During these ten years, Canadian adult education experienced major changes in organizational structure, responded to shifting economic pressures, and addressed new needs among learners. Approaching the end of the century, it is dealing with major challenges around citizenship, equity, and the use of new information technologies.

Participation in adult education increased throughout this period, following previously documented patterns whereby those with most previous education and highest income were most likely to become involved. With devolution of much federal funding and responsibility to the provinces, issues of equity will increasingly be debated at that level. While policies on equity have been put in place, funding cutbacks have made them increasingly difficult to implement.

Increasing and persistent unemployment has provoked much debate about the value of skills training. Public investment in this area rose in the late 1980s, but was declining by the end of this period. Partnerships involving employers, labour, and equity-seeking groups grew and then shrank with the public funds available, with the exception of some joint sectoral councils. With reductions in overall social spending, training funds became focussed on the unemployed.

Literacy work gained visibility and importance, along with a strengthened organizational infrastructure, although it remains a vulnerable part of the field. Changes in labour force and social security policy have reshaped the opportunities available to adults who complete the programs.

Within these broad structural changes, many innovative smaller initiatives have occurred. Aboriginal groups have developed capacity for economic development; community groups have shaped special programs for women and immigrants; and governments have provided incentives to Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition. Experiments in distance education have been undertaken in schools, libraries, businesses, and homes across the country, and the needs of refugees, laid-off workers, and people with AIDS have posed new challenges to traditional content and methods of adult education.

Financial support for both providers and participants remains a key issue in public policy debate and organizational politics. It also directs the research support and professional development available to adult educators, as well as the public recognition given to lifelong learning.

Particular areas of attention now include opportunities for women, environment, health, citizenship, community development, and new information technologies. In each, the pressures of change in the economic and social structure work in tension with the aspirations of individuals and groups to shape the particularly Canadian approach to adult education for the next century.

This report on trends in adult education in Canada (1985-95) has been prepared by the Institut canadien d'éducation des adultes and the Canadian Association for Adult Education for the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, the Government of Canada through Human Resources Development Canada, and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. It responds to a request from the UNESCO Secretariat to Member States for presentation to the 5^th International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA V), to be held in Hamburg, Germany, from July 14-18, 1997. The theme of CONFINTEA V is Adult Learning: A Key for the 21^st Century. To situate the information presented in this report, we provide here some introductory material on Canada's education systems.

Canada comprises ten provinces and two territories, where powers for education are shared within the federal system. Further, the Canadian government has passed two acts that entrust to the Northwest Territories and Yukon the responsibility for education, while funding is provided federally. Each of the provinces and territories has created a ministry or department of education, and directs the provision of educational services. The powers enjoyed by provinces and territories include the right to delegate authority to school boards and commissions, and to other organizations. Across the country, therefore, can be found educational structures and institutions that are similar in many ways, but reflect the specific circumstances of regions separated by great distances and the diversity of the country's historical and cultural heritage.

Canada has two official languages: English, the first language of approximately 61 per cent of the population, and French, the first language of approximately 26 per cent. The majority of French speakers live in Quebec, where they make up 82 per cent of the population, but there are also many French speakers in New Brunswick, Ontario, and Manitoba. In Canada, education is available in both official languages, to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the region.

In all of the provinces and territories, members of school boards (or in the case of New Brunswick, district parent advisory committees) are elected by public ballot. The powers and duties of these boards and bodies are defined in provincial or territorial statutes and are, in general, consistent throughout Canada. The authority delegated to school boards is thus permissive authority, and it is given at the discretion of the provincial or territorial government.

School board authority generally includes implementation of curriculum, the operation and administration of school systems, acquisition of required financial resources, initiation of proposals for new construction or other major capital expenditures, and staffing responsibilities.

The Government of Canada (the federal government) is responsible for the education of registered Indians and Inuit people resident on reserve at the elementary and secondary levels, as well as education and training in the Armed Forces, Coast Guard, and Prisons (penitentiary) Services.

Pre-Elementary Education

Pre-school programs or kindergartens, which are operated by the local education authorities and provide one year of pre-grade-one education for five-year-olds, are offered by all provinces and territories with the exception of Prince Edward Island.

Elementary and Secondary Education

In each province or territory, a ministry or department of education is responsible for elementary and secondary education. Public education is provided free to all Canadian citizens and permanent residents until the end of secondary school, normally age 18. The ages for compulsory schooling vary from one jurisdiction to another; generally, it is required from age 6 or 7 to age 16.

Primary education in most jurisdictions covers the first six to eight years of compulsory schooling. Afterwards, children proceed to a secondary education program according to the region. A great variety of programs -- vocational (job training) as well as academic -- are offered at the secondary level. The first years are devoted to compulsory subjects, with some optional subjects included. In the latter years, the number of compulsory subjects is reduced, permitting students to spend more time on specialized programs that prepare them for the job market, or to take the specific courses they need to meet the entrance requirements of college or university. Secondary school diplomas are granted to students who pass the compulsory and optional courses of their programs.

Special-needs students, such as those who are physically or mentally disabled, gifted, etc., are accommodated in the public schools in various ways. In some cases, separate programs are available to meet their needs; in others, these students are integrated into the regular classroom and follow the regular program of instruction.

Private or independent schools, which provide an alternative to publicly funded schools, may operate in any province or territory if they meet the general standards prescribed by that jurisdiction for elementary and secondary schools. Although in most cases they closely follow the curriculum and diploma requirements of the department or ministry of education, they function independently of the public system. Five provinces -- Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec, and Saskatchewan -- provide some form of financial assistance to these schools.

The point of transition from elementary to secondary school may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Some school boards break up the elementary-secondary continuum into schools that group together, for example, kindergarten to grade six, grades seven to nine (junior high), and ten to twelve (senior level).

Postsecondary Education

Once secondary school has been successfully completed, a student may apply to a college or a university.

Quebec students, having completed secondary schooling in 11 as opposed to 12 years, must obtain a college diploma in order to be admitted into a university program. The colleges, called cégeps (collèges d'enseignement général et professionnel), offer both a general program that leads to university admission, and a professional program that prepares students for the labour force. In Ontario, students must complete six Ontario Academic Credit courses in order to be admitted to a university program. This can be accomplished during the four-year secondary school program, or during an additional year after completion of grade twelve.

Postsecondary education is available in both government-supported and private institutions, some of which award degrees and some of which do not. Colleges such as technical and vocational institutions, community colleges, cégeps, and other institutes of technology offer programs for continuing education and for developing skills for careers in business, the applied arts, technology, social services, and some health sciences. Programs vary in length from six months to three years. There are also private vocational or job training colleges in some provinces. In general, colleges award diplomas or certificates only; they do not award academic degrees. In 1995-96 Alberta started a demonstration project allowing colleges and technical institutions to award applied degrees to enhance career preparation of students.

Many colleges offer, in cooperation with industry and business partners, professional development services or specialized programs in high-technology areas. Technical training and technology programs prepare students for employment in the trades, industry, or agriculture, or for a job as a professional technician or technologist. A certificate is granted for programs requiring one year of study (24 to 30 weeks). Two-year or three-year programs lead to a diploma. Some programs last four years; these are made up of courses of an academic, rather than job-training, nature.

The British Columbia community college system allows students to complete two years of academic course work toward bachelor's degrees. Thus, while some students may decide not to continue, others have the opportunity to go on to complete the third and fourth years at a college or university and receive a degree. In many provinces, however, the transfer is not automatic. A student must apply for admission and have his or her college studies evaluated before being granted credit for completed courses.

Programs leading to degrees are offered in universities or, as they are sometimes known, degree-granting institutions. Most Canadian universities, especially those in the larger cities, offer a complete range of programs. Others are more specialized and have developed areas of excellence. There are also some specialized institutions that are not campus-based and offer university programs through correspondence courses and distance education.

It is possible to study at three different levels, which lead to a bachelor's, master's or doctoral (Ph.D.) degree. Not all universities offer graduate studies (master's and doctorates). In addition to degree programs, most universities offer diploma and certificate programs. These can be either at the undergraduate or graduate level, and can range from one to three years in duration.

Bachelor's degrees can take either three or four years of study, depending on the program and the province. Universities in some provinces grant general pass degrees in three years and require a fourth year for an honours degree. Other provinces require four years of study regardless of whether it is for a general or an honours degree.

Master's degrees require one or two years of study after completion of a bachelor's degree. Some may require a thesis or professional internship.

Doctoral degrees usually require three years of study after a master's degree. Most students need much more time to complete a Ph.D., the average being four or five years. Doctoral degrees usually involve researching, writing, presenting, and defending a thesis, in addition to attending seminars and a specified number of courses.

Council of Ministers of Education, Canada

The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) was established in 1967 by the ministers responsible for education, with the concurrence of their respective governments. In a context where each province and territory is responsible for its education system, CMEC offers ministries and departments of education the unique opportunity to work collectively.

Through CMEC, cooperation among the provinces and territories is effected in a broad range of activities at the elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels. An arm of the provinces, CMEC is the ministers' only instrument for consulting on matters of mutual interest, representing Canadian education internationally, providing liaison with various federal departments, and cooperating with other national education organizations.

The Government of Canada

In Canada, as noted above, the provinces and territories are responsible for education at every level. However, since Confederation, and particularly since World War II, the Government of Canada has played an important support role, based on the common federal-provincial/territorial objective of human resource development. This support has been rooted in two concerns deriving from the federal government's overall responsibility: first, a recognition of the crucial role played by colleges and universities in the creation of an ever better trained work force as an essential ingredient in the health of the national economy; and second, a desire that all Canadians in all regions have equivalent access to postsecondary education and learning opportunities. Following from the second concern is the involvement of the federal government in facilitating the mobility of students within Canada and abroad.

The Idea of Adult Education

The terms related to adult education in this study have been brought together in a glossary (see Appendix I). This has been drawn from a text of Human Resources Development Canada and Statistics Canada (1997): Adult Education and Training. Report of the Adult Education and Training Survey of 1994. Some definitions have been modified in order to recognize the full-time work of many adults, and to increase the visibility of some fields of adult education such as popular education and community education.

