On the eve of elections, literacy hardly appears on the radar of political parties. Yet this is a major issue, which concerns nearly three million Quebecers and whose causes and consequences affect our entire society.
“During the pandemic, there was a lot of talk about primary and secondary education, but very little about adult education, notes Line Camerlain, first vice-president of the Centrale des unions du Québec (CSQ). And when adult education is discussed, reference is most often made to high school dropouts; However, the problem is much broader! As she explains, you have to focus on literacy as early as possible, starting in elementary and secondary school. But the mission of adult education is not limited to enabling young people to finish high school, it also includes social integration and socio-professional integration, francization, preparation for post-secondary studies and literacy for people of all age.
Quebec is not top of the class
“In Canada, Quebec ranks 10th among territories and provinces for understanding written texts,” notes Brigitte Bilodeau, first vice-president of the Federation of Teachers’ Unions (FSE-CSQ). We cannot ignore the magnitude of the problem, especially when we see that the pandemic has led to a dramatic drop in literacy enrollment of around 70% in one year! Teachers in this field have seen it: distance literacy is impossible. The teachers may get involved, but they lack the resources. Each person is unique according to their age, their cultural background, their origins. You have to be able to adapt and even individualize the training. However, the Ministry of Education offers little support, whether it is to find educational material, to network in order to share experiences between colleagues, to have access to educational advisers, psychologists, remedial teachers, etc. And it’s even worse outside the major centres. There are few students, so no specialized teams. »
Funding is not enough
Reaching illiterate people is not easy, and a flyer is not enough to get them out of the house. The services offered are not known to the general population, let alone those who need them. Illiterate people mostly develop behaviors that allow them to hide their low literacy skills, and they are not inclined to ask for help. Instead, we need to reach out to them and use different strategies to offer them support. Thus, a school service center can hire recruiters who will work with health and social assistance services and community groups.
Second, training must be made accessible, especially to women raising children on their own. This requires not only funding, but also support in finding childcare services and access to transportation, which poses a challenge when the person does not live in a major urban centre. “For years, the CSQ has been asking for more flexibility,” says Line Camerlain. Balancing studies-family-work is really not easy and the financial support for adults in literacy, granted by the government, is for a maximum period of one year, which is clearly insufficient to develop literacy skills and in numeracy. »
While funding needs are pressing, Line Camerlain foresees a drastic drop in the budgets of adult education centers, which are based on the number of registrations for the past two years. “I fear a negative spiral. Following the drop in enrollment linked to the pandemic, school service centers will receive less money for adult education. They will therefore have less means to open groups, reach people, support them, and so on. »
Three million illiterates in Quebec
According to the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), 19% of Quebecers aged 16 to 65 are illiterate and 34.3% have great difficulty reading. This is more than 53% of the population of working age!
Many illiterates are recipients of social programs, but nearly half (48%) are wage earners. As the labor shortage persists, this issue should be a priority for businesses. As Line Camerlain and Brigitte Bilodeau point out, employees must be well equipped to take the technological turn. “Literacy is much more than learning to decipher a form or read the name of a street on a sign,” says Brigitte Bilodeau. To hold a job, you need to have developed more and more skills, while adult training – especially with regard to literacy – remains the poor relation of our education system. »
Contrary to popular belief, the majority of illiterate adults are not of immigrant origin. On the contrary, immigrants aged 24 to 64 living in Quebec have a higher proportion of graduates. “The fact remains that the challenge of literating and francizing people of immigrant origin, who are often women who have received no education in their native language, is all the more complex,” emphasizes Brigitte Bilodeau. They have everything to learn, starting with language, writing and cultural references. »
Line Camerlain points out that the statistics do not take into account people aged 65 and over, but that many people want or need to continue working after the official retirement age. Literacy issues therefore affect many “retirees” who are struggling to make ends meet.
Investing in literacy pays off
On the one hand, without sufficient basic skills, illiterates cannot have access to a well-paid job. On the other hand, without financial support, it is almost impossible for low-income people to devote the time and resources necessary for adult learning, school drop-out or professional requalification.
“The income of workers doubles for those who have good literacy and numeracy skills,” says Brigitte Bilodeau. This represents tax revenue for both levels of government. In addition, the mere fact of reducing the illiteracy rate in Quebec by six points to equal that of Ontario would generate savings of $328 million in social assistance and other social programs. »
For Line Camerlain, the government must show leadership and develop a strategy shared by several government authorities: the Ministry of Education, of course, but also the Ministries of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity, Family, Immigration, Culture and Communications. “There are solutions that require a partnership with the various social actors, unions, companies and organizations that intervene on the ground. Everyone has to pitch in. The individual and collective benefits are immense. Literacy has invaluable consequences for families, and mother’s education, for example, has been shown to be a predictor of academic achievement for children. For those concerned, the fact of breaking isolation, getting out of precariousness, regaining self-esteem finally opens up the possibility of participating fully in civic life.
“It may not be the subject that brings in the most votes, but illiteracy concerns us all,” concludes Line Camerlain. We are too little aware of the enormous costs that this problem represents, both economically and socially. I dare to hope that, in a developed society like ours, literacy will be one of the issues during this election period.”
The Centrale des unions du Québec (CSQ) is the largest union organization in education in Quebec. The FSE-CSQ, which is affiliated with it, represents more than 65,000 teachers from all teaching sectors in service centers and school boards. Their mission is to promote and defend the economic, professional and social interests of the members they represent.
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