Reimagining the Adult Education Experience
Defining a more consistent adult education program model with a stronger case for funding.
Background: Supporting Adult Learners in a Changing Labour Market
Adult education in Canada plays a critical role in supporting people whose learning needs have not been met through traditional education pathways. In 2018, the Canada West Foundation reported that as many as 40% of Canadians had poor literacy skills, highlighting the scale and complexity of adult learning needs across the country. As automation continues to reshape the labour market, education providers are under increasing pressure to offer programs that help adult learners build foundational skills — not only in reading and writing, but also in numeracy, critical thinking, and the ability to learn efficiently.
Outwitly’s service design experts were engaged by a provincial department of advanced education to better understand current adult learner pathways, the challenges faced by learners and service providers, and opportunities to innovate within the existing system.
The goal was to inform a clearer, more consistent adult education program model that better reflected the realities of adult learners’ lives.
The project is gaining momentum and we’ve begun introducing changes. We refer to our personas often! Working with Outwitly was a wonderful experience.
Director, Department of Adult Education
Challenge: Addressing Learner Needs and Program Delivery Constraints
Adult education programs across the province operated within a wide range of learner realities and service delivery contexts. While providers were committed to supporting adult learners, the existing provincial model struggled to consistently meet varied needs at scale.
Key challenges included:
Significant barriers to participation for adult learners. Many learners were socio-economically disadvantaged, living in rural or hard-to-access areas, balancing full- or part-time work, caring for children, and navigating cultural under-representation — all of which made consistent participation difficult.
Inconsistent planning across educational programs. Variations in curriculum and program structure from one organization to another frustrated instructors and education providers and contributed to uneven learning experiences across the province.
Unequal access to resources and support. Resources were not distributed evenly across the system, limiting some learners’ access to the supports they needed to succeed.
Approach: Revealing Learner Realities to Reframe Adult Education Programs
Outwitly applied a human-centred design and research approach to build a grounded, empathetic understanding of adult learners, instructors, service providers, and government stakeholders — and to surface where the existing system was falling short.
The work focused on:
Understanding the lived experience of adult learners. Through ethnographic research with more than 100 learners, instructors, administrators, and government stakeholders, we captured how adult education fit — or failed to fit — into learners’ real lives.
Surfacing hidden barriers through immersive research methods. The two-week diary study, which used mailed journals and disposable cameras, became a particularly illuminating way for learners to share their experiences. This approach revealed challenges related to childcare, mental health, transportation, and other personal factors that directly impacted attendance, engagement, and learning outcomes.
Engaging stakeholders across the system. We facilitated discovery and validation workshops with government stakeholders, service providers, and partners, along with two days of co-design workshops to collaboratively envision a new adult learning program model.
Translating research into clear direction for change. Insights were synthesized into adult learner personas, workshop reports, and a comprehensive final report outlining the top 10 insights and recommendations. Outwitly also delivered a Program Model Framework with North Star Principles and guidelines to support long-term system change.
The full span of design research methods included:
- Five days of contextual observations in the classroom
- A discovery workshop with government stakeholders and partners
- A two-week diary study with 18 adult learners
- A discovery and validation workshop with service providers
- 40+ in-depth interviews with instructors, administrators, tutors, and current and potential adult learners representing 150 adult education organizations in the region
- Two days of co-design workshops with service providers and stakeholders to envision a new adult learning program model
Results: Increased Investment and a Clear Path to Reform
Using design-thinking frameworks and synthesis methods, Outwitly translated complex research findings into practical direction the province could act on. The work provided the evidence and clarity needed to support informed decisions about the future of adult education.
The outcomes of the initiative included:
A stronger, evidence-based case for funding and system support. Grounded in findings from the insights report, the department was able to seek a 26% increase in provincial government funding to help education providers improve program delivery and better support adult learners.
Opportunities for improving program access and awareness. The work surfaced gaps in advertising, communication, and outreach that were limiting enrollment, and provided guidance on how adult education offerings could be made more visible and accessible to potential learners.
A concrete six-pronged action plan to guide meaningful improvement. Research findings were synthesized into clearly outlined recommendations that showed how adult education delivery could be strengthened and made more consistent over time, giving leadership a concrete foundation for next steps.
The final insights report identified five key learner success factors:
1. Access to Support – This includes a supportive and safe learning environment, supportive home and family life, access to wrap-around services, and financial support (such as access to financial aid for transportation and childcare).
2. Internal Drive – Internal success factors include a student’s own willingness to learn, a positive attitude, and self-motivation.
3. Competent Educator – A competent, patient, respectful, and caring educator was identified as a success factor.
4. Flexible Learning – Adults were more successful in achieving their learning goals when programs were delivered in a flexible way (accommodating different learning disabilities/abilities, schedules, and ways of learning).
5. Fewer Roadblocks – Adults with fewer learning barriers and higher attendance were also more likely to succeed.
Recommendations identified opportunities to improve intake practices, clarify milestones, and better align certificates to learner goals, helping the province define how adult learners could more easily move from one program to the next.
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