Increasing French-Language Adult Literacy & Basic Training Programs
OTTAWA, ON – A province-wide campaign to promote adult literacy and basic training programs offered in French in Ontario was launched today in Ottawa, by the Coalition ontarienne de formation des adultes (COFA). The Coalition hopes this campaign will encourage potential adult learners to register in one of its 26 member centres across the province.
The campaign’s slogan, “Avec la formation des adultes, c’est possible”, will stress that literacy programs, offered free of charge by the centres, make it possible for learners to not only obtain a high school diploma, but also to find a job or achieve a promotion.
“Our campaign will specifically target young adults, aged 19 to 35, who most stand to gain from increasing their skills in reading, mathematics and information technologies”, says Coalition’s President, Renaud St-Cyr. “Acquiring such skills now will have life-long positive effects on both their working and personal lives.“
With the financial support of Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, COFA has developed various promotional tools, which can be personalized for each of its 26 member centres. A mini website (FormationDesAdultes.ca) will serve as a portal to direct Internet users to the literacy centre in their region.
“A Facebook campaign will be at the heart of our strategy to reach our target audience”, says the Coalition’s Executive Director, Michel Robillard. “We will be inviting individuals and organizations to spread the word as widely as possible on social media.”
“The quality of the promotional tools developed for this campaign will provide us some valuable support”, says Louise Lalonde, Director of Centre Moi j’apprends in Ottawa. “Our target clientele is not easy to reach and our resources are limited. We hope to increase awareness around our programs and better reach those who could benefit from them.”
Some statistics
Literacy levels in the Franco-Ontarian population are lower than those of the Anglophone population. It is generally considered that Level 3 is required to cope with the demands of everyday life and work in a complex society whose economy is based on knowledge and information. However, according to the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS):
- 55,5 % of Francophones 16 years of age and over (compared to 40,4 % of Anglophones) have not achieved Level 3 in prose literacy;
- Francophones in Ontario read fewer newspapers, magazines and books than Anglophones: 48% of Francophones never or rarely read books, compared to 32% of Anglophones;
- among young Francophones in Ontario aged 16 to 24 years, almost 45% did not reach level 3 in prose and document literacy.
In 2012-2013, 2,475 adult learners registered in one of the programs offered by COFA’s member centres. Only 26 % of these learners were men.
Founded in 1999, the Coalition ontarienne de formation des adultes (COFA) is a provincial coalition of 26 agencies which offer French-language adult literacy and basic training programs in 40 service points located in city, school or college settings.