At the start of this study, it seems appropriate to present an overall statement of what is meant by adult education. This definition has been provided by UNESCO:

"the entire body of organized educational processes, whatever the content, level and method, whether formal or otherwise, whether they prolong or replace initial education in schools, colleges and universities as well as in apprenticeship, whereby persons regarded as adult by the society to which they belong develop their abilities, enrich their knowledge, improve their technical or professional qualifications or turn them in a new direction and bring about changes in their attitudes or behaviour in the twofold perspective of full personal development and participation in balanced and independent social, economic and cultural development"

In Canada, as in other industrialized countries, the combined effects on the one hand of globalizing markets and restructuring of labour markets and the economy, and on the other hand of the scientific and technological revolution, have deeply affected education policies and perspectives since the 1980s. The focus in adult education has gradually shifted from educational concerns to the economy and employment. Essentially, adult education has evolved around two axes: the "development of employability" and the "new economy of information and knowledge." The idea of enhancing human capital and competitiveness by skill acquisition has gained ground with political decision-makers, business leaders, and the heads of educational institutions. For their part, union and community groups, taking note of societal and technological changes, have expressed their need for education and training mainly through literacy and basic training programs, union and community education, and professional development that is recognized, transferable, and accredited.

The scope of the changes and their impact on education systems have had major repercussions. Since the 1990s, Canada's education systems have been studied by various commissions and task forces and have undergone major reforms. It has become clear that the demands of lifelong learning are imposing a new direction on education.

Since 1985, the progress of adult education has been largely influenced by the following:

• The restructuring of the economy and the job market

The series of recessions since the 1980s and the restructuring of the Canadian economy forced by the globalization of trade and the creation of continental blocs have contributed to a massive increase in unemployment and poverty and to the appearance of long-term unemployment. The official rate is 9.7 per cent, but if we include discouraged workers and underemployed (involuntary part-time) workers the figure reaches 15 per cent (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 1997). This mainly affects young people making the transition between school and the job market, immigrants and people in ethnic communities, women, Native people, and older workers. These groups are more affected by the "discouraged worker" syndrome and have, at various points, been the target of training and education programs, with varying degrees of success. The concentration of long-term unemployment in regions has led to a significant restructuring of training and education infrastructures, such as in some parts of Quebec, where over 20 per cent of the population is unemployed (including discouraged workers and social assistance recipients), or in Maritime provinces, with the crash of the fisheries.

Indeed, the increasing rate of technological change has helped transform the job market and is exerting growing pressure on adult education, reorienting it more and more to goals compatible with the concerns of economic sectors and individual employability. Work reorganization and job cuts in companies have triggered a race to upgrade skills and acquire educational credits just to try and keep one's job. The 1994 Adult Education and Training Survey shows that, in 1993, one out of every two participants (about 3 million people) in adult education and training had support from their employers. But, education and training have launched into the identification, quantification, and standardization of relatively arbitrary and fragmented qualifications that often reflect narrow job definitions.

Companies and institutions involved in education have altered the form and content of their adult education programs to reflect a shift toward employability. New and closer ties between the educational and business spheres have developed. New forms of learning have been instituted and encouraged, such as "customized training," work/study arrangements, and the setting up or development of apprenticeships.

Changes in work and the nature of employment have created a simultaneous increase in demand for workers with postsecondary education and casual jobs for unskilled workers. With a sharp increase in these two types of employment, the job market and jobs have become sharply polarized (CEC 1987, 1990). For a number of years, policies on occupational training and development have contributed to this polarization in that they divide into two major streams: one oriented to qualifying training (leading to formal recognition) and the other to the development of employability measures (to achieve quick integration in the job market, with or without training).

A related development is the growth of non-standard employment, particularly part-time and temporary jobs. Yet temporary workers vary widely in social identity, sector of employment, and educational attainment:

"...Temporary jobs are filled by an almost equal number of men and women, and temporary workers are found in any number of occupations including clerical work, teaching and health professions, construction trades and service occupations, among others. Educational attainment among temporary workers is also wide ranging. Among those 25 to 44, for example, almost half have a certificate, a diploma or degree from a college or university, while one-quarter had not completed high school. Among workers who experienced a period of unemployment before taking a temporary job, over three-quarters reported that a 'shortage of jobs' was a barrier to finding employment, compared to just one in five who cited 'lack of education' as an obstacle." (Schellenberg and Clark 1996, 2).

• The changing nature of the state

The federal, provincial, and territorial components of the Canadian state, like other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, are in a period of transition from forms of Keynesian intervention to a form of government that has become all too familiar: cutbacks in government spending, ostensibly to reduce the debt and the deficit, reforming (endangering in the opinion of many people) existing social programs, reduction in public spending on education and health, downsizing both the size and scope of government intervention, etc. However, Canada, by international standards, still has a healthy and accessible system of social programs.

The diminishing role of the state and expanding role of the "market" and the fact that government leaders subordinate their policies to the imperatives of economic growth are key to the imbalances seen in social and cultural change and have, in the opinion of some people, had a particularly weakening impact on the education system. Thus, in the area of training, governments directly support companies through measures to help them train their employees and promote more and more the development of private training institutions. Educational public institutions must then adopt a competitive approach suited to this new training market. Notwithstanding, Canada is among the countries that invest the most in education, and it still has one of the highest postsecondary education participation rates in the world.

Furthermore, government interventions are addressed to specific groups in the population and come with increasingly tighter controls on individuals. The "target-customer" approach linked to repeated cuts in government spending underlies, if not a questioning of, at least a move away from, the principles of accessibility and universality put forward by the welfare state. This new direction is supported by a profound reform of the Canadian "safety net", which has been largely redefined -- at the federal, provincial, and territorial levels -- around two axes: "passive measures - active measures" and "local development." As elsewhere in the West, we are seeing the development of a "two-tiered" social system.

• The media and new information and communication technologies (NICT)

Since 1985, the process of upgrading knowledge and technologies has accelerated. This has led to a greater focus on lifelong learning. The "scientific and technological revolution" is helping create a broader forum for adult education, giving it a different scope within the education system. Distance education (universities, colleges, educational television, info-highways) is continuing to grow, offering new interactive multimedia services. In addition, the "second-phase technological change" (Conseil supérieur de l'éducation 1993), which characterizes NICTs, radically challenges our notions not only of intellectual production, but also of the work itself, whose raw material has become the information entered in databases or in the "brain" (the programs) of machines.

But it must also be acknowledged that the progress and greater well-being made possible by this revolution are far from being equitably distributed throughout the population. "In fact, the number of people who are excluded from it seems to be growing at as fast a pace as the technological change itself" (ICEA-CAAE 1996). Thus, despite the efforts of the past 10 years to support literacy and develop basic skills, it has not been possible to close the gap between those who "hold knowledge" and those whose knowledge is not recognized or who, in one way or another, in work and daily life, lack the tools of the "society of knowledge."

The omnipresence of the media in the lives of individuals and groups is another aspect of the evolution in adult education. Not that its influence was not felt before, but the "media" phenomenon continues to expand, particularly in the context of the convergence of media and computers. Today, watching television is the population's main pastime and preferred source of information, for all ages combined. Its inescapable presence gives it decisive influence over how people live and think. The media are in fact a true "parallel school."

• Social and cultural change

While science and the world of work have undergone major transformations, our social and cultural environments have been equally transformed. Yet these changes receive less attention or are simply underestimated, particularly when they concern the impact on social organization of the advances by women, of demographic change, and of community efforts to improve local development and revitalize the democratic conditions of life in society. Although analysis of the impact of these changes on society has barely begun, the transformations of the past ten years have given rise to new educational practices and have increased and diversified the needs for lifelong learning.

Women's efforts to achieve greater financial and occupational autonomy have given rise to specific needs for training and retraining. Women's demands have helped generate new educational approaches that recognize and validate general qualifications arising from experience, in order to promote women's access to education and work (ICEA 1994). Demographic change, aging, and the increasingly multi-ethnic nature of the Canadian population were all factors in the emergence of new training needs, as well as a new way of envisaging the production of teaching material and approaches. Lastly, the rise in unemployment and poverty throughout Canada, but particularly in urban centres and certain rural areas, led governments to designate specific zones of intervention, and groups to develop partnerships and cooperative methods to implement development strategies intended to be "sustainable", but which will require that adult education be considered an indispensable tool in the process of empowerment and general development.

Groups have been set up and have taken independent action in response to the economic and political situation and the profound social crisis in Canada. Women, gays and lesbians, and more and more communities of immigrants and refugees have organized groups and clinics to educate about violence, personal safety, conflict resolution, and peace, seeking ways to solve local and international crises (promotion of health, prevention of disease, campaigns on sexually transmitted diseases, on AIDS, on the use of drugs, etc.).

In addition to work-related training, many adults have started or undertaken personal development courses, juggling work, family, community, and personal commitments. Also, many people work long hours for low pay, which creates a higher level of stress and carries an individual and social cost in terms of personal development, health, and general well-being. This situation has created a need and demand for training related to personal well-being, time management, personal development and growth, substance abuse, family relations, and leisure activities in general. Volunteer organizations established by workers and communities have responded by setting up a wide range of programs and courses (Hours of Work Task Force Report 1995).

In the next decade, it is clear that the impacts of social, economic, and cultural change will continue to produce social and job exclusion, but will also make new social and educational practices accessible to a greater number of adults. Major government policy decisions since the 1980s will continue to strengthen the current trend toward an approach centred on the job market and the introduction of a development model based on the notion of the "knowledge and information economy," or the "value-added economy."

The goal of work force adaptation central to worker training and development policies will remain the dominant orientation. However, if nothing is done to counter this trend, it could become entrenched to the detriment of basic education and a more global educational vision. Similarly, it is also likely that a utilitarian conception of training and a generalization of measures to limit training, related to employment, will grow stronger and will reinforce the dominant trend. However, the establishment of partnerships between educational institutions and employers, and the development of alternative training, including apprenticeship programs adapted to general market needs for young people and adults receiving occupational training, will also strengthen, which is considered a positive development by educators and business leaders.

Furthermore, given Canada's intentions to make the educational systems into systems for lifelong learning, we will doubtless see new forms of collaboration between the provinces and territories, notably through the Council of Ministers of Education, but also through cooperation between federal and provincial governments to develop literacy and basic skills, to recognize experience, and to develop the work force and adult education. The consequences of the announced federal withdrawal from labour market training and the current reform of educational policies on adult education and access to training must be monitored closely, especially in a context where public and private training systems compete against each other.

Further, given the regional development policies that lie behind government decentralization, another trend will be greater involvement by educational and industry systems as well as popular and community organizations in local development of communities and regions. Whatever the intent, the restructuring of the economy and the job market, and, to a certain extent, the effects of social and labour force policies, is creating a "two-tiered" society. If nothing is done to counter exclusion from the work force and the increasing polarization of work, and to better equip workers and communities, this trend will simply grow stronger.

Also, the new training demands linked to the growth of the media and NITCs will likely increase, particularly with regard to distance education, both in civil society and the job market. However, the electronic highway could very well aggravate the existing trend to make the education system an adjunct of the workplace, and, because of deregulation, funding may determine content and access.

