state of the field of literacy and essential skills

State of the Literacy and Essential Skills Field

Chris Harwood

2012

AcknowledgementsThe purpose of the State of the Literacy and Essential Skills Field report is to provide an overview of Literacy andEssential Skills across Canada from the unique perspective of CLLN and its national network partners, theprovincial and territorial literacy coalitions.

This is the first national environmental scan to be conducted by CLLN and as such it will inform the direction offuture scans and will be the basis of further work to show how the Literacy and Essential Skills field is respondingto trends.

We especially appreciate the work of Chris Harwood who synthesized reports from many of the provincial andterritorial coalitions, collected information to support findings and asked pertinent questions to gatherinformation that wasn’t already documented. Her commitment to the task has allowed us to paint a picture of thestate of the Literacy and Essential Skills Field in Canada.

The Team

Project Manager / CLLN: Lindsay Kennedy, President and CEO

Research Assistant / CLLN: Genevieve Tilden, Summer Intern

Research & Writer / CLLN: Chris Harwood, Manager of Field Development

Reviewer / CLLN: Tony Mark, Project Manager, Labour Market Study

Design and Layout / CLLN: Annette Hegel, Manager of Communications

In Partnership with our member networks…

Literacy Alberta

Decoda Literacy Solutions

Literacy Partners of Manitoba

Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick

Literacy Newfoundland and Labrador

NWT Literacy Council

Literacy Nova Scotia

Ilitaqsiniq – Nunavut Literacy Council

Essential Skills Ontario

PEI Literacy Alliance

Quebec English Literacy Alliance

Saskatchewan Literacy Network

Yukon Literacy Coalition

Thanks to the following people who provided input and feedback for their sections...

Sarah Watts-Rynard of the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum

Fiona Murray of The Alliance of Sector Councils

Sylvia Sioufi of Canadian Union of Public Employees

Canadian Literacy and Learning Network, 2012

ISBN 978-0-920588-5

CLLN is funded by the Government of Canada's Office of Literacy and Essential Skills

State of the Literacy and

Essential Skills Field

Chris Harwood, October 2012

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State of the Literacy and Essential Ski l ls Field

The 2012 Pan-Canadian Report

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Executive SummaryCanadian Literacy and Learning Network

(CLLN) is the national hub for research,

information and knowledge exchange, and

increasing literacies and Essential Skills across

Canada. CLLN is a non-profit charitable

organization, representing literacy coalitions,

organizations and individuals in every province

and territory in Canada.

The purpose of the State of the Literacy and

Essential Skills Field report is to provide an

environmental scan showing the state of Literacy

and Essential Skills (L/ES) across the country,

from the perspective of CLLN and its national

network of partners, both within and outside the

Literacy and Essential Skills field.

Literacy and Essential Skills are part of the ‘right

to learn’ required for people to function

effectively at work, at home and in the

community. This report shows how Literacy and

Essential Skills have a powerful effect on the

economic and social lives of Canadians.

Adult Literacy and Essential Skills development

and training are relevant to a range of policy

areas across federal, provincial and territorial

boundaries. The State of the Literacy and

Essential Skills Field report (this report) can be

used by the field to educate and inform

government, labour, business, social service

agencies, partners and stakeholders about the

impact of Literacy and Essential Skills on the

Canadian economy and the well-being of

Canadians.

Literacy and Essential Skills are necessary for an

individual’s success and a country’s economic

development. Literacy is a social determinant of

health; low health literacy reduces the success of

treatment and increases the risk of medical error.

Literacy and Essential Skills impact family well-

being, uptake of learning opportunities, entry to

the workforce and the application of changing

demands by the workforce. Employees need to

have strong Literacy and Essential Skills to be

able to deal with difficult economic climates and

adapt to opportunities in growth sectors and new

occupations. Employers need employees with

good Literacy and Essential Skills, especially

now, in a time of labour and skills shortages.

Businesses need to be able to adapt to changing

markets and new technologies. A skilled

workforce is critical if these changes are to be

made in a timely manner. This is the impetus we

need to increase the number of workplace

Literacy and Essential Skills programs and find

ways to promote upskilling.

Literacy and Essential Skills initiatives need to be

sustainable. Programs must be piloted, but

serious consideration needs to be given to ways

to make successful pilots sustainable. A culture

of learning and learning communities helps pave

the way for learning to be lifelong.

Some groups remain under-represented in the

labour market, namely First Nations, Métis,

Inuit, new immigrants and persons with

disabilities. However, population growth across

Canada will largely be driven by First Nations,

Métis, Inuit and immigration. This issue has

been raised by all the provinces and territories.

Literacy challenges and language issues unique

to First Nations, Métis and Inuit will need to be

addressed. Also, a growing, highly educated,

immigrant population will place stress on the

labour market because they lack the English

language skills, Essential Skills, Canadian work

experience and/or knowledge of workplace

culture necessary to participate fully.

The Literacy and Essential Skills of youth is still

an area of concern, even though fewer youth are

dropping out of school than in previous years.

The majority of jobs in Canada require at least

IALS Level 3 literacy skill, yet 43% of all students

leaving Canada’s high schools still do so with


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Level 1 and 2 skills1. Some students obtain their

grade 12 diploma but don’t have the skills that

the level of education implies. About 10% of high

school students don’t graduate.

Often young people gain skills through formal

education, particularly high school. But, some

youth just don’t do well in formal education for a

variety of reasons. Youth who do not succeed in

school or who “fall through the cracks” are less

likely to set and achieve healthy goals. They are

more likely to engage in behaviours that are

antisocial, unhealthy, or illegal. The literacy skills

of young people are important, because this

group has the most time to contribute their

knowledge and skills to their families, their

communities and the labour market.

An aging Canadian population will reduce the

size of the labour force and affect economic

growth and productivity. Even though people are

staying in the workforce longer, there will not be

enough population growth to compensate for

skilled employees who are retiring. The first baby

boomers reached the retirement age of 65 in

2012. In 2015, the Canadian government believes

that 48% of persons earning a living will be

between the ages of 45 and 64. It is projected

that by 2020 Canada’s pool of human resources

will be short about one million people2.

Recent research indicates that an increase in

literacy and essential skills could provide

significant reductions in Canadian’s reliance on

income support from the Employment

Insurance, Workers Compensation and Social

Assistance systems, freeing up significant fiscal

resources for governments. Under reasonable

assumptions it is expected that the proposed

instructional investment would precipitate a

rapid increase in labour productivity, with a

corresponding reduction in payments for

Employment Insurance, Social Assistance and

Workers Compensation. Annual earnings

increases and program savings could total $86.8

billion, with further gains coming from increases

in tax revenue flowing from higher incomes.

Investing in human capital is far less costly, in

the long run, than paying for health care and the

societal costs of unemployment and social

exclusion –which are closely tied to lower skills.

The State of the Literacy and Essential Skills

Field report highlights the need for governments,

organized labour, industry, community

organizations and educational institutions to

look at issues through a Literacy and Essential

Skills lens; to collaborate, partner and to pool

resources in order to recognize the importance of

lifelong learning.

The findings in this report will help the Office of

Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES), federal and

provincial policy makers, and the Literacy and

Essential Skills field gain a better understanding

of the broader economic, social and political

environment relevant to labour market

attachment and reducing skills shortages for

economic well-being and an inclusive,

prosperous Canada3.

Literacy is a key lever of changeand a practical tool ofempowerment on each of thethree main pillars of sustainabledevelopment: economicdevelopment, socialdevelopment and environmentalprotection

Kofi Anan, Secretary General of the United

Nations, September 9, 2005

1 Towards a better understanding of the link between oral fluency, literacy and Essential Skills, DataAngel Policy

Research Inc., 20112 Advanced Skills Shortages in Canada – Getting to the Root of the Problem, The Canadian Business Journal,

March 20093 Labour market attachment is a person’s link to the labour market, including finding, keeping or changing a job.

http://www.cbj.ca/features/march_09_features/advanced_skills_shortages_in_canada_getting_to_the_root_of_the_p.html

http://www.cbj.ca/features/march_09_features/advanced_skills_shortages_in_canada_getting_to_the_root_of_the_p.html

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Table of ContentsExecutive Summary.................................................................................................i

Table of Contents....................................................................................................iii

Introduction............................................................................................................1

Methodology..........................................................................................................1

Setting the Stage............................................................................................. .......2

Essential Skills .............................................................................................2

Literacy........................................................................................................3

International Adult Literacy Survey......................................................3

Programme for the International

Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC).........................................5

Literacy is a Cross-Cutting Issue...........................................................5

Literacy in 2006........................................................................... .....6

Upskilling and Lifelong Learning.........................................................7

Linking Literacy and Essential Skills to the Economy................................... .....9

Literacy and Earnings.................................................................. ......11

Adult Literacy Policies...................................................................................12

Office of Literacy and Essential Skills........................................... .......13

Policies and Strategies in the Provinces and Territories.................... .....13

National Literacy Organizations............................................................. ......21

Provincial and Territorial Literacy Coalitions...................................................22

Part 1: Literacy and Essential Skills................................................................................. ....25

Literacy and Essential Skills Programming.................................................................27

Labour Market Study of Literacy and Essential Skills Workers..........................27

Building Solutions: Engaging Employers in LES Development...........................27

Types of Programming..................................................................................28

School Board and College Programs...................................................29

Learning Centres....................................................................... ........29

Community-Based Programs....................................................... ........29

Family Literacy and Essential Skills Programs.......................................29

Workplace Literacy and Essential Skills Programs.......................... ......31

Literacy and Essential Skills programs organized by labour groups.......33

Workplace and Essential Skills in the Provinces and Territories..............33

Literacy and Correctional Facilities......................................................37

Characteristics of Successful Programs...........................................................39

Characteristics of Successful Workplace Programs................................40

Literacy and Essential Skills Educators............................................................41

Professional Development for Adult Educators.....................................42

Literacy and Essential Skills Learners..............................................................43

Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks...................................................44

Assessment Tools..........................................................................................44

iv

Part 2: The Labour Market.........................................................................................47

Labour Market Trends.....................................................................................48

Demographics.....................................................................................48

Demographics in the Provinces and Territories.............................48

First Nations, Métis and Inuit................................................................53

Federal Funding and Programs................................................ ..55

First Nations, Métis and Inuit in the Provinces and Territories...... .57

Immigration.........................................................................................61

Immigration in the Provinces and Territories................................64

Youth..................................................................................................67

Youth in the Provinces and Territories..........................................69

Youth neither in Employment nor Training.................................. .73

Skills for Jobs............................................................................74

Seniors and Older Workers..................................................................74

Consultations with Older Workers and Employers by HRSDC.......75

Essential Skills in the Workforce............................................................77

Workers with Low Essential Skills................................................77

Skills Shortages...................................................................................79

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs).........................................83

SkillsPlus BC..............................................................................84

SMEs Employing Immigrants......................................................84

SMEs Employing Older Workers................................................85

Technology...................................................................................... ...85

Job Trends..................................................................................... .....86

Collaborative Economic Clusters........................................ ........87

Labour Market Trends in the Provinces and Territories.................89

Training.........................................................................................................97

Learning a Culture of Safety.................................................................100

Reasons for Training....................................................................... .....100

Training by Industry Sector...................................................................101

Apprenticeship............................................................................... .....101

Evaluation of Workplace Essential Skills Training................................ ...103

Governments........................................................................................... ......104

Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency..............................105

Sector Councils....................................................................................106

Sectoral Initiatives Program .................................................................108

Canadian Labour Movement ....................................................................... ...108

Part 3: Looking to the Future......................................................................................111

Summary and Future Directions.......................................................................112

Appendix 1: International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey................................119

Appendix 2: National Network Partners Baseline Survey: Practitioners..............123

Appendix 3: Profile of a Learne......................................................................125

Appendix 4: UPSKILL Essentials to Excel..........................................................127


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IntroductionThe purpose of the State of the Literacy and

Essential Skills Field report is to provide anenvironmental scan showing the state of Literacyand Essential Skills (L/ES) across the country,from the perspective of Canadian Literacy andLearning Network (CLLN) and its nationalnetwork of partners, both within and outside theLiteracy and Essential Skills field. Targetedscans, such as this one, are crucial to identifyingcurrent trends and future directions. CLLNbelieves that this is the first report of its kind thatpresents a detailed picture of our sector and itsrole in assuring Canada’s economic successthrough a skilled workforce. The report providesbaseline information from which future scanscan be developed. It is anticipated that futurescans will be conducted when new censusinformation becomes available and that targetedenvironmental scans that are crucial to currenttrends will take place to provide a detailedpicture of specific sectors, such as newCanadians, youth and seniors.

The main body of the report deals with Literacyand Essential Skills in a national context.Summaries provided by the provincial andterritorial organizations listed in theacknowledgements highlight what is happeningprovincially and territorially. This information iskey to gaining an understanding of Literacy andEssential kills nationwide.

The report reviews and analyzes demographic,economic, and governmental trends andemerging issues related to Literacy and EssentialSkills. It outlines the ability and capacity of thenational network as a whole, and individually, tofulfill the mandate of providing leadership,knowledge and expertise about Literacy andEssential Skills.

The State of the Literacy and Essential SkillsField report examines issues and trends in thelabour market that impact policy and the

capacity of Literacy and Essential Skillsorganizations to share knowledge, practices, andstrategies. The findings in this report will helpthe Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES)and the Literacy and Essential Skills field gain abetter understanding of the broader economic,social and political environment relevant tolabour market attachment and reducing skillsshortages for economic well-being and aninclusive, prosperous Canada. It will informstrategic planning at CLLN and among thenetwork partners. It will provide informationthat can be used to guide strategic planning byother Literacy and Essential Skills organizations,service deliverers, administrators, adulteducators and organizations whose clientsexperience literacy issues. It can also be used asan information resource for other governmentdepartments, researchers and the general public.

There are three parts to the State of the Literacy

and Essential Skills Field report. The first partprovides information that relates to the work ofLiteracy and Essential Skills organizations. Thesecond part reviews labour market trends anddemographics. It focuses on areas of thepopulation where Essential Skills issues are ofparticular importance. The third part looks at theeconomic benefits of upskilling and what isneeded to be effective in increasing the EssentialSkills of Canadians.

MethodologyThe national State of the Literacy and Essential

Skills Field report (this document) while notexhaustive or definitive, includes a fairrepresentation of knowledge as of the beginningof October 2012. This information was obtainedby consultations with experts and a wide varietyof resources that can be found online. Links tothese resources are embedded in the report tomake it easy for readers to access more detailedsource information.



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Provincial and territorial literacy coalitionscontributed their own summaries for the State ofthe Field. They shared information under thefollowing headings:

Provincial Government

4 Responsibilities

4 Policies

4 Strategies

Federal Government

4 OLES

Literacy and Essential Skills Lens

4 Information about Provincial LiteracyCoalition

4 Other Literacy Initiatives

4 Other Literacy Organizations

Labour Market

4 Demographics

4 Immigrants

4 Aboriginal Peoples

4 Youth

4 Labour Market Trends

Strengths

Challenges

What’s Needed

Some provinces and territories used differentheadings to reflect provincial and territorialinformation4. The amount of detail in eachsummary varies according to the issues facingthe province or territory and the capacity of thecoalition to generate information during thesummer and early fall of 2012. For information

about the work of the provincial and territorialliteracy coalitions, please read the individualsummaries. Links to the full summaries can befound in Provincial and Territorial Literacy

Coalitions on page 23.

Highlights from the provincial and territorialsummaries are included in the national reportand, when taken together, create a picture ofcurrent trends in provinces and territories,regions and nationwide.

Setting the StageEssential Skills

Essential Skills is the term developed by thefederal government to identify skills embeddedin tasks in the workplace. However, EssentialSkills apply to all aspects of a person’s life. Theyprovide a common language that educators,employers and service providers can use todiscuss the foundational skills required to learnall other skills. Essential Skills help people to bemore productive and to learn new tasks.Essential Skills at different levels of complexityare used in almost every work-related task.

4 Essential Skills Ontario provided information about provincial government responsibilities and the role and

scope of Essential Skills Ontario. They link to a number of their recent documents, including their 2012

environmental scan.


5 Readers' Guide to Essential Skills Profiles, HRSCD6 POR-318-06, Essential Skills in Canadian Workplaces, EKOS Research Associates for HRSDC, 20077 International Survey of Reading Skills, Statistics Canada, 2008

Human Resources and Skills DevelopmentCanada (HRSDC, 2009) promotes nine EssentialSkills:

4 reading text

4 use of documents

4 writing

4 numeracy

4 oral communication

4 thinking skills (i.e., problem solving,decision making, critical thinking, job task planning and organizing,significant use of memory, and finding information)

4 working with others

4 digital skills / computer use

4 continuous learning5

The literacy community refers to Essential Skillsas “velcro skills” which enable other knowledgeand learning to “stick”. It is widely accepted thatfor individuals to function effectively in societyand the economy they need to have goodEssential Skills and high literacy levels.Individuals also need to have confidence in theirown abilities; this is often an outcome ofimproving Literacy and Essential Skills.Increased self-confidence and skills can beinstrumental in enabling people to get involvedin their communities and perform better at work.

The L/ES field needs to continue to promote acommon understanding of Essential Skillsamong employers. The Essential Skills in

Canadian Workplaces final report states thatawareness of the term “Essential Skills” seemshigh with nearly four in ten employers statingthey are very familiar with the term6. On the

other hand, a large majority of employers whothink they are familiar with the term believe thatit is most accurately defined as the minimumskill set needed for a specific position. In fact,only one in six understand the term as it hasbeen defined by the Government of Canada.

Literacy

Many people misinterpret low literacy asilliteracy. In fact, few Canadians are trulyilliterate (unable to read or write). TheInternational Survey of Reading Skills indicatesthat 3.8% percent of Canadian adults cannotread7.

International Adult Literacy Survey

International literacy surveys changed theconception of literacy from the literate/illiteratedichotomy to the new understanding of literacyas a continuum. The most importantinternational literacy survey is the InternationalAdult Literacy Skills Survey (IALSS). The surveyconceptualizes literacy along a continuum ofproficiency from Level 1 (low literacy skills) toLevel 5 (strong literacy skills), with Level 3 beingthe skill level needed for most literacy tasks inour society. Appendix 1: International Adult

Literacy and Skills Survey provides moreinformation.

Literacy is more than decoding words orrecognizing symbols. It is the ability to usewritten and numerical information in order to doeveryday tasks at home, at work and in thecommunity. How people are able to use their


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8 B. A. Quigley, S. Folinsbee, W. Kraglund-Gauthier, State of the Field Report: Adult Literacy, Canadian Council

on Learning 2006: Literacy recognizes literacies as an emerging trend.9 Myers, K. & de Broucker, P. Too many left behind: Canada’s adult education and training system, Canadian

Policy Research Networks, 200610 P. Friere, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Penguin, 197211 Reading the Future, Canadian Council on Learning, 2008 12 OECD programme for the international assessment of adult competencies (PIAAC), OECD, 2010

literacy skills varies from context to context. Theunderstanding of ‘literacy’ continues to expandand evolve to include a wide variety of skills. Infact, it is becoming common to hear the term“literacies” rather than literacy8. This includesskills such as financial literacy, health literacy,media literacy and digital technology literacy.The competence to do this is reflected throughLiteracy and Essential Skills as the practicalapplication of what a person can do.

Research shows that there is a strongrelationship between educational attainment andliteracy levels9. However, literacy is notmeasured by education alone but by acommitment to lifelong learning, both formaland informal. Literacy is the key to developingknowledge, increasing potential and achievinggoals. Literacy involves “reading the word andthe world”10. Literacy skills improve with practiceand deteriorate if not used.

Nine million adult Canadians have skills atIALSS Levels 1 and 2. The number rises to twelvemillion if seniors are included. Over sevenmillion adult Canadians functioning at Levels 1and 2 do not identify literacy as an issue. This

can impact their motivation to improve theirskills. The number of people with literacy belowLevel 3 is likely to rise to fifteen million over thenext twenty years unless measures are taken toeffect change11. Consequently, it is important tolook at ways in which Canada can make changesto raise awareness of the importance of lifelonglearning and encourage people to upskill.

Literacy is an issue for people who were born inCanada as well as for immigrants. People whoare working at IALSS Levels 1 and 2 and who areemployed may find aspects of their work verychallenging. They could find themselves facingproblems if the requirements of the job change.If they lose their jobs it takes them longer to findnew jobs. Low literacy skills also have a negativeimpact on safety in the workplace, which in turnleads to increased health care costs.

Programme for the International

Assessment of Adult Competencies

(PIAAC)

IALSS has been superseded by the PIACCsurvey12. The range of skills being measured bythis survey will expand on those covered byIALSS (prose, document and quantitativeliteracy). It will help governments to betterunderstand how education and training influencesociety and the economy. A broad range ofinformation from the adults participating in thePIAAC survey has been collected, including howtheir skills are used at work and in other contextssuch as the home and the community. PIACC isconcerned with the management andmeasurement of ‘human capital’ and four keycompetencies – problem solving in technology-

It is about the joy of learning andthe pleasure and productivity inusing one’s learning in all facets ofwork and life pursuits.

M.Fullan, P. Hill and C. Crévola,Breakthrough, Corwin Press, 2006

rich environments, literacy, numeracy andworkplace skills13. Five thousand adults aged 16-65 years were interviewed in each participatingcountry. A larger sample of 26,000 people weresurveyed in Canada in order to provide generalpopulation estimates at the national level inEnglish and French, as well as for each of the 13provinces and territories.

In addition, targeted populations in Canadainclude:

4 recent immigrants

4 First Nations, Métis and Inuitpopulations

4 official-language populations livingin minority settings

4 youth (aged 16 to 24)

Currently the information collected is beingprocessed. It will be released by the OECD inOctober 2013, followed by reports fromparticipating countries when the information hasbeen analyzed.

More PIAAC studies will follow over the nextseventeen years.

Literacy is a Cross-Cutting Issue

Strong Literacy and Essential Skills have positivebenefits for the individual, for communities andfor the economy. Strong literacy skills areassociated with improved Gross DomesticProduct (GDP).

Essential Skills are inherently transferrable, andimprovements in these skills also benefit peopleaccessing systems such as justice and health.Improving Essential Skills also often benefitspeople who are incarcerated and people whowant to be active in their local communities.Adults at Levels 3 and above participate more incommunity activities, volunteer more and aremore likely to vote.

HEALtH

In 2008, the Conference Board of Canada andthe Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA)identified literacy as one of the socio-economicdeterminants of health that should be addressedto ensure the long-term sustainability ofCanada’s health care delivery system14, 15. TheCPHA study identified that, in Canada, 11.7million working age people are estimated to haveinadequate health literacy skills. People withhigher literacy skills are more likely to live andwork in safe and healthy environments. Literacyskills allow people to engage better with healthprofessionals. Higher incomes correspond togreater ratings of health. Canadians with thelowest health literacy skills have been found to betwo-and-a-half times more likely to be in receiptof income support16.


13 Human capital competencies are the skills, knowledge and attitudes that individuals can put into productive

use.14 Healthy People, Healthy Performance, Healthy Profits. The case for business action on the socio-economic

determinants of health, Conference Board of Canada, 200815 Rootman, I., Gordon-El-Bihbety, D. A vision for a health literate Canada: Report of the expert panel on health

literacy, Canadian Public Health Association, 200816 Health literacy in Canada: A healthy understanding, Canadian Council on Learning, 2008

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Seniors

Seniors are at greater risk for low literacybecause the skills bar is continually being raisedand because skill loss is a natural consequence ofaging. Also, Canadians are staying in theworkforce longer and so the importance ofmaintaining and improving their literacy skills atwork is an issue that needs addressing. Typically,older workers have not participated in training tothe same extent as younger colleagues.

Poverty

Poverty and literacy are interconnected. Povertyand low literacy affect nutrition, mental health,stress levels and the ability to prevent illness.Anti-poverty efforts need to be combined withimproving literacy. However, improving literacyis only part of the solution; rate of pay is key toreducing the number of people considered to be“working poor”. Sixty-five percent of people whoare living in poverty and accessing food banksare the working poor and their families. Adultsfunctioning at Levels 1 and 2 on the numeracyscale are more likely to be in receipt of socialassistance payments17. Adults with strong literacyskills maintain salaries of up to 33% higher thanthose with low literacy and are twice as likely tobe employed in more secure jobs18.

People with disabilities

There are 3.6 million adults in Canada with atleast one disability (physical or mental), of whomabout half experience literacy challenges. For allprovinces, the rate at which people withdisabilities have less than a grade 9 education isat least double, and in many cases over triple, therate for people without disabilities19.

New Canadians

Newcomers to Canada face many challenges; notonly must they increase their literacy andessential skills, they also have to access servicessuch as social agencies, healthcare, employmentand childcare in English or French. This meansthere is a need for settlement organizations andliteracy organizations to work together to addressthe demands of life in a new country.

Literacy in 2006

In 2006, The State of the Field Report: AdultLiteracy was published under the auspices ofCanadian Council on Learning. Collaboratingwith literacy experts from across Canada, theauthors provided a picture of themes in adultliteracy in Canada. The study, through a wide-ranging literature review, captured andreferenced major works in the contexts andgroups that were the focus of the study:

4 aboriginal literacy

4 ESL and first language literacy

4 Francophone literacy

4 women and literacy

4 health literacy

4 family literacy

4 corrections literacy

4 literacy and work

4 earning disabilities and literacy

4 technologies and literacy

The 2006 study highlighted two gaps in research.The first related to lack of research into the livedexperience of the people with literacy challenges.

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17 Desjardins, R., Murray, S., Clermont, S., & Werquin, P., Learning a living: First results of the adult literacy and

life skills survey, Statistics Canada, 200518 Poverty, CLLN Factsheet, 201219 E. Zubrow et al, Landscape of Literacy and Disability In Canada, Canadian Abilities Foundation, 2008

The second gap identified the lack of researchabout/by literacy educators. However, it dididentify an emerging trend of research-in-practice as an effective method for involvingliteracy educators in research.

The 2006 report identified literacy issues thatare still relevant today and need further research.However, in the light of the current economicclimate and labour market realities, literacyneeds to be considered together with EssentialSkills. Our report illustrates the current situationand outlines key areas of focus for the future.

Upskilling and Lifelong Learning

IALS Level 3 is the level needed to supportindependent learning. People at this level cancompete in terms of knowledge and accessingand using information. Forty-two percent ofCanadians are below this level. This is not anissue we can ignore and yet many Canadians arenot aware of this.

People with low literacy skills may be good atperforming their current tasks and may havedeveloped good coping strategies. Often theyhave learned by experience but may be slow toadapt to change. They may have difficulty withtraining materials, problem solving and usingcharts and diagrams. Unfortunately, many adultswith low literacy skills believe they have good or

average literacy skills and have no way to judgethe adequacy of their skills, a fact that can causethem to under-invest in training. Often, it is onlywhen there is a change in personalcircumstances, such as the loss of a job or apromotion, that a person discovers his or herskills are not at the necessary level.

The adult education system, including Literacyand Essential Skills programs, is a key factor inproviding opportunities to upskill. It is crucialthat we enhance the skills and knowledge ofpeople working below Level 3 through trainingand education in order for them to have betteropportunities at home, at work and in theircommunities and to improve Canada’s economicviability20. At the moment only a smallpercentage of adults needing to improve theirliteracy skills enter L/ES programs. For example,in Ontario, about 50,000 learners are enrolledeach year; however there are 900,000 working-age Ontarians without a high school diploma.

Learning needs to be lifelong, no matter aperson’s educational level and achievement, inorder to cope with today’s society and to preventskills being lost from lack of use. Many adultsrely on information from TV or the internet,rather than reading newspapers and books; thisdoes not reinforce their reading skills. StatisticsCanada reports that the average Canadian losesone school grade level in literacy skills over alifetime. For most people, the gradual decline intheir reading ability begins around age 25, dropsthe most around 40 and tapers off until aboutage 55. Adults from lower socio-economicbackgrounds experience this the most.Deterioration in skills is often delayed whenpeople have a higher level of educationalachievement but it still happens.


20 Bloom et al., The Economic Benefits of improving Literacy Skills in the Workplace, Conference Board of

Canada, 1997


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Workers in jobs that under-utilize their EssentialSkills face the risk of losing skills21. They mayknow their current job needs but if they don’tneed to read or calculate much, then they maylose their ability to do literacy tasks they wereonce capable of performing.

Research indicates a strong link between levels ofeducation and rates of participation in lifelonglearning. The rapid pace and complexity ofchange in today’s global economy requires peopleto adapt to new situations throughout their lives.Education in one’s youth is no longer sufficient.Lifelong learning is important for individuals andfor the productivity, competiveness andprosperity of Canada22.

Opportunities for learning can be formal, non-formal or informal. Learning outside educationalinstitutions is usually considered to be non-formal. Informal learning is self-directed andoften incidental or unintentional, such asinformation learned from friends, colleagues orinternet searches. Workplace Literacy andEssential Skills programs form an importantcomponent of lifelong learning and can beeffective in engaging people who had negativeexperiences at school. Workplace education haspositive implications for Canada’s economy.

There is a need for all Canadians to invest inlifelong learning. Improving skills is of greatimportance for adults with low Literacy andEssential Skills, not only for those who are notyet in the workforce but also those who arecurrently employed. This becomes more crucialin view of the increasing demands of theknowledge economy and the ongoingdevelopment of information technology.

21 H. Krahn and G. Lowe, Literacy Underutilization in Canadian Workplaces, Statistics Canada, HRSDC, 199822 Changes in Participation in Adult Education and Training 2003 and 2008, Statistics Canada

From an economic andemployment perspective, thishuman potential for lifelonglearning is assuming evergreater importance. Old jobsare migrating to places wherelabour is cheaper. Meanwhile,fast-changing technologies arecreating new jobs unheard ofonly recently or radicallyaltering what workers need toknow to perform their existingjobs. Consequently, people nowneed to continue developingtheir skills and abilitiesthroughout their working lives.

Organisation for Economic Cooperation

and Development (OECD) Policy Brief,July 2007

Linking Literacy and Essential Skills tothe Economy

Literacy and Essential Skills are required forpeople to function effectively at work, at homeand in the community. As the State of theLiteracy and Essential Skills Field report shows,Literacy and Essential Skills have a powerfuleffect on the economic and social lives ofCanadians. Employers need employees with goodLiteracy and Essential Skills, especially in timesof labour and skills shortages. To compete in theglobal labour market Canada needs workers whoare independent thinkers and have the ability towork in teams and solve problems.

Governments and employers recognize that lowliteracy and a lack of Essential Skills has anegative impact on individuals, business and theCanadian economy. Productivity, innovation andcompetitiveness are adversely affected whenemployees have low literacy skills.

The TD Bank Financial Group projected thatraising the literacy of Canadians with inadequatereading skills (Levels 1 and 2) to an adequateskill level (Level 3) would have an economicpayoff close to $80 billion23. Even a one percentimprovement in literacy rates nationally wouldboost Canada’s economy by $32 billion.According to the C. D. Howe Institute, theseeffects are three times as great as for investmentin physical capital24. As well, raising literacy andnumeracy for people with weak and poor skillsmay have a greater impact on long-termeconomic growth than investing in more highlyskilled graduates.

Raising literacy levels is the key to success forCanada and Canadians in today’s global markets.Provincial and Territorial Literacy and EssentialSkills organizations understand the importanceof employer investment in training and skillsdevelopment and are well positioned to promoteworkplace Literacy an Essential Skills programs.


Literacy is economically importantto macro-economic performance,with differences in the averagelevel of literacy explaining 55% ofdifferences in long term growthrates of GDP per capita andlabour productivity in OECDeconomies. The distribution ofliteracy skill has also been shownto have an impact, with higherlevels of low skilled adultsinhibiting GDP growth.

Addressing Canada’s Literacy Challenge:

A Cost / Benefit Analysis, DataAngel, 2009

Policy makers haveunderestimated the contributionof literacy and other essentialskills to economic growth,choosing to focus their attentionand investment on otherdeterminants of productivitygrowth, including the elite endof the skill distribution.



23 TD Bank Financial Group, Literacy Matters: A Call for Action, 200724 S. Coulombe and J.F. Tremblay, Public Investment in Skills: Are Canadian Governments Doing Enough? C.D.

Howe Institute, October 2005.

page 9


page 10

It is important for Literacy and Essential Skillsproviders to explain the economic benefits ofLiteracy and Essential Skills training toemployers and to show how a needs assessmentcan highlight areas where training is needed.

