Getting Canada Ready for the Knowledge Economy

Policy Options - Canada's leading public policy magazine
According to several international studies, Canada does well in the education field. Yet, says Glenn Pound from the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy, a recent, comprehensive international survey shows that 42 percent of Canadians scored below a functional level of literacy, that this rate has not improved over the last 10 years, and that Canadian youth are actually faring worse. In this article, Pound reviews the numbers, the innovative work being done in various provinces to try and address the problem, and argues that in order to remedy the situation, “our strategies to deal with this issue will need to take a wider view of adult basic education and begin to see it as not just a labour market issue but also a social justice issue.” See the February, 2006 issue to read the full article.