Lastly, we will see an expansion of the volunteer sector to support the plethora of educational activities in the community and grassroots organizations (see third section of the document).

The priority areas and their implications for policy and directions in adult education in Canada are many, reflecting the extent of the problems to be addressed.

a) The area of job-related training. Adult education is being increasingly defined by a job-related focus. More specifically, two types of training have become central: labour force qualification training and employability training for the unemployed.

b) The area of those who receive "government assistance." More and more, the requirement to take training and education courses is becoming a criterion for eligibility to receive unemployment insurance and welfare. Recipients of government assistance will not receive benefits unless they participate in employability measures, including training. When this approach is linked with punitive measures in the case of non-participation by people receiving social assistance, such programs are called "workfare" (work for welfare) or, for training, "learnfare". Such policies are now in place in several Canadian provinces, including Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec (Workfare Working Group 1996).

c) The area of "customized" training. Education is becoming increasingly tied into the job market and employee training under the Canadian Jobs Strategy (1985) and the Labour Force Development Strategy (1990). Courses in French language, retraining, and upgrading in order to be eligible for further professional development activities are just some of the courses that are most often directly related to work. In terms of occupational training, budget cuts and a tightening of eligibility criteria have reduced accessibility.

d) The area of literacy and basic education for target groups, and academic upgrading for under-educated adults. Given the changes in the job market and society, literacy and basic education programs are of prime importance.

d) Lastly, the area of training needs related to the introduction of NICTs in every area of life and work.

There are three major implications related to these areas. First, their existence, and even their development, highlight the rapid expansion of a market for private training services that increasingly deals directly with businesses, public education institutions, and the institutional milieu of the Canadian Labour Force Development Board, and, in Quebec, the Société québécoise de développement de la main-d'oeuvre. Second, they suggest there has been a rapid evolution in attitudes to education in general and better-integrated training, strengthening a culture of lifelong learning in Canada. Third, policies must take into account -- more explicitly than they do now -- the increase and diversity of demand for adult training, and recognize the specific needs of this area.

The state of literacy has changed considerably in Canada since 1985. Awareness of the nature of literacy has grown, and involvement in promoting literacy has grown significantly.

Though public opinion was disbelieving for a long time, today the reality of people having extreme difficulties in understanding and employing printed information is more accepted. A few studies helped to change public opinion with regard to illiteracy by replacing the polarity of illiteracy-literacy with a gradual continuum of ability to "handle written information." In 1987, an investigative report by the newspaper publisher Southam News (Calamai 1988) not directly measured the reading and counting skills of Canadians, using a methodology developed in the United States. The public debate turned around the fact that almost 5 million Canadians were functionally illiterate. That study was followed by two others conducted by Statistics Canada (1991, 1996). The latter, the Canadian Report of the International Adult Literacy Survey basically corroborated the results of the previous two: about 22 per cent of Canadian adults have extreme difficulties with reading, and another 26 per cent have only the most limited of skills -- they read but they do not read well (Table 3). However, the situation has not deteriorated in the past five years. All three studies theorized that low literacy levels were one of the causes of Canada's economic difficulties; other studies, such as the one by the Canadian Business Task Force on Literacy (1987), which estimated the economic costs of illiteracy at $2 billion, created a certain stir.

Greater awareness of the reality of people with low levels of literacy helped to increase literacy activities. While in 1985, attention paid to literacy was inconsistent, even lacking, there was a turning point in 1987-89. On the one hand, the federal government gave it a decisive boost by adopting a policy (1987), by creating the National Literacy Secretariat with an annual budget of about $22 million (1988), and by establishing the post of Minister with Special Responsibility for Literacy (1993). In February 1997, the Government of Canada increased this budget by $7 million bringing the total budget to $29 million. The federal government already supported adult basic education through funding for under-educated unemployed, as part of its labour force training and retraining policy and its linguistic integration of immigrants. All provinces became involved in the field in 1988, when the Council of Ministers of Education published a Document entitled Adult Illiteracy in Canada: Identifying and Addressing the Problem (CMEC, 1988). Each province or territory now has activities, programs, an infrastructure, and, often, explicit policies on literacy.

Source: Statistics Canada 1996, 24
See also: International Adult Literacy Survey - 1996 - Canada Report

The simultaneous involvement of the federal, provincial, and territorial governments gave rise to a certain specialization. The provinces and territories support front-line action, whereas the federal government supports Canada-wide joint initiatives and "research and development," sometimes helping to reorient practices, as has been the case with job-related literacy and family literacy. As for the provincial and territorial governments, they fund and oversee the organizations that administer the training: community organizations, school boards, and, outside Quebec, community colleges. HRDC, as part of its commitment to facilitate the development of occupational standards, is conducting extensive research on a national level to develop a series of occupational profiles on the essential skills requirements of entry level occupations. The essential skills being studied are reading and writing, use of documents, numeracy, problem solving, thinking skills, use of computers, teamwork, and capacity for continuous learning. A series of approximately 100 profiles for occupations requiring less than two years of postsecondary education is expected to be completed by the spring of 1998.

Basically, work on literacy occurs in Canada's two official languages, and in some of its 52 Native languages, and is organized on a linguistic or ethnocultural basis: anglophones in the Movement for Canadian Literacy, francophones in the Fédération canadienne pour l'alphabétisation en français. Finally, several Native agencies consult with each other. As for those who speak neither French nor English as a first language (mainly immigrants), literacy activities are available to them in Quebec principally in French, and in the rest of Canada, in English. Some ethnocultural organizations provide literacy activities in their native language.

Around 1985, literacy was largely characterized by its social and community aspects; since then, it is more linked to policies on out-placement and re-entry into the labour force, many activities and programs being defined in terms of concrete economic and social ends.

Overall, literacy has gained both visibility and importance. The current infrastructure has been strengthened by the increased number of people involved, by research and cooperative efforts, by the introduction of programs better suited to the needs of adults and the creation of relevant teaching materials, by an increase in the number of public awareness projects, and by a general increase in literacy activities. Moreover, several projects now make learners partners in defining and managing the activities; also, initiatives were introduced outside of the field of literacy, such as "simple writing," where the goal is to make the processes and content of social communication more accessible to marginally literate people. Lastly, partnerships resulting from greater interrelationship between educational, economic, and social aspects, as well as explicit government policies, have become more important.

The issue of literacy in Canada has never been as visible and so high on the public policy agenda. Nevertheless there is a serious problem that needs to be addressed regarding the vulnerability of adult continuing education. Over the past few years, the pace of project development has slowed considerably and, in some cases, has stopped altogether. Funding is awarded mostly on a short-term, annual basis according to enrolments and in "closed" budgetary envelopes. In many areas, work in literacy is becoming the domain of professionals. However the status of most workers is precarious and their pay is low. With cuts in social spending, projects must show their efficiency and effectiveness -- a positive requirement, but one that nonetheless increases instability and insecurity.

Finally, even without general data on the number of adults enrolled in literacy activities and basic education, a few studies have revealed the low level of participation in continuous training of people whose schooling or literacy are minimal (Table 4). As Statistics Canada noted, continuous training "results in increased inequality" because it serves mainly to hone the skills of people who are already literate. This creates a major problem of accessibility and equity, which, despite progress, has yet to be resolved.

Source: Statistics Canada 1996, 59
See also: International Adult Literacy Survey - 1996 - Canada Report

Since 1985, the role of adult education in creating more equitable development in Canada has been, in some ways, positive. Advances have been made in four areas in particular: greater accessibility to postsecondary education, in a context where many jobs created require at least 16 years of schooling; the development of literacy and basic education programs and projects supported by cooperation among governments and the growing involvement of sectors active in these areas, although a great deal of work still remains to be done in this area; access to professional development, with training in companies becoming more developed and more structured, and with new forms of training being introduced (work/study, apprenticeship plans, etc.), supported by new dynamic partnerships and the voluntary institution of a "culture of lifelong learning"; and the contribution of training, education, and community action in the development of groups. Overall, these advances show how training and adult education help create greater equality among persons and groups in relation to the development of Canadian society, and each province and territory in particular.

The difficulties and constraints that limit the impact of adult education lie in the same areas where advances have been made. In the wake of the "streamlining" that has followed education budget cuts, the services offered by institutions have either been reduced at the regional level, or modified to meet the immediate needs of businesses and to integrate the "beneficiaries" of government unemployment insurance and welfare. Whatever the intent, the effect has been to provide access to employers and those receiving government assistance, while increasing barriers for employed workers and those outside the social safety net.

Furthermore, despite efforts to establish school/business partnerships in industry sectors and geographic regions, such plans are still hindered by institutional constraints. Institutions must find ways to become more flexible given that adult education will be a vector of democratization in the process of social and cultural transformation occurring in Canadian society, and in the coordination that must occur between education and industry. In addition, despite the major progress made through the adoption of equity policies and programs for certain target groups (people with disabilities, visible minorities, immigrants, women, and young people) and communities identified as designated areas, the budget cuts of recent years to reduce the government deficit could compromise these efforts, and could maintain and even worsen the phenomenon of societal and job market exclusion. Thus, adult education and training policies and strategies adopted in the past decade, which strengthen the trend to the "two-tiering" of the Canadian job market and society, lay a heavy burden on the possibility of establishing a model of equitable development in Canada at the dawn of the 21^st century.

Although the provinces and territories have full jurisdiction in education, the Government of Canada has long supported, through the Department of Employment and Immigration, and since 1996, Human Resources Development Canada, labour market training and skills upgrading. The Government of Canada also supports postsecondary education through direct programs of support and fiscal transfers to the provinces and territories.

• Canadian Jobs Strategy (1985)

In 1985, without modifying its National Training Act (1982), the federal government adopted a new strategy for labour force training and employment development, known as the Canadian Jobs Strategy. Pursuit of full employment was abandoned, and priority was placed on adjusting skills to meet demand. Unemployment would be considered simply as an indicator of the vitality and competitiveness of the Canadian economy, and not attacked as a scourge. Job creation became the responsibility of the private sector, with government playing an "accompanying" role in the development of the economy and job market. Rejecting the existing planning system, the Canada Employment and Immigration Commission gave preference to a decentralized approach based on consultation between socio-economic partners.

After 1985, the federal government obtained the cooperation of the provinces and territories, signing bilateral agreements on employment planning. Under these agreements, the federal government transferred additional funds to the provinces to be used for labour force development and, as well, to attack the new problem of the "transition from school or home to the job market." Also signed was a shared-cost agreement to improve the employability of social welfare recipients.