The impact of literacy skills on labour marketoutcomes is particularly pronounced. Adults atIALS Levels 1 and 2 are at a skill-baseddisadvantage25. Lower skilled individuals are farless likely to have worked in the course of a year,work fewer weeks per year, are more likely toexperience periods of unemployment, experiencemore and longer periods of unemployment, workmore hours per week and have lower wage rates.These impacts translate into significantdifferences in average incomes by literacy skilllevel and marked differences in the probability ofan individual drawing Employment Insurance,Workers Compensation and/ or Social Assistancebenefits26.

More interestingly, the proportion of adults withLevel 1 and 2 skills also influences economicgrowth over the long term. A higher proportionof better-skilled adults translates into increasedoverall rates of productivity growth. This findingimplies that raising average skill levels of lowerskilled Canadians will drive rapid improvementin economic performance. The conventionaleconomic interpretation of these findings is thatliteracy is an economic asset, one that greatlyenhances worker productivity and, by extension,income per capita. Recent research byMcCracken and Murray shows that investmentsdesigned to reduce the size of, or eliminateoccupational literacy skill shortages throughinstruction would yield impressive rates of return27.

Workplace Education pays bigdividends to the employer. Initiallywe thought that business wouldn’thave time for workforce trainingbecause it was an add-on to analready busy day. What weactually found is that workforcetraining leverages many times themoney and time than is originallyinvested in it. We often find thatbusinesses don’t know how to doWorkplace Education, so we canteach them how to do needs’assessments in order to learn whattraining is necessary. We can showthem how to run training programswithout losing time andproductivity. Our experience so farhas been overwhelmingly positive.

Sandra McKenzie, Deputy Minister, Labourand Advanced Education, Nova Scotia,

speaking at a panel discussion hosted byLiteracy Nova Scotia in February 2012

Provincial government dollarsspent strategically have aproven capacity to leversignificant employer investmentin workplace learning.

Factsheets: Literacy is a Right, CUPE-SCFP Literacy Program

25 M. McCracken and T. Scott Murray, Addressing Canada’s Literacy Challenge: A Cost/Benefit Analysis, 200926 ibid27 ibid

Literacy and Earnings

Over the past eighteen months CLLN has beenengaged in a series of research projects exploringthe links between literacy and income. Theresulting Literacy and Earnings project hasgenerated a substantial body of work thatprovides new insights based on current data. Theresearch demonstrates that literacy is a keyfactor in determining an individual’s labourmarket outcomes and illustrates theopportunities for individuals, businesses andgovernments when investing in upskillingCanada’s workforce.

From Poverty to Prosperity: Literacy’s Impact

on Canada’s Economic Success28

This report analyzed the most recent data toillustrate the impact of literacy skills on both themicro- and macro-economic levels. The reportexplores whether there is a case to be made fordirect links between literacy skill and incomelevel. Data relating to the ability to get a job, jobretention and promotion, risk of job loss, lengthof time unemployed and rates of pay wereexamined. It provides a summary of how literacyskill and low income are related, and what theserelationships imply for public policy.

Investing in Upskilling: Gains for Individuals,

Employers and Government29

Examining costs and savings associated withmoving every Canadian with a Literacy Level 1 or2 (on the international literacy scale) to Level3, this analysis is based upon statisticallymatched data from the 2003 International Adult

Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS) and the 2005

– 2009 Surveys of Labour and Income

Dynamics. The methods provide a mechanism toexplore the relationships between benefit receiptand literacy skill.

Learning to Earning: Linking Literacy and

Poverty Using IALS Data on Earnings30

This literature review explores the relationshipbetween literacy and poverty using data from theInternational Adult Literacy Survey (IALS). TheIALS data provides extensive information aboutliteracy and related factors such as employment,earnings, education and demographics that canbe applied in the discussions of literacy andpoverty. The focus on earnings, as opposed toother indicators of well-being, was mainlydictated by the scarcity of data explicitly linkingliteracy skill levels to other social outcomes. Aseries of research questions was created to guidethe literature review.


page 11

28 From Poverty to Prosperity: Literacy’s Impact on Canada’s Economic Success, CLLN, 201229 Investing in Upskilling: Gains for Individuals, Employers and Government, CLLN, 201230 Learning to Earning: Linking Literacy and Poverty Using IALS Data on Earnings , CLLN, 2012


page 12

Key Findings from Literacy and Earnings

Projects:

4 The research found that national and international literature confirms the common belief within the field that there is a correlation between literacy proficiency and individual earnings, and that the impact of literacy on earnings varies from country to country.

4 Canadians who do not complete high school are more than three-and-a-half times more likely to be on social assistance.

4 If Canadians’ literacy level was increased to the OECD recommended standards for internationally competitive productivity (IALSS Level 3), Social Assistance rolls across Canada would be reduced by 84,000 people.

4 Direct annual savings resulting from an assumed one-time $29 billion investment inupskilling Canadian adults 16 and over would be $2.92 billion: $330 million on Employment Insurance, $2.1 billion on Social Assistance, and $490 million on Workers Compensation Investment in upskilling Canadians would increase earnings by $85.25 billion or an average of $3,244/worker annually.

4 Tax revenue and program savings would increase annual fiscal return for governments in Canada by 425%.

CLLN, in partnership with Canada’s Public PolicyForum, will conduct a series of roundtables withpolicymakers and employer and labourstakeholders in late fall 2012 and early winter2013, to further discuss the findings and theirimplications.

Adult Literacy Policies

Adult Literacy and Essential Skills developmentand training is relevant to a range of policy areasacross federal, provincial and territorialjurisdictions. Literacy benefits people accessingthe justice system, people who are incarcerated,people who want to be active in their localcommunities, people wanting to get into theworkforce and people who are already in theworkforce but are faced with changing demands.

Federal funding for Literacy and Essential Skillsis provided by the Adult Learning, Literacy and

Essential Skills Program (ALLESP). ALLESPtargets First Nations, Métis, Inuit, immigrants,lower-skilled workers, and official languageminority communities. ALLESP plays an indirectrole rather than a direct role in improvingCanadians’ skills. ALLESP provides funding toeligible organizations to conduct the followingactivities:

4 knowledge generation, transfer and application

4 promotion of innovation: provision of targeted investments using innovative approaches

Investing in human capital is thesingle most effective way of notjust promoting growth but alsoof distributing its benefits morefairly. And investing in skills isfar less costly, in the long run,than paying the price of poorerhealth, lower incomes,unemployment and socialexclusion – all of which areclosely tied to lower skills.

Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Lives: A

Strategic Approach to Skills Policies,OECD, 2012

4 capacity-building: strengthening the capacity of adult learning and literacy sectorand those involved in essential skills

4 increasing awareness: adult learning, literacy and essential skills promotion

The federal government has Labour MarketAgreements (LMAs) and a Labour MarketDevelopment Agreements (LMDAs) with everyprovince and territory. These transfers providefunds for each province and territory to use toenhance the skills of their labour force.

Office of Literacy and Essential Skills

Housed in Human Resources and SkillsDevelopment Canada (HRSDC), OLES is thefederal body that is the centre of expertise toimprove Literacy and Essential Skills. OLES iscommitted to raising the Literacy and EssentialSkills of adult Canadians through projectfunding, research and the provision of learningtools. OLES helps Canadians to get the skills theyneed to support their families, get a job, and stayin the job market. OLES supports and providesfunding to Anglophone and Francophonenational literacy organizations and a pan-Canadian network of provincial and territorialliteracy coalitions.

Policies and Strategies in the

Provinces and territories

Provincial governments also fund Literacy andEssential Skills. Other sources of funding includeprivate foundations, organized labourorganizations, employer-sponsored programsand not-for-profit organizations.

Details of Labour Market Agreements andLabour Market Development Agreements can befound in CLLN’s Labour Market Transfers and

the Implications for Literacy and Essential Skills

Labour Market Transfers report31.

Policies and Strategies in Nunavut

Nunavut developed a draft Adult LearningStrategy in 2005. It outlines proposed actions tosupport the development of workplace andworkforce literacy, including basic educationprograms and programming supports foremployers, including financial incentives. In thewinter of 2012 consultations on the draft literacystrategy were completed, however the strategyhas not yet been released.

Funding from the Department of Education inNunavut allows programs to be delivered incommunities across Nunavut but L/ES programsare not core funded. Nunavut Arctic College doesnot deliver any programs in the workplace but ithas implemented workforce training and literacyprograms through an expansion of their pre-employment course and the addition of betterEssential Skills curricular resources and programs.

Policies and Strategies in Yukon

The Yukon Government developed the YukonLiteracy Strategy in 200132. The strategy’spurpose is to ensure Yukoners have access to thebasic education and training opportunities theyneed to succeed in Yukon. A community-basedapproach was emphasized in the strategy.

A review of the Strategy took place in 2006, butno updated strategy has been released. Althoughthere was value in the 2001 Literacy Strategy,members of the Yukon literacy and learningcommunity would like to see a new literacystrategy developed that reflects the needs,challenges and opportunities of Literacy andEssential Skills in the Yukon today.

The Government of Yukon recently announcedthat they will be holding a community forum inearly December 2012 to consult about the YukonLiteracy Strategy and next steps.


page 13

31 Brigid Hayes, Labour Market Transfers and the Implications for Literacy and Essential Skills Labour Market

Transfers, CLLN, December 201132 Yukon Literacy Strategy, Yukon Ministry of Education, 2001


The Yukon College Act of 1988 gave formalrecognition to the College’s role in offering highereducation and adult basic education33. The collegereceives its core operational and capital fundingfrom the Yukon Government. It receives federalsupport for different programs it offers as well.

Workplace literacy programs are supported bythe Yukon Government’s Advanced EducationBranch. There is no direct workplace literacyfunding or policy stream flowing from the branch,however, numerous supports are in place tosupport literacy initiatives. The branch supportsadult education, training, employment programsand services in Yukon by:

4 supporting workplace L/ES programming atthe Yukon College such as the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers

4 undertaking labour market research, including essential skills training needs

4 promoting apprenticeship, skills training, and inter-provincial trades standards like the Red Seal program

4 promoting literacy initiatives through organizations that offer workplace and community-based programs

Advanced Education Branch provides corefunding to Yukon Learn, a grass-roots non-profitorganization dedicated to providing a variety offlexible adult literacy programs and services.

The Labour Market Agreement (LMA) betweenthe federal government and Yukon includes L/ESamong eligible programs. The Labour MarketPrograms Unit of the Advanced EducationBranch works with community groups to promoteliteracy and deliver relevant skills training,ranging from basic skills, such as literacy andnumeracy, to advanced skills34. The explicitmention of literacy makes the LMA an obvious

funding source for a community based workplaceliteracy program.

The Yukon Government’s Economic DevelopmentDepartment oversees the CommunityDevelopment Fund (CDF) which supportsprojects dedicated to creating social benefits, suchas: strengthening social and communitynetworks, building partnerships, managing social,networking and recreational events, conductinghistorical research, fostering traditions, sharingknowledge, and developing useable skills.

The Yukon Literacy Coalition has receivedsupport to deliver community and family literacyprograms.

Policies and Strategies in Northwest

territories

The Department of Education, Culture andEmployment in the Government of the NorthwestTerritories (GNWT) published the first NWTLiteracy Strategy in 2001, after the NWT LiteracyCouncil had raised literacy as an important issuethat needed to be addressed. Towards Literacy: AStrategy Framework has now been updated with anew plan lasting until 2018. A pillar of thestrategy is the commitment to literacy in alleleven NWT official languages. The strategy alsocommits to early literacy, family literacy, schoolage literacy, youth literacy, working age adultliteracy, and seniors and elders literacy, althoughnot all areas receive funding at this time.

The NWT Literacy Council plays a significant rolein policy and program development in the NWTas a member of: the working and advisory groupsfor the NWT Literacy Strategy; the review of adultliteracy and basic education programs, and manyother committees, initiatives and working groups.

33 Yukon College Act, Revised Statues of the Yukon, 200234 Canada-Yukon Labour Market Agreement, 2009


35 Training and Labour, Action Plan, Progress to date 2010-2013, New Brunswick Department of Post-Secondary

Education March 201236 What is the Workplace Education Initiative? Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education

Workplace Initiatives

Policies and Strategies in Newfoundland and

Labrador

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the Departmentof Advanced Education and Skills (AES) hasresponsibility for adult education and training. Itis responsible for literacy, workplace EssentialSkills, Adult Basic Education (ABE), and post-secondary activities in the province, as well asthe Labour Market Development Agreement(LMDA) and Labour Market Agreement (LMA)signed with the federal government.

In 2008 the Department of Education began thedevelopment of an adult literacy strategy.Responsibility for this strategy was transferred tothe Department of Advanced Education andSkills in October 2011. The province has yet torelease this literacy strategy.

Policies and Strategies in New Brunswick

New Brunswick’s Working Together for AdultLiteracy: An Adult Literacy Strategy, 2009, offersfree adult upgrading, a delivery system based onthe college and community groups, and theactive participation of the province’s librarysystem. During 2010-11, the province finalizedthe Quality Framework for Adult Literacy andEssential Skills Service Delivery. The frameworkis intended to apply to all adult literacy andessential skills service delivery undertaken by, onbehalf of, or funded through the CommunityAdult Learning Services Branch. The progress ithas made can be seen in Community AdultLearning Services Branch, Training and Labour,

Action Plan, Progress to date 2010-2013, March201235.

New Brunswick has also created a province-wideWorkplace Essential Skills (WES) service toprovide customized workplace training. TheDepartment of Post-Secondary Education,

Training and Labour funds between 150-175community adult learning programs, in bothEnglish and French. The same departmentcarries out the majority of Workplace EssentialSkills programming taking place in NewBrunswick. In addition, they have funded theLiteracy Coalition of New Brunswick, laFèdèration d’alphabètisation du Nouveau-Brunswick and Laubach Literacy New Brunswickto carry-out some of their Literacy and EssentialSkills initiatives.

Policies and Strategies in Nova Scotia

In Nova Scotia, Literacy and Essential Skillsinitiatives are funded by the Department ofLabour and Advanced Education. The AdultEducation Division provides support through theNova Scotia School for Adult Learning (NSSAL).In 2010, Nova Scotia began consultations on thedevelopment of the Adult Learning Act, whichoutlines the purpose of NSSAL and commits theMinister to regular consultations with the adultlearning community, including adult learners,practitioners, and organizations in order tocontinue the strategic development,implementation, and evaluation of adult learningin the province.

The Workplace Initiatives Division of theDepartment of Labour and Advanced Educationpartners with employers and industry to ensureNova Scotia workers have the skills needed tosucceed in the workplace. The division supportsworkplace education, workforce programs, andprograms for laid off workers. It also providesemployers with online human resource/trainingtools and supports a job posting service. TheDivision administers the Workplace EducationInitiative (WEI) which has been in existencesince 1989 and is the dominant player inworkplace literacy and essential skills36.


Policies and Strategies in Prince Edward

Island

PEI recognizes the need to invest in learning atall levels. In 1996, PEI issued a literacy strategyentitled, Tough Challenges, Great Rewards: A

Literacy and Adult Education Strategy with amission statement that “Equal access to adulteducation is a basic right of all adult learners” 37.The Office of Higher Education, Training andAdult Learning took the lead in formalizing thepartnerships. The strategy focuses on bioscience,information technology, aerospace, andrenewable energy. These high-knowledgeindustries have significant potential for furthergrowth in revenues and exports, and offer skilled,well-paid, year-round opportunities forIslanders. The major goals of the plan over thenext five years include:

4 a nationally recognized centre of biotechnologyexcellence with 2,000 employees

4 an information technology sector that will berecognized for its innovative capacity

4 continued cultivation of PEI’s thriving aerospace industry

4 increased emphasis on environmentally-friendly energy sources

Skills PEI is a division of the Department ofInnovation and Advanced Learning. It wasestablished to manage the delivery of skills andtraining development programming funded bythe Canada-Prince Edward Island Labour MarketDevelopment Agreement (LMDA) and LabourMarket Agreement (LMA).

PEI’s longstanding Workplace Learning PEI Inc.has benefited from LMA funds with additionalfinancial support. It helps individuals, employersand organizations build strong foundational skillsto meet the demands of the changing workplace.

Policies and Strategies in Quebec

Le Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidaritésociale (MESS) receives LMDA and LMA fundsfrom the federal government which in turn aretransferred to Emploi Quebec. These fundscombine with other provincial funding to formthe Fonds de développement du marché dutravail (FDMT). A portion of the FDMT ($60million in 2011-2012) was transferred toMinistère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport(MELS) to support its training fund. Themajority of this fund is used to finance otheremployment programs, including youth andmature worker programs.

French is the language of instruction for themajority of Quebecers with the exclusion of thosewho have received (or have a sibling who hasreceived) the major part of their elementary orsecondary school instruction in English inCanada, or who have at least one parent whocompleted the major part of his or herelementary studies in English in Canada. When itcomes to adult education, the current Charter ofthe French Language allows adults to choosetheir language of instruction.

English literacy training for adults is offered bytwo different entities. Formal training is fundedby the Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et duSport (MELS). Informal training is offered byliteracy/reading councils that provide one-on-one tutoring and/or small classroom instructionusing volunteer tutors.

French literacy is also available through theFrench school boards, as well as throughcommunity literacy organizations grouped underthe Regroupement des groupes populaires en

alphabétisation du Québec (RGPAQ) banner.

WorkForce and WorkPlace Essential Skillstraining is also supported by MELS through the

37 Tough Challenges, Great Rewards: A Literacy and Adult Education Strategy, Office of Higher Education,

Training and Adult Learning, PEI, 1996


38 Plan Nord: Building Northern Québec Together - The Project of a Generation, Gouvernement du Québec

Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune, 201139 Literacy and Essential Skills in Ontario, Essential Skills Ontario, 201240 ibid

Services aux enterprises at the school boardlevel, as well as through Emploi-Québec trainingprograms through accredited Emploi-Québec

training facilities.

The Plan Nord initiative is an economicdevelopment strategy launched by thegovernment of Quebec in May 2011 to developthe province’s natural resources extraction sectornorth of the 49th parallel38.

The economic and social benefits for thecommunity includes the enhancement ofAboriginal living conditions and quality of life inAboriginal communities through education andtraining, culture and health.

MELS has identified its key objectives for thePlan Nord 2011-2016, which include schoolsuccess, persistence in school and acquisition ofinitial qualification by as many individuals aspossible .

The Plan Nord will respect the First Nations, theInuit and local communities who will be presentat every phase of its implementation. Raising thebasic education level of Plan Nord areainhabitants is a priority for the Quebecgovernment. The government hopes that a goodjob outlook will provide incentive to localinhabitants to improve their employability skills.

Every economic development project mustincorporate a specific list of skills required fromthe concept phase onward so that the greatestnumber of young people from Aboriginal andlocal communities can be quickly trained.

A profile of the area’s labour force will be drawnup so that appropriate training programs can beplanned. Investments in vocational, technical,and university teaching facilities will be required

to ensure they are appropriately equipped,among other things.

Policies and Strategies in Ontario

The Ministry of Training Colleges andUniversities (MTCU) is responsible for Literacyand Essential Skills in Ontario. The Literacy andBasic Skills (LBS) Program is part of the overallEmployment Ontario (EO) network. In 2007,Employment Ontario brought togetheremployment and training services from thefederal and provincial governments into onecoherent and comprehensive service deliverysystem. The goal of Employment Ontario is forthe province to “have the most educated peopleand highly skilled workforce in North America inorder to build the province’s competitiveadvantage39.”

Other provincial ministries play a role in literacyand essential skills, including the Ministry ofEducation (EDU) which is responsible for childand youth education. Targets for literacy andessential skills as well as numeracy levels havebeen set and a regime of testing instituted. Insome parts of the province, tutoring has beenprovided to enhance literacy and essential skillsoutcomes. School boards play a key role in bothchild and youth literacy and essential skills aswell as adult literacy and essential skills.

The Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration(MCI) and the federal government both have arole to play in English as an Additional language(EAL). Even though EAL and literacy andessential skills are separate policy jurisdictions,adults with low literacy and essential skills andeducation in their first language often attendeither EAL or literacy programs in Canada40.


The Ministry of Community and Social Services(MCSS) is responsible for social assistance orwelfare through the Ontario Works (OW)program. OW benefits are for people who needmoney because they are unable to find work orare temporarily unable to work. OW has twomain parts: Financial Assistance andEmployment Assistance. Financial Assistanceprovides money for food, shelter, clothing andother household items for people who have noother means of support. Employment Assistanceprovides help for people to find work or becomejob-ready. This includes getting work, takingtraining courses, completing high school,learning parenting skills, improving Englishskills, volunteering and finding housing41.

The Ministry of Children and Youth Services(MCYS) runs the Early Years Centres (EYC). Akey function of these centres is the promotion ofliteracy skills among children and youth andtheir parents. Family literacy programs are oftenfound in these centres and LBS agencies workclosely with the EYCs to ensure that children getthe best start at reading and practicing literacyand essential skills42.

Policies and Strategies in Manitoba

Manitoba is one of two jurisdictions where thereare separate structures to support workplaceessential skills and literacy more broadly.Workplace essential skills are supported byWorkplace Education Manitoba (WEM).

The provincial department of AdvancedEducation and Literacy oversees post-secondaryand adult-focused programs and services. Withinthis department, the Adult Learning and Literacy(ALL) branch administers and supports thedevelopment and delivery of adult-focusedprogramming through adult learning centres andadult literacy programs. Manitoba has identifieda Minister responsible for literacy, the Ministerof Advanced Education and Literacy. Manitobahas also passed The Adult Literacy Act, effectiveJanuary 1, 2009—the first act of its kind inCanada.

The Adult Literacy Strategy is beingimplemented across the Province. The statedcomponents of the strategy are the ManitobaAdult Literacy Program, Adult Learning Centres,Workforce Development / Employment, Englishas an Additional Language and a Métis, FirstNations and Inuit focus, supported by aninterdepartmental Adult Literacy Table toenhance coordination of services and programsrelated to adult literacy and numeracy skills.

In the fall of 2010, Literacy Partners ofManitoba’s Environmental Scan identified aseries of gaps and overlaps. Discussions beganwith Adult Learning and Literacy and WorkplaceEducation Manitoba (WEM) to identify commondenominators and gap areas that were not beingserved by the three organizations.

41 Literacy and Essential Skills in Ontario, Essential Skills Ontario, 201242 ibid


43 On May 25, 2012, Premier Wall announced a re-organization that saw Advanced Education become its own

ministry and the other elements of AEEI, including Adult Basic Education, Workplace Essential Skills

Saskatchewan, Essential Skills in the Workplace Program, Immigration responsibilities move to a new Ministry of

the Economy. As the change occurred as this publication was going to print and before full details were known,

this publication continues refers to AEEI.

Policies and Strategies in Saskatchewan

In 2010-11 the Ministry of Education and theMinistry of Advanced Education, Employmentand Immigration in Saskatchewan began todevelop a literacy strategy. The province has yetto release this strategy.

The Ministry of Education and the Ministry ofAdvanced Education, Employment andImmigration (AEEI) are the key players in adulteducation and training in Saskatchewan43. TheMinistry of Education, through the LiteracyOffice, supports non-credit adult literacy, familyliteracy hubs and community-based literacyplanning, while AEEI supports Adult BasicEducation (ABE) primarily within recognisedinstitutions for those with low literacy andessential skills levels.

Policies and Strategies in Alberta

The ministries of Alberta Enterprise andAdvanced Education (EAE) and Alberta HumanServices (HS) share the responsibilities forpublicly supported foundational learning foradults (equivalent to high school completion orInternational Adult Literacy Survey levels 1 and 2).AEAE supports the following programs:

4Alberta Enterprise and Advanced Education (EAE)

4Community Adult Learning Councils

4Family Literacy Programs

4Volunteer Tutor Adult Literacy Programs

4Comprehensive Community Institutions(community colleges)

4English Language Learning Classes

4Alberta Human Services (formerly Employment and Immigration)

The Community Learning Network supports over80 Community Adult Learning Councils (CALCs)across Alberta. CALCs offer programming in fourareas including literacy and essential skills.

In 2009, the Government of Alberta releasedLiving Literacy Framework in Alberta. Itcoordinates the efforts of the Government ofAlberta and its many partners to improve literacylevels for Albertans, including an articulatedadult literacy system and increased andaccessible programming. In the fall of 2006Literacy Alberta submitted to the governmenttheir document, Literacy for a Life of Learning.This document formed the basis of the LivingLiteracy Framework. Further research andconsultation with adult literacy learners, parents,and representatives from early learning,Kindergarten to Grade 12 learning system, publicpost-secondary institutions, communityorganizations, libraries, employers and industryassociations and Alberta government ministrieswere undertaken to finalize the framework.

The Framework takes into account the culturesand realities of communities and circumstancesof populations such at First Nations, Métis andInuit, new immigrants, persons with disabilitiesand seniors. It recognizes that coordination ofactivities that go beyond education and trainingsystems is key to developing and maintainingliteracy competencies. Priorities include,increasing the literacy levels of Albertans to atleast level 3 on the IALS scale; buildingawareness of literacy and its lifelong benefit forall; enhancing opportunities to access programsand services to develop and maintain their skills;and facilitating collaborative partnerships tosupport a continuum of literacy development for


Albertans. Increased literacy levels will bemeasured by success indicators that have beenbuilt into the framework. The Living LiteracyFramework will be implemented over the nextfew years. Action plans are being developed andLiteracy Alberta is well placed to assist in theimplementation.

There needs to be a more well developed processfor learner assessment and a more coordinatedsystem so learners can move between programsand advance into further education. TheGovernment of Alberta has released funds fortwo projects. The first is to develop anunderstanding of learner measurement tools andhow/when they should be used. The second is todevelop an Effective Practices Guide and Modelsfor programs. Literacy Alberta will take the leadon the second project.

The Government of Alberta has a 10-year, sector-based, labour force strategy, Building and

Educating Tomorrow's Workforce) 44. TheFebruary 2012 Speech from the Throne made acommitment to update Building and EducatingTomorrow’s Workforce, pledging to ensure jobsfor Albertans before looking abroad.

In 2009, Alberta created the Workplace EssentialSkills Training (WEST) program which supportsworkplace essential skills training through thedevelopment of partnerships. These partnershipsassist employed Albertans gain the essentialskills necessary to fully participate at work andcontribute to a highly productive workplace.

The program targets those with less than highschool or with levels 1 or 2 on the IALS scale.Projects may be initiated by an employer,industry association, community organization,labour group, or a training provider and musthave at least one employer involved.

Since 2009, 13 WEST pilot projects have beenfunded and an evaluation conducted. Somechanges in the program include encouragingemployers to permit a portion of the training totake place during normal work hours andpermitting ESL to be an eligible activity.

Federal funding transferred to Alberta through aLabour Market Agreement has been used toexpand existing adult education and literacyservices and to pilot innovative approaches. Italso established and expanded WEST.

In August 2012, Literacy Alberta gatheredtogether leaders in literacy, learning,and essential skills to determine how literacyissues that exacerbate issues in areas such aschildcare, employment, housing, and povertycould be incorporated into the Social PolicyFramework (SPF). The recommendations werecompiled and sent to Human Services fortheir consideration.

44 Building and Educating Tomorrow's Workforce, Government of Alberta, 2006

Policies and Strategies in British Columbia

In 2007, the British Columbia Ministry ofAdvanced Education and Labour MarketDevelopment (ALMD) now called the Ministry ofAdvanced Education, Innovation and Technology(AVED) created an adult literacy strategy. Thegoals are to:

4 reduce barriers and increase participation inadult literacy programs and courses

4 improve literacy rates for key populations, including First Nations, Métis, Inuit and immigrants

4 coordinate quality programs that produce results

The Ministry of Advanced Education and LabourMarket Development was reorganized in March2011 into two ministries: the Ministry ofAdvanced Education, Innovation and Technologyand Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and SkillsTraining.

The Ministry of Advanced Education, Innovationand Technology funds the Community AdultLiteracy Program through a series of grants. Akey component of BC's adult literacy strategy issupport for community-based programs.

Detailed information about the impact of theLMA programs and services, can be found in thereport, Canada/British Columbia LMA Three

Month Outcomes Survey 2011/1245.

The LMDA supports employment services. TheMinistry of Social Development has integratedemployment services into one program called theEmployment Program of BC. The EmploymentProgram of BC replaces four provincially fundedemployment programs and six programs fundedunder the Canada-British Columbia LabourMarket Development Agreement with an

integrated approach for British Columbiansneeding services. The new program proposes tomake it easier for people to find work andprovide stability for their families through a widerange of integrated employment services andsupports. This program is managed by WorkBC.

Skills for Growth is BC’s labour market strategy.It focuses on increasing the skill level and successof people in BC, attracting and retaining toptalent from Canada and the rest of the world, andimproving productivity in the workplace. Nextsteps include the development andimplementation of regional labour marketstrategies through collaboration with employers,post-secondary institutions, local governments,regional economic development agencies, andother stakeholders.

In addition to providing labour marketinformation, a clear vision and strategy that willensure the funding required to support programsto build workforce skills is needed. This wouldmake sure that a coordinated approach toliteracy and essential skills continues andcommunities are supported to find solutionsrelated to their economic well-being.


45Canada/British Columbia LMA Three Month Outcomes Survey 2011/12 Report, Governments of Canada and

British Columbia, 2012


CLLN

Canadian Literacy and Learning Network is thenational hub for research, information andknowledge exchange, and increasing literaciesand Essential Skills across Canada. CLLN is anon-profit charitable organization, representingliteracy coalitions, organizations and individualsin every province and territory in Canada. CLLNshares knowledge, engages partners andstakeholders and builds awareness to advanceliteracy and learning across Canada. CLLNbelieves that literacy and learning should bevalued, at home, in the workplace and in thecommunity. Funded by—and working inconsultation with the Office of Literacy andEssential Skills (OLES), Human Resources andSkills Development Canada—CLLN providesleadership, knowledge and expertise aboutLiteracy and Essential Skills while developingpartnerships with stakeholders across Canada.

NALD

National Adult Literacy Database researches andorganizes Literacy and Essential Skills materialfound online in both of Canada’s official languages.NALD also provides an annotated bibliography ofresources, connects partners with experts in the fieldand publicizes literacy-related activities and events.

Centre for Literacy

The Centre for Literacy is a centre of expertisethat supports best practices and informed policydevelopment in Literacy and Essential Skills bycreating bridges between research, policy andpractice. This is done through learning events(including institutes and workshops), actionresearch projects and publications, and alsothrough its library services and website.

Recent Institutes have focused on Essential Skills

in the Workplace and the Fall Institute 2012 will

focus on Social Finance and Innovation for

Adult Basic Learning46.

RESDAC

Le Réseau pour le développement del’alphabétisme et des compétences (RESDAC)works to promote literacy as a right and also toimprove the Literacy and Essential Skills of adultFrancophone Canadians. RESDAC works withorganizations, institutions, and communitygroups to share knowledge and research, developservices and promote Literacy and EssentialSkills together with lifelong learning.

ABC Life Literacy Canada

ABC Life Literacy Canada connects and mobilizesbusiness, unions, government, communities andindividuals to support lifelong learning andachieve goals through leadership in programs,communications and partnerships.

Frontier College

Frontier College operates a variety of literacyprograms, such as homework clubs and readingcircles, in locations across Canada47. It recruitsand trains volunteers to work with children,youth and adults in a variety of settings,including jails. It also helps other community-based organizations set up and run literacyprograms for their own participants.

Umbrella Organizations and Associations

In many provinces and territories there arenetworks that link organizations together, forexample in Ontario there are four streams:Anglophone, Francophone, Deaf and Native.Regional Networks support programs in allsectors at a regional Level. School boards,colleges and community based programs havetheir own provincial sectoral support48.

46 Fall Institute 2012: Social Finance and Innovation for Adult Basic Learning: Opportunities and Challenges,

October 14-16, 2012, Centre for Literacy, Saint John, NB 47 Literacy Organization, Frontier College48 Literacy and Essential Skills in Ontario, Essential Skills Ontario,2012

National Literacy Organizations


Provincial and Territorial Literacy CoalitionsWhile there are differences between provincialand territorial coalitions, much of the work theydo falls into these categories. Literacy coalitions:

4 raise the awareness of the importance of Literacy and Essential Skills with stakeholders and partners, sharing information about the state of literacy in their provinces and territories

4 promote accessible literacy and essential skills programs for all who need them and collaborate with others in order to support learning, find solutions

4 make connections to maximize resources and minimize duplication

4 prepare environmental scans and develop action plans to address issues

4 support learners and practitioners in their efforts to improve Literacy and Essential Skills

4 provide leadership

4 connect to service providers in order to facilitate collaboration, research, and professional development sessions for employers and adult educators

For more detailed information on each provincial or

territorial literacy coalition click on the map below.


