Liberals continue to be hard at work on Parliament Hill this week, starting with a forum on lifelong learning that will give voice to growing gaps in education under the Harper government.
“Early learning and child care, lifting the cap on Aboriginal education, investing in colleges and universities, closing the literacy gap, improving language and skills training – we need to strengthen this network of social programs to rebuild our economy and prepare for the future,” said Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.
Today’s event, led by Liberal Human Resources and Skills Development Critic Michael Savage, MP Ken Dryden, and Senator Wilfred Moore, brings together Canadians working in First Nations education, teaching, labour, literacy, as well as representatives of post-secondary students and institutions.
“Gutting funding to the Canadian Council on Learning at a critical time in this nation’s economic recovery is just the latest example of how the Harper government has put our country’s future prosperity at risk by ignoring the importance of lifelong learning,” said Mr. Savage.
The daylong session will focus on connecting the dots between stages of lifelong learning, and include a special focus on post-secondary education.
“Canada is falling behind the rest of the world in areas critical to our competitive edge – innovation, creativity, skills development and basic learning,” Mr. Savage continued. “Almost half of all Canadians still have low literacy skills – an incredibly high number for such a prosperous nation.
“In collaboration with the provinces, the federal government has a role to play in making our education and early learning system the best in the world,” Mr. Savage concluded.
Backgrounder on Lifelong Learning
Child care
• There were 837,923 regulated child care spaces in Canada in 2007, representing an increase of 26,661 spaces since 2006. In comparison, between 2004 and 2006, supply grew by an average of 32,668 a year and between 2001 and 2004 by an average of 50,831 a year.
• According to a 2008 UNICEF international study, Canada’s provision of early childhood education and care ranked at the very bottom of 25 developed countries.
Literacy
According the ABC Canada Literacy Foundation:
• Four out of 10 adult Canadians, age 16 to 65 – representing nine million Canadians – struggle with low literacy, meaning they fall below level 3 on the prose literacy scale. Amongst new Canadians, 60 percent have low literacy skills.
• Less than 10 percent of Canadians who could benefit from literacy upgrading programs actually enroll. Research indicates that barriers like job or money problems, lack of childcare and transportation are some of the reasons that prevent people from enrolling.
First Nations and Learning
• A study done in B.C. in 2006 showed that 39 percent of Aboriginal children were so behind in child development they were deemed “not ready” for school. This compares to 25 percent for non-Aboriginal children.
• According to the 2006 Census, 40 percent of Aboriginal young adults aged 20 to 24 had not completed high school, compared with 13 percent for non-Aboriginal young adults.
• In 2006, an estimated 41 percent of Aboriginal people aged 25 to 64 had completed a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree, compared to 56 percent for non-Aboriginals.
PSE
• Canada has the highest level of post-secondary access among OECD countries, and yet post-secondary participation rates have dropped from 71 percent in 1997 to 57 percent in 2006.
• Wealthier Canadians are twice as likely to go to university as poorer ones.