Canadian Jobs Strategy offered two distinct and complementary approaches. Each sought to prevent labour shortages, but by different means. The first approach focussed on qualifying education, to respond to the needs of the Canadian economy for a highly qualified labour force that could adapt to technological change. The second offered programs to improve employability, for persons on the periphery or margins of the labour force, and primarily sought to reintegrate into the labour force those with no or few qualifications. With the second approach, training occupied a secondary role or simply was absent.

• Labour Force Development Strategy (1990)

In the early 1990s, in the wake of the Advisory Council on Adjustment, Adapting to Win (1989) and the proposals of the Canadian Labour Market and Productivity Centre (1989), the federal government implemented a new strategy: the Labour Force Development Strategy (LFDS). This strategy showed the government's willingness to significantly increase the role of the private sector in employee training. Together with the Canadian Jobs Strategy of 1985, the LFDS was intended to help the labour force face the dual challenge of globalization of the economy and the Free Trade Agreement with the United States -- and the subsequent North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In so doing, it substantially widened the scope -- in terms of provincial and territorial jurisdiction -- of federal intervention in the area of training for both the unemployed and the employed.

The government thus acted on two fronts. First, it proceeded, in 1990, with major changes of the Unemployment Insurance Program: it stopped contributing to it, tightened eligibility, limited the amount and duration of benefits, and augmented use of Unemployment Insurance funds "for productive ends." Then, the following year, it created the Canadian Labour Force Development Board (CLFDB), an advisory group on training and the job market composed of 22 members from business, union, and education sectors, and from designated groups covered by the Employment Equity Act (women, native peoples, people with disabilities, and visible minorities). The CLFDB reported initially to Employment and Immigration Canada, then to Human Resources Development Canada, created in 1995.

To facilitate private sector involvement, the CLFDB encouraged creation of regional commissions in the provinces and territories, and ultimately local commissions in each region. CLFDBs were created in many provinces: Newfoundland and New Brunswick (1992), Nova Scotia (1993), Saskatchewan and British Columbia (1994, but reduced in 1996). Some provinces chose to establish their own structure under provincial legislation: Quebec created the Société québécoise de développement de la main-d'oeuvre (SQDM), with more extensive powers and autonomy than the CLFDB. While strengthened in 1995, at the time of this report, the role and decision-making powers of the SQDM are threatened by a proposed reform. As for Ontario, in 1993 it created the Ontario Training and Adjustment Board, which it then abolished in 1996.

• Social security reform in Canada (1994)

In 1994, the federal government, through Human Resources Development, launched a process of social security reform aimed at modernizing previous programs of support for employment/unemployment services, postsecondary education, and social assistance, as well as ensuring fiscal affordability and sustainability. The reform process led to a new system of federal transfers to provincial governments (the Canada Health and Social Transfer) for postsecondary education, social assistance and health, as well as the introduction of new unemployment income benefits and employment support mechanisms. During this time, public debate focussed on the fact that these changes were a cornerstone of the broader policies adopted by governments in response to socio-economic restructuring, and to the pressures of public debt and deficit.

However, it was the reform of the Unemployment Insurance Program that had the most impact on adult education and training. The new Employment Insurance Act, adopted in June 1996, replaced the old Unemployment Insurance Act and the National Training Act. This reform had two facets: income benefits and employment support benefits. The new system was more stringent than the old, and based more strongly on deployment of "active" measures. Thus, in the Canadian federal framework, the tighter controls had a sharper and quicker impact on unemployed people, particularly in terms of social welfare programs in which costs are shared with the provinces and territories. This was accompanied by a reduction in federal transfers to the provinces. As well, one of the direct effects of the law was to permit the establishment of new partnerships with the provinces and territories, in order to increase system efficiency and eliminate duplicate programs. In recognition of provincial and territorial responsibility for training, the federal government withdrew from labour force training; instead, it offered provinces and territories the management of active employment measures financed by Employment Insurance funds, and other services linked to the labour market, such as the National Employment Service. However, by means of "guidelines," it left open the possibility of continuing to exercise a decisive influence in adult training and education, while leaving the responsibility for creation and implementation of labour force training and development to the provinces. At the time of writing, most of the provinces had signed agreements with the federal government dealing with labour market issues, along the lines established by the Employment Insurance legislation.

• Role of public, private, corporate, community, and labour-based education and training

Provinces and territories

In Canada, each ministry of education maintains separate responsibility for the provision of public education, apprenticeship, curriculum, and accreditation standards. This results in 12 distinct sets of policy and administration in Canadian education. At the same time, a considerable volume of adult education has occurred under federal and joint federal-provincial jurisdiction as labour market, literacy, and vocational training.

Newfoundland and Labrador

The government has undertaken a comprehensive review of training and program standards to ensure that the provincial curriculum is consistent with usual practices elsewhere in the country. Initiatives include establishing a Literacy Development Council; shared funding for community and neighborhood literacy programs; and the strengthening of adult basic education programs available through the postsecondary system.

Prince Edward Island

The Office of Higher Education, Training and Adult Learning was created in 1994, centralizing labour market training, adult upgrading, literacy and related programming and services. Further initiatives include the establishment of an Adult Learning and Career Assessment Service.

Nova Scotia

Special initiatives include the Community Learning Initiative, which supports networks providing upgrading and literacy programs; Workplace Education Program to implement new workplace literacy and upgrading programs; and in agreement with Maritime Tel & Tel, Education Wide Area Network (EDnet) connection to the Internet linking Nova Scotia Community College, Collège de l'Acadie, public schools, libraries, and museums.

New Brunswick

The province has invested heavily in new information technologies as the source for future economic growth and development. Adult training efforts have been linked with income support programs and focussed on work-for-welfare and related policy initiatives.

Quebec

Several events have marked the direction, organization, and financing of adult education in Quebec. First, the social welfare reforms of 1989 obliged welfare recipients to participate in employability programs, including academic upgrading. This was followed in 1993 by the creation of a partnership structure, the Société de développement de la main-d'oeuvre, and in 1995 by legislation that obliges businesses to allocate the equivalent of 1 per cent of their annual payroll to employee training. Finally, in 1995-96, the Estates General on Education were held. The report by the commission struck at the Estates General advised the Quebec government to adopt a policy of continuous education. This recommendation was adopted by the Ministry of Education in its 1996 action plan.

Ontario

The current government has re-organized training and adult education with the intent of developing a strategy that will reflect the government's social and economic objectives. Work-for-welfare initiatives have been introduced.

Manitoba

Adult literacy initiatives include community-based and basic education in the workplace. All local programming is channeled through non-profit community advisory committees. Distance education and technology initiatives are receiving increased support. Aboriginal education and self-governance is proceeding through a variety of local initiatives. A number of partnership arrangements have been facilitated across all sectors.

Saskatchewan

Adult education covers a broad range of services and programs. A training agreement has been reached, which includes Aboriginal peoples, government, and industry. A "train-the-trainer" program has been established among Aboriginal people, along with apprenticeships, distance education, and basic education that recognizes experiential learning and tacit skills. Similar assistance is provided for the establishment of a regionalized college system and the Gabriel Dumont Institute, which serves the needs of Métis and Non-Status Native people.

Alberta

The Adult Development Reform Initiative (ADRI) affirms the province's commitment to develop and maintain a high quality and efficient system of adult education. Integrated training programs, contextual academics, work experience informed by essential skills research, employability skills, and prior learning assessment and recognition are some hallmarks of the ADRI. The province continues to support its network of 63 community-based volunteer tutor literacy programs. The provincially administered Alberta vocational colleges are being given greater flexibility to meet adult education needs through a new publicly administered governance structure. The adult learner information services will ensure access to reliable program information through Internet access points. Continuing emphasis is being placed on accountability measures, system responsiveness, accessibility, and efficiency.

British Columbia

Adult education programming includes adult basic education, English-language training, and literacy. Prior learning assessment initiatives have encouraged implementation across a range of service providers. Additional funding has been provided to programs targeting low income and unemployed adults seeking skills upgrading and vocational and technical training. A network of community-managed community skills centres provides access to training and labour market adjustment services. Community outreach partnerships link postsecondary institutions with the community in support of adult education initiatives.

Yukon

Through community college campuses, adult basic education is provided in all communities, and basic literacy provided by non-profit groups is funded by government. The 1992 Yukon Training Strategy is being revised to meet emerging labour force requirements with an emphasis on partnership with industry and First Nations in the delivery of community-based skills training.

Northwest Territories

The government works closely with colleges to support labour market training. Currently, training for employment in large-scale diamond projects is particularly active in the western NWT. Training of Inuit for a representative public service in the new territory of Nunavut after 1999 is particularly active in the eastern NWT.

Corporate, community, trade union, and private sector: Key areas of involvement

Corporate

According to the results of a 1993 study, one person in five aged more than 17 years has participated in education and training activities sponsored by their employer and linked to their work. In this group, 34 per cent were white collar workers, 15 per cent were blue collar. It is clear that participation rates increase the higher the level of the job, with the managers and professionals being the most frequent beneficiaries. In general, employers in the goods-producing sector sponsor less training for their employees than employers in the service sector (HRDC: Adult Education and Training Survey 1994, 37-44).

The type of support received varied considerably: payment of fees (84 per cent), time off the job (77 per cent), provided on the premises with supplies (64 per cent), provided directly by the employer (51 per cent, mainly blue-collar). Of the latter category, the breakdown of who did the training is also revealing: 40 per cent were instructed by co-workers; 44 per cent by private consultants; 21 per cent by educational institution; and 22 per cent by some other source (e.g. vendors). New recruits are the least likely to receive any form of employer-supported training: 11 per cent of those who received training had 12 months seniority or less, while 40 per cent had 10 years seniority or more (Crompton 1994).

There is general consensus that private sector investment in employer-provided training must increase to support the overall objective of developing an equitable learning culture. In the past decade, the private sector training effort has increased minimally. For 1986-87, 31 per cent of businesses in Canada provided some structured training specifically focussed on enhancing vocational and technical skills. Only 27 per cent of private sector workers received such formal training (Statistics Canada, 1987). Large firms are more likely to engage in structured training activities. Most employer-based training activities are informal (Ekos Research Associates, 1993a). Only 20 per cent of firms have a training budget, and 15 per cent report having a formal work force training plan (CLMPC 1993; Ekos Research Associates 1993a).

Community

Adult education activities have increasingly targeted employment and employability-related programming, based on the direction of policy and on the program funding made available through federal and provincial government agencies.

