Literacy Basics - Community Literacy of Ontario

Reasons for Non-Participation: What the Studies Show

Based on a variety of external research sources Community Literacy of Ontario’s “Strategies of Our Own: Learner Recruitment and Retention Toolkit” identified the following common barriers to participation.

• Learners face a wide variety of socio-economic barriers on a daily basis such as family and work-related responsibilities, financial constraints, daycare, transportation and health barriers.
  
  
• Learners face personal barriers such as their values, perceptions, attitudes and past experiences.
  
  
• Other barriers include low self-confidence, a previous negative school experience and perceived risks associated with attending a program.
  
  
• Learners may also face barriers such as waiting lists, unhelpful contacts, lack of access to existing agencies, poor agency environments and lack of information about literacy services.
  
  
• Some may lack opportunities to move ahead. Their literacy skills may be quite adequate for their current circumstances, but not for a higher level job. As well, if jobs are not readily available as is often the case in rural areas or areas of high unemployment, the motivation to train may be reduced.
  
  
• And sometimes adults just do not see the need for literacy training. Their lives may be full and busy and they have been getting along just fine in life as things are.

In the live, online training workshops delivered by Community Literacy of Ontario to 50 literacy practitioners in May 2006, we asked practitioners about barriers to participation. Practitioners responded anonymously to the following question: Of the choices listed, what do you think is the most significant barrier that prevents people with low literacy skills from participating in literacy programming in your community? Here are their responses:

1. Lack of awareness about literacy programs and what they offer (31%)
2. They don’t perceive the need (22%)
3. Childcare/transportation problems (22%)
4. Conflict with employment (16%)
5. Fear or lack of confidence (9%)

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