively cope with family maintenance concerns, it would seem reasonable to fund programs in family life education (eg. Parent Effectiveness Training, nutritious and economical food preparation, etc.) at the adult level. But more often such programs are funded and provided at the secondary school level. We. are not suggesting that the preventative services at the secondary level be eliminated in favor of the adult services but that both be funded. This concern represents an attitude toward services for adults which tends be crisis-oriented rather than long-term personal growth and development. The former orientation tends to focus on faults and failures and is therefore remedial in nature. The latter orientation tends to focus on individual needs and is therefore a lifelong learning approach.
 
2.

Adult basic education services require extensive financial support for services which

are not directly educational but which must be available to support the participant while she is in any learning program. Adult basic education programs are thought of as "labour-intensive" rather than "supply-intensive". It is far less trouble and more economical to deal with supplies than with labour, since one can at least hope to control supplies to some extent.
 
3.

It is not clear who is legally, and therefore, financially responsible for the need for

adult basic education services. If we view these services as resulting from a failure of the elementary-secondary system, then the provinces should be accepting the responsibility. If we view the need for language training as a result of the influx of immigrants, particularly dependent immigrants, then the federal government should be accepting full responsibility. However, to acknowledge such responsibility would leave the various governments open to all types of legal action against them. Therefore, each appears to fund programs without accepting responsibility for the conditions which cause the need or for the outcomes of those programs. In fact, the entire educational system appears to operate as if basic education is an individual responsibility beyond the age of 18 years. At the age of 18 years, public responsibility shifts to the post-secondary level and public bodies assume that all adults over 18 years are knowledgeable capable and "motivated to perform the functional skills of society, although they may still require further education in vocational, professional or liberal learning.
 
4.

Since adult basic education services are not viewed as a priority and are not an
integrated part of other adult education services, in times of economic restraint, the basic services are often cut back first. This is the result of the lack of clear and articulated priorities and policies about education for adults and about the educational needs of adults. The constant threat of cut-backs has a deleterious effect on adult basic education programs. Staff must spend excessive amounts of time and energy searching for, requesting: and justifying the need for secure funds. The discouragement this causes often seeps down to the students who tend to reflect the insecurity of the entire program.
 
5.

The outcome of insecure funding generally results in the service-provider developing

operation plans which call for temporary, second-rate facilities and resources (or better/yet, donated facilities and resources), volunteer staff (commonly referred to as tutors), and inadequate support and administrative services.

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