Educational activities have been initiated for the growing population in large urban centres lacking access to secure and affordable housing, specifically homeless adults and young adults. Community economic development initiatives have given rise to significant educational activities designed to support and broaden local economic and community development. These activities have been led by cooperative associations across a variety of sectors, including housing, workers' education, women's education, and First Nations.

Education on violence and personal safety, peace, and conflict resolution has long-standing applicability through agencies and clinics for women, gays and lesbians, and, increasingly, immigrant and refugee communities responding to crises locally and internationally.

Health promotion and disease prevention activities have grown up around significant events, the most notable of which remains the massive education campaigns regarding AIDS and HIV-related illness among the lesbian and gay communities, sex trade workers, IV drug users, and more recently among incarcerated women and men. The latter populations have also been the subject of health promotion and disease prevention campaigns regarding tuberculosis.

Trade Union

Trade unions in Canada have become very actively involved in the provision of education services to working people. Individual trade unions have maintained active education departments and membership education programs, including, for example, the establishment of training trust funds to support employer-provided training and paid educational leave to support union-based education services.

Provincial trade union federations have played a leadership role in the establishment of workplace-based education programs, such as the Ontario Federation of Labour's Basic Education and Skills Training program, and the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour Workers' Education for Skills Training program.

Trade unions demonstrate a growing awareness of members' needs for training and labour adjustment services to respond to workplace re-organization, work force reductions, and workplace closures resulting in permanent unemployment. Local, regional, and national initiatives have been encouraged through cooperative efforts of the Canadian Labour Congress and other central labour bodies, together with union involvement in sectoral council efforts like the Canadian Steel Trades and Employment Congress (United Steelworkers of America). Workplace literacy and adult basic education, labour education, and skills training programs have been developed on the basis of a worker-led model.

Examples of programs initiated over the decade include the Metro Labour Education Centre and the Metro Toronto Labour Council; national union efforts including the United Food and Commercial Workers Layoff and Closure Program; and the Canadian Auto Workers Paid Educational Leave program. Quebec labour education initiatives include participation in literacy and adult basic education, as well as the economics education promoted by the Solidarity Fund of the Fédération des travailleuses et travailleurs du Québec.

Private

The redirection of federal policy with the introduction of the Labour Force Development Strategy in 1989 made available additional public funds for the provision of skills training. This policy initiative encouraged the proliferation of training providers and consultants in the private sector. Although no national market survey information is available, local environmental scans suggest a concentration of education consultants and service providers in the area of off-the-shelf computer-based training and information services.

The diffusion of computer-based technology (CBT) applications is generating an increase in the volume of demand for, and delivery, of workplace training. The proportion of workers using CBT in an average establishment increased from 15 per cent to 37 per cent between 1985 and 1991. During the same period, the total number of people engaged in such training tripled (McMullen et al.). Workers who already have a fairly high level of education, have greater seniority and are between the ages of 25 and 44, and work full-time and full-year are more likely to receive employer-provided training. The firm most likely to provide such training would be capital- and technology-intensive, large, with a more educated work force and a medium employment growth rate. This pattern continues, despite the evidence that a broad range of employers could earn a significant return on investment from a sustained training effort in the form of significant productivity gains (CLFDB 1994).

Source: Kapsalis (1993,10), Adult Education and Training Survey

• Role of libraries and other delivery mechanisms

Libraries, museums, and community centres have provided important access points for adults seeking a broad range of information, education, and literacy and related services. Like so many public services, libraries in particular have come under fiscal restraint measures adopted by governments. The public-access library system is moving increasingly in the direction of targeting its services, utilizing new information technologies to appeal to a narrow band of specialized consumer-group needs, including business information and user-pay INTERNET access. Libraries continue to provide a critical need across a range of urban, rural, and remote communities, often as the only access point for a range of information needs. Libraries are also well-positioned to provide public orientation and access to new information technologies. These services are central to democratic access and participation. It is vital that these services be provided on a basis that is universally affordable and accessible.

Distance Learning

By 1994, 54 per cent of universities, 68 per cent of colleges, and 36 per cent of large businesses in Canada were engaged in distance education activities. Distance education has been promoted as a form of pedagogy" centred on a concern with equity of access to educational opportunities for all citizens" (Judith Roberts, p.813). In 1994, 420,000 adults took a distance education course. In fact, between 1991 and 1993, enrolment in distance education courses increased by 9 per cent, compared to an increase of 6 per cent in traditional courses. Course enrolments were highest in such areas as commerce, management, and business (35 per cent); engineering and applied sciences (23 per cent); followed by health sciences (16 per cent); social sciences and humanities (10 per cent) (Adult Education and Training Survey, 1994). The average distance learner is 33 years old, lives in an urban/suburban location, and earns $27,000 annually. The average female distance learner earns $21,000 compared to the average male learner who earns $34,000. About 10 per cent of all learners utilized distance education methods in 1993.

Students, employers, and education institutions have all emphasized cost-savings as a key factor in choosing distance education over other approaches. Canada's Information Highway Advisory Council identified three concerns in relation to distance education: universality, affordability, and copyright. By 1995, 28.8 per cent of all households in Canada owned a personal computer, of which 40 per cent were equipped with a modem. Although this is an increase of 477,000 households over 1993, and more than three times as many as in 1986, access remains a key concern.

For some adult learners, however, distance learning offers a way to overcome barriers to successful completion of conventional courses. In a 1994 survey, people placed family responsibility and workload as the top barrier (61 per cent), followed by financial costs (33 per cent), lack of employer support (33 per cent), non-offering of needed courses (32 per cent), and inconvenience of time/place (27 per cent).To the degree that distance educators can address these issues, they may provide new opportunities for adults who have been unsuccessful in conventional courses.

The Canadian Association for Distance Education has highlighted important issues underlying the educational applications of the technology. Distance education offers new challenges for instructional methods and learning techniques. It is important for educators to assess carefully the learning support network needs of adult learners and to develop new, or adapt and modify existing, methods to reflect the new learning experience and environment.

• Other services

PLAR

Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) provides valuable tools to increase equity in access to education, in a lifelong learning perspective. It also reduces duplication of costs in education, and allows adult learners to build upon knowledge drawn from a range of experiences, including paid and unpaid work, non-formal learning, and community and related activities. PLAR is an important vehicle for formalizing recognition of credentials and certification across a range of trades and professions, where training and education has been acquired in jurisdictions outside Canada. Further, this approach helps reduce training costs for both public sponsors and employers, by reducing unnecessary repetition of courses. For all these reasons, PLAR should be integrated into school board, college- and university-level courses and programs.

Prior learning assessment has so far been mostly geared toward specific college-level courses. Broader approaches to PLAR include assessment and recognition of learning not previously or usually recognized and accredited. Experiential learning includes critical thinking, empathy, and analytic skills employees bring to bear in a variety of situations and relations. Work and social experiences should be taken into account, to capture the range and depth of adult learning practices in the workplace, the home, and the community. Recognition of experiential learning argues for a broadening (rather than narrowing) of learning outcomes to be assessed and recognized.

Every effort should be made to broaden the definitions of `knowledge' and `learning' to accommodate experiential learning acquired in non-academically structured environments. Learning outcomes should clearly distinguish between vocational and generic skills. Effort should be made to ensure that the criteria applied to learning outcomes are not so narrow as to preclude recognition of work-based learning.

Coordination of these initiatives has become a priority among governmental and nongovernmental organizations in Canada. A number of issues regarding policy, programming, access, and affordability must be addressed within the framework of public policy and program development. For this reason, Human Resources Development Canada is funding a national forum on PLAR.

Funding for adult education comes from many sources -- from federal and provincial government programs as well as nongovernmental sources. Funding from the local level of government is more rare, with the possible exception of training activities associated with cultural and community development.

• Government Funding

The federal government

The Canadian government invests large sums, through a number of ministries and organizations, in diverse programs and measures mainly directed at developing jobs and the employability of individuals capable of working. Although funds vary widely from program to program, a significant percentage is devoted to adult training and skills upgrading.

Human Resources Development Canada, which manages the largest segment of funds earmarked for labour force training, draws most of its budget from the Employment Insurance Program, as discussed above in section 1.7. In recent years, the issue of training has been debated repeatedly among federal, provincial, and territorial governments. The resulting agreements deal with information and innovation in human resource development, adaptation to changes in the job market, and increased employability.

Directly or indirectly, the federal government also supports various programs whose activities touch on adult education and that target well-defined groups, such as young people, women, illiterate persons, recent immigrants, Aboriginal peoples, prisoners, handicapped persons, and the aged.

The provincial governments

Each province invests in adult education first through its formal network of institutions. As well, other ministries mainly concerned with economic or social matters allocate significant sums to adult education and continuous training through a large number of programs and measures. Some carry out needs assessments and planning; other bodies such as private or public educational institutions also receive funding to meet identified needs.

In some provinces there is an increasing tendency to decentralize the identification of needs, planning, and organization of adult education, so that regional or even local groups or organizations can take the lead. This is intended to ensure that funds spent are better coordinated with user needs. It must be pointed out, however, that for the most part monies invested in these training activities come from the federal and provincial governments.

Like the federal government, provincial governments also finance, either alone or with other partners, programs directed at specific client groups. For example, community popular education organizations are financed by various programs under several federal and provincial ministries.

Between 1985 and 1990, funds allocated by governments to adult education generally increased. However, increases since 1990 have been few, mostly in regions hard hit with loss of employment (such as mining and fishing communities).

Business

In the mid-1980s, the government of Canada provided funding for training within companies, which promoted the development of customized training for employed workers. This orientation encouraged the creation and provision of services to business, by both private training firms and public establishments.

The federal and provincial governments offer direct subsidies and income tax credits to businesses for business training activities. The business sector also contributes financially to adult education by giving employees time off to train, by reimbursing tuition fees, and by paying for training given by private firms or public educational institutions. Employees can also participate in cost-shared training programs that come under federal and provincial ministries.

In Quebec, the Loi favorisant le développement de la formation de la main-d'oeuvre (law to promote training) passed in 1995 obliges businesses to spend the equivalent of 1 per cent of their payroll on employee training each year. It is hoped that Quebec businesses, which to date have invested less in training than the Canadian business average, will begin to invest more in employee training.

Labour unions

Labour unions spend significant amounts on adult education. They fund training for their members in areas as diverse as occupational health and safety, labour law, financial analysis, and bookkeeping, as well as teamwork, work reorganization, and total quality processes. They also play a very active role promoting literacy projects in the workplace.

Student and postsecondary student assistance programs

Human Resources Development Canada offers programs that provide training benefits to unemployed people who want to return to school to upgrade, retrain, obtain professional qualifications, or change occupations.

