Manitoba scores around national average in literacy results

by Rob Sarginson

The International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS) was released on Wednesday, November 9. This 2003 examination of literacy levels within Canada and among our trading partners will have implications for education and economic policies for a decade to come.

Though Manitoba didn’t lead the country, we at least are in the middle with Ontario and Nova Scotia. Manitobans had higher scores in daily literacy tasks than respondents in Switzerland, Italy and the United States.

Percent of population at each proficiency level,
Canada, provinces and territories, population aged 16 and over, 2003 
Prose literacy % Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4/5
Newfoundland and Labrador 24.0 30.8 32.8 12.4
Prince Edward Island 19.9 29.6 34.0 16.6
Nova Scotia 17.3 27.5 38.4 16.8
New Brunswick 22.7 33.3 31.6 12.4
Quebec 22.3 32.3 32.8 12.6
Ontario 21.3 26.7 35.0 17.0
Manitoba 18.2 28.1 37.2 16.5
Saskatchewan 13.5 26.6 38.9 21.0
Alberta 13.6 25.9 39.6 21.0
British Columbia 17.3 22.7 37.2 22.9
Yukon 10.5 22.9 39.3 27.3
Northwest Territories 19.3 25.8 35.1 19.8
Nunavut 47.2 25.8 19.5 7.5
Canada 19.9 27.8 35.4 17.0

Area of Concern

There is one large area of concern in the data. The suvey documents an increase in the numbers of Manitobans in levels 1 and 2, the lower levels of literacy ability, from the previous survey ten years ago.

This has occurred for two reasons:

First, in the previous International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS, 1994), the First Nations chiefs across Canada declined to have Aboriginal populations surveyed.

Historically, traditional lifestyles, lack of adequate facilities, and discriminatory governmental policies have resulted in lower education levels among aboriginal people. Many Aboriginals also encounter English/French literacy training as a second or third language, and therefore face an additional challenge.

Most of the lower-educated northern, remote and urban Aboriginals were not included in the Canadian (and the west’s) results. In Manitoba where the native population is about 14%, this is a significant statistical variable.

Therefore, Manitoba’s 1994 results, which were so positive and made headlines as leading the country in certain categories, were misleading.

In the 2003 survey, about 80,000 urban Aboriginals were included for the first time. This number has had an impact on Manitoba’s results. (but not so much as if reserves had been surveyed).

Second, in 1993, the Manitoba government, ever cost-conscious, opted for the smallest possible sample of Manitobans. This sample was barely adequate to be considered accurate.

About 600 interviews from Saskatchewan and Manitoba were analyzed. There were so few individuals in some categories that Manitoba ranked ahead of several other provinces that had invested much more in education and had paid for much larger samples. Small samples can lead to decreased reliability in the data.

A valid picture this time

Manitoba’s governments have invested significantly in adult literacy programs in the past decade, increasing support by more than a million dollars. Further, Manitoba was anxious to find out all of the details possible from the new IALSS and paid for a much larger sample this time. Manitoba and Saskatchewan are the only two provinces to ask Statistics Canada to include Aboriginal populations in their surveys.

Alberta and B.C. did not. If those provinces had followed Manitoba’s lead our numbers would be very similar.

Yukon placed first in Canada. However, because most aboriginals in the Yukon are not fluent in English or French they were left out of the survey. The demographic of the Yukon when the native population is excluded, tends to emphasize younger professionals engineers, government workers and medical professionals.

In Nunavut, the government opted to test a sample that included many Inuktitut-speakers. (89% of residents are Inuit). The results were quite low compared to the rest of Canada (as would be expected when many interviews were done in English / French and then translated into native languages by a third party).

In light of this information, Manitoba’s ranking is not bad at all!

Manitoba’s scores are a very valid representation of our population and our literacy skills. With the detailed reports from the IALSS which will follow over the next few years there will be ample information on which to base literacy policy for the next ten years.

Manitoba’s literacy networks are doing fine work but need to be extended to reach more aboriginals and rural low-educated Manitobans. A recent CD Howe Institute study showed that a 1% increase in the adult literacy rate would likelyincrease the provincial GDP by one billion dollars per year.

Another study has revealed that adult skills upgrading is inexpensive when compared to advanced education, and has immediate paybacks to the provincial economy and to the incomes of families. Literacy programming is the way to unlock a resource greater than hydro projects or oil wells – the talent and the energy of Manitobans!

 

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