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Part 1:

Literacy and Essential Skills


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Literacy and Essential SkillsProgrammingIn the context of our work at CLLN we know thatLiteracy and Essential Skills are not the contentof everyday conversations across Canada and yetLiteracy and Essential Skills provide the key toeconomic development. Adult Literacy andEssential Skills development is relevant to arange of policy areas across federal, provincialand territorial boundaries. Programmingbenefits people wanting to get into the workforceand people who are already in the workforce butare faced with changing demands. Literacy andEssential Skills programs are crucial for labourmarket attachment.

In December 2007, CLLN produced anEnvironmental Scan of Literacy Work in Canada.This environmental scan determined thatknowledge gaps exist in a number of key areas.Interviews with key informants for the scanrevealed that the “system” of delivery isextremely complex, fragmented and diverseacross the country. Informants said that it is verydifficult to know and keep track of who isdelivering adult literacy because some of theprogramming is project-based and operates onshort-term funding. Workplace literacy programsare offered by employers and unions across thecountry but the extent of these programs isunknown. The situation still exists today with alack of comprehensive knowledge of workplaceLiteracy and Essential Skills program delivery.

This section views Literacy and Essential Skillsprogramming from various perspectives,including the types of programs, sharedcharacteristics of successful programs, the skillsneeded by educators, the profile and viewpoint oflearners, and the assessment tools available toprograms.

Labour Market Study of Literacy andEssential Skills Workers

CLLN has been funded by OLES to undertake aLabour Market Study of Literacy and EssentialSkills Workers. Overall, the study will provide anational picture of Literacy and Essential Skillseducators who work in a variety of capacities inthe field. Basic demographic indicators will giveus a profile of the people working in the field.The survey will also look at the types and sizes oforganizations as well as the settings (community,workplace, family, school-board etc.) in whichthey work. It will look at where Literacy andEssential Skills programs are located and whatkind of instruction is provided. Finally, it willalso give us a credible profile of the educators’qualifications; types and availability of currentprofessional development opportunities; careerpaths; current pool of skills, knowledge andexperience; and their sense of job stability. Thestudy will provide a projection of the educators’human resources needs.

CLLN expects the report to be completed anddisseminated during the summer of 2013.

Building Solutions: EngagingEmployers in LES Development

CLLN and ABC Life Literacy Canada have beengranted joint project funding by OLES forBuilding Solutions: Engaging Employers in L/ES

Development for the Canadian Workforce todevelop increased awareness on the part ofCanadian small, medium and large enterprises ofthe need for L/ES workplace training and itsimplementation as a business solution; to makelinks between the business sector and the adultLiteracy and Essential Skills sector in order toaddress workplace training gaps; to identify aspecific action plan for business, labour and theL/ES sector, and; to identify national championswho can engage other employers moving

forward. This work will address issues that comeup in the State of the Literacy and Essential SkillsField report as needing action.

Types of Programming

Across Canada, many different types ofprogramming are offered, including but notlimited to:

4workplace Literacy and Essential Skills upgrading programs (unionized/non-unionized)

4 work-readiness / pre-employment

4 pre-apprenticeship training

4 Literacy and Essential Skills programs

4 General Education Development (GED) and Academic and Career Entrance (ACE) courses

4 study skills and preparation for exams

4 learning how to learn

4 family literacy (parents and children)

4 upgrading Literacy and Essential Skills in correctional facilities

4 upgrading Literacy and Essential Skills for individuals at risk of offending/re-offending

4 language training

Literacy and Essential Skills programmingincludes improving skills in the following areas:

4 reading

4 document use

4 writing

4 oral communication

4 thinking skills

4 digital skills

4 numeracy

4 working with others

4 continuous learning

These are the key Essential Skills that adultsneed to meet employment, education, trainingand personal literacy-related goals.

Programs are often offered by:

4 school boards

4 colleges

4 community-based organizations

4 employers

4 unions

4 libraries

4 correctional facilities

4 organizations working with offenders

Learning takes place in workplaces, libraries,classrooms, learning centres and shop-fronts.Instructional approaches include one-to-onetutoring, small or large group work, distanceeducation, online courses and blended learning.Programs aim to be sensitive to learners’ needsand aspirations and value their experience andprior learning.

Programs in the community that have worked inthe past are not always effective in today’sresults-driven, fast-paced society because theyfocus purely on reading and writing. While thereis still a place for programs that deliver literacythere is more demand for Literacy and EssentialSkills programs customized to meet specificneeds of learners and employees. Literacy andEssential Skills programs in the community dealwith specific areas of focus, as can be seen fromthe list above.



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School Board and College Programs

Programs offered vary provincially. Schoolboards often provide programs in adult highschools or the community. They usually offer amix of Literacy and Essential Skills programs,credit programs, GED and ACE courses, pre-apprenticeship courses, employment preparationprograms. Usually these courses are taught bystaff but occasionally volunteer tutors work withthe learners.

Colleges offer upgrading programs, often aspreparation for college programs andapprenticeship. They may also offer careerdevelopment courses, essential skills forworkplace success courses, English languageprograms and occupation-specific languagecourses.

Learning Centres

Learners have the opportunity to participate inprograms such as English as an AdditionalLanguage (EAL), basic computers, literacy andupgrading programs. They may earn high schoolcredits, graduate with high school diplomas,prepare for a job or further education.

Community-Based Programs

Learners have the opportunity to participate inprograms such as EAL, basic computers, literacyand essential skills programs, prepare for a job orfurther education. These programs tend to be runby staff who coordinate and train volunteertutors to work with learners.

Family Literacy and Essential Skills

Programs

In Canada, 25% of children entering school lackthe foundation needed for successful acquisitionof literacy and numeracy skills. Low levels ofliteracy undermine the health and psycho-socialwellbeing of families in a cycle that repeats itself.Children of parents with low literacy oftenperform poorly in school, cannot get assistancewith homework, are less likely to graduate and

more likely to be involved with the criminaljustice system. Interventions in the form offamily literacy can vastly improve outcomes forchildren from disadvantaged homes and breakthe cycle of intergenerational low literacy.

Family literacy is defined as programs oractivities that include one or more of thefollowing components:

4 parental involvement in a child’s literacy development is encouraged through joint caregiver-child sessions

4 inter-generational – both caregivers and children receive direct literacy instruction

4 focus on primary caregiver – the focus is on ways in which to develop children’s literacy at home, either directly or indirectly

The programs can be stand-alone literacyprograms or activities that are integrated intoexisting non-literacy programs, for example aprenatal nutrition program that includesshowing participants how to read andunderstand nutrition labels, how to use criticalthinking skills to make sensible decisions aboutfood choices, and how to assist their children indeveloping literacy skills through everydayactivities.

The Province of Manitoba has implemented theEarly Development Instrument that tracks thereadiness of children across the province to enterkindergarten. Results from the 2008/2009provincial report indicate that Manitoba childrenenter kindergarten with language and thinkingskills below the Canadian average, andcommunication and general knowledge skills atthe Canadian average.

In Alberta, the Centre for Family Literacysupports the development of family literacyacross the province through training,development of resources, promotion, awarenessand research.

Aboriginal Family Literacy is important forstrengthening families, culture and languages. InBC, the Aboriginal Family Literacy Initiative is aproject that aims to contribute to increasedliteracy among First Nations, Métis and Inuitfamilies49.

Justice Thomas Berger, through his work asconciliator in the Nunavut Land ClaimsAgreement implementation contractnegotiations, reported the need to developprograms that improve the language and literacyskills of parents and their children50. Very fewInuit families in Nunavut have the education orfinancial resources available to provide theirchildren with a literacy rich environment. Books,craft materials and other resources are not anoption when there is barely enough to put foodon the table. In most communities, few local co-op and northern stores carry books due to thehigh cost and low demand. For unilingualInuktitut speakers the situation is compoundedby the fact that there are very few Inuktitut booksand materials published. Family literacyprograms are a culturally appropriate and costeffective investment for Nunavut communities.Ilitaqsiniq, Nunavut Literacy Council believesthat with sustained funding, family literacyprograms will make a significant and long termcontribution to poverty reduction in Nunavut.

Family literacy is a high priority within theGovernment of the Northwest Territories, and isa major pillar of the NWT Literacy Strategy.Families are a cornerstone of First Nations, Métisand Inuit culture, and family literacy is seen as aculturally appropriate and non-threatening wayto (re-)engage parents in learning: many livewith the legacy of residential schooling, and were“failures” within the formal education system.Family literacy is often the first step back intomore formal education for many adults in the

NWT. A strong motivator for adults to participatein family literacy, and eventually in furthereducation, is the desire to help their childrensucceed in school.

For more than ten years, the Government of theNorthwest Territories has funded the NWTLiteracy Council to provide support to familyliteracy through training, resource development,information sharing, outreach and support.Consistent with research from other places,evaluations of the Council’s family literacy workdemonstrate the efficacy of the programs, andthe benefits for both adults and children.

The Yukon Literacy Coalition opened its FamilyLiteracy Centre in 2009. This Centre provides aspace for practitioners, parents and caregivers toparticipate in programming and to develop theskills to integrate literacy activities at home. It isvisited by 500 people a month. It sets thefoundation for children to gain the literacy skillsthey will need to participate in the workplace ofthe future; and it provides tools for parents tosupport life-long learning for themselves andtheir children. Given the proven impact of familyliteracy, there is a need for increased provisions,supported by appropriate funding.


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49 Aboriginal Family Literacy Centre, BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres 50 Thomas R. Berger, Conciliator’s Final Report: the Nunavut Project, March 2006

In Newfoundland and Labrador there arecurrently no defined programs developed tosupport Family Literacy initiatives. The newearly learning strategy (March 2011), Learningfrom the Start, will have a specific focus onsupporting parents and the important role theyplay in nurturing their children’s earlydevelopment and learning.

Findings from CLLN’s Mapping the Field of

Family Literacy, 2008, show that the provisionof family literacy programs and services thatfocus mainly on the literacy skills of the caregiveris uneven; the main reason cited for this isfunding. Much of the focus of family literacyprogramming is on the child and on ensuringthat the caregiver has strong parenting skills.This type of family literacy programming is oftenprovided by early learning centres, school boardsor by a consortium of community agencies thatdon’t always make referrals to adult literacyprograms because they assume that all the adultsparticipating have the literacy skills to be thechild’s first and foremost teacher. Conversely,adult literacy programs, which have anincreasing focus on employment/furthereducation skills, may not link an adult’sparenting needs to programs and services offeredby early learning centres or other organizationsthat provide family and children services. Whenboth providers liaise, gaps in family literacyprovision within a community are few.

CLLN’s research also found that there was littleevidence of literacy coalitions networking withprovincial/territorial service groups that focus onfamily and children services. For example, stafffrom a literacy coalition may not connect withstaff from the provincial and territorial EarlyChildhood Education organization. Again thereasons for this are closely linked to funding:most, if not all literacy coalitions receive fundingto focus on adult literacy. More research isneeded to determine the extent of this gap and thepotential benefit for establishing a relationship.

Workplace Literacy and Essential

Skills Programs

Literacy in the workplace is the ability to use theknowledge and skills needed to learn,understand, and communicate orally and inwriting at work. Lack of literacy skills in theworkplace can be a hidden problem.

Workplaces face many challenges as theycompete in the global market. They areconstantly looking for ways to increaseproductivity. And yet, they sometimes lackawareness of the fact that improved literacy skillscan have a positive effect on the bottom line of abusiness.


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A few years ago, we introducednew tools in a firm of 550employees. The union thought30 or so employees would needassistance. An inquiry revealedthat 178 employees experienceddifficulties, at different degrees.

Féderation des travailleurs et destravailleuses du Québec, 2008

Companies need to look ahead,not just at what is happeningday-to-day. Budgets need toreflect growing a business.There will be new markets toexploit and new businessopportunities. Innovation isimportant and so are theworkers who deliver. Peoplemanagement is important.

Jason Myers, President CanadianManufacturers and Exporters, 2008

Some companies have embraced the importanceof Literacy and Essential Skills. However, manyworkplaces tend to focus on specific work-relatedskills and training such as training related tousing new machinery or work processes. Theseworkplaces may be delivering the right topics fortraining but not including enough Essential Skillscomponents.

In the NWT Literacy Council’s research intobarriers and success, the facilitators and learnersindicated that they were more successful whenlearning was meaningful for them. Embeddedliteracy programs are a means of makinglearning more significant: they purposefullyembed literacy into specific skills-basedprograms and are effective in engaging youth andadults by creating meaningful learningexperiences. An exemplary embedded literacyprogram is the native artisan program offeredthrough the Native Women’s Training Centre inInuvik. Learners not only learned the skillsassociated with their craft, but also usednumeracy, literacy and other essential skills todevelop business and marketing plans. AuroraCollege’s strategic plan for the Northern AdultBasic Education Program funding includes thedevelopment and delivery of such courses.

Literacy and Essential Skills providers need towork with employers to create effectiveworkplace programs that follow a model where

Literacy and Essential Skills are embedded in acollaborative approach that incorporatesworkplace knowledge and practice51.

Certain skills benefit employers, employees,unions and communities. They ensure employeesare productive participants, able to reach theirgoals both in the workplace and in society.Employers have been asked to rank theimportance of each Essential Skill and toconsider whether or not their employees hadappropriate levels of competence in these areas.The results of the survey (Figure 1) show thatthere is often a gap between the skills employeeshave and the skills they need. Some areas whereLiteracy and Essential Skills are important in theworkplace include:

4 understanding and using workplace and union related information

4 being able to complete the necessary paperwork and reports

4 having the ability to work with numbers to complete tasks

4 communicating orally and participating in all aspects of the workplace

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51Shaping a New Learning Culture: An Analytical Taxonomy of Embedded Workplace L/ES Programs, Lecentre d’alphabétisation, Prepared for Centre for Literacy Summer Institute, Montreal, 2012


52 Literacy for the Knowledge Society: Highlights from the Second Report of the International Adult Literacy

Survey, Statistics Canada 200353 Report on the Review of Nunavut Arctic College, Standing Committee on Health and Education, NunavutLegislative Assembly, June 2006

Figure 1: Importance and Rating of Skills

Literacy and Essential Skills Programs

organized by labour groups

Labour promotes programs that are sensitive toworkers’ needs and aspirations and value theirexperience and prior learning. They ensure thatworkplace skills are part, but not all, of programcontent. Unions prefer accountability usingindividual and collective assessment andevaluation rather than learner testing.

Literacy programs can help workers gain accessto further workplace training. They cancontribute to job security, opportunities forpromotion and success in workplace changes. Apartnership approach involving all levels of theworkplace emphasizes shared responsibility.Participation in workplace programs improves

when paid time during working hours is providedfor people to attend classes.

Workplace and Essential Skills in the


Workplace and Essential Skills in Nunavut

The international Adult Literacy Skills Survey(IALSS) has shown that instead of enlarging thepool of highly skilled workers, the tendency is toincrease the skills of the already skilled52. This iscertainly the case in Nunavut where most of theliteracy funding targets those who already havebasic literacy skills53. Despite the urgent need forskilled workers for paid jobs, there are not enoughL/ES programs available to support adult learners.



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Workplace and Essential Skills in Northwest

territories

Every two years, the Government of NorthwestTerritories (GNWT) hosts a Labour MarketForum to help share information on the labourmarket and develop priorities to help meetlabour market demands. The next forum isscheduled for late 2012 or early 2013. The NWTLiteracy Council participates in the forum.

The NWT Literacy Council has partnered withthe GNWT in a Labour Market Agreement (seeTraining by Industry Sector on page 97) projectto develop an interactive, online essential skillstool and facilitator manual on specificoccupations found in northern communities.

In 2012 the NWT Literacy Council completedresearch into the status of workplace learning inthe NWT, and made recommendations to theDepartment of Education, Culture andEmployment for moving workplace learningforward.

The Council is now partnering with the otherterritorial coalitions on a pan-northern studyinto the educational outcomes and employabilityof northern men.

Workplace and Essential Skills in Yukon

The Advanced Education Branch administerscommunity training funds for programs in threemain streams: community-based,industry/sector-based or project specific. Projectspecific streams encompass projects that reducebarriers to employment or projects that ensurethat Yukon has a skilled workforce. Any of thesestreams could be applicable to workplaceliteracy.

Yukon needs to find ways to encourage moreemployers to invest in the literacy and essentialskills development of their employees. Yukon

Literacy Coalition believes that workplacereadiness needs must be addressed more fully.Additionally, workplace training needs toaddress health and safety as a high priority.

Workplace training in Newfoundland and

Labrador

The Department of Advanced Education andSkills (AES) supports several initiatives toenhance access to job skills54. Training underthese programs is job-skill specific, and is notnecessarily Literacy and Essential Skills training:

4 Employment Development Supports and Services assists with expenses related to training, job search, and a wide range of additional supports.

4 The Job Skills/Essential Workplace Skills initiative provides financial assistance to employers to develop and deliver recognizedon-the-job training for existing and future employees. Training must be linked to employment opportunities with the employer.

4 The Workplace Skills Enhancement Program is an employer driven program for job-specific training. Eligible participants include relatively low-skilled employees, in particular those who do not have the certification(s) or skills required to meet the operational needs of the employer.

Literacy Newfoundland and Labrador recognizesthe need to develop additional measures toencourage employers to engage in workplaceEssential Skills programs. Workplace Literacyand Essential Skills needs to have acomprehensive support system in Newfoundlandand Labrador.

51Province Gearing Up to Enhance Labour Market, Backgrounder, Labour Market Initiatives, Gov NL, 2009

Workplace and Essential Skills in New

Brunswick

In New Brunswick, development of theWorkplace Essential Skills (WES) program beganin 2009 in response to the reported low levels ofliteracy in the existing New Brunswick workforceand indicators of a growing skills gap in theprovince as a result of changing labourdemands55. The program aims to assistindividuals who are employed and those who areactively seeking employment by providing aframework to acquire or enhance essential skillsneeded in today’s labour market. TheDepartment of Post-Secondary Education,Training and Labour (PETL) has implementedand manages program delivery through anetwork of regional WES teams. Private sectorpartners include employers, business andindustry associations, sector councils, unions,and non-governmental literacy organizations.

Workplace and Essential Skills in Nova Scotia

In spite of the need for workplace essential skillsarticulated by business, labour, and governmentin Nova Scotia, and the success of the WorkplaceEducation Initiative (WEI), there is a growingneed for more participation by employers.However, managers in small and medium-sizedenterprises may not recognize the benefits of theinvestment. The Department of Labour andAdvanced Education (LAE) is working to meetthe need for greater employer participationthrough increased funding available through’jobsHere’ to expand the program's reach andcapacity.

Workplace and Essential Skills in Prince

Edward Island

Literacy levels are low in PEI and Essential Skillsare not yet widely recognized. A few businesseshave received essential skills upgrades throughWorkplace Learning but this is by no meanscommon.

An example is the Cavendish Farms LearningCentre at the company's frozen potatoproduction facilities in New Annan, P.E.I. Thecentre provides employees with individualizedinstruction in a wide range of programs,including essential literacy and numeracy skills,General Educational Development (GED), anduniversity preparation and facilitation.

The Learning Centre was conceived by employeesand designed with their needs as paramount. Itoffers flexible training schedules to coexist withshift work, and targeted courses to accommodateeach learner's needs. In addition to developingskills, the Learning Centre develops positiveemployee attitudes and behaviours such as self-confidence and mutual respect.

Workplace and Essential Skills in Quebec

The Office of Literacy and Essential Skills(OLES) funds English LESWorkForce/WorkPlace programs managed bythe Quebec English Literacy Alliance. Projectfunds are available to support communityliteracy through the Official Minority LinguisticCommunity programs funded by CanadianHeritage.

Quebec’s 1% Manpower Training Fund wasestablished by the Act to promote workforceskills development and recognition (Loi

favorisant le développement et la

reconnaissance des compétences de la main-

d’oeuvre). The Act provides that every employer


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55Building on our Competencies: Canadian Results of the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey,

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Statistics Canada, 2003


page 36

whose total payroll for any given calendar yearexceeds $1 million is required to participate inworkforce skills development by allotting at least1% of total payroll for that year to eligibletraining expenditures.

The Adult Education and Training Surveyconducted in 2002 showed that employer-sponsored training increased more in Quebecthan elsewhere in Canada. This increase in aprovince notoriously underfunded in the past,moved Quebec from last place in Canada to 8thplace in the period between 1997 and 2002. Thesurvey also showed that 33% of employers wereinvesting more in training than before the Actcame into effect, with only 2% reporting that theywere investing less than before.

Workplace and Essential Skills in Manitoba

Workplace Education Manitoba (WEM) hassignificant experience and success in developinggap training based on specific workplace needs.The majority of WEM’s success comes frompartnerships. WEM also hosts programs such asaWEST, Manitoba's only essential skills drop-incentre, which offers free training in the essentialskills needed for specific trades.

Workplace and Essential Skills in Alberta

In addition to provincial government ministriesand agencies, workforce/place training issupported by:

Alberta Workforce Essential Skills Society

(AWES) is a not-for-profit group, formed in1989, that works to raise essential skills

awareness, knowledge and commitment withindustry, labour, communities and post-secondary education and training providers.

Alberta’s Training for Work program has severalinitiatives relating to essential skills and literacytraining.

Alberta Job Corps is designed to give individualswith barriers to employment an alternative toinclude support.

Workplace Essential Skills is offered to assistwith the transition to employment.

Workplace Training aims to enable unemployedand marginally employed individuals to acquireemployability skills, essential skills andoccupation-related skills required in the locallabour market and to assist these individuals inobtaining viable employment that providesincreased income and work related benefits.

Integrated Training is a competency-based,occupation-related training program intended toprovide unemployed or marginally employedadult Albertans with: occupation-related skills,work experience placement(s), employabilityand/or essential skills, and applied academicsand/or English as a Second Language (ESL).

The Work Foundations Program provides full-time and part-time basic skills training andacademic upgrading to enable clients to pursuefurther job-related training and/or to find a job.The training includes ESL; Basic Literacy andNumeracy; Adult Basic Education; LifeSkills/Personal Management; and AcademicUpgrading.

Workplace and Essential Skills in British

Columbia

Next steps for LMDA funds include thedevelopment and implementation of regionallabour market strategies through collaborationwith employers, post-secondary institutions,local governments, regional economicdevelopment agencies, and other stakeholders.

In addition to provincial government ministriesand agencies, several BC organizations havemany years of involvement in workforce/placetraining:

BC Federation of Labour supports a Health andSafety Centre with a motto of Prevention throughEducation and for several years had an educationsub-committee focused on Literacy and BasicSkills56.

SkillPlan BC Construction Industry Skills

Improvement Council provides a workplaceeducation consultation service and EssentialSkills Improvement to improve workplaceproductivity and efficiency57.

The Learning Factor Inc. (TLFI) providescollaborative consulting in workplace learningwith a special interest in communication, cultureand all those underlying factors that makelearning stick58.

The Training Group at Douglas Collegespecializes in designing and deliveringcustomized training and programs in LabourMarket & Career Transition Services; SelfEmployment & Entrepreneurship; Short TermIndustry and Vocational Programs; and Industryand Workforce Development59.

The Resource Training Organization (RTO) wasestablished in 2007 to oversee the managementand development of apprenticeship training forthe resource sector in BC. RTO represents a crosssectoral group of employers in the mining andsmelting, oil and gas, pulp and paper, solid woodand heavy shipbuilding and repair sectors60.

Literacy and Correctional Facilities

Higher literacy skills correspond directly to loweroffending rates. Offenders experience literacyproblems at a rate three times higher than that ofthe general population and are four times aslikely to have learning disabilities. Literacychallenges are one of the factors contributing toincarceration. Approximately 35% of offendershave learning disabilities compared to 5%-10% ofthe Canadian population and approximately 79%of federal offenders have not completed a highschool diploma61. This constitutes a significantbarrier for their reintegration into the job marketand for their labour market attachment.

Literacy is crucial for ensuring equal access tojustice. The legal process, from arrest tosentencing, can be complex and alienating forthose with low literacy skills. Low literacypresents a severe disadvantage to those engagedwith any level of legal process making it difficultto understand relevant materials or adequatelyrepresent themselves in official proceedings.

Low literacy is a risk factor for recidivism.Studies show that prisoners who participate inprison-based education are less likely toreoffend. This provides social and economic


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56 Health and Safety Centre, BC Federation of Labour and Health and Safety BC57 SkillPlan, BC Construction Industry Skills Improvement Council58 The Learning Factor, The Learning Factor Inc. BC59 Training and Community Education, Douglas College60 Resource Training Organization, RTO, BC61 Michael Bettman, Correctional Service of Canada, 2008


page 38

returns that far outweigh the originalinvestment. Investing in literacy is an effectivecrime prevention strategy.

All federal institutions in Canada offer educationprograms, including Adult Basic Education(Grades 1 to 10), Secondary Education (Grades 11and 12), Vocational, College and University levelprograms. Correctional Service of Canada (CSC)gives priority to Adult Basic Education.Education programs are a priority in thecorrectional plans of all offenders who haveachieved less than a grade 10 education orrequire skills upgrading to participate invocational or Correctional Services of Canadawork experience programs.

Inmate students present significant challenges toeducators. Poor self-concept, low achievementlevels, learning disabilities and Fetal AlcoholSyndrome (FAS) all present serious challenges tocorrectional education. However, research intocorrectional education has revealed somecharacteristics of effective correctional learningenvironments. Inmate students have often hadprior negative education experiences that haveresulted in low self-confidence and negativeattitudes about learning which have oftencontributed to low literacy skills. Therefore,effective correctional education programs needto address offenders’ attitudes about learning.Prison educators need to inspire confidence ininmates about their ability to learn. Inmates’negative experiences in mainstream educationalso suggest the need for unconventionalteaching methods. In addition, students withFAS and learning disabilities also have difficultyretaining information. Repetition is critical.Computers and other electronic teaching aids canhelp these students retain information.

Brazil has adopted a “Redemption throughReading” program as part of a series of efforts toeducate incarcerated people in order to reducerecidivism and give offenders a different view ofthe world “outside.” Only certain inmates will beeligible for the program, but Brazil plans to try itout with some of the nation’s toughest criminalsat four high-security prisons. Those whoparticipate will have four weeks to read eachbook and then must submit a report. Eachcompleted report reduces the offender’s sentence(up to a limit of 48 days per year)62.

Studies, notably in Britain, suggest an inability toread (or a lack of access to books) may result inlong periods of isolation with little mentalstimulus which contribute to poor mental healthand lead to intense feelings of anger, frustration,and anxiety63. Although there are no programs inCanada that link reading to reduced prisonsentences, tutoring and literacy programs inCanadian penitentiaries claim significantsuccesses. Reduced recidivism throughimprovement in Literacy and Essential Skills is aworthwhile and achievable goal.

Some ways to deal with the issues related tooffenders include:

4 support and funding for prison-based education programs

4 assessment and referral to Literacy and Essential Skills programs for all inmates upon release – especially for those with short prison sentences

4 development of partnerships between Literacy and Essential Skills organizations and justice

4 programming for families and youth ‘at risk’

4 consistent and accessible support to childrenand adults with learning disabilities

62 P. Murphy, Reading offers Brazilian prisoners quicker escape, Reuters, 201263 J. Nurse, P. Woodcock, J. Ormsby, Influence of environmental factors on mental health within prisons:

focus group study, British Medical Journal, 2003

Literacy training also gives young people at riskof delinquency the skills they need to find andkeep jobs and escape from poverty. At least 75%of adults in prison were persistent offenders intheir youth. Improving the literacy skills of youngpeople could have a significant impact on rates ofadult crime64.

Characteristics of SuccessfulPrograms

A well organized program has intake, ongoingand exit assessment together with an evaluationprocess. Educators play a critical role insuccessful programs. They identify gaps in theparticipants’ learning and develop learning planswith input from participants. They prepare anddeliver units of study that are well structured andscaffold learning. Educators locate, adapt orcreate interesting and relevant resources atdifferent skill levels. A variety of teachingstrategies and techniques are used to meet theparticipants learning styles and multipleintelligences. Successful programs are taught byeducators with core competencies that include:

Working with learners:

4 intake procedures

4 assessment cycle: initial, ongoing, final

4 goal setting

4 portfolios

Working with groups:

4 group facilitation skills

4 art of asking questions (open-ended and broad, including probing questions)

4 creating positive group dynamics

4 giving and receiving feedback

4 building relationships

4 motivating participants

4 intercultural communication and dynamics

4 conflict resolution

teaching:

4 using adult learning principles

4 creating trust in the learning environment

4 learner-centred approach

4 learning theories

4 teaching and learning styles

4 learning disabilities

4 factors that affect learning

4 multi-level goal setting, creating resources

for use by people working at different levels

and delivery of programs to multi-level

groups

4 general teaching strategies – e.g. teaching

reading, writing, math, digital technologies,

problem solving, critical thinking

4 specific content relevant to courses being

taught – strategies, tips, techniques,

methods

4 developing lesson and/or training plans

4 knowledge of provincial/territorial skills

levels

4 using the Essential Skills framework

4 using authentic materials

4 assessment and evaluation procedures

4 critical self-reflection of practice

Educators also need to have humanity, self-awareness, empathy and tolerance65.


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64 Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, 200965 A Snapshot of Occupational Task Profiles: Canadian Literacy and Essential Skills Workforce CLLN, May2012


page 40

Characteristics of Successful

Workplace Programs

A learning culture in the workplace is one inwhich learning opportunities are valued,supported and included as an integral part of theworking day. Essential Skills are as important astechnical skills as they help employees to bemore productive, to more easily learn new tasks,and respond to change quickly.Trainers/educators need to be able to work withemployees, supervisors, managers and unions tohelp develop and position programs. Literacyand Essential Skills providers in the workplaceneed the vision and the ability to create a processthat will engage and motivate employees.

Providers need to be able to do workplaceassessments, individual assessments, coursedevelopment and delivery, and programevaluation. To do this they need additional skillsto those needed outside the workplace. Theseinclude:

4 an ability to research the issues, completeorganizational needs assessments and job task analysis, identify what needs to be doneand develop resources that are a good fit (training may or may not be provided by theperson who develops it)

4 knowledge of workplace cultures and functions

4 interpersonal skills to connect with all levels

of the workforce to understand what is needed

4 an understanding of business processes

Certain factors can affect workplace delivery andthese need to be taken into consideration whensetting up programs. The following issues need tobe addressed before training is offered:

4 employees thinking they are too olddenial of lack of skills

4 cultural backgrounds that do not value lifelong learning

4 lack of understanding of the importance ofmaintaining and upgrading skills

4 fears and anxiety about starting something new

When employers hire employees with a grade 12diploma they expect them to have skills at thatlevel. Consequently, employers don’t alwaysthink it is their responsibility to provide anytraining below the grade 12 level as they believe itshould be part of the government’s mandate.

Time and cost are significant barriers, especiallyfor smaller businesses. Many employers lack theinformation they need to make wise decisions ontheir training investment. And many are notconvinced of the return-on-investment oftraining compared to other more tangibleinvestments66.

Literacy and WorkplaceEducation is vital, but is a hugechallenge for small businesswhere there’s pressure to keepthe shop open and keep moneyin the till.

Valerie Payn, President and CEO, HalifaxChamber of Commerce, February 2012

66 Employer investment in workplace learning in Canada, Canadian Policy Research Networks, September2006

Literacy and Essential Skills Educators

Literacy and Essential Skills are the key togrowing our economy, consequently, it is vital toknow the competencies needed by educators whodeliver the wide range of Literacy and EssentialSkills programming discussed above. Educatorscome to this work with a variety of experienceand qualifications but there is no formalqualification, certification or accreditation andno defined career path.