Generally, postsecondary educational assistance plans are federal or provincial. Through the Canadian Student Loans Program, the federal government covers 60 per cent of the financial needs of students, with additional aid being provided in various amounts by the provinces and territories. Quebec and the Northwest Territories have their own programs of loans and bursaries; the federal government provides them with financial support equivalent to that allocated to other provinces and territories.

In various jurisdictions, so-called "active measures" offer an income or daycare supplement to welfare beneficiaries who return to school. Another program offers subsidies and loans to persons, both working and unemployed, who want to return to school.

Within the institutions that make up the formal educational network (general and vocational schools, colleges, and universities), one finds orientation, information and skill assessment services, services to business and other organizations, and distance-education services. To avoid fragmentation and overlap in the provision of these services, there has been a marked tendency in the last decade toward grouping of services. In some cases, such as distance-education in colleges, a provincial service centre (Quebec) has been created. As well, forms of partnership between a variety of educational establishments and other organizations are more frequent, with the goal of providing more and higher quality training to the adult population.

Furthermore, more extended collaborations are starting, for example, between popular education organizations engaged in literacy training and basic education, and the formal education network. In addition, as more and more training is organized in stages, with learning in an academic institution alternating with training in the workplace, fruitful projects and exchanges have developed between formal educational environments and the workplace.

But generally, coordinated efforts are the exception. Too many of those involved in adult education continue to work within the logic of their own framework, forgetting the global perspective. The result is that programs and activities are often developed in parallel. This creates a sense of fragmented services and dispersed activities, which is hard to reconcile with the goal of continuity in education. On the contrary, lifelong learning should allow adults to go in and out of training and progress without interruption, in response to needs arising from their life and work situations.

• The status of adult educators

Given the instability that characterizes the adult education sector, only a small number of educators enjoy secure employment. This situation does not encourage the emergence of adult education specialists. The greatest number of specialists with stable employment are found teaching literacy and pre- and postsecondary programs. In colleges and universities, adult education is taught by teachers on contract, or by people who also teach in the regular sector.

The instability in this professional sector does not make it easy to develop the specific expertise that is nonetheless necessary for consolidation. In universities, the faculties and departments that, starting in the 1970s, developed programs with an andragogic approach, are now tending to drop it. In addition, there has been difficulty in establishing a consensus on the qualifications required by a person working in adult education.

Few of those working in adult education have received even basic professional training in the field. Some have received general training in the science of education, others in various human sciences, and yet others, in a professional specialization, but without specific preparation for teaching material to adults.

The general job instability makes it difficult for adult education professionals to upgrade their skills. Compared to training for teachers in the regular teaching sector, continuing education for adult educators is rare. Adult educators have largely developed their expertise on the job, or by searching out complementary training on their own, while teaching (CEQ 1996).

For the past 15 years, adult education in Canada has been strongly marked by a move to professionalization. It must, in the view of many planners and decision-makers, serve economic goals by supporting industrial and economic restructuring and reorientation, and helping the unemployed to improve their skills. Federal and provincial education and training policies have reflected this orientation. The organization of services and availability of training have been modified accordingly.

Participation in adult education (persons 25 years and older) in Canada also reflects this shift, because most training was undertaken for professional reasons. In fact, 69.1 per cent of training was taken in order to upgrade or change jobs (Table 6).

The fields of study reflect this reality. In 1993, 22 per cent of studies were in administration and commerce. This was followed by close to 19 per cent in engineering and technology. The bio-medical field, including biology and health, accounted for 16 per cent. Thus, these three highly work-related areas accounted for more than half of adult education activities. At the other end of the scale, personal development and leisure activities accounted for just slightly over 10 per cent of total training.

Source: Statistics Canada, Study on Participation in Adult Education, January 1994

In November 1992, the Canadian Labour Force Development Board (CLFDB) approved an action plan designed to improve access to training for members of the designated equity groups: women, youth, visible minority, Aboriginal people, and people with disabilities. The action plan called upon the federal government to respond to a series of measures proposed by CLFDB to develop policy and program initiatives designed to overcome barriers posed by systemic racism and sexism, and to enhance access to education and training opportunities. This step was taken in the recognition that all equity groups are over-represented among those who are under-employed, those who are unemployed, and those who are unable to secure the means to maintain themselves and their dependents according to the standards of basic quality of life and participation.

For example, people with disabilities experience continually many of the same problems most working people face occasionally during their working lives: poverty, unemployment, underemployment, and minimal access to training opportunities. Approximately 40 per cent of working age Canadians with an identified disability live on less than $5,000 per year. Until recently, sheltered workshops provided a major access point for adults with disabilities seeking education and training opportunities. There have until recently been very few public program initiatives, particularly for adults considered intellectually disabled.

Aboriginal peoples

Numbering about 811,000 (2.7 per cent of the population), Canada's Aboriginal peoples (Indians, Inuit, Métis), who have special status confirmed by the 1982 Constitution, now aspire to a form of self-government. They constitute one of the primary target groups for adult education.

In terms of education, Aboriginal peoples fall well behind the Canadian population as a whole (Table 7). In addition, the education system set up for them often contributed to their partial assimilation into the dominant culture and the weakening of their first language and culture. Education and training have now been identified as key elements in their betterment (Assembly of First Nations, 1988) and the transition to self-government (Royal Commission on Native Peoples, 1996). Adult education and training is therefore an essential strategy for upgrading knowledge, languages, cultural awareness, and skills. Different strategies are being used in different communities: Native control of training, basic education and literacy programs, assistance for university or college studies, more and improved professional development, etc.

Meadow Lake Tribal Council (Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan) use Pathways (Aboriginal labour force development federal program) funding to facilitate access to postsecondary education and training.

The recent Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples issued a series of recommendations which, if acted upon by governments and constituent groups across all jurisdictions, would significantly advance the status and capacity for self-empowerment among Aboriginal communities within Canada. The commission has proposed recommendations that pertain to public education and promotion of awareness across cultures and communities (see, for example, Recommendations 2.2.1 Public education programs, historical treaties; 3.5.28 Elders' role in education; 3.5.31 Exchange of traditional knowledge; 3.5.32 International university for Aboriginal peoples).

Governments across all jurisdictions, including federal government obligations to honour historical agreements with treaty nations, should be encouraged to act upon those recommendations, to provide the resources necessary to develop the full range of vital educational services, including adult literacy, basic education, academic upgrading (Recommendations 3.5.19 and 3.5 20).

The adult education needs of Aboriginal communities must continue to be addressed within the context of Aboriginal self-government, on and off reserve.

Source: Statistics Canada, 1991 census data and 1991 Aboriginal Peoples Survey, special totals

Youth and the unemployed

Young people aged 16-17 years have far less autonomy than older adults. The rate of youth unemployment has remained at least 5 percentage points above the national unemployment rate. Youth are withdrawing from secondary school before completion of their diplomas. Greater flexibility and innovative programming is needed if the particular challenges facing youth are to be addressed and resolved.

Many adult learners initiated training on their own: according to a Statistics Canada study, 20 per cent of a total 641,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 54 were engaged in training in January 1992, of whom 73 per cent were unemployed. By January 1992, 53 per cent stated they had been unemployed for six months or more. Of the total, 47 per cent were women. Of the women, 60 per cent were between 25 and 34 years old. The following statistical profile provides an informative snapshot of the training activities of the women included in the sample:

• 41 per cent were enrolled in academic programs (41 per cent full-time)
• 36 per cent were enrolled in a trades program (60 per cent full-time)
• 23 per cent were completing elementary or high school (49 per cent full-time)
• 57 per cent paid for their studies themselves (72 per cent of those enrolled in academic programs)
• 38 per cent received some form of government assistance (mostly those in high school upgrading)

(Crompton 1994, 18-21)

The following anecdotes are drawn from the CLFDB Research Report Empowering People and Communities: Improving the Effectiveness of Training Programs for the Non-Employed (March 1995). These examples illustrate the wide range of adult education programs developed at the community level and some of the difficulties encountered.

"Training for Women in Technology" (Vancouver, British Columbia) provides training for women seeking access to jobs in new technological fields of employment. Several have been placed on waiting lists for technical training at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Access to affordable child care was counted among the barriers facing participants.

"NBWorks" (Bathurst, New Brunswick) is available to participants who face multiple barriers to education and employment, including minimal formal education, poor access to child care, limited recent work experience, and isolation in rural communities. The program has provided learning opportunities, although some participants objected to an approach that individualized broader social and economic barriers, such as high structural unemployment.

Teaching methods have varied in response to changing program innovations and delivery methods. These include modularized programs, alternating work and learning, mentoring in the informal sector, and individualized programs developed and delivered in formal institution-based settings.

Federal initiatives have sought to redirect policy responses to high national unemployment in the form of "active" labour market interventions, including occupational skills training, literacy initiatives, and wage subsidy programs. These programs have experimented with a range of policy instruments, coordination, and funding methods, including government-to-government transfers, direct transfers to agencies, project-based funding of community agencies, and transfers to individuals.

Provincial governments have similarly redirected adult training and education initiatives to include labour market priorities, curriculum development and assessment, equity, and technological innovations in the development and delivery of education programming. Provincial governments have experimented with a variety of program initiatives targeting unemployed adults, based on a model of work-for-welfare. These initiatives appear to combine the objectives of training with employment policy in high unemployment regions of the country.

A system of national sectoral councils has been developed through the federal government to focus the private sector training effort among the principal labour market stakeholders, employers, and trade unions.

Structure and means of coordination

The past decade witnessed a flurry of organizing activity with the intent of establishing a series of labour force development training boards across the provincial and territorial jurisdictions. The establishment of the Canadian Labour Force Development Board was taken to indicate the first major move toward a co-determined system of training and labour adjustment, resulting in the creation of a multi-partite body empowered to advise the federal government on policy matters.

The provinces and territories set up multi-partite boards, with representation from business and labour and designated equity groups: women, visible minorities, people with disabilities, and Aboriginal people under separate jurisdiction. The significance of these initiatives has been the experience of bringing together all labour market partners, to allow democratic participation in the process of policy and program development, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Government programs were, for the first time, brought together under one central administrative and coordinating agency. In Ontario and British Columbia, the boards have been recently disbanded, while in other provinces and territories they have been maintained while ministries are centralizing the programs of education and training.

Local labour force training and adjustment boards, along with provincial, territorial, and national level organizing drew on, and enhanced, the development of groupings at the community level. These local groupings form the basis of the adult education infrastructure across communities and regions, alongside formal educational institutions, the private sectors, and government agencies.