In Occupational Task Profiles: A Pan-Canadian

Snapshot of the Canadian Literacy and

Essential Skills Workforce CLLN examined thecompetencies needed by educators working inthis field so that they can be recognized for theskills they possess and the impact they have onCanada’s worforce and on Canada’s economiccompetitiveness and labour market attachment67.The Snapshot helps to enhance the perceptionand understanding of the important role of theLiteracy and Essential Skills educator workforce.Educators increase Literacy and Essential Skillsin those who are working below IALSS Level 3 sothat they can learn new skills more easily andaccess and use information in all aspects of theirlives.

CLLN has disseminated the Snapshot to theLiteracy and Essential Skills workforce;

governments (federal and provincial/territorial);provincial and territorial organizations and otherstakeholders. The Snapshot which was releasedat the beginning of May, 2012, providesinformation that can be used by administratorsfor the creation of job descriptions or fordeveloping screening questions that could beused during interviews with people entering theLiteracy and Essential Skills workforce. It couldbe used to guide the development ofOccupational Standards for L/ES workforce or asbackground information for the development ofNational Occupational Classification (NOC)profiles for Literacy and Essential Skillsworkforce. It can be used to provide informationwhen creating professional developmentopportunities. In fact, this was an area that was apriority for many of the provincial and territorialliteracy coalitions. CLLN has undertaken to workwith them to move forward in the area ofprofessional development opportunities forLiteracy and Essential Skills educators. Furtherresponses to the Snapshot will be explored in duecourse.

As concluded by the Snapshot, and supported bythe OECD study Skills beyond School, educatorsare the key to quality in adult education68.Educators need a career structure that aidsdevelopment of the right mix of andragogicalskills, academic knowledge and up-to-dateindustry experience.

CLLN prepared a Think Paper for the Centre forLiteracy’s 2012 Summer Institute69. This paperdiscusses some of the questions arising from theSnapshot that the Literacy and Essential Skillsfield needs to address. The questions are listed below.


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67 A Snapshot of Occupational Task Profiles: Canadian Literacy and Essential Skills Workforce, CLLN, May 201268 Skills beyond School, OECD, May 201169 C. Harwood, IOccupational Task Profiles: A Pan-Canadian Snapshot of the Canadian Literacy and Essential

Skills Workforce: A think paper, CLLN, Prepared for Centre for Literacy Summer Institute, Workplace Literacy& Essential Skills: Shaping a New Learning Culture, Montreal, 2012


4 How important do you think mindsets, attitudes and behaviours are when dealing with people who have had difficulties learning in the past?

4 How can we ensure that mindsets, attitudes and behaviours don’t get lost in a system that values qualifications?

4 How can we work together to promote a hiring process that promotes recognition of mindsets and behaviours as well as qualifications and experience?

4 How do we know if someone will be successful in making the transition from programs in the community to workplace delivery?

4 Do we need to create a collective sense of professional self for workplace L/ES educators? If so, how?

4 How can we work together to facilitate professional development?

4 Is there a place for master teachers and mentors in professional development?

4 Can we blend mentoring and professional development so that skills of experienced educators are not lost while maintaining a belief in the skills that new educators are acquiring and developing?

4 What else should we look at in terms of competencies?

4 Are we ready to begin the development of a NOC code for L/ES educators?

At the Spring 2012 meeting of CLLN and itsnational network partners there was discussionabout follow-up activities from the CLLNSnapshot of Occupational Task Profiles:

Canadian Literacy and Essential Skills

Workforce. The following priorities emerged:

4 enhancing perception and understanding about practitioners

4 having a road map of how to proceed with strengthening the field

4 collaborating with CLLN to bring key stakeholders to the table

4 developing standards for L/ES programs

4 creating National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes for the L/ES workforce

4 providing more training opportunities for practitioners

4 providing opportunities for practitioners to network and share

4 building a collective sense of professional pride among practitioners

Professional Development for Adult

Educators

Professional development is a key area of interestfor many provincial and literacy coalitions. Forexample, in the fall of 2010 the Literacy Partnersof Manitoba’s (LPM’s) Environmental Scanidentified a series of gaps and overlaps.Discussions began with Adult Learning andLiteracy branch within the Province of Manitobaand with Workplace Education Manitoba toidentify common denominators and gap areasthat were not being served by the threeorganizations.

One of the first gaps identified was the area ofprofessional development for practitioners andteachers. LPM sat as a member of the AdultLearning and Literacy Professional Developmentcommittee as well as worked in partnership withthe Adult Secondary Education Council (ASEC).At the fall 2010 ASEC workshop and the spring2011 ASEC workshop, LPM organized and hostedOffice of Literacy and Essential Skills tools andpractices workshops to provide practitioners andadult learning centre teachers with the variousskills and employment tools that could beintegrated into Adult Learning classes, therebyimproving opportunities for adult learners toenter the workforce.

Other workshops will address the impact oflearning and violence and integrating L/ES intothe Career Development process. LPM hasinvited CLLN to share its findings from theSnapshot about the competencies required forL/ES educators in the fall of 2012. The expectedoutcomes of these learning opportunities is to aidin building knowledge and expertise, brokeringtools, supports and best practices for educatorsand career or employment counsellors in the field.

Decoda Literacy Solutions hosts annual regionaltraining events in BC. These are opportunities forliteracy practitioners in all areas of literacy togather, share, network and learn new strategiesand approaches to literacy. Decoda has alsorecently added a webinar series to the roster ofprofessional development opportunities.

Appendix 2: National Network Partners

Baseline Survey: Practitioners providesinformation collected at the May 2012 meeting ofprovincial and territorial literacy coalitions. Itgives a brief overview of the current work ofcoalitions as it relates to professionaldevelopment for practitioners as well asinformation about their priorities for furtherwork in this area.

Literacy and Essential Skills Learners

Approaches designed for children in school arenot effective when teaching adults who havegreater life experiences and more immediategoals and needs. Adults do not form a captiveaudience. They participate and remain inprograms only when they acquire real benefits.

It is often difficult for adults to admit they needto improve their Literacy and Essential Skills.People with skills below Level 3 oftenoverestimate their proficiency and do not see theneed to improve their skills. Information onprofiles of learners can be found in Appendix 3:Profile of a Learner.

In April 2012, CLLN engaged a consultant tofacilitate discussion among a group of adults whohad participated in workplace/workforce L/ESeducation and training. The focus groupparticipants were gathered from across Canada.The outcome of the session was to inform policydevelopment at CLLN from the consumer orclient perspective70.

The overwhelming message from focus groupparticipants was that learners (individuals whowere participants in L/ES programs) should havea voice in the development of L/ES programmingin Canada. Further, students are interested inmaking programs more responsive, of aconsistently high quality and more accessible.Students’ experiences, insights and opinions areimportant and valuable for informing programdesign, teaching approaches and policydevelopment for adult education and training.Students want to participate during thedevelopment of L/ES training, along withgovernment, business, labour and educators.They believe that key stakeholders shouldactively participate in the creation of a CanadianL/ES system that meets adult educationprinciples and supports workers to gain skillsand knowledge for the ever-advancing demandsof the economy and society.


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70 Workplace Literacy and Essential Skills Learners Focus Group Report, CLLN, August 2012

Centre for Canadian LanguageBenchmarks

The Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks(CCLB) is the national standard setting body forthe Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) andNiveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens(NCLC). The CCLB supports and promotes theuse of these national standards in educational,training, community and workplace settings. TheCLB and NCLC are recognized as the officialCanadian standards for describing, measuringand recognizing the language proficiency of adultimmigrants and prospective immigrants in bothEnglish and French. They provide a commonlanguage for the entire immigrant-servingcommunity.

The Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarkshas researched and developed two differentresources for indicating how the CanadianLanguage Benchmarks levels intersect with theEssential Skills complexity levels. BridgingCanadian Language Benchmarks and EssentialSkills makes Essential Skills resources relevantand accessible to newcomers and immigrantsand supports the successful integration ofnewcomers and immigrants into the workforce.It facilitates the identification of language andother skills immigrants and newcomers need forworkplace success and supports appropriateworkplace preparation, training, placement andcareer planning. The two tools that have beendeveloped are An Essential Skills Primer CLB 1and Relating Canadian Language Benchmarks

to Essential Skills: A Comparative Framework.

Assessment Tools

Assessment tools are used at program entry toassess ongoing progress, and at program exit.Some assessment tools can be used by learnersfor self-assessment. Different tools are neededdepending on the goal path of each learner.Assessment tools can be either standardized ornon-standardized and are often administered bytrained assessors. Some examples of widely usedassessment tools are shown below. However,CLLN believes that there has been no nationalresearch on assessment tools and theirapplicability to different levels of learners andtheir various goal paths since 200771. This is anarea that needs further investigation.

Test of Workplace Essential Skills (TOWES)72 –is a measure of an individuals’ preparation forspecific tasks and/or occupations in the labourmarket. It assesses three Essential Skills –reading, document use and numeracy – usingtest questions based on authentic workplacematerials and tasks. TOWES can be used as adiagnostic tool for clarifying training needs andfor assessing the job readiness of job applicants.

PDQ73 – is an online, standardized tool that takesabout 90 minutes to complete after which acomputer-generated score is given. It is anassessment that focuses on reading, writing,document use and numeracy skills. It determinesif and where there is a need to improve literacyskills.

Essential Skills Indicator74 – is a self-assessmenttool that helps individuals to gain a betterunderstanding of their Essential Skills levels. Itcontains a series of short quizzes that provide anindication of skill strengths and areas that mayrequire improvement. It is also often used toprepare learners to take similar tests such asPDQ or TOWES.

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71 P. Campbell, Measures of Success: Assessment and Accountability in Adult Basic Education, Grass Roots Press,Edmonton, AB, 200772 Test of Workplace Essential Skills, TOWES73 PDQ Profile Series, ETS Literacy74 Essential Skills Indicator, HRSDC


A collective list of assessment tools used in Ontario can be accessed at:

http://www.literacy.ca/content/uploads/2012/06/Assessment-Matrix-all-tools-

individuallyJune2012.pdf

OLES provides assessment tools at:

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/workplaceskills/LES/tools_resources/tools_audience/general/tools

_apps.shtml#assessment

Organizational Needs Assessment (WP-060-03-08E)

Workplace Survey (WP-028-01-09E)

Workplace Check-up (WP-029-01-09E)

Hiring Checklist (WP-031-01-09E)

Essential Skills Interview Assistant (Only available on the OLES Tools DVD)

Reading Indicator (WP-039-01-09E)

Document Use Indicator (WP-040-01-09E)

Numeracy Indicator (WP-038-01-09E)

Oral Communication Self-Assessment (WP-083-07-09E)

Computer Use Self-Assessment (WP-084-07-09E)

Writing Self-Assessment (WP-085-07-09E)

Reading Self-Assessment (WP-086-07-09E)

Document Use Self-Assessment (WP-087-11-09E)

Numeracy Self-Assessment (WP-088-07-09E)

Continuous Learning Self-Assessment (WP-089-07-09E)

Working with Others Self-Assessment (WP-090-07-09E)

75 Workplace Informal Learning Matrix, Available at NALD

The Workplace Informal Learning Matrix75 – is aself-assessment tool that is designed to help measurethe complexity of informal learning in the workplace.It consists of a series of specific scales used todetermine the levels of essential skills required for arange of job classifications in the workplace. It canalso be used to assess the complexities of more thanone employee or to explore strengths and weaknesseswithin work teams.

It is important to continue to build knowledge ofassessment in the whole of Canada so thattrainers are able to use the most effective andapplicable tools. Analysis of tools andcollaboration among stakeholders will enablerecommendations to be made about the mosteffective tools for differing situations.



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Part 2:The Labour Market

Labour Market TrendsThe labour market is affected by the people whowork in it; human capital is the key to having aninnovative and productive business. Labourmarket information needs to link demographicsand job trends.

This section looks at demographics nationallyand in the provinces and territories. It outlinesthe population size, and describes the groupswho are under-represented in the workplace andtheir Literacy and Essential Skills levels. Itfocuses on the challenges that youth can facegetting into the workforce and the fact that olderworkers are staying in the workforce longer.Information about job trends is also presented,both nationally and in the provinces andterritories, together with the issues faced bysmall- and mid-sized enterprises.

Demographics

Some groups in society remain under-represented in the labour market, namely FirstNations, Métis and Inuit, new immigrants andpersons with disabilities. A growing, highlyeducated, immigrant population will place stresson the labour market because they lack theEnglish language skills, Literacy and EssentialSkills, Canadian work experience and/orknowledge of workplace culture necessary toparticipate fully.

Currently, many businesses are finding itincreasingly difficult to recruit qualified workers.This is particularly true for primary industriessuch as oil, gas and mining in Western andNorthern Canada76. Taking advantage of under-represented populations in the labour marketwould provide an internal source of workers formany industries and businesses.

Population growth across Canada will be drivenby First Nations, Métis, Inuit and immigration.This issue has been raised by all the provincesand territories. Literacy challenges and languageissues unique to First Nations, Métis, and Inuitpopulations will need to be addressed.

An aging Canadian population will reduce thesize of the labour force and affect economicgrowth and productivity. Even though people arestaying in the workforce longer, there is notenough population growth to compensate forskilled employees who are retiring. The first babyboomers reached the retirement age of 65 in2012. In 2015, the Canadian government believesthat 48% of persons earning a living will bebetween the ages of 45 and 64. It is projectedthat by 2020 Canada’s pool of human resourceswill be short about one million people77.

Demographics in the Provinces and

territories

Demographics in Nunavut

As of April 2012, the population of Nunavut was33,588. Nunavut has the smallest working agepopulation which, when combined with the highpopulation of those under 15, gives Nunavut thehighest dependency ratio in the country.

Over 70% of IALSS respondents in Nunavutscored at Levels 1 and 278. Over 60% of employedpeople in Nunavut have scores below Level 3.Statistics for literacy in the Inuit language indicatethat language issues need to be addressed.Currently, most Inuit do speak (and, to someextent, read and write) the Inuit language andEnglish, but many have not had the opportunityto acquire advanced skills in both languages.Although the Inuit language and English are bothwidely used throughout Nunavut, some fear that

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76 Heidi Martin, Building Labour Force Capacity in Canada’s North, Conference Board of Canada, November 201177 Advanced Skills Shortages in Canada – Getting to the Root of the Problem, Canadian Business Journal, March200978 Building on our Competencies: Canadian Results of the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey,Statistics Canada, 2003


79 Shelley Tulloch, Building a Strong Foundation: Considerations to Support Thriving Bilingualism in Nunavut,prepared for NLC, 200980 Population Report, March 2012, Yukon Bureau of Statistics, 201281 Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Labour Market Agreement, 2009-10 Annual Plan, 200982Population Change, 2006 to 2011 by 2011 Census Division, Statistics Canada, February 201283 S. Brink, Literacy in New Brunswick: Implications of Findings from IALSS 2003, Learning Policy Directorate, HRSDC

English is increasingly being favoured. The resultis unstable bilingualism in most of Nunavut.

Ilitaqsiniq - Nunavut literacy Council, sharesparts of the Government’s mandate in itsaspiration to support Nunavummiut indeveloping strong, advanced language skills inwhichever language they choose. Many Inuitwish to develop skills in both, but particularlylook to Ilitaqsiniq for support in developing Inuitlanguage literacy79. Clearly, low literacy levels,unemployment, poverty and other socialproblems will continue to increase unless actionis taken at all levels.

Demographics in Northwest territories

The NWT is as large as Alberta andSaskatchewan together. It has 33 communitiesand a population of 41,424. Just over 50% of theresidents of NWT are First Nations, Métis andInuit. It has eleven official languages. While mostschools teach the language of that community asa subject, the language of instruction is mainlyEnglish, although this is changing in early gradesin some regions.

Overall the rate of NWT residents with skillsbelow level 3 is similar to the rest of Canada(approximately 42%). The picture changes,however, when analyzed by ethnicity. Sixty nineper cent of the non-Aboriginal population hasskills at level 3 and above; sixty nine per cent ofthe Aboriginal population has skills below level 3.

Demographics in the Yukon

The Yukon’s population reached a record high of35,944 in March 2012. The population has grownand the average age has increased since 200380.

In most Yukon communities the majority ofpopulation are Aboriginal and Inuit.

Demographics in Newfoundland and Labrador

In the 2006 Census the population ofNewfoundland and Labrador decreased by 1.5%and stood at 505,469. However, by the 2011census, the population had risen by 1.8%.

Literacy and Essential Skills is an issue for theprovince. Fifty-five percent of Newfoundland andLabrador’s working age population are at IALSliteracy Levels 1 and 2. The number of people atLevels 1 and 2 who are employed is increasing asthe economy grows and attracts new workforceparticipation.

The demographics of Newfoundland andLabrador have changed significantly over thepast four decades. It is estimated that by 2022,there will potentially be one new labour forceentrant (15-24 years old) for every two retirees(55-64 years old). By 2022, a third of thepopulation will be 60 years old or older81.

Demographics in New Brunswick

A Statistics Canada report, released in February2012, shows that New Brunswick's populationgrew by 2.9 per cent between 2006 and 2011,bucking a decades-long trend of a decliningpopulation82. The dominant theme in NewBrunswick's population growth was in outlyingcommunities outside of the three largest cities.New Brunswick received a higher number ofimmigrants and fewer people left the provincefor other regions of the country. In the NewBrunswick population, 56% of Anglophoneadults between the ages of 16-65 do not have thelevel of literacy and essential skills needed tofunction successfully in today’s society83.



Demographics in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia has a population of approximately950,00084. Of this number, 37,000 people haveFrench as their mother tongue. Nova Scotia’spopulation is growing much more slowly thanthe Canadian average; due in part to a low birthrate, out-migration of youth, and low netimmigration. Workforce shortages are projectedin the not-too-distant future. Already there areshortages in the skilled trades, which are notattracting enough new entrants even to replacethe baby boomers as they retire.

Demographics in PEI

The current population of PEI is about 145,000.The Economic Progress Report of November2010 indicates that Prince Edward Island’semployment averaged at 71,500 people throughto September 2010, an increase of 3.5 per centfrom the same period in 2009. StatisticsCanada’s Labour Force Survey shows the labourforce at 72,400 in January 2012. Increasedparticipation of women 55 years and overaccounted for half of the overall increase in theIsland labour force.

PEI faces major demographic challenges,particularly with respect to youth migration, andmust take action to attract and hold population.Past investments in learning have fallen short offully developing the potential of an innovation-based economy – the people.

Demographics of English Speakers in Quebec

In the 2006 census, close to 1 million out of 8million Quebecers declared English as eithertheir mother tongue or the language they usemost frequently at home when not speaking intheir mother tongue. Statistics Canada, incapturing data that defines this broader linguisticgroup, coined the term First Official LanguageSpoken (FOLS) to allocate the Canadianpopulation between the country’s two mainlanguage groups. In the case of English speakersin Quebec, English as FOLS raises the percentageof the population that require English servicesfrom 8.2 to 13.4%, an increase of 63%.

Of these English FOLS, 81% lived in the Montrealarea, with the second-greatest concentrationsliving within 200 km of Montreal to the west(Outaouais) and to the east (Estrie and SouthernQuebec). In total, this represents approximately91% of the Anglophone population. More thanhalf of these Anglophones make up between 30%and 49.9% of the population of the municipalityin which they live. Close to one third of this FOLSpopulation were born outside Canada, with thelargest proportions emigrating from Italy, Chinaand the U.S.

The English FOLS community is aging, with anaverage age of 39. In general, they are bettereducated than their Francophone counterpartsand 67% consider themselves bilingual.

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84 Nova Scotia Community Counts, Government of Nova Scotia, 2012

Demographics in Ontario

The province has 21.3% of its population at level1. Problem-solving skills appear to be theweakest essential skill with 72.5% scoring atIALS Levels 1 and 2. Over 50% of the populationis at level 3 or higher in prose and documentliteracies, while only 44.1% are at that level onthe numeracy scale85.

Younger learners are more likely to attendAcademic Upgrading programs, while olderlearners tend to attend Literacy and Basic Skillsprograms. For both programs, the largestpercentage of learners is in the 25 to 44 agegroup86.

In 1990, the employment rate for those withouthigh school (900,000 working-age adults) was56%, by 2011 that number had dropped to 37.2%.Statistics Canada’s factsheet EconomicDownturn and Educational Attainment, showsthe relationship between educational attainmentand employment rates87. The rates have beendeclining steadily by an average of 2% per year.This virtually parallels the exponential growth intechnology88.

Many factors contribute to an individual’slikelihood of being on income support but a keyfactor is the lack of a high school diploma. TheCommission for the Review of Social Assistancein Ontario recently conducted a study that showsthe link between educational attainment levelsand social assistance89. According to this study,nearly half of Ontario Works (OW) recipientsand over half of Ontario Disability SupportProgram (ODSP) recipients did not complete

high school or its equivalent, as compared to justover 20% of Ontario’s overall population. Datafrom Employment Insurance (EI) reflects similardemographics, with almost half of male repeatclaimants (48.5%) having less than high schoolattainment90.

There are significant socio-economicconsequences aside from the cost of government-sponsored income support. The majority ofindividuals living on OW or ODSP are eitherliving in poverty or at risk of poverty—the totalannual income for a single adult on OW is $7,952and $13,600 if they are on ODSP. A recent studyby the Wellesley Institute found that theseindividuals “carry an overwhelmingly highburden of ill health”91. The report showed that,compared to the non-poor, these adults hadsignificantly higher rates of poor health andchronic conditions on 38 of 39 health measures—rates as much as 7.2 times higher than those inthe non-poor group.


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85Literacy and Essential Skills in Ontario, Essential Skills Ontario,201286 ibid87 Economic downturn and educational attainment, Statistics Canada, June 201288Literacy and Essential Skills in Ontario, Essential Skills Ontario,201289 Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario, Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services90 Schwartz and Nicholson, The Frequent Use of Unemployment Insurance in Canada, Social Research andDemonstration Corporation, 2001 91Sick and Tired: The Compromised Health of Social Assistance Recipients and the Working Poor in Ontario,

Wellesley Institute, 2009


Demographics in Manitoba

Manitoba’s population is 1, 271,11492. However,the population is expected to increase to 1.4million by 2022. Despite the growth in fundingand infrastructure for the delivery of adultliteracy services, there are growing gaps drivenby population change. Population growth will bedriven by First Nations, Métis, Inuit andimmigration. There are literacy challenges andlanguage issues unique to these populations.

Geography, transportation and access toresources continue to be an issue in servicedelivery response. There are also significantconcerns with transiency, lack of housing andhomelessness. Manitoba continues to experiencea relatively tight labour market with skillsshortages. Ageing workers can find it difficult toadapt to new demands in the workplace.

According to the 2006 Canada Census, thenumber of Manitoba adults of working age (20 to64) with less than grade 12 is 138,130 or 20.5% ofworking age adults. The number of Manitobans(ages 15 – 64) with reading levels below Grade 9is 285,000, according a Statistics Canada adultliteracy survey93.

Demographics in Saskatchewan

As of July 2012, the population of Saskatchewanwas 1,079, 95894. In Saskatchewan, a relativelysmall population is widely dispersed over a largegeographical region. According to the 2011Census Saskatchewan has one of the lowestproportions of a working-age population; only66% of the population is between 15 to 64 yearsof age. This relatively small population issupporting those at the younger and older levels.Maintaining strong literacy and essential skills iscritical to maintaining employment.

Forty percent of Saskatchewan’s working agepopulation are at IALSS literacy Levels 1 and 2.They are more likely to be speakers of English asa mother tongue and to have only a high schooleducation or less. Contributing to the percentageat these two levels are immigrants, First Nations,Métis and Inuit. This will have an effect on thematch between people and jobs. The number ofpeople at Levels 1 and 2 who are employed isincreasing as the economy grows.

Demographics in Alberta

As of April 1, 2012, Alberta’s population was anestimated 3,847,119, up 2.37% from the yearbefore, with an increase of almost 89,000 people.Alberta continues to lead the country with apopulation growth driven primarily by very largenet influx of interprovincial migrants, most ofwhom come from Ontario. (4,369), followed byBritish Columbia (2,651), Newfoundland andLabrador (2,257) and Nova Scotia (1,199).

Information from the 2006 Census shows thatAlberta’s population was younger than thenational average. Alberta’s population agestructure shows that individuals aged 65 andover accounted for 10.7% of the total provincialpopulation while they accounted for 13.7% of theCanada’s population. The national average forthe population aged 65 years and over in thesame year was at 13.7%. Albertans aged 0 to 14years represented 19.2% of the provincialpopulation compared to 17.7% of the nationalaverage for Canadians aged 0 to 14 years in200695.

The unemployment rate in August 2012 tied at4.4% with Saskatchewan as the lowest in thecountry96.

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92 Manitoba's Population Clock, Statistics Canada 93 Satya Brink, ALL 2003 Key Research Findings and HRSD Implications, HRSDC, 2005. Accessed July 25, 201294 Quick Facts, Saskatchewan Bureau of Statistics95 2006 Census Analysis, Alberta Profile, Employment and Immigration Alberta, 200696 Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada, August 2012

Demographics in British Columbia

Currently, there are 2.4 million people in BritishColumbia’s labour force. As a result of economicgrowth, employment in British Columbia isexpected to grow by an average of 1.8 percenteach year through to 2019, creating a total of450,000 new jobs. Approximately 676,000additional jobs will become vacant due toretirements. In total, there will be an expected1,126,000 job openings over the next decade.There are currently about 650,000 young peoplein the BC education system which means that thegrowth in job openings is expected to outpace thenumber of workers. British Columbia will need toincrease the size of its workforce and ensure ithas the right skills to support economicdevelopment in all regions97.

The numbers of workers retiring each year isprojected to swell from 56,000 to over 62,000over the next decade. Coupled with rising lifeexpectancies and lower birth rates, this willincrease the average age of the population andcreate a scarcity of skills and experience in thelabour market98.

In addition, almost 600,000 working BritishColumbians – over one quarter of those currentlyemployed – do not have the minimum literacyand essential skills required to successfullyparticipate in a knowledge economy. One in fivepeople do not graduate in the expected timeframe. There are also populations within BritishColumbia whose skills are under-represented inthe workforce such as First Nations, Métis andInuit persons, youth, women, persons withdisabilities, immigrants, and older workers.Many recent skilled immigrants are alsoemployed in occupations that do not reflect theirinternational training and experience99.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit

CLLN recognizes the importance of referring toFirst Nations, Métis and Inuit as distinct groupsof people. However, some of the programs andarticles referenced in this document refer to“Aboriginal People”. For this reason you willsometimes see this term used.

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) NationalChief, Shawn Atleo, is encouraging all sectors toinvest in skills development for First Nations.

While historic policies, systemic issues, togetherwith cultural and geographical considerationsand a lack of resources have negatively impacted


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97 Skills for Growth: British Columbia’s Labour Strategy to 2020, BC Ministry of Regional Economic and SkillsDevelopment, 201098 ibid99 ibid

As the youngest and fastestgrowing segment of the populationin Canada, and with half of ourtotal population under the age of25, there is tremendous potentialfor First Nations to be part of thesolution. Investing in skills trainingand education is an economicimperative for Canada,particularly knowing that FirstNations have the potential tocontribute $400 billion toCanada’s economy by 2026 if theeducation and achievement gap isclosed between First Nations andother Canadians.

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) NationalChief Shawn Atleo, February 2012

First Nations, Métis and Inuit, the situation ischanging and funding is now being targetedtowards these populations which represent thefastest growing segment of the Canadianpopulation.

Literacy and Essential Skills training needs to beholistic and recognize the importance of FirstNations, Métis and Inuit languages andtraditions and the cross-cultural diversity withinNative communities. Employers can find itdifficult to attract qualified First Nations, Métisand Inuit. Training is often directed at those withhigher levels of literacy, not those at beginninglevels.

Figure 2 below shows the education levels ofFirst Nations, Métis and Inuit and non-aboriginal working age people. There is nodisparity between First Nations, Métis and Inuitand non-Aboriginal groups for college and tradecertification. However the disparity is obvious fordropout rates. The First Nations, Métis and Inuitpopulation has the lowest literacy levels and thehighest high school dropout rates. In 2006, theproportion of the First Nations, Métis and Inuitpopulation aged 25 to 64 years without a highschool diploma was 19 percentage points higherthan the proportion of the non-Aboriginalpopulation of the same age group100.

Figure 2: Level of Education, non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal Populations Aged 25-64 (%)

Source: Learning - Educational Attainment, HRSDC, 2006

97 Learning - Educational Attainment, HRSDC

page 54


101 Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy (ASETS), HRSDC102 First Nations, Métis and Inuit Agreement Holders are organizations funded by HRSDC to provide employmentprograms and services to First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. First Nations, Métis and Inuit organizationstypically became ASETS agreement holders through a targeted call for strategic business plans spanning the five-year strategy, and priority was given to First nations, Métis and Inuit organizations who had an agreement withthe Department under the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy (AHRDS), the predecessor toASETS.103 Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy, HRSDC

First Nations, Métis and Inuit are significantlyover-represented as offenders in the Canadiancriminal justice system. Research has shown thateducational programming reduces the rate ofrecidivism so it is important to provideprogramming that will better enable offenders tofind jobs once they are released.

In March 2010, Canada’s education ministersadded to commitments made in the LearnCanada 2020 declaration. Building on theCouncil of Ministers of Education, Canada(CMEC) Summit on Aboriginal Education, heldin 2009, ministers of education providedadditional direction on the post-summit pan-Canadian action plan which includes work onFirst Nations, Métis and Inuit data andassessment, and active engagement with thegovernment of Canada on federal funding forFirst Nations, Métis and Inuit education.

Federal Funding and Programs

Aboriginal Skills and Employment training

Strategy (ASEtS)

ASETS replaced the Aboriginal HumanResources Development Strategy in 2010. ASETSlinks training to labour market demand in orderto assist First Nations, Métis and Inuit to preparefor and find long-term, high-demand jobsquickly101.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit agreement holdersdesign and deliver employment programs andservices best suited to the unique needs of theirclients102. For example, the Council of Yukon

First Nations (CYFN) and the Aboriginal LabourAlliance are ASETS agreement holders103.

Agreement holders modify and adjust theirtraining, employment programs and strategies tobest meet the labour market challenges facingCanadian industries and businesses. Eachorganization must meet accountabilityrequirements and demonstrate strongperformance results. The programs and servicesinclude:

4 skill development

4 training for high demand jobs

4 job finding

4 programs for youth

4 programs for urban and Aboriginal people and people with disabilities

4 access to child care

Aboriginal Skills and Employment

Partnership (ASEP)

ASEP complements ASETS and is a nationallymanaged project-based program that promotesmaximum, sustainable employment for FirstNations, Métis and Inuit people in majoreconomic developments. ASEP supports multi-year training-to-employment strategies thatdeliver large-scale, job-specific training thatresponds to employer demand for skilledworkers and leads to long-term sustainable jobs.The projects are developed and managed byformal partnerships between First Nations, Métisand Inuit organizations and major employers.



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Skills and Partnership Fund (SPF)

SPF is available to all First Nations, Métis andInuit organizations, including those who are notcurrent First Nations, Métis and Inuit agreementholders. The SPF:

4 drives innovation in service delivery and systems through partnership (system improvement)

4 responds to economic partnership opportunities with targeted labour force development initiatives (training-to-employment)

4 addresses program delivery weaknesses and/or gaps in Canada’s network of First nations, Métis and Inuit organizations that provide labour market services (service delivery gaps)

Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth

The federal program, Connections for Aboriginal

Youth Program (CCAY), in partnership with theNational Association of Friendship Centres(NAFC), and Aboriginal Affairs and NorthernDevelopment Canada has been set up to equipyoung First Nations, Métis and Inuit with theskills and experience they need to participatemore fully in Canada’s economy.

Knowledge of government funded programs

Knowledge of government funded programs isnot always high. In the report, Understanding

the Value, Challenges, and Opportunities of

Engaging Métis, Inuit, and First Nations, 31.4%of employers were not aware of, or had limitedknowledge of, programs that support FirstNations, Métis and Inuit employment andtraining. It is likely that this figure is higher inthe general population of Canadian Businesses,as a large number of businesses who participated

in the survey had a significant proportion of FirstNations, Métis and Inuit workers and/oragreements (e.g. impact benefit agreements) tohire First Nations, Métis and Inuit workers104.

Investing in Skills Development

The Understanding the Value, Challenges, and

Opportunities of Engaging Métis, Inuit, and First

Nations report suggests that some of the possiblestrategies for dealing with some of these issueswould be to have ASETS agreement holdersshare best practices, have better coordinationamong services and provide cultural awarenessprograms to help overcome racism andmisunderstandings in the workplace105.