• Status and training of adult educators

The great diversity of continuing education makes it difficult to give a picture of the educators, which is why there is no single name for the profession as there is with teachers. People engaged in adult education are described in a variety of ways: adult educators, teachers, andragogues, trainers, facilitators, community workers, human resource officers, literacy teachers, workplace instructors, etc. Yet, core groups of adult educators identify strongly with their field and maintain contacts within a number of associations: the Institut canadien d'éducation des adultes, the Canadian Association for Adult Education, the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education, etc. Thus, there is a certain professional identity, even though it is not rigidly defined and is not universally shared. In fact, a number of educators identify more with their area of specialization (a computer specialist who does training, for example), the institution in which they teach (often teachers in school boards or community colleges), or job titles in which training is one of the components of the job description (human resource officer, etc.).

The situation is similar for working conditions and status, since many in the field have little job security. In the formal system, it is in literacy, primary, and secondary schooling that specialized staff have a relative measure of employment security. In colleges and universities, adult education is handled by contract staff, or by "regular" instructors who do this work in addition. Furthermore, in many educational institutions, adult educators often have less status and inferior working conditions compared to their colleagues who are regular teachers. It seems, nonetheless, that managers have greater job security than educators. In addition, the expansion of the "training market" has increased the number of entrepreneur-trainers. Lastly, a number of adult educators (mainly women) work on a volunteer basis, either through personal choice or because of a lack of resources or funding. Nevertheless, the growth of adult education and its renewed social importance will bring higher status to educators and a professionalization of large segments of the sector.

• Training of adult educators

The disparity in the status of adult educators is also reflected in their entry into the "profession." The instability in this sector of professional activity does not favour the development of the specialized skills that will be essential to consolidating the field. None of the provinces or territories has a university program that provides solely for the initial training of adult educators. On the contrary, such training is generally included simply as a complement to an existing program in a specific area or subject. Most university training in adult education is designed for the purposes of professional upgrading or research, and is mainly offered to graduate students. Such programs exist in most provinces, but budget cuts have affected a number of them, because education of adults receives less recognition than education of young people. Be that as it may, these programs do contribute to the recognition and professionalization of the field. Furthermore, a number of non-credit professional development activities are provided by adult education organizations or are offered by private firms.

Few practitioners in adult education have received initial professional training in the field. Some have completed general education in educational sciences, others in social sciences, and still others in a professional specialization, but few are prepared specifically to teach adults. Lastly, many adult educators are taught on the job.

The precarious nature of jobs makes it equally difficult to carry forward specialized training for these professionals. Indeed, even where unofficial training is provided within adult education organizations, or by private firms on contract, these are relatively rare compared to those offered to teachers in regular daytime programs. The result is that most adult educators have acquired their skills on the job, and have themselves sought out the specific skill upgrading needed to exercise their profession (Centrale de l'enseignement du Québec 1996, 24).

Despite the heterogeneity of the situations of adult educators, the professional nature of their work is becoming more widely accepted. Certain shared, mainly ethical, qualifications have been identified. Furthermore, there is general agreement that other characteristics, such as multi-functionality, are essential skills, particularly in terms of the job situation. Having a number of skills is a fundamental requirement because adult educators must often act simultaneously as designers, evaluators, and trainers.

In 1993-94, the ICEA, at the request of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and in cooperation with the CAAE, prepared a report on the situation in Canada with regard to research trends in adult education in Canada. This report (ICEA, 1994) was presented at the international seminar: Research Trends in Adult Education, held in Montreal in September 1994. After situating the research in the Canadian socio-economic and cultural context, it presented an overview of the various research bodies: university, government departments, advisory bodies, commissions and task forces, as well as non-institutional bodies such as the CAAE and ICEA, community organizations to promote informal education, and labour unions. The report also looked at how research is funded and noted that while most research in adult education is still non-directed, an increasing number of studies are being commissioned or are being conducted through programs in organizations that receive funding, such as the Fonds pour la formation des chercheurs et l'aide à la recherche or the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Up until 1994, SSHRC funded Education and Work in a Changing Society, and which is currently fostering the creation of major national research networks, several of which are addressing issues related to adult education. Lastly, the report examined general trends in research methodology, production, and access to scientific research and highlighted several major research topics of the past decade: occupational training (in institutions and businesses), literacy, educational programs for adults, popular education, and emotional life and, lastly, distance education and the educational role of the media.

In terms of the literature, over the past several years an increasing number of monographs have been published on adult education in Canada, in French and in English, and a few major scientific journals such as the Revue canadienne pour l'étude de l'éducation des adultes and the Revue de la formation à distance have published research by Canadian scientists. Despite this progress, Canadian research material is hard to access because, unlike in the United States, there is no single site where all such material is catalogued.

The situation of women in adult education has improved during this decade, both in academic education and in courses chosen for personal interest or for employment. Women achieved important equality gains during the decade in areas related to education. Significantly, enrolment in postsecondary institutions increased from 40 per cent of total enrolment in 1972-73 academic terms to 49 per cent in 1981-82, to 54 per cent by 1991-92 (Statistics Canada, Women in the Labour Force, 1994 edition, Target Groups Project). Women were, however, still a minority (19 per cent) in the fields of mathematics, engineering, and sciences.

This relative advance of women should be considered together with the erosion of many other gains. The growth of non-standard work, accompanied by reduced access to public programs and services including health care, child care, income support, and education has been a serious setback for women. Non-standard employment (part-time, short-term, temporary, and contract) has been growing over the past decade, accounting for most of the net increase in total employment since 1980.

By 1993, 30 per cent of all jobs fitted into one of the non-standard categories of employment (Betcherman, 77). Women account for three-quarters of the part-time work force. According to 1993 estimates provided by Statistics Canada, 35.5 per cent of the total part-time work force preferred full-time employment, marking a trend that closely paralleled the rate of unemployment ("Involuntary Part-Time Employment and Aggregate Unemployment, Canada, 1975-93", Betcherman 1994, Figure 21).

Women make up the majority of the low-wage labour force, concentrated specifically in low-paying jobs in the service sector. Overall, women accounted for 72 per cent of the ten lowest paid jobs in Canada, and only 20 per cent of those employed in the highest paid occupational categories (Khosla 1993). In fact, only 20 per cent of women have full-time, full-year employment that pays more than $30,000 per year, while 40 per cent of men are so employed. Further, "a higher percentage of Canadian women (34.3 per cent) have underpaid work than in any other industrialized country except Japan" (Canadian Labour Congress, 1997).

Certainly, the wage gap between men's and women's earnings has narrowed during the past decade, rising to 70 per cent in 1991 from 66 per cent in 1987. However, as the Canadian Labour Market and Productivity Centre concluded, "analysis shows that the apparent narrowing of the gap is explained more by a decline in men's earnings than by higher earnings for women" (CLMPC 1994, 7-8). Average wages have declined steadily, in conjunction with a rapid polarization of earnings that has devastated the middle and lowest percentile groups. In 1981, 46.8 per cent of the labour force was earning less than $20,000 per annum. In 1991, that percentage had increased to 51 per cent. According to analysts, the current trend would mean that by 2011, 65 per cent of the labour force would be earning less than $20,000 (Meyer 1995).

These continuing trends are significant to the extent that the wage gap is understood to bear some relationship to human capital/skills attainment. Women's earnings continue to lag behind men's earnings. Overall, women's average annual pre-tax income was 58 per cent of men's by 1995: $16,500 compared to average male earnings of $28,600 (Statistics Canada, Women in Canada: A Statistical Report, third edition, 1995). Taking only average full-time, full-year earnings, there was significant improvement in the wage gap. In 1993, women earned 72 per cent of their male counterparts' average annual earnings, up from 68 per cent in 1990, and 64 per cent in the early 1980s. (Statistics Canada, Women in Canada: A Statistical Report (third edition) 1995). Most of this differential cannot be accounted for by educational and related factors, such as field of study, years of work experience, and years of education. Statistics Canada concludes: "Overall, human capital and demographic differences between the sexes account for only 12 per cent of the wage gap. The remainder, or unexplained portion, is due to unmeasured factors, one of which may be systemic discrimination" (Coish and Hale 1994).

High unemployment and underemployment among women prompted various policy responses from government, notably the Canadian Jobs Strategy, cited favourably by the International Labour Organization and other international agencies as a positive employment equity measure (International Forum on Equality for Women in the World of Work, 1994). The employability development program, funded through general government revenues, was intended to provide targeted training to assist women in gaining access to secure employment in the paid labour force.

Since 1984, overall federal government expenditures have declined by 45.5 per cent, while eligibility criteria governing access to employability development programs has been tightened considerably. In the five years from 1987 to 1992, federal expenditures on training for women dropped by 30 per cent. In 1991-92, women made up 44 per cent of the total paid labour force and more than 60 per cent of new labour market entrants. However, women received only 34 per cent of all federal training dollars (Stephen 1993).

Federal and provincial educational initiatives have encouraged the development of training programs to move women into "non-traditional" occupations, to counter the entrenchment of occupational and labour market segregation. A comparison of data between 1986 and 1991 indicates some change in the employment patterns of women in non-traditional occupations.

For example, the labour force participation rate of women increased overall from 55.4 per cent in 1986 to 60.7 per cent in 1991. This compares to a marginal rate of increase for men, from 77 per cent to 77.3 per cent over the same period. In 1991, 40 per cent of the total 6.4 million women in the paid labour force had some postsecondary education: 14 per cent at least some university or college. University courses were concentrated in commerce, law, biological science, agriculture, dentistry, medicine, and veterinary medicine. College courses included business, natural resource management, engineering, and transportation. Overall, women identified as working in non-traditional occupations tended to be younger, better educated, and working more hours than their fellow workers (Hughes 1995).

and the Information Highway

Lifelong learning is increasingly taken up and understood in relation to employment-related and employability training, based on and responding to the principles and requirements of the free market. From this angle, adult education is in danger of being reduced to a branch of economics. The principles of adult education are challenged in fundamental ways by the prevailing model of training: the development of human capital.

Adult learners are becoming more involved in seeking access to and relevant results from education and training institutions. In the midst of continuing high unemployment, women and men are pressured to assume greater self-sufficiency and responsibility to attend to and provide for the health, education, welfare, and security needs of their children, parents, and themselves. Governments are off-loading, privatizing, and/or cancelling the provision of state services and programs. The purpose, intent, structure, and content of these services and programs is changed dramatically in the transition from state-based to private sector provision. The meaning, responsibilities, and entitlement of education -- of citizenship itself -- is undergoing a fundamental transformation. This transformation is directly linked to the massive restructuring of the post-World War II welfare state.