The most common workperformance issues thatemployers experience withAboriginal workers relate to theskills, attitudes, and behavioursneeded for the workplace. Themost significant issues employersface in retaining Aboriginalworkers are dissatisfaction withcareer and skills developmentand cultural issues (e.g., racismand misunderstandings betweenAboriginal and non-Aboriginalworkers).

Conference Board of Canada,Understanding the Value, Challenges, and

Opportunities of Engaging Métis, Inuit,and First Nations, July, 2012

104 Understanding the Value, Challenges, and Opportunities of Engaging Métis, Inuit, and First Nations,

Conference Board of Canada, 2012105 ibid

First Nations, Métis and Inuit in the


Inuit in Nunavut

Inuit comprise 85% of Nunavut’s population. Thefour official languages of Nunavut are Inuktitut,Inuinnaqtun, English and French. More than halfof Nunavut’s working age population strugglewith serious literacy challenges. These challengesare greater in the small communities wherepeople face a wide variety of systemic barriersthat prevent them from achieving their potential.

The social, political and linguistic changes thathave occurred in Nunavut over the last fortyyears have radically changed the literacy skillsthat Nunavummiut need to function in the globaleconomy. There has been insufficient support forthe transition and acquisition of what would beconsidered modern literacies.

This situation is made more complex andchallenging by the introduction and subsequentdominance of English within the publiceducation system, post-secondary institutionsand most workplaces. In fact, it is difficult toparticipate in the wage economy of Nunavutwithout a proficient knowledge of English despiteefforts by government, Inuit organizations andothers to make Inuktitut the primary workinglanguage.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit in Northwest

territories

Just over 50% of the residents of NWT are FirstNations, Métis and Inuit. NWT has eleven officiallanguages. While most schools teach thelanguage of that community as a subject, thelanguage of instruction is mainly English,although this is changing in early grades in someregions.

Sixty nine per cent of the non-Aboriginalpopulation has skills at level 3 and above; sixtynine per cent of the Aboriginal population hasskills below level 3. Formal education is still arelatively recent phenomenon in the NWT. Theresidential school system has left behind “alegacy of mistrust”, which continues as anintergenerational barrier to educational successfor many learners in the NWT today106. Literacychallenges affect about 11,000 people in NWT,but that may not be the real number. Adulteducators report that some students who indicatethat they have a grade 12 certificate are assessedat much lower levels on intake. A disturbing fact,noted in the Youth Literacy Gap Analysis, is thatyouth often believe their skills to be higher thanthey actually are.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit in the Yukon

Approximately 25% of Yukon’s population areFirst Nations, Métis and Inuit. Inhabitants of theYukon speak English, French, Tlingit, Gwich’in,Hän, Upper Tanana, Northern Tuchone,Southern Tuchone, Kaska, and Taglish.

The Aboriginal Peoples' Program (APP) supportsthe full participation and cultural revitalizationof Aboriginal People in Canadian society. Itenables Aboriginal Peoples to address the social,cultural, economic and political issues affectingtheir lives107.


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106 Malatest, R.A. & Associates, Best Practices in Increasing Aboriginal Postsecondary Enrolment Rates, preparedfor CMEC, 2002107 Aboriginal Peoples’ Program, Canadian Heritage, 2011

First Nations, Métis and Inuit in

Newfoundland and Labrador

In 2006, First Nations, Métis and Inuit made upapproximately 5% of the Newfoundland andLabrador population108. However, not included inthis percentage are the increasing numbers beingregistered by First Nations, Métis and Inuitorganizations in the years since the 2006 Censuswas taken. Income levels are not available butare, on average, thought to be lower than fornon-aboriginals109.

The Mi’kmaq, the Innu, the Inuit, and theSouthern Inuit (previously the Labrador Métis)make up the largest groups in Newfoundland andLabrador. They are largely distributed in rural orremote regions across the province.

Data on Literacy levels for the First Nations,Métis and Inuit population in the province wasnot identified in the 2003 IALSS survey;however, we do know that a number ofcommunities with large First Nations, Métis orInuit populations are not achieving the highschool graduation rates experienced in othercommunities in the province. Special initiativesare needed to respond to the needs of FirstNations, Métis and Inuit and those whose firstlanguage is neither English nor French.

Mi’kmaq and Maliseet in New Brunswick

The Joint Economic Development Initiative(JEDI) is a non-profit organization launched in1995 to stimulate economic development in theFirst Nations communities (both on-reserve andoff-reserve) in New Brunswick. In early 2010,JEDI received funding from Human Resourcesand Skills Development Canada’s Office ofLiteracy and Essential Skills to create NewBrunswick Aboriginal Workplace Essential Skills(NBAWES) as a pilot project starting in the fall of

2010. The project was designed to strengthen theskills, knowledge and attitudes that Mi’kmaq andMaliseet adults need to succeed in today’sworkplace through adapting existing WorkplaceEssential Skills curriculum to have a culturallyrelevant content.

There is a need to provide intergenerationalliteracy in First Nations communities. Currently,there is little information available on FirstNations in New Brunswick, or programming tomeet their needs. The Literacy Coalition of NewBrunswick (LCNB) hopes to engage with theaboriginal populations in New Brunswick in thenear future.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit in Nova Scotia

More research needs to be completed about thesituation for Aboriginal People in Nova Scotiaand there is currently very little information.

Mi’kmaq in Prince Edward Island

In 2006, 1730 people identified as First Nations,Métis or Inuit. However most are Mi’kmaq, andof them, 1010 were aged 0-30. Both the PEINative Council and the Mi’kmaq Confederacy ofPEI provide employment counselling and/ortraining.

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108 2006 Census – Aboriginal Peoples, Statistics Canada, 2010109 Poverty Reduction Policies and Programs, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canadian Council on SocialDevelopment, 2009


110 Aboriginal Education in Quebec, A Benchmark Exercise, C.D. Howe Institute, 2011111 Aboriginal People and the Labour Market: Estimates from the Labour Force Survey, 2008-2010, StatisticsCanada, Data excludes people living on reserves and in the territories.

Aboriginal and Inuit in Quebec

Eleven nations make up the Aboriginal and Inuitpopulation of Quebec. Five of these, the Inuit,Algonquin, Cree, Mi’kmaq and Mohawk, speakEnglish, along with varying degrees of knowledgeof their mother tongue.

The Aboriginal population is the fastest-growingsegment in Quebec. From 1981 to 2001 theAboriginal and Inuit population more thandoubled, and in some cases tripled, in mosturban centres, and numbered over 11,000 at thetime of the 2001 census.

At the time of the 2006 census, over 60% of Inuitand Aboriginal people on-reserve in Quebec hadnot completed secondary studies. This is twicethe dropout rate for those living off-reserve, andfour times the comparable rate for non-Aboriginal Quebecers110.

According to 2009 statistics, 63% of Quebec’s83,000 Aboriginals live on reserves in remoteareas of northern Quebec. However, morerecently, many have migrated to urban areas, inparticular Montreal, while still keeping close tieswith their mother communities.

As of 2010, the Aboriginal and Inuit employmentrate was 61.1%, a full 19.8 percentage pointslower than in the non-Aboriginal population111. In2011, the Quebec government announced thePlan Nord initiative (see Policies and Strategiesin Quebec, page 16). Plan Nord is expected tohave a major economic, social and environmentalimpact on the Aboriginal and Inuit people in theregion.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit in Manitoba

A key concern identified in the Literacy Partnersof Manitoba’s Environmental Scan was theimpact of Manitoba’s First Nations, Métis and

Inuit population. They are the fastest growingsegment, and will increase by 2017 to form 25%of Manitoba’s population. Sixty percent of thispopulation will be between the ages of 15 to 30and many will not have a high school education.This population will be the greatest contributorto the workforce over the next 10 years. However,it also represents the population with the lowestliteracy rates and highest high school dropoutrates. Challenges include the comparable fundingfor on-reserve schools. As well, programs andservices need to be more meaningful andrelevant to First Nations, Métis and Inuitcommunities. Local communities need to besupported to build capacity in valuing, fundingand offering literacy and learning services.

There is significant intergenerational lowliteracy, which is compounded when school-agedchildren cannot get assistance with homework,either at home or in the community.

Increasingly, training programs are turning awayyouth who do not have a sufficiently high level ofeducation to participate. For example, the Centrefor Aboriginal Human Resource Development(CAHRD) has seen a decline in the readiness forits clients to participate in training. As a result,training spaces for high-demand jobs are goingempty, leaving some courses without enoughparticipants to go forward, despite securedfunding and employment. In 2010, CAHRD usedthis data to secure a larger percentage of theirfunding for literacy upgrading.

Aboriginal Literacy roundtables in June andSeptember of 2010, hosted by Literacy Partnersof Manitoba (LPM), with sponsorship by CIBC,identified the need for an Aboriginal gathering.The LPM Board supported the idea of anAboriginal Literacy Symposium which was



hosted by LPM in the fall of 2011. Over 140delegates attended from across Canada.Participants at this symposium created a visionand strategy encouraging LPM to take the lead inachieving these strategic goals. BeginningSeptember 2012, LPM will have an AboriginalLiteracy Coordinator on staff who will provideplanning support for the November 2012Aboriginal Literacy Symposium and the ongoingimplementation of the Aboriginal Literacy Visionand Strategy.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit in

Saskatchewan

In 2006, First Nations, Métis and Inuit made upalmost 15% of the Saskatchewan population112.This segment of the population in Saskatchewanis growing at a faster rate than the remainder ofthe population. Between 1996 and 2006, theFirst Nations, Métis and Inuit population in theprovince grew by 27% while the rest of thepopulation declined by 6.2%. The IALSS datashows that 70% of First Nations and 56% ofMétis people were at literacy levels 1 and 2. Themedian age for First Nations, Métis and Inuit is21.7 years of age compared to 41.4 years for therest of population; 35.7% are below the age of 15compared to 16.9% of the non-Aboriginalpopulation.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit in Alberta

First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples representa significant and growing segment of thepopulation in Canada and Alberta. Projecteddemographic changes make increased FirstNations, Métis and Inuit participation in theworkforce important for society. The working agepopulation of First Nations, Métis and Inuitpeople in Alberta is 127,200 with an employmentrate of 64%, of those 14% are employed part-time113.

There are many differences between segments ofthe Aboriginal population. In general, theRegistered Indian and Inuit populations havelower levels of educational attainment than theMétis and Non-Status Indian populations. Thistends to extend to other characteristics such asemployment and income levels. While some ofthe barriers to First Nations, Métis and Inuitworkforce participation have lessened, otherbarriers to employment still remain. Thesebarriers include skills and training, culture,communication and negative stereotypes.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit in British

Columbia

British Columbia has the second largest off-reserve Aboriginal population in Canada. Over70% of the province’s Aboriginal population liveoff-reserves, including almost two-thirds of BC’sStatus First Nations population. BC’s Aboriginalpopulation is the youngest and fastest growinggroup in the province. Within a ten-year period,the First Nations, Métis and Inuit youthpopulation has doubled and the overall urbanpopulation has grown by 33%. AboriginalFriendship Centres are BC’s largest servicedelivery infrastructure for the off-reserve FirstNations, Métis and Inuit population.

Friendship Centres have been a cultural andcommunity hub for First Nations, Métis andInuit people moving into cities or rural areas formore than 60 years. Friendship Centres providecultural resources, employment resources, healthpromotion and prevention services, counsellingsupports, and early childhood education anddevelopment services114.

Off-reserve Aboriginal people have some of thelowest social and economic outcomes in the

112 2006 Census – Aboriginal Peoples, Statistics Canada, 2010113 Alberta Labour Force Statistics September 2012 Aboriginal Off Reserve Package, Alberta Enterprise andAdvanced Education, 2012114 Off-Reserve Aboriginal Action Plan, Business Case to Close the Socioeconomic Gaps for Off-Reserve Aboriginal

People in British Columbia, BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres, 2011


page 61

115 Miner, Rick. People without Jobs, Jobs without People: Ontario’s Labour Market Future, 2010.

Figure 3: Prose Literacy Levels for Canadian-born Adults and Immigrant

province. For example, First Nations, Métis andInuit people are overrepresented in the jails,within the child welfare system, and aredisproportionately living in poverty. Despite allof this, there is no coordinated strategy in BCdesigned to improve socioeconomic conditionsfor this population group. However, in 2011 theOfficial Speech from the Throne signalled apromise to establish a coordinated strategy foroff-reserve Aboriginal peoples.

Immigration

Immigration is one strategy to respond to thechallenges we are facing due to current skillslevels and a shrinking labour force. Since the mid1980’s, new Canadian immigrants have beenconcentrated in three provinces – Ontario,Quebec and BC. Now, many more provinces areseeing an increase in immigration.

Nine of the thirteen provinces and territories aredoing this through Immigrant NomineePrograms (Quebec has its own system: Quebec-selected skilled workers). At the same time, it isclear that employer-provided training, improvedliteracy rates, and a more unified educationsystem will be needed to respond to higher skilldemands115 caused by changes in the nature ofwork.

On the whole, Canadian-born adults havestronger literacy skills than recent immigrants orimmigrants that have been in Canada for manyyears. Figure 3 shows that immigrants make upthe largest percentage of people functioning atLevel 1. While over 60% of people born inCanada are at Level 3 or higher, onlyapproximately 30% of immigrants arefunctioning at that level.

Learning English by speakers of other languagesis referred to by various terms, such as English asan Additional Language (EAL), English as aSecond Language (ESL) or English for Speakersof Other Languages (ESOL). This report uses theterm EAL.

On average, immigrants are better educated nowthan in the past. However, many come fromcountries that do not have English or French as amain language. Some immigrants may be literatein their first language but struggle with Englishor French. Other immigrants are not literate intheir first language and find it difficult to learn toread in a second language. People with refugeestatus may often fall into this category. Someimmigrants need to focus on the mechanics ofEnglish and others are more in need of theapplication of language in a Canadian context.Family members may not all have the same levelsof English and therefore they may requiredifferent programs. There are also differentneeds for refugees and economic immigrants.Assessment for Literacy and Essential Skills andlanguage acquisition is different.

Literacy cannot be isolated from other issues andconcerns such as housing, health care, oremployment, which are all compounded by lowliteracy skills. These issues can impact on oneanother and lead to a cycle of poverty andisolation that can result in mental health issues,notably depression116.

EAL Literacy lies at the intersection of EAL andliteracy. In 2007, CLLN published a discussionpaper about the connections between Literacyand English as a Second Language117. It foundthat there was a policy gap for adults with low

literacy and education in their first language,especially for those who come from an oralculture with no written language, those who use anon-Roman alphabet and those who have been inCanada for more than 5 years. These adults oftenunderstand everyday Canadian culture andsystems but still do not have knowledge ofworkplace culture or have the necessary reading,writing and language skills.

There is a lack of formalized knowledge aboutimmigrants and refugees in Canada who havelow education and literacy in their first language.Overall, we do not know what literacy skills andlearning strategies people have in their ownlanguage. We do not know the proportion ofthose immigrants and refugees who have highoral skills in English or French but limitedliteracy skills. Additionally, the particular needsare not reflected in literature118.

CLLN’s report found that a person with literacyand language issues might be referred either to aliteracy program or a language program. There iscurrently no research to show the reasons behindthe referral. Work still needs to be done to decidehow to deal with this issue119.

The proportion of immigrants with literacy skillsbelow Level 3 was 67% in 2001120. Literacy inEnglish is key to integration into mainstreamsociety. Immigrants often need to continuelanguage training once they have jobs, even whenthey have high levels of first language literacy.They also need to become familiar with culturalnorms in the workplace.

Figure 4 compares the level of formal educationreceived by recent immigrants to the Canadianaverage.

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116 J. Geronimo, S. Folinsbee, J. Goveas, A Research Project Into The Settlement Needs of Adult Immigrants with

Limited Literacy Skills in their First Language Who Have Settled in the Greater Toronto Area, CanadianMultilingual Literacy Centre, 2001117 Linkages: Connecting Literacy and English as a Second Language, CLLN, 2006118 ibid119 Creating a Bridge: A Snapshot of ESL Literacy in Ontario, Ontario Literacy Coalition, 2007120 T. Scott Murray et al, Reading the Future, Canadian Council on Learning, 2008


Figure 4: Level of Education, Recent Immigrant Population Aged 24-64 years (%)

Source: Learning - Educational Attainment, HRSDC, 2006

Figure 5 Unemployment Rates, 1981-2006

Source: Statistics Canada,

RBC EconomicsResearch

121 Immigrant Labour Market Outcomes in Canada: The Benefits of Addressing Wage and Employment Gaps, RBCCanada, 2011

Despite higher education levels, Canadianimmigrants experience higher unemploymentrates and lower incomes than workers born inthis country121. 2005 RBC Economics researchestimates that the potential increased incomesfor immigrants if observable skills were rewardedsimilarly to Canadian-born workers is $30.7billion or 2.1 per cent of GDP in 2006 (the latestcensus data available). Figure 5, taken from thereport, shows the trends in unemploymentbetween 1981 and 2006. The report also

discusses possible reasons for the poorer labourmarket outcomes for immigrants. Currentresearch suggests that gaps may be due to bothgenuine skill differences between immigrantsand Canadian-born workers, and labour marketinefficiencies that prevent immigrants frommaking full use of their skills. Immigrantoutcomes could likely be improved through moreextensive language training, faster credentialrecognition, or other integration initiatives.



In June 2012, the Conference Board of Canadareleased Profession-Specific Language and

Communication Assessment in Occupational

Therapy and Physiotherapy 122. This profilespotlights an online assessment tool designed toprovide internationally educatedphysiotherapists and occupational therapistswith information about their competency inlanguage, communication, and soft skills as theyseek licensure and employment in Canada. Moreresearch could be done to discover whether thismodel would work for those needing to improvetheir Literacy and Essential Skills before or aftertheir entry to Canada. The models could beoccupational specific but they could also relate toother areas of a person’s life such as knowledgeof Canada’s K – 12 education system or non-specific workplace culture.

The Alliance of Sector Councils (TASC), fundedby the Foreign Credentials Referral Office ofCitizenship and Immigration Canada, created aresource guide Employers Roadmap, to aid SMEsin hiring and retaining foreign trained workers123.It has also has created links to useful websites foremployers who want to hire and retaininternationally trained workers124.

Literacy and Essential Skills providers inManitoba and Saskatchewan identified that thereis a deficit of programs to meet immigrant needs.Recent interviews with Literacy and EssentialSkills educators revealed that there areinsufficient programs to meet the needs ofimmigrant families who have accompanied aperson who has employment125

Immigration in the Provinces and

territories

Immigration in the Yukon

Immigration is increasing in the territory,specifically from Asia. Much of the labour marketneeds are being filled by people moving fromoutside Canada, some of them through theYukon Nominee Program. The Yukon LiteracyCoalition recognizes the importance ofaddressing the L/ES needs of immigrants in theworkplace through appropriate programming.

Immigration in Newfoundland and Labrador

Immigrants to Newfoundland and Labrador tendto settle in the larger urban centres. Primarysupport for language training for newcomers isoffered through the Language Instruction forNewcomers to Canada (LINC), through theAssociation for New Canadians.

Once their eligibility for LINC funding expires,immigrants often seek support for language skillsdevelopment through local literacy and ABEprograms. The number of immigrants requiringcontinuing language skills development indicatesthe need to increase appropriate services to theimmigrant population.

Immigration in New Brunswick

In New Brunswick the immigrant population isincreasing but there is a limited of programmingto meet their literacy needs. There isprogramming through the MulticulturalAssociations but there does not seem to be afocus within the Workplace Essential Skillsprogram to target this group of potential orcurrent employees.

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122 Profession-Specific Language and Communication Assessment in Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy,Conference Board of Canada, 2009123 Employers Roadmap, TASC for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2009124 Hiring and Retaining Internationally Trained Workers, TASC125 A Snapshot of Occupational Task Profiles: Canadian Literacy and Essential Skills Workforce, CLLN, May 2012

Immigration in Nova Scotia

Business leaders in Nova Scotia cannot findpeople with the skills they need to take fulladvantage of opportunities in changingmarkets126. Attracting more professionallytrained immigrants with international ties toindustry in their countries of origin is crucial ifNova Scotia is to compete, and grow. It will alsomean that adequate programming needs to be inplace to address their learning needs.

Better targeting of immigrants with the skillsCanada needs, along with improved languagetraining and better recognition of foreigncredentials, will lessen language barriers andreduce the number of skilled immigrants who areunemployed or in low-paying unskilled work. Forthose who are less skilled it is important toprovide language and essential skills training.

Immigration in Prince Edward Island

In PEI the Immigrant Work Experience Initiativeprovides recent immigrants with a one-timework experience opportunity in order to helpthem gain long-term employment.

Immigration in Quebec

According to the 2006 census, the Anglophonepopulation included 323,080 persons bornoutside Canada, representing 32.5% of the totalQuebec Anglophone population. At the time ofthe census, Italy supplied 7.1% of the Englishfirst official language spoken (FOLS) immigrants,followed by China (6.4%) and the United States(6.2%). Europe supplied over 17% of the EnglishFOLS immigrants, and Asia over 14%.

Although these immigrants have a spokencommand of English (to a varying degree), no

information is available, whether throughStatistics Canada or any provincial ministry,regarding the literacy level of these newcomers.

Immigration in Ontario

Ontario has a large immigrant population.According to Statistics Canada, there are832,000 immigrants in Ontario who do not readand write well in English or French127. Some ofthese people came to Canada with the ability tospeak English or French fluently, but theirreading and writing skills are less developed. Theproportion of immigrants to Ontario with lowprose literacy is higher than the Canadianaverage128.

Immigration in Manitoba

By 2016, Manitoba will have 20,000 immigrantscoming into the province annually. Manitoba’sgrowing immigrant population heightens thechallenges of navigating different mandates toaccess literacy and language skills. When aperson has limited English or French skills andlow literacy in their first language, it ischallenging to determine whether the need is fora language or literacy program.

In Manitoba, refugees who have lived in campsare often not considered to be in the employablestream and are therefore often not eligible forfull-time literacy or language training. There isalso an identified gap for providing paid literacytraining to immigrants over the age of 30.Language services are governed and funded byone department of government while literacyservices are governed and funded by another.These are challenges that need to be addressed.


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126 Welcome Home to Nova Scotia, An initiative of jobsHere, Nova Scotia127 Literacy impacts new Canadians, Essential Skills Ontario128 E. Zubrow et al, Landscape of Literacy and Disability In Canada, Canadian Abilities Foundation, 2008


Immigration in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan does not have a large immigrantpopulation - only 5% of its 2006 population wereimmigrants. Of this group, 36% immigrated tothe province within the last 20 years. The mostrapidly growing group of immigrants are thoseadmitted under the Saskatchewan ImmigrantNominee Program (SINP). The programfacilitates the entry to Canada of workers whoseskills and abilities best fit the province’s needs.In 2008-09, the program admitted 72% moreprovincial nominees – 2,914 workers and 4,886family members129. The workers often needoccupational language-specific training whilefamily members require EAL and often literacyand essential skills training as well. Severalcommunity based literacy service providers offerlimited programming in this area, as well asorganizations like the Open Door Society and themore formalized regional college system.

Immigration in Alberta

Alberta’s immigrants accounted for 20% of itsworking population in 2010 - the third highestamong the provinces130.

Most immigrants were attracted to urban areasand about half are in the 25 - 44 age range. In

2011, 11.7% of total immigration was to Alberta.Employer and provincial nominee applicationsthrough Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program(AINP) average 7,500 for the year endingDecember 2010. Today, immigrants compriseapproximately one fifth of Alberta’s working-agepopulation131.

Immigration in British Columbia

After continuous declines in immigration in theearly 1980’s, BC’s share of the national totallandings increased sharply until the late 1990’s,due in part to a sharp increase in immigrantsfrom Hong Kong prior to the handover to China.In 2007, immigrant arrivals in British Columbiaaccounted for 16.5% of total Canadianimmigration132. Learning the culture andlanguage is one of the largest challenges faced byimmigrants.

ESL Settlement Assistance Program, funded byWelcomeBC, offers free language services to afairly wide variety of immigrants in BC aged 19and older. Participants improve English languageskills and learn about Canada, Canadian societyand their community. Most importantly, theyhave the opportunity to meet with and get toknow members of their new community133.

Higher levels of immigration into ruralcommunities to meet labour shortage demandsincreases stress on community services such asfamily centres and schools. Some familymembers may be able to work in a majorindustry, but others have to try to find work insmall businesses.

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129 Saskatchewan’s Immigration Strategy: Strengthening our Communities and Economies, Government ofSaskatchewan, 2009130 Alberta Labour Force Profiles, Immigrants, Alberta Government, October 2011131 Impact of immigration on Canada’s Digital Economy: Regional Outlook – Alberta, , Information andCommunication Technologies Council, June 2012132 Off-Reserve Aboriginal Action Plan, Business Case to Close the Socioeconomic Gaps for Off-Reserve

Aboriginal People in British Columbia, BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres, 2011 133 ESL Settlement Assistance Program, WelcomeBC

Youth

Youth literacy refers to the ability of young adultsbetween the ages of 15 to 20 to use andunderstand the information they need to createand achieve goals for everyday life.

Often young people gain skills through formaleducation, particularly high school. But, someyouth just don’t do well in formal education for avariety of reasons. Youth who do not succeed inschool or who “fall through the cracks” are lesslikely to set and achieve healthy goals. They aremore likely to engage in behaviours that areantisocial, unhealthy, or illegal.

Young people drop out or struggle throughschool for many reasons. A lack of basic literacyskills is a common factor, as is a negativeassociation with learning environments. Familyinstability, violence, substance abuse andundiagnosed learning disabilities are otherfactors that can make learning difficult. Often,they do not trust the adults in their lives and theymay have had experiences with the justicesystem. Simply teaching literacy is not alwaysenough. Community building, group decisionmaking, conflict resolution and problem-solvingskills are all part of the equation.

Young adults who drop out of school and laterenrol in an adult education program also requireassistance in overcoming social and emotionalbarriers and learning the basics of how tolearn134. They typically have substantial gaps intheir learning but perceive themselves to befurther advanced in their education. Theycontinue to struggle with issues of poverty andhousing crisis and have a desire to work but arenot ready to fully meet employer expectations.

The majority of jobs in Canada require at leastLevel 3 literacy skill, yet 43% of all studentsleaving Canada’s high schools still do so with

Level 1 and 2 skills135. Some students obtain theirgrade 12 diploma but don’t have the skills thatthe level of education implies. About 10% of highschool students don’t graduate.

Among those aged 20 to 24, the high schooldropout rate fell in all provinces from the early1990s to the late 2000s. In 1990/1993,Newfoundland and Labrador had the highestdropout rate in Canada (19.9%); by 2007/2010,it had one of the lowest (7.4%). Dropout rateswere lowest in British Columbia in 2007/2010, at6.2% and highest in Quebec, at 11.7%, followedclosely by the three Prairie provinces. That beingsaid, these rates were still significantly lowerthan those prevailing in 1990/1993136. FirstNations, Métis and Inuit youth had higherdropout rates (22.6%) than non-Aboriginal youth(8.5%) for ages 20 to 24137.


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New generations of young Aboriginalpeople will have the opportunity tobecome active participants in shapingtomorrow’s society. However, thecurrent context requires higher levelsof human capital for youth tonavigate the pathways to adulthood,a transition that already comes withvarying degrees of uncertainty andrisk. While this is true for all youth,the poor socio-economic conditions inwhich many First Nations, Inuit andMétis youth live create substantialadditional challenges.

Hope or Heartbreak Aboriginal Youthand Canada’s Future, Government of

Canada’s Policy Research Initiative andthe Research and Analysis Directorate at

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 2008

134 Youth, Decoda Literacy Solutions135 Towards a better understanding of the link between oral fluency, literacy and Essential Skills, DataAngelPolicy Research Inc., 2011136 Trends in Dropout Rates and the Labour Market Outcomes of Young Dropouts, Statistics Canada, 2010137 ibid


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Some of the initiatives, such as ASETS, ASEP andSPF, discussed on pages 57 and 58, promoteemployment opportunities for First Nations,Métis and Inuit, but there is still a need to targetyouth and to improve socio-economic conditionsin order to address the high dropout rate. Thefederal program, Cultural Connections for

Aboriginal Youth Program (CCAY), inpartnership with the National Association ofFriendship Centres (NAFC), and AboriginalAffairs and Northern Development Canada is oneprogram that is working to equip young First

Nations, Métis and Inuit people with the skillsand experience they need to participate morefully in Canada’s economy. The NWT LiteracyCouncil is the lead researcher on a pan-northernyouth literacy project that is examining andpiloting potential strategies to re-engagedisengaged youth in skill development.

Figure 6 compares the Canadian dropout rate toa number of other countries. While Canadaperforms better than some other countries, thereis still considerable room for improvement. Itremains an issue that affects economic outcomes.

Figure 6: Drop Out Rates by Country, 2002

Source: Canadian Council on Learning (2002)

Canada's unemployment rate for young people is14.2% and the 15-24 age group has seen littleimprovement in the past several years138. Theyouth jobless rate in Nefoundland and Lbrador is19% as of June 2012139. Nova Scotia's jobless ratefor young people is 19.9% – the highest in adecade. Ontario's rate is 17.2%. By contrast,Alberta and Saskatchewan have the lowest youthjobless rates in the country, at 9.7% and 8.9%respectively – a contrast that will no doubtcontinue to lure young people west.

Dropout rates show that there is still work to bedone in improving the literacy skills of youth whohave just entered or are about to enter theworkforce. Youth who have dropped out ofschool are typically not working at the levelneeded for most literacy tasks in Canada.

Youth in the Provinces and territories

Youth in Nunavut

Fifty-three percent of the Nunavut population iscurrently below the age of 25. The teenpregnancy rate is one of the highest in thecountry and the high school completion rate forInuit is less than 25%. Over 80% of the Inuityouth aged 16 to 25 scored less than Level 3, inprose literacy proficiency. The territory also hasthe smallest working age population which, whencombined with the high population of thoseunder 15, gives Nunavut the highest dependencyratio in the country. Clearly, low literacy levels,unemployment, poverty and other socialproblems will continue to increase unless actionis taken at all levels. Addressing the needs ofmarginalized youth is a critical issue. Out ofschool and often isolated from the community,improving the Literacy and Essential Skills ofyouth is one of Nunavut’s biggest and mostimportant challenges. Through youth,workplace/workforce, and family literacy

research projects, stakeholders have consistentlyvoiced concern over the need to develop Literacyand Essential Skills programming to engagemarginalized youth (those who have dropped outand who are not employed). Recommendationsfor the development of flexible, non-formal,community-based programs were identifiedwithin all of these stakeholder groups as being atop priority.

In March, 2007, Ilitaqsiniq, Nunavut LiteracyCouncil produced a report: Barriers to Youth

Employment in Nunavut140. These barriers couldalso be applied to other areas in the North. Theyinclude:

4 racism and colonialism and their effects

4 Inuit language and traditional learning style

4 family/school divide and other challenges tothe school system

4 limited opportunities within smaller communities and the college system

4 learning disabilities

4 lack of literacy skills, including workplace skills

4 policy and program supports


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138 CANSIM data, Statistics Canada, 2012139 Labour Force Information, June 10 to 16, 2012, Statistics Canada140 Barriers to Youth Employment in Nunavut, Nunavut Literacy Council, 2007

The report highlights some crucialrecommendations as can be seen below. Theseare areas that will be important in movingforward.

For employers, including the Government of

Nunavut:

1. Support apprenticeship training, including building it into government-funded contracts

2. Offer Inuktitut as a first language training for employees without full fluency

3. Offer literacy and other essential skills training in the workplace

4. Offer Inuktitut as second language training in the workplace

5. Expand housing options available to students relocating to take further training

6. Explore on-the-job mentoring for youth entering the workforce, anticipating that literacy skills may be incomplete

For educators:

1. Extend learning programs to include pre-school components, with an early childhood education focus across the territory

2. Develop and implement programs to engage families of students in the school community. This could be as simple as holding an annual feast to celebrate the start of school

3. Offer literacy support to all students who are failing to grasp material being taught

4. Integrate more hands-on learning opportunities and learning by doing, rather than relying heavily on text-based materials

5. Develop alternatives to written tests to assess students’ learning

6. Increase access to vocational resources and training for secondary school students

7. Offer evening courses to allow access for people in the workforce

8. Adapt high school and adult basic education programs to be pre-workforce training programs

9. Develop part-time options for adult basic education programs

10. Offer space at school for homework after school hours

11. Consider developing ‘homework clubs’ for students

12. Develop and implement more programs for marginalized youth – those who may never go back to school

For governments:

1. Implement a plain language policy for all print materials in all languages.

2. Extend training funding to employers wishing to offer literacy training and/or Inuktitut as a second language training to employees

3. Apply ‘healing foundation’ funding to test for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE )and provideappropriate supports for learning and working for those in need

4. Fund summer employment in trades-related fields to provide youth with experience and exposure to more skilled jobs

5. Fund mentorship programs for youth who are more suited to land-based economic activity with elders who possess the necessary skills for success

For communities:

1. Build on existing resources and models to create programs that will include youth who are not likely to undertake formal training for cash-economy employment

2. Document promising practices in place in communities, including an analysis of what conditions are necessary to achieve success and what lessons have been learned over the life of the program


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For Ilitaqsiniq, Nunavut Literacy Council:

1. Explore and develop workplace literacy materials and programs

2. Continue to develop community outreach and development strategies to support non-formal learning such as family literacy and programs with a cultural focus

3. Develop and distribute a template to capture information about successful programs, including necessary conditions for success and lessons learned in delivering the programs

4. Seek funding to gather completed templatesand disseminate them to communities

throughout the territory to encourage customization and replication

Source: Nunavut Literacy Council, Barriers

to Youth Employment in Nunavut, 2007

Youth in Northwest territories

The NWT has one of the youngest populations inCanada. The proportion of the population under15 years of age (21.7%) is the second highest afterNunavut. Approximately 46.3% are under theage of 29. Although the Grade 12 graduation ratehas increased in recent years to approximately50%, it is still considerably lower than in the restof Canada, and this rate is considerably lower insmaller communities. There is also a significantgap between the graduation rates of the FirstNations, Métis and Inuit and non-Aboriginalpopulations. IALSS found that the percentage ofNWT youth below level 3 in all skill areas isconsiderably higher than the national average. Itis also higher than all other provinces andterritories, except Nunavut. Youth whose parentshave not completed high school have the lowestliteracy scores. Thus a disproportionate numberof NWT youth are at a disadvantage because oflow literacy levels and have difficultyparticipating in the Territory’s wage economy.The literacy skills of young people are important,

because this group has the most time tocontribute their knowledge and skills to theirfamilies, their communities and the labourmarket.

Overall almost 21% of NWT’s population 15 yearsand older have no high school diploma, but inthe smaller communities that rate rises to 32%.The Department of Education, Culture andEmployment is focusing on improving thesuccess rate of Aboriginal students through itsAboriginal Student Achievement initiative withits four priorities: early childhood and care,family and student supports, Aboriginal languageand culture, and literacy.

Non-formal programs are community designedand delivered programs that respond to theunique needs of people in a specific community.They are generally not delivered in a classroomsetting, but are well-planned and carefullydesigned to include literacy components. Theyoften appeal to people with lower levels ofliteracy because they are less threatening thanformal classroom-based instruction. Participantsdo not receive certificates or diplomas, allowingmore flexibility in program content and delivery.They are particularly effective in engaging youthin learning. In NWT the Community LiteracyFund offers small amounts of funding to supportnon-formal programs, but, given theirimportance and their potential, much more mustbe done to support community groups plan andrun such programs.

Youth in the Yukon

As of March 2012, around 15% of Yukon’spopulation were under the age of 15. Theterritory experiences relatively low graduationrates in communities and many youth are notready to undertake vocational training when theyleave the public school system. Yukon LiteracyCoalition recognizes the need for more supportfor non-formal programs in both Whitehorse andrural Yukon.


Youth in Newfoundland and Labrador

Over the past 20 years, the province hasexperienced the out-migration of over 80,000people, 80% of whom were young people aged 15to 29. It is estimated that by 2022, there willpotentially be one new labour force entrant (15-24 years old) for every two retirees (55-64 yearsold).

In Newfoundland and Labrador, close to 60% ofyouth ages 16 -25 had prose literacy proficiencyat Level 3 or above while 40% were below Level3. Low literacy could impact adversely on youthin terms of participation in postsecondaryeducation and success in the labour market141.

Newfoundland and Labrador has a Youth atPromise basic literacy program for people ages 16-24. It provides a supportive learningenvironment for youth who face significantbarriers to obtaining access to education becausethey have dropped out of school. The programoffers an individualized program based onacademic need, re-introduces learning to youthand increases their confidence and self esteem142.

Youth in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI

There appears to be a youth unemploymentproblem in urban centres of Atlantic Canada asindividuals aged 15-24 years have much higherunemployment rates than nationally143.

The Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick (LCNB)reports that there is a gap in programming forthose students who have dropped out of highschool but are not eligible for adult programs.There are a number of youth at-risk who dropout of school at the age of 16-17, but if they wantto continue with their education they have toreturn to the school system which is not a settingthat works for them. This challenge is alsoacknowledged by literacy staff in Nova Scotia and PEI.

Youth in Quebec

Quebec’s Plan Nord initiative has identified thatmanpower training will present a challenge. Thedropout rate is much higher for Aboriginalstudents than elsewhere in the province (2008-2009):

4 Quebec – 24%

4 Naskapi – 70%

4 Inuit – 81%

4 Cree – 92%

If these students are to benefit from the PlanNord project, it is clear that they will require skillupgrades.

Youth in Manitoba

The drop-out rate in Manitoba has improvedsignificantly in the past decade. More studentsare staying in school longer and those who haveleft are returning in unprecedented numbers.However, as the C.D. Howe Institute noted inDrop Outs: The Achilles Heel of Canada’s High

School System, Manitoba has higher thannational rates for those without high schoolcertification for both the 20 to 24 and 25-34 agegroups144.

Youth in Alberta

Among the provinces, Alberta had the thirdhighest proportion of youth in its working agepopulation at 16.9%, after Manitoba’s 17.3% andSaskatchewan’s 17.1%. Alberta’s youthemployment rate of 62.7% was the highestamong the provinces. The Services-Producingsector in Alberta comprised 77.9% of all youthemployment145.

In 2011, Alberta youth accounted for 37.7% ofthose employed in the Accommodation and Food

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141 Caroline Vaughan, Submission to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of JusticeConsultation on the Human Rights Code, Literacy Newfoundland and Labrador, 2009142 Youth at Promise, Thrive Community Youth Network143 Meeting the Skills Challenge: Five Key Labour Market Issues Facing Atlantic Canada, Atlantic ProvincesEconomic Council, October 2012144 Drop Outs: The Achilles Heel of Canada’s High School System, No. 298, C.D. Howe Institute, October 2009145 Alberta Labour Force Profiles, Youth, Employment Alberta, 2011

Services industry. 75.2% of employed youth hadobtained a high school graduation, a post-secondary certificate or diploma, a universitydegree, or had some post-secondary education.Of employed youth, 76.5% of female youth and74.1% of male youth had attained a high schooldiploma.

In 2011, 24.8% of employed youth had less thanhigh school education compared to 11.5% ofemployed Albertans, and 35.2% of youth werehigh school graduates compared to 23.3% ofAlbertans.

Youth in British Columbia

While British Columbia’s literacy profile isstronger than the Canadian average, scoresamong younger adults (16-25) are lower than theCanadian average with 12% of younger BC adultshaving difficulty with even the most basic writtenmaterials146. One in five people enrolled in theschool system do not graduate in the expectedtimeframe.

The McCreary Centre Society is a not-for-profitorganization committed to improving the healthof BC youth through research, education andcommunity based projects. It sponsors andpromotes a wide range of activities and researchto identify and address the health needs of youngpeople. McCreary conducts the AdolescentHealth Survey and also survey research withyouth not captured in a mainstream schoolsurvey. These include youth in custody, streetinvolved youth, and youth in alternativeeducation projects147.

Youth neither in Employment nor

training

In the youth population as a whole, there areyoung people who are neither in employment,nor in education or training (called NEET inmany countries). This segment has been growingin recent years reflecting a deepeningdetachment from the labour market. Analysis byStatistics Canada finds 13% or 904,000, of the6.8 million Canadians between the ages of 15 and29 weren't in school nor at work last year 148.However, Statistics Canada has the followingexplanation:

The report stated that, among young people whowere not in the labour force, one in five said theywanted a job, despite the fact that they were notlooking for one. Half had reasons for not looking,such as feeling too discouraged about finding


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146 Satya Brink, Literacy in British Columbia, Statistics Canada, 2006147 BC Adolescent Health Survey, McCreary Centre Society, 2012148 Katherine Marshall, Youth neither enrolled nor employed, Statistics Canada, May 2012

The data suggests mostCanadian youth who are NEETsare not in a high-risk, negativestate. Certainly some youth arehaving a tough time finding ajob matching their credentials,but that's not the majority. ManyCanadians in the NEET categoryare in a period of short-termunemployment, or out on atemporary absence such asparental leave, suggesting theyare not disengaged with thelabour market.

Katherine Marshall, Statscan


work, waiting for recall and being sick. Mostyoung people not in the labour force (82%) didn'twant a job. Of the 82% of youth not in the labourforce who did not want a job, 5% had future workarrangements, 6% were permanently unable towork, 7% were non-traditional students, 20%had no known activity but had young children athome, and 44% had no known activity and nochildren at home. Lower levels of education wereassociated with higher rates of youthunemployment and long-term unemployment.

CLLN believes this is an issue that needs carefulmonitoring, given the risks of both futureemployability and social exclusion. To reachNEETs the report cites a U.S. joint initiative withbusiness leaders and communities to givesummer jobs to hundreds of thousands ofdisconnected and low-income youths to helpthem gain work experience, skills and contacts.

Skills for Jobs

For the next two decades at least, there will bemany people without jobs, and even more jobswithout people. Many unemployed andunderemployed youth won't be considered forjobs because they will not have the skillsemployers need. Those who receive good careerguidance, coaching and mentoring will haveinformation to prepare them for their futures.Those who embrace lifelong learning will be inhigh demand. They will literally have their choiceof opportunities. Those who don't have cleargoals and don't see the point in continuouslyupgrading their knowledge, skills, and networkswill be unsuccessful. To this end, it is importantthat all Canadians participate in lifelong learningand that we have the programs in place for themto do so. It is also important that we raiseawareness of the importance of lifelong learningand Essential Skills and are able to clearly

demonstrate the benefits. It is important thatoutreach strategies and career guidance reach allsegments of the youth population both in highschool and when youth are no longer part of theschool system.

Seniors and Older Workers

This section looks at seniors and older workersand the impact that an increasing number ofretirees has on the workforce149. Demographicchanges are increasing the average age inCanada. As a result, there will be more peoplerelying on fewer active workers coming into theworkforce. However, because many Canadiansare healthier than in previous generations it islikely that fewer people will retire at 65 and thatmore will choose to continue working, especiallythose without adequate pensions.

As older Canadians continue to work they willprobably need to update their skills and continuelearning to cope with the fast pace of change inthe workplace. This emphasizes the importanceof continuous learning throughout life.Unfortunately, adult training is not spread evenlyacross the workforce. Those who most needtraining – older workers and those with limitededucation – are the least likely to receive it150.

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149 There are ongoing debates about the definition of "senior". According to the Government of Canada, a senior is aperson over 65.150 OECD Policy Brief, July 2007

While there is a lack of programming to meet theliteracy needs of seniors in New Brunswick, thegovernments of Canada and New Brunswick haveworked in partnership on the Initiative for OlderWorkers. Activities have included promoting thevalue of older workers to employers, deliveringtraining workshops, matching participants withemployers to help them gain work experienceand supporting them through their placements.This initiative has supported about 1,000 people.This could be an initiative to explore for otherprovinces and territories.

The New Horizons for Seniors Program (NHSP)is a federal grants and contributions programthat supports projects led or inspired by seniorswho make a difference in the lives of others andin their communities. It is important for Literacyand Essential Skills providers to be aware of thisprogram so that they can promote it incommunities across their provinces andterritories.

The National Seniors Council advises theGovernment of Canada on current and emergingissues and opportunities related to the quality oflife and well-being of seniors, both now and inthe future. In 2011, the National Seniors Councilexamined the labour force participation ofseniors and near-seniors, and intergenerationalrelations. In 2012, it is building on thatmomentum by talking to employers about thechallenges and opportunities posed by an agingworkforce and seeking best practices fromemployers in recruiting and retaining older workers.

Consultations with Older Workers and

Employers by HRSDC

In 2011, Human Resources and SkillsDevelopment Canada (HRSDC) used a series ofroundtables to gain a better understanding of thelabour market opportunities and challenges forolder workers and employers in the context ofpopulation aging151. The focus was on workplacepractices and conditions that affect the labourmarket attachment of older workers. Separateconsultations with employers and older workersencouraged frank discussion. In the past,employer perspectives on retaining andrecruiting older workers have remained largelyunexplored in Canada.

Many older workers stated that ongoingopportunities for personal and professionalgrowth played a key role in keeping themmotivated and interested in their work. Withrespect to skills recognition, many older workerswere interested in trying new and different kindsof work but were not sure what types ofemployment their existing skills and knowledgewould allow them to pursue.

In general, employers and older workers agreedon a number of promising practices for olderworker retention. They can be categorized asfollows:

4 accommodating workplaces

4 financial incentives and pension benefits

4 quality work experience

4 skills development

4 health benefits and wellness supports

Issues of skills development were repeatedlydiscussed by both employers and older workers,as they could play a critical role in older workerretention. Participants discussed theopportunities presented by investments intraining and professional development,


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151 Consultations with Older Workers and Employers, HRSDC, October 2011


succession planning and mentoring. Whether itwas to improve a worker's skills for their currentposition or for allowing them to move to a newrole within the organization, employers stressedthe value of on-the-job training, workshops andpeer support. However, these programs typicallytarget either all employees or specific occupationgroups rather than older workers specifically.

Some employers noted that giving older workersthe opportunity to train others through formal orinformal mentoring, or by contributing to thedevelopment of training materials and programs,is a good way to transfer skills and knowledge.One employer in the health care sector shared anexample of what was called "reverse mentoring":new nurses (with extensive knowledge of thelatest technological advances) were paired withexperienced ones (with knowledge of clinicalpractice) to support two-way knowledge sharing.

This research shows the importance ofsupporting older employees to stay in theworkforce. It would appear from this informationthat employees are willing to participate intraining and yet other research suggests that it isdifficult to get older workers to commit totraining152. The Statistics Canada report,Perspectives on Labour and Income, found thatolder workers are still significantly less likely toparticipate in job-related training than theircounterparts in the 25-54 age range, even aftertaking labour market and socio-economic factorsinto account153. Between July 2007 and June2008, 32% of workers 55-64 took some trainingcompared to 45% of those aged 25-54154. Giventhe recent trend towards delayed retirement, job-related training (courses and programs) isincreasingly important for older workers and foremployers working with an aging workforce155.

As the numbers of young people decline, and asolder workers are encouraged to stay in theworkforce, it is unthinkable that older workerswould not receive further training. StatisticsCanada report, Perspectives on Labour andIncome, states that the training gap betweenolder and younger workers shrank between 1991and 2008156. The training participation rate ofolder workers doubled in that period, however,the participation rates remained significantlybelow those of younger workers (14% lower in2007/08). Almost two-thirds of the increase inparticipation can be attributed to changes ineducational attainment and workplacecharacteristics but there is also evidence of ageneral upward trend.

In PEI, Passport to Employment is a jointinitiative of the Federal and Provincialgovernment to address the employment needs ofolder workers (55 – 64) wanting to stay in theworkforce or return to employment. It is madeup of a short course on job skills, knowledge andconfidence and is followed by the opportunity toseek employment through a federally-funded jobsearch program.

The NWt has a low proportion of seniors, butthis has been the fastest growing age segmentover the last 20 years. Seniors have lower levelsof school achievement than younger adults: thisis more apparent in smaller communities withproportionately larger Aboriginal seniorpopulations.

The topic of Seniors’ Literacy and EssentialSkills, when they are no longer in the workforceis one that needs further research andinvestment.

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152 Perspectives on Labour and Income, Statistics Canada, Summer 2012153 ibid154 ibid155 Y. Carrière and D. Galarneau, Delayed Retirement: A New Trend? Perspectives on Labour and Income. Vol. 23no. 4 Winter. Statistics Canada, 2011156 Perspectives on Labour and Income, Statistics Canada, Summer 2012

Essential Skills in the Workforce

The last decade has seen an increasing volume ofresearch that suggests a significant percentage ofthe Canadian workforce has levels of Literacyand Essential Skills below that required for theiroccupations. This is not only an issue facing thelong-term unemployed or workers recentlydisplaced from traditional resource-based sectorsor goods-producing industries. More than a thirdof frontline workers in service sectors, includingRetail Trade and Tourism, have literacy levelsbelow the skill profiles typically demanded intheir jobs157. The Literacy and Essential Skillsprofile of a population affects the performance ofenterprises and communities in that society.

Workers with Low Essential Skills

The sectors with the highest number of workerswith low essential skills are those in which smallbusinesses account for over two-thirds ofemployment. This is illustrated in Figure 7.


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Differences in average literacylevels explain more than 55% ofdifferences in the long-term growthrate of gross domestic products(GDP) per capita at both thenational and provincial level. Theproportion of adults with lowliteracy levels constrains long-termeconomic growth rates, and someeffects at the national level appearto stem from the increasedprevalence of illness and accidentsuffered by low skilled adults.

McCracken and Murray, The EconomicBenefits of Literacy: Evidence and

Implications for Public Policy, 2010

157 D. Gyarmati, UPSKILL: A Ground-Breaking Evaluation of Workplace Essential Skills Training, Literacy NovaScotia News, Spring 2012

Figure 7: Percentage of workers with low essential skills by sector

Source: Making Required Skills Investments Go Further Webinar, OLES, HRSDC, 2012


Successfully addressing the challenges of lowliteracy can enhance the effectiveness oftechnical training and increase performance on-the-job. This is observed in reduction of errors,higher productivity, reduced costs, increasedsales and even improved customer satisfaction.Workers also benefit in the form of improvedwages, greater job stability and even from lowerhealth risks from workplace injury.

Nunavut is a complex employment environment.Workplace education in the Nunavut context ischallenged by factors such as dual languages,high turnover, dispersed workplaces, apopulation with low Essential Skills, and arelatively new territorial government. Inuitcomprise 85% of Nunavut’s population. Morethan half of Nunavut’s working age populationstruggle with serious literacy challenges. The fourofficial languages of Nunavut are Inuktitut,Inuinnaqtun, English and French. The social,political and linguistic changes that haveoccurred in Nunavut over the last forty yearshave radically changed the literacy skills thatNunavummiut need to function in the globaleconomy. There has been insufficient support forthe transition and acquisition of what would beconsidered modern literacies. These challengesare greater in the small communities wherepeople face a wide variety of systemic barriersthat prevent them from achieving their potential.

Despite the availability of a small amount ofemployment in traditional occupations such ashunting and trapping, employment created bythe cash economy and other aspects ofcontemporary society have radically changed theskills required to function effectively in manyaspects of modern Nunavut. In fact, it is difficultto participate in the wage economy of Nunavutwithout a proficient knowledge of English andhighly developed reading, writing and computerskills despite efforts by government, Inuitorganizations and others to make Inuktitut theprimary working language.

Article 23 of the Nunavut Land Claims

Agreement was created to ensure increasedemployment opportunities for Land ClaimBeneficiaries. Under this article, Inuit with theskills to fulfill job criteria competing with non-Inuit for a particular position are given hiringpriority. The Nunavut ImplementationCommission set a goal in which the governmentworkforce reflects 85% Inuit population. Thisfigure was decreased to 50% as a result of thelack of Inuit with appropriate levels of education.Consequently, the Government of Nunavut stillheavily relies on an imported labour force andInuit are not fully benefitting from newemployment opportunities. The need forincreased training and education opportunitiesin Nunavut is clear.

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Skills Shortages

In December 2011, there were 222,000employment vacancies across the country,according to Statistics Canada. The Bank ofCanada’s business outlook survey, released inApril 2012, showed employers are struggling tofill positions. The survey showed 27% of firmsreported a labour shortage this spring, near athree-year high, though below levels seen lastdecade.

There’s no shortage of people looking for work.Groups with high jobless rates such as FirstNations, Métis and Inuit, recent immigrants andthose with disabilities, are struggling to landgood jobs. Youth unemployment is nearly 14%.Despite this, employers across the country saythey can’t find the right workers for all kinds ofavailable jobs.

Mr. Carney, Central Bank Governor, reportedthat shifts in the labour market mean workers indeclining industries may not have the skills orexperience to match immediately the needs ofemployers in expanding industries158.

The Ten Point National Plan released February8, 2012, by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce(CCC) also identified a shortage of skilled labouras the biggest impediment to Canadiancompetitiveness in the global economy. Thereport was compiled after a year of businessroundtables and consultations with members,experts in the field and other key stakeholders.

In February 2012, Perrin Beatty, CEO of theCanadian Chamber of Commerce predicted thatover the next decade there would be shortfalls of163,000 in construction, 130,00 in oil and gas,60,000 in nursing, 37,000 in trucking, 22000 inthe hotel industry and 10,000 in the steeltrades159.

The Association of Canadian CommunityColleges (ACCC) has also completed extensiveresearch on the industries that will be hard hit byskills shortages160. In a snapshot of the currentskills shortage crisis in Canada it reported thatthe construction sector will need approximately260,000 new workers over the next eight years.


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graphic element

158 Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada, Presentation to: Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of

Commerce, Waterloo, Ontario, April 2, 2012159 P. Beatty, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, February 2012160 The Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) is a national, voluntary membership organizationrepresenting colleges and institutes to government, business and industry, both in Canada and internationally.The ACCC interacts with federal departments and agencies on members' behalf and links college capabilities tonational industries.

In 2008, 83% of CanadianCEOs are most concerned aboutlack of key labour skills.

In 2012, half the CEOs aroundthe world felt that hiring wasdifficult for reasons of skillsshortages.

Annual Global CEO Surveys,PricewaterhouseCooper, 2008, 2012

Skills were the number oneconcern — no matter where youwent, no matter whom youtalked to.

CCC president and CEO, Perrin Beatty


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Construction is not the only industry that willsuffer without skilled workers. The CanadianFood Industry Council indicates a skill shortage

in the areas of meat cutting, floral design, naturalfoods, deli, bakery, pharmacy and storemanagement.

The World Economic Forum recently reportedthat Canada’s competitiveness ranking hasslipped from 9th place in 2009 to 14th place in2012161. In part, this decline is attributed to adecline in workplace training. The trend inCanada’s ranking in the Global CompetitivenessIndex from 2007 to the present is shown inFigure 8.

Canada is expected to suffer greatlywith the aging working populationslowly moving out of the market,affecting sectors from the foodindustry to mining, construction totechnology. A survey put out by theCanadian Federation for IndependentBusiness in 2006 found that becauseof a lack of skilled workers, manyCFIB members were choosing tofunction with fewer employees andignore new business opportunities.

Without the people with the rightskills, there simply won’t be the samelevel of economic flourish thatCanada has seen in the past—notwithstanding the current economicdownturn Canada is experiencing.

Canadian Business Journal, May 2012

People just don’t realize howfundamental the food industry is. Weneed people interested in careers infood safety, real estate, advertising,store design, finance, informationtechnology, marketing, franchiseoperations, merchandising, andhuman resources just to mention afew.

James Knight, CEO of the ACCC

Figure 8: Canada's Global Competitiveness Ranking

161 Global Competitiveness Report, 2012-13, World Economic Forum, September 2012

A minimum required literacy level of IALSSLevel 3 is considered necassary for Canada’sworkforce in order for Canada’s businesses toremain competitive in a global context162.

There are two identified skills gaps in Canada;specific occupational gaps and general skillsgaps.

4 Specific occupational gaps arise in areas such as nursing, construction and the hotel industry

4 General skills gaps cover the whole workforce and arise because of the increasing skills requirements in today’s workforce

Figure 9 below shows the skills that employers inthe Canadian Manufacturers and ExportersAssociation feel their employees need toimprove. 47% also reported that skilled labour isan important or critically important issue.


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… Canada has been successful innurturing its human resourcescompared with other advancedeconomies (it is ranked 7th for healthand primary education and 15th forhigher education and training), thedata suggest a slight downward trendof its performance in higher education(ranking 8th place on highereducation and training two yearsago), driven by lower universityenrollment rates and a decline in theextent to which staff is being trainedat the workplace.

World Economic Forum, Global

Competitiveness Report, 2012-13

Figure 9: Skills Needing Improvement

Source: Annual Management Issues Survey, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, 2007-2008

161 Learning a Living First Results of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey, OECD and Statistics Canada, 2005


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Figure 10 shows that there is a discrepancybetween the skills that are needed and the skillsthat employees have. It shows that the employerswant people with IALSS Level 3 skills whereasthe Canadian workforce has a significant numberof people with lower skills that do not meet jobneeds.

As discussed in Demographics on page 48, theaging of Canada’s workforce is expected to resultin a shortfall of about 1 million workers by 2020.This demographic shift will greatly exacerbatethe effects of skills shortages.

Addressing these skills gaps requires a variety ofinter-linked solutions; CLLN believes that strongLiteracy and Essential Skills are needed toprovide the foundation for success.

Figure 10: Comparison of Skills Needed by Employers and Skills of Canadians

Source: Training and Development Outlook, Conference Board of Canada, 2003

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises(SMEs)

Small and medium-sized businesses (excludingagriculture) with fewer than 100 employees makeup 98% of businesses. Small and medium-sizedbusinesses, with less than 500 employees,account for 54.2% of business-sector GDP andemploy 64% of private sector workers. SMEs aremore prevalent in services-producing industriesthan in goods-producing industries. In Canada,the wholesale and retail industries combinedproduced the largest share of small-and-medium-sized business GDP (21%), followed bymining and manufacturing (17%), finance (16%),construction (12%), and professional services(8%). The top five SME sectors in major cities(Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, andVancouver) by number of businesses are:

4 Professional Scientific and Technical Services

4 Construction

4 Retail and Wholesale Trade

4 Health Care and Social Assistance

4 Accommodation and Food Services

The Alliance of Sector Councils (TASC) notesthat SMEs are rather similar across major citieswith their most notable differences being sector-specific solutions, rather than regional-specific163.

Each year 139,000 new SMEs are created. As asignificant and growing employer group, SMEsneed to be able to access, hire, and integrateskilled workers where and when they need them.Yet in February 2012, the Canadian Chamber ofCommerce stated that one of the top 10 barriersto Canadian international competiveness is a‘desperate shortage of skilled workers’164.

According to the Canadian Federation ofIndependent Business (CFIB) research revealedthere were over 300,000 positions sitting vacantfor four months or more in Canada’s SMEs165, 166.Two-thirds of Canada’s SMEs felt findingadequately skilled workers would become moredifficult in the future, compared to only 4%believing it would become easier. Even with theweaker economy, 81% of SMEs report they willmaintain or increase staffing levels in the yearahead. An important consideration for SMEs isthat training costs twice as much per trainee asfor a large business and in difficult economictimes it is not easy to find the money toimplement training.


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163 Newcomers in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Are SMEs Ready to Hire Internationally Trained

Workers, The Alliance of Sector Councils, 2012164 ibid165 Hard Facts Survey, CFIB, Oct.-Nov. 2000-2001166 Note that, as of December 2012, Statistics Canada reports that there were 220,000 job vacancies.

85% of business in Nova Scotia is small

business with less than 10 employees:

The typical business owner in NovaScotia works 24/7 with limited humanresources, so they have a very long workday and they fulfill many roles. Thebusiness owner, employees and often theowner’s family must pitch in to get thework done: answering phones, takingorders, loading trucks, making deliveries,carrying and stacking materials andproducts, and whatever else needs doingto make the business run. That is thereality of small business in Nova Scotia,and therein lays the challenge ofincorporating Workplace Education intoan already hectic work day that neverseems to end.

Sandra McKenzie, Deputy Minister, Labourand Advanced Education, NS, Feb. 2012

SkillsPlus BC

SkillsPlus, a program of the Labour MarketDevelopment Agreement, is administered by theMinistry of Advanced Education, Innovation andTechnology. It is an example of how LabourMarket Development Agreements can beadministered in a province or territory.

Through SkillsPlus, small and mid-sizedbusinesses in BC can enhance the foundationskills of current employees, improvingproductivity and reducing costs. The program isdesigned to assist employers, in providingfoundation skills development for theiremployees by integrating essential skills intoworkplace training. In a series of pilot-projects,SkillsPlus supports the development and deliveryof customized, effective curriculum andassessment tools to meet the human resourcestraining needs of British Columbia’s small andmid-sized businesses. In the 2011/12 projectyear, nine SkillsPlus projects were funded, withdelivery spanning four economic developmentregions across the province – VancouverIsland/Coast, Lower Mainland/Southwest,Cariboo and Northeast.

Since its inception, and prior to the 2011/12investment, approximately $4 million wasallocated to SkillsPlus projects resulting inessential skills training being delivered toapproximately 900 employees of small-to-medium sized businesses throughout theprovince. SkillsPlus projects have deliveredessential skills training in the following sectors:tourism and hospitality; retail, wholesale andgrocery; health services; construction; socialhousing; security; manufacturing; forestry; andmining.

SkillsPlus has also completed a series of essentialskills studies for various sectors: construction,

forestry, health care, mining, petroleum,retail/wholesale/grocery, tourism hospitality,small business and First Nations, Métis and Inuitworkers. While the program is not restricted tothese sectors, the reports provide a usefuloverview of skill levels and increasing skillschallenges in a number of industries.

SMEs Employing Immigrants

The full utilization of skilled immigrants is thekey to Canadian productivity167.

The Alliance of Sector Councils (TASC) hasdeveloped an Employers’ Roadmap that ispublished by Citizenship and Immigration168. TheRoadmap provides information to guide andassist employers in small- to medium-sizedenterprises in small- and medium-sized cities inrecruiting and retaining internationally trainedworkers.

167 Newcomers in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Are SMEs Ready to Hire Internationally Trained

Workers, The Alliance of Sector Councils, 2012168 The Employers Roadmap, The Alliance of Sector Councils for Citizenship and Immigration, 2010

Encouraging SMEs to hire skilledimmigrants has beenapproached as a response to adeficit, problem, gap orchallenge for the SMEemployer, and/or theinternationally trained workerand/or the labour market as awhole, By contrast, we note thatthe most promising practices areactually based on incentives.

Newcomers in Small- and Medium-SizedEnterprises: Are SMEs Ready to hire

Internationally Trained Workers? TheAlliance of Sector Councils, 2012

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169 Perspectives on labour and Income, Statistics Canada, Summer 2012

Newcomers in Small- and Medium-

Sized Enterprises: Are SMEs Ready to

hire Internationally Trained Workers?

SUMMARY OF KEY INSIGHTS:

4 most SMEs are looking for more focused and streamlined coordination and timely, tailored supports and strategies to access internationally trained workers

4 SMEs themselves are rather similar across major cities, with their most notable differences being sector specific

4 some sector councils have developed highly effective tools and resources to support SMEs

4 peer knowledge is highly valued and powerful

4 employers may not engage on the issue of ITWs until their need is immediate so they may not participate in or seek out information until it is specifically relevant

4 the most promising practices are actually based on incentives, particularly in hiring programs and awareness/education initiatives

4 SMEs are looking for clear processes and policies that support swift credential recognition, competency assessment, bureaucratic processing, and community/integration supports.

Newcomers in Small- and Medium-SizedEnterprises: Are SMEs Ready to hire

Internationally Trained Workers? TheAlliance of Sector Councils, 2012

SMEs Employing Older Workers

With regard to employer size, older womenworking at small firms (less than 20 employees)were less than 50% as likely to participate inemployer supported training as those working atfirms with more than 500 employees169.

Technology

The demand for improved Literacy and EssentialSkills in Canada has evolved to include digitaltechnology. Our rapidly changing globaleconomy is pressuring business to invest intechnology to improve efficiency and staycompetitive. Consequently businesses aredemanding higher digital and technology skills atall employment levels. There is an increasingneed for entry-level employees to access, use andinterpret information using digital technology.The Menial No More discussion paper producedby Ontario Literacy Coalition demonstrates thattechnological innovations are driving theupskilling of jobs that were once consideredentry-level or low-skilled. In the past manycompanies viewed low-skilled workers as easilyreplaceable and have consequently resistedinvesting time and money into Literacy andEssential Skills training. However, as Literacyand Essential Skills organizations gainrecognition in the workplace, practices arechanging. A large Canadian manufacturerrecently told Quebec English Literacy Alliance(QELA) “We used to replace these workers butnow we keep them.”