Recognition of these challenges has given rise to a series of education initiatives among popular social groups and organizations. One example is the recent bi-national Women's March Against Poverty organized jointly between women's and labour organizations, drawing on community-based educational forums and campaigns. Anti-racism education, women's rights, workplace rights, social welfare organizing, unemployed worker education, movements for national self-determination, cross-cultural awareness, and First Nations self-determination: major initiatives have been developed in each of these areas as part of a concerted effort to provide popular and accessible education addressing the rights, responsibilities, challenges, and entitlements of citizenship.

The information superhighway has challenged governmental and nongovernmental organizations to develop and protect full access to and democratic participation in the development of adult education. Private sector-led initiatives all too often lead to the marketization and commodification of culture, which, as a recent government of Quebec report indicates, "has as a consequence differential access according to ability to pay." "Unequal penetration of information technologies by social categories (age, sex, socio-economic level) will only accentuate the trend to dualization of the society if nothing is done to counteract it" (Government of Quebec, Annual Report on Educational Needs 1993-94: New Technologies of Information and Communication, Pressing Involvements, 1995). Technologies associated with the information highway present the opportunity for enhanced democratization with respect to adult educational programming and delivery. The Canadian Network for Advancement of Research, Industry and Education was established in 1993, with a federal government contribution of $80 million, and $396 million from the private sector and the provinces. By 1998, the Canadian School Network (SchoolNet) will link researchers and educators into a high speed network encompassing all 16,500 schools across Canada, plus 1,000 rural and remote communities. These are major coordinated initiatives aimed at democratizing the private market, bringing the technology and its applications into full use in the public domain (Industry Canada 1995).

Initiatives are well under way to encourage the development of open and fully accessible distance education efforts designed to diminish exclusion and disparities. For example, the Télé-université in Quebec, established in 1972, offers all courses through distance education to 25,000 students. New information technologies are used partly for communication among students, and partly for the transfer of materials. Similar experiments have been developed elsewhere: for example, the Newfoundland Telemedicine and Educational Technology Agency with 207 sites in 112 communities; Athabasca University in Alberta; TVO, Ontario; and the Open Learning Agency in British Columbia (see, Canada, Educational Possibilities of the Information Highway in Canada, Industry Canada 1995).

Two types of cooperation exist at the international level: cooperation between industrialized countries and cooperation for development.

• Cooperation between industrialized countries

In the past decade, increased cooperation between industrialized countries with regard to adult education has been evidenced mainly by a greater number of exchanges between networks of educators-researchers. For example, the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education holds joint conferences with adult education professors in Great Britain, and with American researchers of the Adult Education Research Conference. The Réseau Éducation-formation composed of researcher-practitioners from Quebec and France meet annually either in Quebec, or in a French-speaking country in Europe. These meetings have offered the opportunity to create cooperative relationships and partnerships.

Human Resources Development Canada, in cooperation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, has been conducting since 1995 the Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education, and the Canada-European Community Program for Cooperation in Higher Education and Training. These programs promote and strengthen student-centred cooperation in higher education and training among universities, colleges, and technical institutions across North America and between Canada and the European Community. Established as pilots three years ago, these programs support the mobility of undergraduate and graduate students. Support from the Canadian government for these programs is $3.5 million annually, which is matched by the counterpart governments.

Another example of this cooperation among industrialized countries is the International Adult Literacy Survey, which was the first multi-country and multi-language assessment of adult literacy. This survey was managed by Statistics Canada in cooperation with OECD, Eurostat, and UNESCO.

• Cooperation for development

Canada plays an important role in international cooperation and channels the majority of funds for it through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). CIDA funds a number of cooperative projects in adult education, which take various forms.

For a number of years now, the Coady International Institute in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, has been sought out for its expertise. Recognized as a centre of excellence by CIDA, this institute is renowned for its participatory approaches to adult education and cooperative development. It has developed a number of partnerships with countries of the South, in which it assumes responsibility for training, consultation, and participatory research.

The bursary program funded by CIDA and run by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada enables adults from developing countries to study in Canada. A number of adult educators from Africa and Asia have benefited from such subsidies. In addition, the Canadian program of French-language bursaries fosters the training of adult education leaders in many countries in French-speaking Africa.

• Training programs

A number of universities and Canadian colleges have initiated joint human resource development programs with partners in the South. Most of these initiatives are currently funded by CIDA. Others are supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), charitable foundations, and international financial institutions, with in-kind contributions from the universities themselves.

In the past two years, Canadian universities have undertaken more than 2,000 human resource development projects with their counterparts in developing countries. These are recorded in a database of the universities' representative body, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). AUCC also administers several institutional linkage programs, funded by IDRC and CIDA. They support projects undertaken by Canadian university and their southern partners.

IDRC, established by the Canadian Parliament, seeks to foster scientific research in developing countries (helping communities gain access to clean drinking water, improve agri-food production, and use appropriate housing materials). Recently, IDRC was asked to help set up a number of projects centred on training. In South Africa this involved setting up local business assistance centres that offer advice and training (in marketing, business expansion, manufacturing processes, quality standards and access to financing); in Palestine, support for a network of NGOs and training (economic and social development, governance and state development, democratization, human rights, women's rights); in Cambodia, the setting up of a project to develop knowledge and skills in the areas of rural development, health, and the environment. These few examples show that there is a greater awareness that "sustainable" community development programs cannot be implemented without a fundamental training component.

A look at many bilateral projects and partnership programs funded by CIDA shows that more and more Canadian NGOs involved in adult education have adopted the priorities of the Canadian government's Official Development Assistance program, and work with counterparts in developing countries. This includes organizations like the Humanity and Social Justice Funds of the Steelworkers, Autoworkers and CEP unions. In addition, nongovernmental institutions (NGIs) such as labour federations (the CEQ and the UPA--Quebec teachers' and farmers' union federations), universities and colleges, Développement International Desjardins, SOCODEVI, Canadian Cooperative Association, and World University Service of Canada, to mention just a few, are acting as Canadian partners in international development programs that include a focus on training. Their training activities are many and varied and mainly aimed at supporting and developing local resources and skills so that communities can find their own solutions to their problems. They also support major community development projects.

Over the past few years, more cooperative projects have been initiated in Central and South America, likely due to the economic importance these regions have for Canada. CIDA supports many regional projects in adult education, namely ones run by the Consejo de Education de Adultos para America Latina, by the Consejo Latinoamericano para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer and by the Fundacion Paz y Justicia, as well as CIEPLAN, a Latin American organization that provides training on social, economic, and environmental policy.

Despite major cutbacks, CIDA has chosen to continue to offer significant support to the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE), headquartered in Toronto. ICAE is an association of NGOs involved in adult education around the world. Through its grassroots groups, national, and regional organizations, CIAE fosters the development of people and communities. It provides NGOs concerned with education and social development opportunities to learn and help each other.

In the early 1990s the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development was set up in Montreal. This organization's mandate is to defend and promote the human rights in the International Bill of Human Rights. The centre assists front line groups (NGOs) in their educational efforts; it encourages the growth and strengthening of civil society. For example, it has held seminars to increase NGO involvement in the work of the African Commission on Human Rights and People's Rights, and has helped support a Palestinian group of NGOs working to consolidate the parliamentary institution, civics education, and women's participation in public affairs management.

A continuous education system based on the needs of learners has become an inescapable necessity. It is pushed by social, economic, and cultural change, linked particularly to the accelerating renewal of knowledge and technologies, by the restructuring of economies and the job market, by the multiple facets of daily life, and by the search for alternatives in the lives of adults and of communities. Yet Canada's education systems are still too focussed on early training and the institutional system to respond adequately to these new challenges, and should be reorganized to integrate into their dynamics a perspective of lifelong learning.

An education system can no longer be conceived on the basis only of initial formal schooling, which limits adult education to a remedial role for lacks in this initial experience. Economic and social pressures now oblige people increasingly to shuttle back and forth between periods of study and periods of social and workplace activity. Hence learning, both in the initial period and in adult life, should be a single continuum. In this view, adult education takes on increasing importance, and the "lifelong learning" proposed by the Delors Commission takes on its full significance. As a key for entering the next century, education should thus provide "a solid basis for future learning, and the skills necessary to participate actively in social life" (Delors Report 1996, 120).

The ideas of continuous education -- of lifelong learning -- should both reaffirm some existing practices and open new perspectives for adult education in Canada. Thus, to respond more adequately to the increasingly diversified needs of adult learners and their communities, Canada will need to define clearly its orientations and actions at the turn of the century. The examples that follow merely sketch some perspectives, and are far from covering all the fields where adult learning and education are developing in Canada:

- To meet the demands of training and education related to personal development, the job market and life in society, provinces and territories should develop policies on lifelong learning, and pursue reforms across the education and training systems oriented to lifelong training, as recommended by the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century in its report titled Education: The Treasure Within (1996).

- To open the doors of the 21^st century to the entire Canadian population, governments must maintain their commitment to increase literacy skill levels of Canadians. They must continue the implementation of action plans that include adequate funding, objective and specific time frames, cooperation and inter-sector partnerships (with educational institutions, communities, NGOs, employers, labour unions, etc.) as well as an obligation to produce results.

- To improve the conditions and the quality of adult education, those most immediately concerned, namely the adult learners, must increasingly participate in defining their learning needs, and in broadening their access to education and training. Increasingly, adult education programs should take into account the diversity of locations (schools, workplaces, health facilities, etc.), recognize new actors in the field, and offer a range of courses that respond adequately to the breadth of needs. This requires adequate counselling and guidance support, to provide proper Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition for adults engaged in retraining and upgrading.

- In a context of continuing high unemployment and social and professional exclusion, developing basic skills for work and social life becomes increasingly central to people's economic and personal well-being. To develop the labour market, to allow people to gain and conserve their jobs, governments must play an active role in creating employment, increasing access to literacy and other basic education programs, and providing ongoing, effective, and portable skills upgrading. This will also require building new partnerships across different economic sectors and between the worlds of work and education.

- To assure real access to new information and communications technologies, adult educators need to recognize their incredible and unprecedented potential for continuous training. For these tools and their contents to be truly available to all adults, it is urgent and essential that governments adopt the principles of equity and accessibility in any strategy to deploy and use them. As well, governments must insist that the benefits of this technological advance be shared.

- Also, policies and programs must be set up to increase services in the areas of intercultural education, the culture of citizenship and participatory democracy, and in health, peace, the environment, sustainable development, community development, and the volunteer sector, to name just a few.

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(Definition of Adult Education taken from Unesco document and adapted from Survey in Adult Education and Training in Canada, 1994, Annexe A)