The gap between the demand for a skilledworkforce and the supply of workers withadequate Literacy and Essential Skills iswidening. Employees in the workforce need tocommit to continuous learning and skillsupgrading as jobs are constantly evolving.Technological competencies are a key essentialskill for most employees. More than ever, theimportance of Literacy and Essential Skills isevident. Canadians need the continued efforts ofthe Office of Literacy and Essential Skills(OLES), L/ES organizations and forward-thinking companies working together to developprograms that raise literacy levels and builddigital technology skills. Businesses must hireworkers at an entry level and be willing toprovide sequenced training until they becomehighly skilled. This increases the return oninvestment (ROI) for businesses because they arenot continually hiring new staff and training isoften instrumental in increasing the loyalty ofemployees.

Job Trends

The labour market in Canada is changing at agreater rate than at any other time in history.Jobs are changing due to globalization,technological change and development ofknowledge-based economies. Demographictrends are leading to major changes in theworkforce. Providing a skilled workforce capableof addressing skills shortages in a rapidlychanging labour market is an identified target. Inresponse to these challenges, effectivepartnerships between industry, governments,educational providers, organized labour andcommunity agencies need to be fostered.

Availability of labour market information helpscommunities, regions and employment sectors tounderstand the changing landscape and planeffectively for the future. Regional economies willthrive when training opportunities are provided

so that communities can take advantage ofchanging economic circumstances. Investment inthe people of Canada brings the greatest returnfor individuals and the economy.

Human Resources and Skills DevelopmentCanada has developed an online tool thatprovides some guidance on the number of jobs inspecific industries that are likely to be availablein the future. The Canadian OccupationalProjection System shows declines in agriculture,paper manufacturing and rubber, plastics andchemicals170. It sees gains in oil and gasextraction, mining, professional businessservices and health care and social assistance.Sometimes a lack of worker mobility, such as aworking spouse or elderly parents, means that itis difficult to respond to changes in regionaldemand for jobs. Also, the shifts in employmentopportunities lead to skills gaps and hencetraining needs that must be addressed.

Clearly, many traditional jobs will remainalthough the tasks involved could be vastlydifferent. At the World Economic Forum 2006annual meeting, delegates agreed thateducational systems must be restructured inorder to meet future skill requirements and“include broad-based skills so that futureworkers find it far easier to switch betweendifferent occupations171.” At the same time,society must put a higher value on vocationalqualifications, which will be as important as auniversity degree.

Among people with high skills, half will be able tofind another job within nine weeks of becomingunemployed. For those with low skills, theaverage period of unemployment may be as highas 38 weeks172. In Canada, one-third of thevariation between low-wage and high-wageearners is attributable to difference in literacyskills. This illustrates the importance of having askilled workforce.

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170 Canadian Occupational Projection System, HRSDC171 Annual Meeting 2006, World Economic Forum, 2006 171 T. Scott Murray, An Analysis of Adult Aboriginal Literacy Levels in the Northwest Territories – How skillsinfluence outcomes, 2011

Collaborative Economic Clusters

Governments may look to economic clusters as away of increasing labour market growth on aregional basis173. However, regional priorities arebest addressed by combining local analyzes oflabour markets and other stakeholderinformation. For this to be effective there needsto be strong links between enterprises andservices at a regional level. Labour MarketInformation (LMI) can be used to identify and

assess needs of a region, develop a strategic planand make decisions regarding regional workforcedevelopment issues. LMI reports generallyinclude data on the changes in occupationaldemands, demographics, technological shifts,labour market trends and occupations skills andeducational requirements174.

Literacy and Essential Skills are a key driver inlocal economies.


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173 Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers,firms in related industries and associated institutions in a particular field. (Source: Wikipedia). A hybrid cluster usesa top-down and bottom-up approach. Governments monitor and contribute to enhancing tools, and regional clusterspinpoint priority areas, and opportunities and interventions.174 Realizing Workforce Potential through Workforce Planning Boards and Regional Literacy Networks,Essential Skills Ontario, revised from March 2012

Ontario’s local economic clusters are changing. Regions that were historically

production centres are re-orienting their local economies towards advanced

manufacturing, information and communication technology, higher value-added

services and other creative industries. Other regions are building for the future and

are anticipating growth in specific sectors. In this context, we must capitalize on the

shift to build off of our growing sectors and create a workforce development pipeline

that supplies the human capital necessary to support our changing local economic

landscapes.

From the development of the Ring of Fire region in the James Bay Lowlands to the

growing wineries and luxury hospitality in the Niagara region, the ‘Silicon Valley’ of

Kitchener-Waterloo to Biotech in the nation’s capital, and the wind farms of Sault

Ste. Marie to the growth of creative industries in Toronto, Ontario’s economy is

shifting. Diversity is Ontario’s value-added approach; we see this in our people and

our local economies. However, while our diversity is one of our strongest assets, it

also poses significant challenges in our systems’ ability to produce effective ‘one-

size-fits-all’ solutions. Different regions and different local economies possess

different challenges and have access to different resources and assets. As such, our

local economies require provincially-supported, collaborative, locally-made and

locally-focused interventions.

[…]


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Combining Labour Market Information and acluster approach could give local communitiesthe tools and frameworks they need to planahead, coordinate activities and assist inproviding services to meet the needs of their

communities175. Integrating workplace planningand Literacy and Essential Skills delivery couldhelp address issues of fragmentation which resultfrom the silos that are commonly found indifferent parts of the country.

Partnership engagement can create a coordinated feedback loop that can help

programs design initiatives that are better aligned to the needs of a given

community. Enterprises, industry associations, college educators, trainers and

employment services providers must be included in this process to help track

changes in labour demand and needs and to create effective coordinated workforce

planning and training initiatives (Grant 2011). This joined-up approach has the

potential to help create a higher level of shared responsibility, as key stakeholders

will have a vested stake in workforce development and regions will have greater

sense of ownership.

Local regions, networks, boards and community-based services have used LMI to

highlight:

4 workforce planning opportunities

4 business demographics

4 companies hiring or downsizing

4 growing occupations which have sound employment prospects

4 literacy and basic skills levels

4 workforce shortages

4 skills shortages and training opportunities

4 build local talent and attract new talent

4 integration and utilization opportunities for newcomers into the labour market

4 employment opportunities for vulnerable individuals

Realizing Workforce Potential through Workforce Planning Boards and Regional Literacy Networks,Essential Skills Ontario, revised from March 2012

175 Realizing Workforce Potential through Workforce Planning Boards and Regional Literacy Networks, EssentialSkills Ontario, revised from March 2012

Labour Market trends in the


Labour Market trends in Nunavut

Despite the availability of a small amount ofemployment in traditional occupations such ashunting and trapping, employment created bythe cash economy and other aspects ofcontemporary society have radically changed theskills required to function effectively in manyaspects of modern Nunavut. Most wage payingjobs require a proficient knowledge of Englishand highly developed reading, writing andcomputer skills.

Article 23 of the Nunavut Land Claims

Agreement was created to ensure increasedemployment opportunities for Land ClaimBeneficiaries. Under this article, Inuit with theskills to fulfill job criteria competing with non-Inuit for a particular position are given hiringpriority. The Nunavut ImplementationCommission set a goal in which the governmentworkforce reflects 85% Inuit population. Thisfigure was decreased to 50% as a result of thelack of Inuit with appropriate levels of education.Consequently, the Government of Nunavut stillheavily relies on an imported labour force andInuit are not fully benefitting from newemployment opportunities.

The need for increased training and educationopportunities in Nunavut is clear. The authors ofthe 2010 Nunavut Economic Outlook warn thatthe current lack of a qualified workforce couldput many opportunities at risk, and couldpotentially jeopardize Nunavut’s projectedeconomic expansion.

This places pressure on the territory to ensurethat education and training become a toppriority.

Labour Market trends in Northwest

territories

The NWT Gross Domestic Product (GDP)increased 79% between 1999 and 2009. Much ofthe growth occurred in the non-renewableresource sector. Diamond-related activityaccounts for 50% of the GDP (Investment,Tourism & Industry, 2009). However, in 2011,the NWT was the only province or territory toexperience a decline in GDP, falling by 5.5%176.This is in contrast to Nunavut, which increasedby 7.7% and the Yukon by 5.6%.


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176 Newstats: Gross Domestic Product, Northwest Territories, 2011 Preliminary, NWT Bureau of Statistics, April 27, 2012

...the economic growth in theKivalliq region has exposed ashortage in labour. A singleconstruction project atMeadowbank that made a point tohire Nunavummiut managed toemploy no more than 250 localpeople, approximately 20 per centof the required workforce. Thenewly-formed Mine TrainingSociety will help in the future, butwith two additional minedevelopments coming to the regionin the next five years, more actionsare needed. Nunavut must look atother barriers to employment suchas labour mobility and high-schooldropout rates.

2010 Nunavut Economic Outlook


Many people in Nunavut and the NWT arebenefiting from the increase in mining activity. Itis projected that should the ten planned minescome on line in the next few years they have thepotential to employ all able-bodied Inuit.However, the reality is that there are not enoughskilled Inuit to take advantage of this. This isparticularly the case as the mines go from theconstruction phase to the operations phasebecause operations involve more highly skilledlabour.

A decline in production in diamond mining inNWT caused the GDP in the territory’s largestindustry to decrease by 12.5% in 2011. Yet,despite the recent economic downturn, the NWTeconomy is still expected to show strong growth.Diamond mining is again ramping upproduction. However, there is a move tounderground mining which requires a differentskill set than open pit mining. This has causedlayoffs or redeployment among people who lackthe necessary skills. The diamond mines have alimited life span of approximately 20 years: twoof the diamond mines will soon have reachedthat life span. Oil and gas exploration has seen anupward trend, as have support activities formining and oil and gas extraction. Supportactivities, which include mineral exploration, canbe indicative of potential future resourcedevelopment177. The Mackenzie Gas pipelinerecently received environmental approval tomove ahead. It is important to note, however,that while there are thousands of short-term jobsduring the construction period of the pipeline,only about 45 to 55 long-term jobs are forecastonce construction is complete.

The strong economy has ensured highemployment in the NWT. In August 2012, theoverall employment rate was 72.8%, compared tothe national rate of 62.8%. Again, there is a gap

among the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginalpopulations: 59.4%, compared to 84.2%. Smallercommunities have lower employment ratesbecause of more limited job opportunities. Thediamond mines all have Impact BenefitAgreements with communities within the scopeof their activity. These agreements includequotas for employment of local people, but themines have had difficulty filling the quotasbecause of the lack of skilled northern workers.All three diamond mines have training programsfor their workers.

Labour Market trends in Yukon

Mining is gaining momentum in Yukon. Thereare more opportunities for all Yukon citizens tobe part of a growing economy. Yukon's Oil andGas sector is an important emerging industry.Yukon has unexplored oil and gas basins rich inpotential. Yukon’s government, in cooperationwith its private sector partners, is activelymarketing oil and gas development andinvestment opportunities. However, resourcedevelopment contributes to a boom and busteconomy, often creating an uncertain future.Forestry is another growing industrial sector inYukon; boreal forests cover 57% of land.

Labour Market trends in the Atlantic

Provinces

Overall employment has increased little over thelast decade. The retail industry, the largest singleemployer in Atlantic Canada, employing 180,000people, has experienced no job growth since2001. Employment in other industries has fallen.Employment in accommodation and foodservices has fallen by 9% since 2007 followingfifteen years of growth.

The ongoing shift in employment from the goodssector to the service sector has favouredemployment in urban centres. About 66% of the

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177 Newstats: Gross Domestic Product, Northwest Territories, 2011 Preliminary, NWT Bureau of Statistics, April 27, 2012

service sector jobs created in Atlantic Canadabetween 1987 and 2011 were in urban regions,even though urban markets accounted for only49% of total employment at the beginning of theperiod.

The demand for unskilled labour has declinedand this trend is expected to continue. There hasbeen a decline in Atlantic employment inprimary industries and manufacturing, largely inrural regions while employment continues toshift to the service sector. This has boosted jobgrowth in urban centres.

Increased use of immigration and temporaryforeign workers, despite continuing highunemployment in rural regions, points to apossible mismatch in the region’s labour market.Reducing rural unemployment is an obvioussource of labour but these potential workers aregenerally older and have limited formaleducation.

Policy measures to reduce rural unemploymentwould benefit from more detailed analysis of thelabour force dynamics of these individuals,including the role played by seasonalemployment and the EI program178.

Increasing the participation of under-represented groups could expand the size of theAtlantic labour force, although it is unlikely toprevent the overall impact of the aging of theworkforce. Targeting broad demographic groups,such as women, older workers and the disabled,may offer greater potential than focusing onsmaller demographic groups such as Aboriginals,immigrants and Francophones. However,reducing labour market barriers for theseindividuals is still important to improve socialinclusion179.

Little is known about how employers areresponding to tighter labour markets other thanthe fact that wages have been rising. Employersplay a key role in funding the majority of job-related training. Employers will need to be moreresponsive to the needs of employees, especiallyas they reach out to under-represented groups,but smaller firms may find it more difficult toadjust.

High school dropout rates have fallendramatically over the last two decades in AtlanticCanada, but Atlantic high school students stillperform below the Canadian average onstandardized tests.


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178 Meeting the Skills Challenge: Five Key Labour Market Issues Facing Atlantic Canada, Atlantic Provinces EconomicCouncil, October 2012179 ibid

Labour market information (LMI) iscritical to enable individuals,employers, education and traininginstitutions, and governments tomake informed choices and tofacilitate labour market adjustment.While there have beenimprovements to LMI, gaps stillremain including a lack of data onlabour mobility; real wages acrossjurisdictions; and the demand andsupply of workers for majorinvestment projects. Furtherimprovements in LMI need to becarefully considered to ensure theymaximize value for money.

Meeting the Skills Challenge: Five KeyLabour Market Issues Facing AtlanticCanada, Atlantic Provinces Economic

Council, October 2012


Provincial governments have taken on increasedresponsibility for labour markets through thedevolution of labour market programming andthe development of Provincial NomineePrograms.

Labour markets in Atlantic Canada areundergoing a profound shift from highunemployment to increased concern about askills mismatch and a shortage of workers.Policymakers need to ensure that their strategiesand programs are responsive to changing labourmarket requirements; consistent and wellintegrated; and appropriately focused.Governments can also help to facilitate dialogueand collaboration among stakeholders to ensurethat Atlantic labour markets work efficiently andare appropriately adjusting to changing realities.

Labour Market trends in Newfoundland and

Labrador

For the last thirty years Newfoundland andLabrador has had the weakest job growth in theAtlantic region. It took more than a decade foremployment levels in the province to recoverfrom the recession of the 1990s and therestructuring following the collapse of the codfishery. However, the province has had thefastest job growth in the Atlantic region duringthe last two years, boosted by new investment inits mining and energy industries – a trend that islikely to continue for a few more years at least.

Newfoundland and Labrador faces imbalances inlabour market supply, with fewer people enteringthe labour force and large numbers of retirees. Arecent report from the Department of HumanResources, Labour and Employment predicted7,700 new jobs will be created from 2011 to2020, of which approximately 67% will be inmanagement and require some form of post-secondary education180. The resource andconstruction sectors continue to grow and are

likely to continue to do so until about 2015 whena decline is forecasted.

Among the most significant labour marketchallenges facing Newfoundland and Labradorare labour shortages associated with under-employment and aging. Literacy and EssentialSkills training initiatives can play a role inaddressing these forecasted labour marketshortages.

Labour Market trends in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is facing a time of change andopportunity. Winning the $25 billionshipbuilding contract will provide greatopportunities, however there are somechallenges. Nova Scotia’s economic stability istied to its ability to compete and respond tochanges in the global market. Nova Scotiarequires an adaptable workforce that is strong innumbers and in skills.

jobsHere highlights actions the government willtake to promote long-term sustainable economicgrowth and job opportunities for Nova Scotians.It focuses on three priority areas:

4 learning the right skills for good jobs

4 growing the economy through innovation

4 helping businesses be more competitive globally

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180 Newfoundland and Labrador Market Outlook 2020, Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Human Resources.Labour and Employment, 2011

Labour Market trends in New Brunswick

In the 12 month period up to August 2012, therehave been job gains in the service sector butthese have been exceeded by losses in the goods-producing sector. Overall, unemployment hasrisen above 10% in 2012181. New Brunswick hasseen a significant increase in the number of olderworkers in employment. Workers of 60+ yearsincreased from about 3% of the labour force in2000 to over 9% in 2011182.

The labour market in New Brunswick will facesome dramatic shifts as the Irving shipbuildingproject gets underway in Nova Scotia. There willbe an increasing need for skilled labour that willmost likely see a migration of New Brunswickworkers to Nova Scotia, leaving a skills gap inNew Brunswick.

Labour Market trends in Prince Edward

Island

Prince Edward Island had the strongest averageemployment growth in the region over the lastthree decades. Expansion of its food processingindustry and the development of its aerospacesector during the 1990s were supplemented bygrowth in federal employment.

Primary and seasonal industries in PEI, such asagriculture, fishing and forestry, remain veryimportant aspects of the PEI economy andsustain many jobs and businesses directly andindirectly. Much of the job growth has been inthese industries. Tourism has grown in mostyears (since the advent of the ConfederationBridge) and provides employment for manyduring the May to September season. Combined,employment was up by 700 persons compared to2011. A slight increase in manufacturing wasoffset by a moderate decline in the constructionindustry. There are plans to improveinfrastructure. A total of 54,400 people wereworking in the service-sector in January 2012,which was up by nearly 2% compared to the

previous year. Employment is likely to increasein the sectors targeted by the PEI LiteracyStrategy: bioscience, information technology,aerospace, and renewable energy.

Over the past decade, the skill demands of thePEI economy have risen. At the same time, thepopulation is aging, the birthrate is declining andmany educated youth are leaving the province.These trends are interacting with rising skilldemands to create a dramatic and pivotal shift inthe labour market.

The main employment challenges include:seasonal employment, low prices for naturalresources, high rate of school drop out, decliningnumber of youth staying in PEI, lack of skilledworkers, few large businesses, aging population,and both levels of government (federal andprovincial) closing offices and laying people off.Over 23,000 people in PEI do not have a highschool diploma. PEI Literacy Alliance hasidentified the following key focus areas:

4 encourage more employers to invest in the literacy and essential skills development of their employees

4 develop connections between literacy and essential skills and workplace education

4 create alternative learning opportunities for low level literacy learners who are not at work

4 integrate L/ES into college curricula

4 provide easier access to flexible training through SkillsPEI

4 align adult learning programs and opportunities with the needs of PEI communities, workplaces, and individual learners

Making these opportunities available, accessibleand attractive is crucial to PEI’s social andeconomic future.


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181 Labour Market Information Monthly September 2012, Government of New Brunswick, September 2012182 New Brunswick Labour Market Trends and Challenges, New Brunswick Post-Secondary Education, Training andLabour, June 2012


Labour Market trends in Quebec

Anglophones tend to be over-represented insales, service, business, finance andadministration, and are growing in numbers insectors such as wholesale trade, real estate,accommodation and food service. However, theyare under-represented in utilities, mining,construction and public administration. Inaddition, Anglophones, in increasing numbers,choose self-employment.

Labour market trends are not classifiedaccording to language; however, given that thehighest concentration of English First OfficialLanguage Spoken (FOLS) is in the Montreal area,the recorded 13% of low-skilled jobs during the2008-2009 recession had an impact onemployment of low literacy English speakers183.

In the second quarter of 2010, the employmentmarket recovered, posting over 43,000 new jobs,driving the unemployment rate below 10%.However, low-skilled jobs were in less demand,prompting a large number of low-skilled workersto leave the job market altogether. By the end of2010, the unemployment rate for people withless than nine years of education was 17.9%184.

The Primary Sector (agriculture, mining, oil andgas extraction, forestry, hunting and fishing) hasbeen shrinking for a number of years. The loss of18,300 jobs in this sector since 2000 can beexplained by a drop in forestry, while a furtherloss of 8,500 jobs is attributable to higheragricultural productivity, which allowed forgreater production with fewer workers.

The Secondary Sector (e.g., construction, food,manufacturing, textiles) is led by growth in theconstruction industry, offsetting losses in theclothing, electronics manufacturing and textile

industries. These industries traditionally hirelower-skilled workers.

The Tertiary Sector (e.g., health care and socialassistance, educational services, accommodationand food services, transport and warehousing)experienced growth in the health care and socialassistance sector, in retail and in professional,scientific and technical services. Warehousingdropped during this period.

The lingua franca of business remains English,with 40% of all Quebecers over 15 years of ageclaiming they use English at work “most often” or“on a regular basis” 185.

Anglophones, when employed, still tend to earnhigher salaries than their Francophonecounterparts. However, the number ofAnglophones 15 years or older who have neverworked or who have been out of work for anextended period of time is increasing. This is alsoreflected in the percentage (22%) of Anglophonesliving below the low-income threshold, comparedto 16% of Francophones186.

Labour Market trends in Manitoba

In 2011, Manitoba’s service sector employment,which accounts for 76.4% of total employment,increased by 300 jobs; goods producing sectoremployment increased by 5,100 jobs.

The average percent growth for the Manitobaservices producing industries was 0.3% in 2011.The individual industries that experiencedemployment growth over this period include:health care and social assistance (6.4%), finance,insurance, real estate and leasing (5.2%), publicadministration (3.4%), information, culture andrecreation (2.7%), and accommodation and foodservices (2.5%). Manitoba services producingindustries that experienced reductions in

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183 Recensements de 1996 et 2006 et compilation spéciale de la Direction de la planification et de l’information sur lemarché du travail, Direction régionale d’Emploi-Québec de l’Île-de-Montréal, Statistique Canada184 Employment in Québec: Key Figures (2011 Edition), OMT Information sur le marché de travail185 Portrait of Official-Language Minorities in Canada - Anglophones in Quebec, Statistics Canada, 2010186 Study conducted by the Réseau communautaire de santé et de services sociaux

employment over this period included: business,building and other support services (-11.1%),educational services (-10.4%), other services (-2.7%), and transportation and warehousing (-1.4%).

The average percent growth for the Manitobagoods producing industries was 2.2% in 2011.The individual industries that experiencedemployment growth over this period include:construction (9.3%), utilities (4.9%), andmanufacturing (2.5%). There were howeverreductions in agriculture (-8.3%) and forestry,fishing mining, quarrying, oil and gas (-8.3%).

Labour Market trends in Alberta

Over the next ten years, Alberta’s labour marketis projected to grow by approximately 607,000workers at an annual average rate of 2.4%. A netincrease of 492,000 workers is expected to jointhe labour force, as occupational supply increasesat an annual rate of 1.9%. For the coming decade,Alberta could experience a labour shortage ofapproximately 114,000 workers187.

There are areas of major growth in Alberta. Areaswith over 10% growth last year were:

4 natural and applied sciences and related occupations

4 occupations unique to processing, manufacturing and utilities

Despite the numbers of people we attract to ourlabour market, there will be continued pressureon the labour market in Alberta, especially inareas of growth – such as the Oil Sands. Theprojected shortage will be further exacerbated bythe following factors likely to affect Alberta’slabour market188:

4 global economic and financial uncertainty created by the Eurozone debt crisis

4 economic growth in emerging markets

4 pace of economic growth in the United States (US)

4 value of the Canadian dollar

4 price of oil and natural gas

4 household debt and its impact on consumer spending

4 baby boomers beginning to retire

4 interprovincial and international net migration

There will continue to be a high demand forworkers with high levels of skills, includingessential skills.

Labour Market trends in British Columbia

British Columbia has evolved significantly from aprimarily resource-based economy to a diverseknowledge-driven economy in all sectors. In themid-1970s, nearly a third of all workers wereemployed in primary industries, includinglogging, mining, fishing and agriculture. BritishColumbia’s economy has undergone significantgrowth and change, developing a more diverseeconomic base. Resource industries continue tobe the primary economic drivers in many regionsand are expected to grow and evolve as they takeadvantage of new technologies and developproducts for new markets. The province is alsonow one of the most small-business, service-oriented economies in Canada, with just overthree-quarters of economic activity originating


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187 Alberta’s Occupational Demand and Supply Outlook 2011-2021, Government of Alberta, 2011 188 Alberta Labour Market Outlook, Government of Alberta, Human Services, 2012


from the service sector, and nearly four-fifths ofits workforce now employed in this sector.

British Columbia’s economy is also experiencinggrowth as a global trading partner. As Canada’sPacific Gateway, British Columbia is becoming atrade hub for goods, services and peopletravelling to and from the Asia-Pacific region toCanada and the United States. It is predicted thatBritish Columbia will be one of Canada’seconomic leaders in the years to come. By 2017,British Columbia’s Gross Domestic Product isanticipated to increase by over 25 percent. Thegrowth in services, from health care to emerginghigh-tech to retail sales, will drive this growth.

To address skills shortages in BC, it will beimperative to understand regional diversity andopportunities. The unique economic and skillsdifferences that exist in regions and sectorsacross the province must be recognized. Someregions have young First Nations, Métis andInuit populations; targeted investments intraining will provide opportunities to supportdevelopment of major projects and sustainableemployment. Other regions, such as the lowermainland, tend to be the hub for arrival ofinternational migrants; coordinated action toattract internationally skilled workers to regionsfacing shortages will be required. Smallbusinesses are an important part of the economyin many smaller and rural communities. In viewof the aging demographic of business owners,effective responses to business succession willalso be a priority. By understanding regionaldiversity and opportunities, British Columbia isbetter positioned to strategically target regionalworkforce gaps189.

There is a need to develop well-coordinatedpartnerships between all participants in thelabour market system to successfully prepare allBritish Columbians to enter, transition into, or

re-skill for a constantly changing labour market.Skills for Growth: British Columbia’s Labour

Market Strategy to 2020 is about investing inthe people of British Columbia to drive individualand provincial prosperity. Labour marketinformation is critical to helping those involvedin the labour market plan for the future, allocateresources and navigate a dynamic and oftencomplex labour market.

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189 Skills for Growth British Columbia’s Labour Market Strategy to 2020, BC Ministry of Regional Economic and SkillsDevelopment, 2010

TrainingPeople of all ages in the workforce need tocontinue raising their skill levels, which, in turn,can improve their earnings prospects and make iteasier for them to find new work in the event ofjob loss. Globalization has led to increasedcompetition, technological change anddevelopment of knowledge-based economies.

The impact on GDP is greatest when educatingpeople with low skill. In 2004 Coulombe,Tremblay and Marchand identified the greaterreturn from human capital investment than fromphysical capital investment190.

The following year, the authors also highlightedthat investment in people with low literacy levels,including immigrants, is a cost-effective stimulusto economic growth.

Moreover, the results indicate that raisingliteracy and numeracy for people at thebottom of the skills distribution is moreimportant to economic growth than producingmore highly skilled graduates.

These findings have important policyimplications.

First, they demonstrate that literacy andnumeracy test results are in fact connected toeconomically important, quantifiableoutcomes — a point on which many educationspecialists have expressed doubt — andtherefore underline the importance ofproducing publicly available indicators ofstudent and school performance based onstandardized skills tests. Such tests also


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190 S. Coulombe, J. Tremblay, and S. Marchand, Literacy scores, human capital and growth across fourteen OECDcountries, Statistics Canada, 2004

In recent years, a number of convergingfactors have focussed attention on theeconomic role of human capital. One ofthe most important is the rise of the so-called knowledge economy, whichrelies less on manufacturing and moreon producing and managing data andinformation. This trend has resulted incompanies such as Google and causeda gradual shift in the sort of jobs peopledo. In 1995, just over 28% of workersin OECD countries were in industry andabout 63% in services; 10 years later,the figure for industry was below 25%against more than 69% in services.

[…]

Unfortunately adult training is notspread evenly across the workforce.Workers who are younger and havehigher levels of existing qualificationsare more likely to receive training fromtheir employers. In effect, those whomost need training – older workers andthose with limited education – are leastlikely to receive it.

OECD Policy Brief, July 2007

Hence, […] the long run effectsof human capital investment inliteracy are much more important– around three times – thaninvestment in physical capital. Acountry that achieves literacyscores one percent higher thanthe average ends up in a steadystate with labour productivityand GDP per capita respectivelyhigher than other countries by2.5 and 1.5 percent on average.

S. Coulombe, J. Tremblay, and S.Marchand, Literacy scores, human capital

and growth across fourteen OECDcountries, Statistics Canada, 2004


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improve school accountability. This suggests arole for explicit incentive mechanisms forteachers and school administrators based onthese educational output measures.

Second, raising the skills level of people whohave left the school system should not beneglected.

Policy incentives for job-related training andlifelong learning, particularly measurestargeted at people with very low skills, wouldlikely generate substantial economic rewards.

Finally, in the context of a rapidly agingpopulation, attracting skilled immigrants toCanada will become increasingly important.

S. Coulombe & J. tremblay, Public Investmentin Skills: Are Canadian Governments Doing

Enough? C.D. Howe Institute, October 2005191

The Atlantic Provinces Economic Council (APEC)is an independent think tank dedicated toeconomic progress in Atlantic Canada. Itspresident, Elizabeth Beale, in The Literacy

Challenge calls for a shift in the policy arenawhere more prominence is given to literacy192.Her broad focus for essential skills upgrading aspart of a “training solution” includesopportunities inside and outside the workplace.She notes that jobs that require post-secondaryeducation are on the rise while those that do notare decreasing rapidly. At the same time at least50% of adults in Atlantic Canada need moreopportunities to participate in the economy. Shedescribes this issue as one that affects bothindividuals in terms of their ability to participatein the economy and the survival and growth ofworkplaces. The APEC report also emphasizesthe importance of literacy and essential skills interms of companies being able to maintain theircompetitiveness. Beale’s remarks point to the

importance of all players involved in literacy andessential skills working together to address theneed, which she describes as great.

Despite the correlations between training and acompany’s economic success, few companiesoffer workplace education programs to theiremployees.

There are also difficulties with the ability ofeducational institutions to meet the demand fortraining. ACCC expresses concerns about the lackof places available in colleges for qualifiedstudents. It is also possible that students whohave struggled with Literacy and Essential Skillswill be less likely than other people to obtaincollege places once they have upgraded theirskills. This could become a concern for L/ESproviders.

Figure 11 shows that employers invest less inBasic Skills than any other area. It should havethe highest investment193. According to theConference Board of Canada it should also bebuilt into other training, not taken for granted.The term “basic skills” has largely been replacedin Canada by Literacy and Essential Skills.

191 S. Coulombe & J. Tremblay, Public Investment in Skills: Are Canadian Governments Doing Enough? C.D. HoweInstitute, October 2005192 Elizabeth Beale, The Literacy Challenge, APEC Commentary, 2008193 Training and Development Outlook, Conference Board of Canada, 2003

Policy makers haveunderestimated the contributionof literacy and other essentialskills to economic growth,choosing to focus their attentionand investment on otherdeterminants of productivitygrowth, including the elite end ofthe skill distribution.



When employees have low Literacy and EssentialSkills, it can have a negative impact on theworkplace. If a business is experiencing thefollowing issues then it may be that theemployees need to further develop their EssentialSkills194:

4 high staff turnover

4 high absenteeism

4 low motivation and/or productivity

4 employees who resist change

4 on-the-job accidents

4 difficulty meeting business goals

Companies may provide Health and SafetyTraining, but if they are not always includingEssential Skills, they may not get the results thatthey expect. Even people with higher skills oftenonly understand 60% of health data sheets.

Safety and/or productivity can be affected ifemployees:

4 do not follow instructions correctly

4 have not read the safety manual

4 do not understand warning signs

4 mix chemicals that should not be mixed


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Figure 11: Employers' Investment in Training

Source: Training and Development Outlook, Conference Board of Canada, 2003

Literacy and Essential Skills contribute tothe success of business by contributing toeffective communication and increasedoverall productivity. Literacy and EssentialSkills influence how people get and useinformation and communicationtechnologies. It is possible to delegate ahigher level of tasks. Employee retention isimproved because employees feel betterabout themselves and their work. Also theincidence and severity of workplace illnessand accident is reduced.

Addressing Canada’s Literacy Challenge:A Cost / Benefit Analysis, DataAngel, 2009

194 Got ‘em, need ‘em, want ‘em: The Essential Skills Paradox, CLLN, 2009


There is an inverse relationship betweeninvestment in literacy skills and industriesrequiring a high level of health and safety.Employees with good essential skills can reduceaccidents, injuries and downtime, as well asminimize insurance premiums, claims and finesassociated with workers’ compensation boards195.

Learning a Culture of Safety

Literacy and language issues around health andsafety become increasingly important as thenumber of immigrant and First Nations, Métisand Inuit workers increases. Employers need toassign a high priority to ensuring that theiremployees understand health and safetyrequirements. An example is provided by TheCanadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME),Canada’s largest trade and industry association,which was funded by Human Resources andSkills Development Canada (HRSDC) throughthe Office of Literacy and Essential Skills(OLES), with the mandate to embed essentialskills in Occupational Health and Safety training(OHS). It focused on providing a curriculumabout a culture of safety for workers who do nothave English or French as their first language, orwho have difficulties with reading and writing inEnglish or French. The curriculum, Learning a

Culture of Safety, was developed as a 10-weekprogram of one hour per week, with two workersfrom each of the 35 companies who agreed topilot the project. Par-Pak Industries andWestland Plastics were two of these companies,and their response to the program has beenoverwhelmingly positive.

Reasons for training

When developing training it is important toidentify the objective for training. Reasons fortraining can include:

4 improving productivity

4 reducing errors

4 improving customer service

4 empowering employees

4 improving communication

4 improving teamwork

4 improving safety

4 reducing absenteeism

4 improving ability to implement change

4 reducing turnover

Many workers over the age of 45 do not see thevalue of skill upgrading; as well, it is estimatedthat it takes up to twice as long to addressliteracy issues with older workers. This needs tobe taken into account when designing andpromoting programs. Often the best advocate fortraining is a worker who has already participatedin training. Sometimes people from cultures thatdo not value lifelong learning are also reluctantto participate. It is important that issues thatmight prevent uptake of training are exploredand that solutions are found before trainingopportunities are promoted. Issues are oftenavoided when workers are part of thedevelopment team for training.

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195 All Signs Point to Yes, Literacy’s Impact on Workplace Health and Safety, Conference Board of Canada, 2008

training by Industry Sector

Mining is an area that highlights the need fortraining by industry sector. Many miningprojects are in the North where there is amismatch between the skills needed by themining industry and the skills of potentialworkers.

An example of industry sector training is theNWT Mine Training Society (MTS) whichreceives most of its funding from the federalgovernment, the territorial government,Aboriginal governments and industry partners.Its role is to support First Nations, Métis, Inuitand other northerners to find employment in themining sector. MTS offers a number of specificcourses at any given time, in partnership withAurora College and industry partners, includingthe Underground Miner Training Program andNorthern Leadership Development Program.

Another example of mine training is taking placein BC. The Association of Mineral Explorationsponsors the BC Aboriginal Mine TrainingAssociation. Industry, Aboriginal, educationaland government partners have collaborated toform a minerals and mining specific AboriginalSkills and Employment Partnership (ASEP)through the BC Aboriginal Mine TrainingAssociation (BCAMTA). The partnership sharesthe cost of implementing the proposal withsignificant investment funding from the privatesector, major employers and the Aboriginalgroups involved. Human Resources and SkillsDevelopment Canada provides federal funding tothe partnership, which is focused on training-to-employment plans that cover a broad range ofbasic skills, literacy, academic upgrading, job-specific training and apprenticeships, retentioncounselling and other support while on the job196.

Apprenticeship

One of the nine barriers to apprenticeshipidentified in Canadian Apprenticeship Forum(CAF) research was the lack of Essential Skillsamong apprentices. Stakeholders identified thisbarrier both in terms of apprentices being work-ready and their ability to successfully completelevel and certification exams. Those who don’texcel in an academic environment are oftenencouraged to pursue the trades. In high school,these students are placed in tiered academicstreams that may not provide the level ofinstruction required to excel in the trades. Forexample, in many trades there is a requirementfor quite advanced math skills, such as usingformulas or calculating tolerances. Because post-secondary schooling is not a prerequisite formost of those pursuing trades training, the myththat academic requirements are lower isperpetuated. Unfortunately, apprentices whowere not strong learners in the K – 12 educationsystem often struggle with the academic andtechnical training in apprenticeship programs.The requirement to pass certification examscreates anxiety among many apprentices thatcould be caused by low L/ES, a lack of confidenceor a general dislike of academic procedure. Thisanxiety can contribute to lower completion rates,as about only 50% of registered apprenticesachieve certification. Much of CAF’s essentialskills work is aimed at correcting misperceptionswith an accurate understanding of skillsrequirements related to literacy, document use,numeracy, problem-solving, etc. andencouraging apprentices to identify skills gapsthat may prove to be barriers to their success.


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196 Stake your career in mining, BC Aboriginal Mine Training Association


page 102

The importance of literacy and essential skills inthe labour force has been identified and acceptedby federal, provincial and territorialgovernments. Organizations connected to tradesand labour by way of apprenticeship, such as the(CAF) and the Canadian Council of Directors ofApprenticeship (CCDA) working with the Officeof Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES) andHuman Resources and Skills DevelopmentCanada (HRSDC), have created initiatives toimplement Essential Skills programs withinCanadian apprenticeships and trades and labour.CAF has formed partnerships across Canada topromote Essential Skills and apprenticeshiptraining among First Nations, Métis and Inuitgroups197.

As provinces and territories have responsibilityfor education, labour and apprenticeship, themajority of programs and training implementedare at the provincial/territorial level. Although

most provincial/territorial authorities andnational associations like CAF and CCDArecognize and are actively discussing theimportance of Literacy and Essential Skillsdevelopment for apprentices, the training andprograms available to date are generally availablethrough provincial/territorial and nationalworkplace training and education programs andare not standardized across jurisdictions.

On a national level, with the inter-provincialapprenticeship certification program Red Seal,organizations, such as OLES, are working tosupply tools and support to provincial andterritorial organizations to ensure apprenticesare able to reach their certification goals andcontinue to develop their Essential Skills in theworkplace.

OLES’s ES Integration into Apprenticeship is aCCDA-led partnership with provincial andterritorial stakeholders and working groups,aimed at developing and disseminating 27essential skills tools for the skilled trades. Thesefree, online, CCDA-certified tools are aimed atinforming, assessing and supporting clients(apprentices, tradespeople, employers,trainers)198. In order to ensure proper use andknowledge of the tools, OLES developed a ToolWorkshop in 2011 to provide direction on howthe tools can be used. The workshop wasdelivered to over 500 workplace stakeholdersand was tailored to meet the specific needs ofdifferent target audiences199. The ES Integrationinto Apprenticeship program will publish theresults of an evaluation of its effectiveness.

Preliminary feedback shows that the tools arebeing used in a variety of settings, includingcareer counselling, skills upgrading programs

Apprentices and tradespeopleface Essential Skills challengesboth in the classroom and on thejob. Low Essential Skills has beenidentified as a barrier to in-classtraining and certification success.Additionally, rapidly evolvingtechnology is putting morepressure on skilled tradesworkers to improve their abilityto adapt.

Canadian Apprenticeship Journal,Governments Investing in Essential Skills

and the Skilled Trades, Summer 2011

197 C. Wynn, Governments Investing in Essential Skills and the Skilled Trades, Canadian Apprenticeship Journal,Summer 2011198 Essential Skills Tools, Canadian Apprenticeship Forum199 Consultation on HRSDC’s Suite of Literacy and Essential Skills Tools, HRSDC

and skilled trades courses200. In 2010-11, a totalof 824,479 OLES tools were ordered anddownloaded – an increase in uptake from 2009-2010 (572,703) of 44%201.

A new tool has been developed to assist careercounsellors to integrate an informal, essentialskills needs assessment into their interviewprocess. The tool is currently undergoing fieldtesting (CLLN is part of the process) and shouldbe available to the public in 2012202.

The relationship between level of education,employment and income is well established203.Schooling is an indicator of stability in the labourmarket; a higher level of education is associatedwith a higher employment and retention rate.Employment losses in apprenticeableoccupations for workers who have not finishedhigh school can be substantial. For example,during the economic downturn in 2009, figuresshow there was a loss of 12.3% among workerswithout high school completion, compared to1.9% for workers who had an apprenticeship ortrades certificate204.

Apprenticeship stakeholders clearly recognizethe benefits of connecting Essential Skillstraining and upgrading to apprenticeshipprograms as they result in higher completionrates and greater success for apprentices as wellas increased productivity, improved workplacehealth and safety and better team performancefor businesses.

Evaluation of Workplace Essential

Skills training

Delivery of Essential Skills training within theworkplace remains low in many sectors eventhough much anecdotal evidence suggests that itmay be successful in addressing unnecessaryerrors, reduced productivity, increased costs andeven reduced customer satisfaction and salesrevenue. Recent research indicates that fewerthan 1 in 20 firms are making these kinds ofinvestments in foundational and transferableskills training, in spite of promotional efforts andsupport from governments and sector councils.Industry consultations also suggest that part ofthe reason for low levels of training investments,in spite of the apparent need, is the lack of arigorous business case that provides clearevidence of improvements in skills, jobperformance – and ultimately in positive returnson training investments205.

Appendix 4: UPSKILL Essentials to Excel

describes a pan-Canadian research anddemonstration project by implementing a modelof Essential Skills training based on best practiceand testing with rigorous research methods.


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200 C. Wynn, Governments Investing in Essential Skills and the Skilled Trades, Canadian Apprenticeship Journal,Summer 2011201 Consultation on HRSDC’s Suite of Literacy and Essential Skills Tools, HRSDC202 ibid203 Education Indicators in Canada: An International Perspective, Statistics Canada and Council of Ministers ofEducation Canada, 2010204 Apprenticeable Occupations and the Employment Downturn in Canada, Statistics Canada205 David Gyarmati, UPSKILL: A Ground-Breaking Evaluation of Workplace Essential Skills Training, From LiteracyNova Scotia News, Spring 2012

GovernmentsFederal, provincial and territorial governmentsare shifting towards a literacy agenda focused onthe economy. Historically, there has been tensionbetween federal and provincial/territorial levelsof governments regarding national policy onadult and worker skills training in Canada.However, the new Employment Insurance Actauthorizes the federal government to enter intoLabour Market Development Agreements withthe provinces and territories. The federalgovernment still retains jurisdiction for adulttraining to members of targeted groups,including First Nations, Métis and Inuit 206.

Labour Market Agreements (LMA)

and Labour Market Development

Agreements (LMDA).

In 2011, CLLN produced a report to providefurther information about LMAs and LMDAs inthe provinces and territories207. The reportprovided each provincial/territorial coalitionwith a customized package outlining thesituation in their province/territory. It gave ananalysis of the situation, and suggested questionsthat might be raised with theprovincial/territorial governments. This reporthas been a valuable resource for provincial andterritorial literacy coalitions and has enabledthem to more easily make connections withorganizations that are involved with LMA/LMDAactivities.

Coalitions are strategically placed to advisegovernment, channel information to the nationallevel, and monitor LMA/Strategic Training andTransition Fund (STTF) activities. They canprovide assistance to programs/organizationsthat are trying to embed Literacy and Essential

Skills in their programming (e.g. apprenticeship,employability programs and trades training).Coalitions can assist government in determiningthe best means to deploy resources intended forLiteracy and Essential Skills.

The Labour Market Agreements (LMA) andLabour Market Development Agreements(LMDA) provide an opportunity forincorporating Literacy and Essential Skills intolabour market training. This governmental fundtransfer is directed towards meeting the labourneeds of employers and helps Canadians andimmigrants improve their skills andemployability.

206 Brisbois & Saunders, 2005, Skills Upgrading Initiatives in Canada: Regional Case Studies, Canadian Policy ResearchNetworks, 2005 207 Labour Market Transfers and the Implications for Literacy and Essential Skills, Briefing Package, CLLN, 2011,revised January 2012

In both 2008-09 and 2009-10,Employment Services interventionswere by far the highest proportionof interventions at 79% and 62%respectively. In the second yearreported, the percentage of SkillsDevelopment and Upgradinginterventions and the combinedSkills Development and WorkExperience interventions both rose.These are the areas where literacyand Essential Skills training wouldlikely be categorized. Workplace-based Skills Developmentinterventions were only 3% of all2008-09 interventions and 5% ofthose in 2009-10.

Labour Market Transfers and the

Implications for Literacy and Essential

Skills, CLLN, January 2012

page 104


208 Ron Saunders, Employer investment in Workplace Learning: Report on the Toronto Roundtable, Canadian PolicyResearch Networks, April 2008

The aim of the LMA is to increase access totraining for those who are unemployed and/orunderrepresented in the labour market and donot qualify for Employment Insurance (EI).Employed individuals will also be able to accessLMA-sponsored skills training programs and willhave increased opportunities for credentialrecognition and certification. LMA clientsinclude youth, immigrants, persons withdisabilities, First Nations, Métis, Inuit, olderworkers, and women.

The goal of LMDA programs is to help EI clientsand the unemployed public to prepare for andobtain employment. Activities include sectorspecific initiatives to assist employers in meetingtheir human resource needs. LMDA clientsinclude employers, unemployed persons, EIclients, income assistance recipients, and theunderemployed (LMA/LMDA, 2008).

Labour market development funds will befocused on building the pool of skilled workersneeded for strategic sectors to tap their fullpotential for growth. Greater emphasis will beplaced on increased support to help newcomersintegrate and settle placing more emphasis onattracting skilled immigrants, and higher priorityon recruiting international students.

The Canadian government has created severalstructures and programs to encourage andsupport business investment in employeetraining including the Essential Skills, WorkplaceSkills Strategy supported by the Office of SectoralIntelligence. Apprenticeship and trainingincludes programs such as the Secondary SchoolApprenticeship as a way of facilitating thedevelopment of the labour force.

As discussed by the Canadian Council onLearning, there is a case for governments toprovide further incentives for employers to invest

in workplace learning208. This is because some ofthe benefits of improved learning, such asincreased tax revenues and reduced socialassistance spending for governments, are notbenefits to the employer or employee.

Canadian Northern Economic

Development Agency

The labour skills gap is more pronounced in theterritories than in the rest of the country andthere are fewer educational opportunities foradults in the North. Across the territories 17,000working-age Northerners have not completedGrade 12. To address this issue, the federalgovernment announced new funding to expandadult literacy and basic education in Nunavut,Yukon and the Northwest Territories (NWT).This funding, announced in February 2012, isadministered through the Canadian NorthernEconomic Development Agency (CanNor). TheNorthern Adult Basic Education Program(NABEP) aims to help Northerners get jobs or beable to take job-specific training throughinnovative programming. Funding goes to thethree territorial colleges in the NorthwestTerritories, Nunavut and the Yukon.

Aurora College in the NWT will receive $9.1million over three years. In order to develop astrategic plan for the funding, Aurora Collegeheld consultations with First Nations, Métis andInuvialuit groups and partner organizationsabout the priorities for the new funding. TheNWT Literacy Council was part of theseconsultations, and is a partner on the project.

The Nunavut Arctic College will also receive$11,112,750 over five years to carry out a numberof program enhancement initiatives includingcapacity building through additional adulteducators and resources, curriculumdevelopment, assessment tools for literacy,



pan-territorial planning and monitoring, and acareer experience program linked to local labourmarket and opportunities. Nunavut ArcticCollege is working in partnership with groupsincluding the Nunavut Literacy Council.

Yukon College will receive $308,000 in 2011-12to develop strategic priorities and a four yearwork plan for adult basic education (ABE) in theterritory. Yukon College will work in partnershipwith Yukon First Nation governments, relevantservice providers and employers to introduceprogramming to improve the literacy andemployability successes of Yukoners, with astrong emphasis on rural initiatives to respond tounique regional social and economic realities.Additionally, the ABE program will focus ontraining opportunities for faculty and instructors,placing Yukon College’s ABE teaching materialsfor instructors online, and developing andpiloting a series of ABE programming initiativesto significantly improve literacy, numeracy andcomputer skill levels. New programminginitiatives through the ABE program at YukonCollege include a Skills for EmploymentPlumber’s Helper program and a Skills forEmployment Cooking program.

Many of the CanNor projects have been started.CanNor is now responsible for the CanadaBusiness Network (CBN) in the North. The CBNoffers a single service window for businesses,improves opportunities for Northerners andincreases the economic potential of the North.

Sector Councils

Sector councils are industry-led partnershiporganizations that address skills developmentissues and implement solutions in key sectors ofthe economy. Sector councils work as a unitingelement to engage employers, workers,industry/professional associations, educationand government in a strategic alliance that isfocused on developing and implementingsolutions to the specific skills and human

resource needs that will enable their sector tothrive.

Over the years the federal government hassupported the creation of over 35 sector councilsmany of which are currently transitioning to self-sustaining business models. Some provincialgovernments have also created sector councils,some of which have been in existence for a longtime. As the federal government will no longer befunding sector councils, the Sectoral InitiativesProgram has been created.

Canada’s national sector councils representabout 50% of Canada’s labour market and covera broad range of sectors including: construction,information and communications technology,trucking, tourism, mining, cultural industries,agriculture, printing, environmental careers,electricity, child care, biotechnology, policing,automotive servicing, aviation/aerospace andmany more.

For a current listing of sector councils, visit:

Canada: http://www.councils.org/sector-councils/list-of-canadas-sector-councils/

Manitoba: http://www.amsc.mb.ca/sector-councils/

Nova Scotia: http://www.aisc.ca/members.html

Sector Councils often provide labour marketinformation and essential skills resources as canbe seen from the following two examples.

The Canadian Tourism Human Resource Councilprovides many different services including up-to-date labour market information and laboursupply and demand reports. It measures long-term economic and demographic trends affectingthe tourism sector by using a macroeconomicmodel to report potential labour shortages out to2025. By determining the gap between thepotential demand for labour and the supply oflabour available, the degree to which labourshortages will affect the sector over the mediumand long term can be assessed for both tourism

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occupations and Canadian regions. The reportuses industry input to ensure accuracy and todevelop strategies for mitigating futureshortages. The Ready to Work (RTW) program ofthe Council delivers a structured transition intothe tourism workforce through classroom andworkplace training based on emerit NationalOccupational Standards. Over 11,000unemployed and underemployed people acrossCanada have accessed job readiness training andcareer planning through the Ready to Workinternship program. The program providesparticipants with the skills, knowledge, attitudes,and experience required for long-term, stableemployment in tourism.

Currently, the Social Research DemonstrationCorporation is mid-way through a nationalReturn on Investment (ROI) study with thetourism sector, funded by Human Resources andSkills Development Canada. By estimating theperformance of education and training systemsin generating adult learning, the project willestablish a clear business case for employers toinvest in Literacy and Essential Skills training.

Another example of labour market informationfrom a sector council is the Canadian Automotiveand Repair Service Council (CARS) which isresponsible for human resource and trainingdevelopment for the automotive power repairand service industry.

According to CARS own research, only one in fiveemployers—21 percent—use written or practicaltools to assess their employees’ skills or identifytraining needs209. The majority of employers, 62percent, simply rely on monitoring day-to-dayperformance.

CARS identified the belief within their industrythat simply holding a license was sufficient foremployees in their sector. With the aim of

correcting this belief within their field andhelping employees develop their skills andknowledge to maintain as well and go beyondminimal licensing, CARS has developed an arrayof L/ES tools: CARS-OnDemand. CARSabilityand CARSessentials.

4 CARS-OnDemand is a library of online courses specific to their sector’s employees’ needs

4 CARSability is a question bank containing several hundred questions aimed at helping employees work through workplace specific tasks. 22,286 user accounts were created in 2008 to access and utilise the tools

4 CARSessentials assesses Essential Skills. It can be used for self-assessment by individuals who want to develop their skills and by educators who are looking to help students. It can also be used by human resource professionals and employers who want to evaluate either current employees or job candidates, whether they are newly trained apprentices or experienced veterans

Apprentices without an appropriate level ofEssential Skills tend to find training challenging,be less productive and get less job satisfaction.Assessing and upgrading their Essential Skills,where necessary, makes sound business sense.


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Essential Skills provide thefoundation for improvingproductivity and ensuring wehave the skilled workers we needto get the job done.

Ed Nasello, Project Manager, CARSEssential Skills Program

209 Performance Driven: Labour Market Opportunities and Challenges for Canada’s Motive Power Repair and ServiceSector, CARS Council, 2009

Sectoral Initiatives Program

HRSDC’s Sectoral Initiatives Program (SIP)aims to address current skills shortages andreduce the likelihood of new skills shortages, bysupporting the development and disseminationof labour market intelligence. ConnectingCanadians to the labour market intelligenceneeded to make informed human resources,career and training decisions will support a moresystemic match between employers and job-seekers. Human Resources and SkillsDevelopment Canada (HRSDC) announced thisapproach in July 2011.

Through a competitive process, SIP will fundpartnership-based projects that are national inscope and/or nationally significant and thatsupport the development of labour marketinformation (LMI), national occupationalstandards (NOS) and certification/accreditationregimes, to address skills shortages in sectors ofCanada’s economy.

Canadian Labour MovementThe labour movement has supported literacyover many years. Labour has identified manypositive aspects to Essential Skills, and severalunions have been involved in Essential Skillsprojects. However some more negative issuesexist, such as the emphasis on individual deficitsand individual responsibility for training rather

than seeking systemic solutions.

Labour organizations recognize that literacy is asystemic issue requiring a holistic approach thatis sensitive to workers’ needs. They measuresuccess by finding out if learning wasmeaningful, if learners met their goals andwhether the workplace and the employerbenefitted.

The Canadian Labour Movement is continuingits efforts to win policies and programs thatsecure:

4 The right to learn for both employed and unemployed workers mandated by law

4 A pan-Canadian strategy and system of adult education and training, which ensures quality programming and equitable access across the country

4 A serious investment in literacy and trainingby employers and governments

Unions are actively involved inproviding workers with literacyand other basic forms ofeducation and training, not justto improve their job security, butalso to build consciousness aboutpolitics in the workplace.

Former Canadian Labour CongressPresident, Bob White, 1988

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210 A Quest for Learning, The Canadian Labour Movement and Worker Literacy Education, extract from June 2012draft, printed with permission

4 The integration of literacy in skills training and apprenticeship programs

4 The development of a culture of learning in our unions and workplaces

(A Quest for Learning, the Canadian LabourMovement and Worker Literacy Education, extract

from June 2012 draft, printed with permission.)

Joint labour-management training partnershipshave become common, such as that of thesteelworkers when 17,000 laid-off workers weregiven support in finding new employment210. In2006 the Canadian Steel Trade and EmploymentCongress (CSTEC) undertook an Essential Skillsproject, federally funded by OLES. This project isongoing and is focused on developing tools tofacilitate skills inventory and identification;ensuring that Essential skills are built into allworkplace training; making training more cost-efficient, productive, effective and accessible;integrating Essential Skills into existing CSTECcourse and upgrading the skills of the currentworkforce.

Partnerships have played a key role in furtheringCanadian Union Public Employees’ (CUPE’s)literacy work. Partners include employerorganizations, literacy organizations, educationproviders and others in the labour movement.Currently, there is a trend away frompartnerships, as funding is difficult to obtain.The emphasis has returned to negotiatingprograms with individual employers.

However, in 2013, CLLN will be partnering withCUPE and an employer organization to identifywhat research and knowledge is available aboutlearners in the workplace, including successindicators from workplace learners’ perspectives,gaps in workplace learning, and accommodatingcultural, linguistic and racial diversity inworkplace learning. This information will besought through surveys and key informantinterviews. A national forum will identify ways tobuild support for workplace learning andaddressing learners’ needs.



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Part 3:Looking to the Future

Summary and FutureDirectionsCLLN is the hub for Literacy and Essential Skillsin Canada and plays a crucial role in research forthe field. It has conducted an environmental scanand prepared this State of the Literacy and

Essential Skills Field report, together withseparate summaries from each of the provincialand territorial literacy coalitions, in order tohighlight the current situation and to look at howto move forward.

CLLN and other stakeholders believe there is aneed to invest significantly in Literacy andEssential Skills and to increase awareness amongemployers and the Canadian population of thebenefits of adult learning and continuousupskilling. Canada needs to embrace a culture oflearning that places an emphasis on Literacy andEssential Skills as the foundation for the skills,knowledge and attitudes (human capitalcompetencies) that individuals can put intoproductive use. There is a need for a culturalparadigm shift to lifelong learning andcontinuous upskilling.

Learning needs to be encouraged in a variety ofenvironments. This learning can be formal, non-formal or informal, but it needs to be lifelong.Lifelong learning is economically and sociallyimportant to individuals and helps them face thechallenges of a rapidly changing workenvironment. It also ensures employers haveaccess to workers with the skills needed toestablish innovative and sustainable industries.

While education and training remain a provincialand territorial jurisdiction there is a need for anational vision and strategy that will bringtogether the multiple strands involved inupskilling the labour force. ImprovingCanadians’ skills and literacy levels is an issuethat needs to be tackled by all levels ofgovernment, industry, organized labour,economic development agencies, literacy and

essential skills organizations, educationalinstitutions and individuals.

Literacy and Essential Skills are a cross-cuttingissue and there is a need for partnerships acrosssectors and communities and at the federal andprovincial government level. Upskilling is notsomething that can be tackled by one groupalone. The impact of higher Literacy andEssential Skills on an individual’s success and acountry’s economic development is tooimportant an issue to relegate to the back burner.It needs the best brains and innovative solutionsto build on what is already being done.

CLLN has recently commissioned research intoliteracy and earnings, generating a substantialbody of work that provides new insights based oncurrent data. CLLN found that the minimum costof raising all Canadian adults to the literacy levelneeded for a competitive workforce would be aone-time investment of $29 billion. The researchdemonstrates that investments in Literacy andEssential Skills can provide economic benefit byreducing the amount spent on EmploymentInsurance, Workers Compensation and SocialAssistance. If Canadians’ literacy level wasincreased to the OECD recommended standardsfor internationally competitive productivity(IALSS Level 3), costs for all three programswould drop dramatically.

Direct annual savings resulting from an assumedone-time $29 billion investment in upskillingCanadian adults 16 and over would be $2.92billion: $330 million on Employment Insurance,$2.1 billion on Social Assistance, and $490million on Workers Compensation. Investmentin upskilling Canadians would increase earningsby $85.25 billion or an average of $3,244/workerannually bringing a commensurate rise in taxrevenues. Increasing the reach of Literacy andEssential Skills programs could reduce the


number of people receiving benefits and moneysaved could be channelled into the establishmentof a pan-Canadian adult learning strategy.Governments may want to examine the potentialfor support by providing incentives and leverage.Some options include: tax credits, matchingtraining funds, training levies, initiatives targetedat SMEs, use of Employment Insurance for paidtraining leave, training vouchers and individuallearning accounts.

Provincial and territorial literacy policies andstrategies help define the scope of the issue andlead to action plans, delivery of programs andevaluation. Literacy and Essential Skillsprofessionals identify the need for a literacystrategy in those provinces and territories whereone is not currently in existence. Draft strategiesneed to be ratified and implemented. Allprovinces and territories benefit from a literacystrategy that commits to early literacy, familyliteracy, school age literacy, youth literacy,working age adult literacy, and seniors literacy. Awell-funded pan-Canadian Adult LearningStrategy with a systemic approach to Literacyand Essential Skills could address many of theissues raised in this report. Manitoba, NovaScotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and PEI alsohave provincial programs and funding forvarious aspects of workplace literacy programs.

Federal–provincial Labour Market Agreementsand Labour Market Development Agreements(LMAs and LMDAs) have gone some way toputting in place a skills training infrastructurethat reflects the needs of Canada's provincial andterritorial jurisdictions. The upcoming renewaland strengthening of these agreements isimportant to sustaining the skills and innovationagendas underway in provinces. Going forward,these agreements need to be updated to reflectthe continued need for Literacy and Essential

Skills training for people with low literacy skills.

Federally directing the embedding of Literacy

and Essential Skills training with dedicated funds

into training investments, such as

LMAs/LMDAs, as they get renewed or are

replaced, would be an important step forward.

The economic benefits of good Literacy and

Essential Skills apply equally to employees and

businesses and have a long-reaching impact. It is

important for CLLN, together with other Literacy

and Essential Skills organizations and organized

labour to provide a compelling case to convince

employers of the benefits of investing in

workplace training.

Workers with good Essential Skills are:

4 better at their jobs

4 adaptable to new tasks

4 more likely to have skills for advancement

4 more self-confident

4 motivated to succeed

Businesses employing staff with good Literacy

and Essential Skills benefit from:

4 increased output and profitability

4 lower error rates

4 increased ability to do on-the-job training

4 better team performance

4 improved labour relations

4 increased quality of work

4 reduced time per task

4 improved health and safety records

4 better retention of employees and customers

Literacy and Essential Skills initiatives need to be

sustainable. Programs must be piloted, but

serious consideration needs to be given to ways

to make successful pilots sustainable. A culture

of learning and learning communities helps pave

the way for learning to be lifelong.


CLLN believes it is important to provide efficientand effective programs that meet the needs of thecommunity and workplaces. For example, OLESis funding CLLN and ABC Life Literacy Canadain a joint project: Building Solutions: Engaging

Employers in L/ES Development for the

Canadian Workforce. This project will developincreased awareness on the part of Canadiansmall, medium and large enterprises of the needfor L/ES workplace training and itsimplementation as a business solution; makelinks between the business sector and the adultL/ES sector in order to address workplacetraining gaps; identify a specific action plan forbusiness, labour and the L/ES sector; and findnational champions who can engage otheremployers moving forward.

Many immigrants are highly educated, but lackthe English language skills needed to fullyparticipate in the labour force. Withoutappropriate language skills, a great inefficiencywill remain, as many among the highly educatedimmigrant population will remain unemployedor underemployed. To decrease inefficienciesresulting from a lack of English language skills itis important to ensure that English as anAdditional Language programs are both availableand accessible. It is also important to ensure thatimmigrants have a good understanding ofworkplace culture, Canadian society and theirnew communities. However, for immigrants whoare not highly skilled, basic skills and upgradingprograms need to be in place. With the rapidchanges in immigration patterns and thechanging labour market, a more rigorousevaluation of existing language and literacyprograms would also be helpful in understandingwhy gaps persist and how best to address them.

The First Nations, Métis and Inuit populationshave the lowest literacy rates and highest highschool dropout rates. Challenges include thedisparity between achievement in on-reserve andoff-reserve results. As well, programs and

services need to be more meaningful andrelevant to First Nations, Métis and Inuitcommunities. Local communities need fundingto provide literacy and learning services andsupport to build awareness of the value ofliteracy and education. There is also significantintergenerational low literacy, which iscompounded when school-aged children cannotget assistance with homework, either at home orin the community.

While historic policies, systemic issues, togetherwith cultural and geographical considerationsand a lack of resources have negatively impactedFirst Nations, Métis and Inuit, the situation ischanging and some funding is now beingtargeted towards these populations whorepresent the fastest growing segment of theCanadian population. Literacy and EssentialSkills training needs to be holistic and recognizethe importance of First Nations, Métis and Inuitlanguages and traditions, and the cross-culturaldiversity within Native communities. Employerscan find it difficult to attract qualified FirstNations, Métis and Inuit. Training is oftendirected at those with higher levels of literacy,not those at beginning levels. As a result, trainingspaces for high-demand jobs are going empty,leaving some courses without enoughparticipants to go forward, despite securedfunding and employment. It is important toshare best practices, have better coordinationamong services and provide cultural awarenessprograms to help overcome racism andmisunderstandings in the workplace.

The Literacy and Essential Skills of youth is stillan area of concern, even though fewer youth aredropping out of school than in previous years.Often young people gain skills through formaleducation, particularly high school. However,some youth don’t do well in formal education fora variety of reasons. It is crucial to integrate L/ESinto all Youth Employment/Training initiativesto address the needs of youth who do not succeed

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in school or who “fall through the cracks” as 43%of all students leaving Canada’s high schoolshave Level 1 or 2 skills. Some students obtaintheir grade 12 diploma but don’t have the skillsthat the level of education implies.

Youth in high school or youth training programsneed a clear understanding of job requirementsand the skills that are needed. Career counsellorsneed to understand the importance of Literacyand Essential Skills in the workplace.Employment counsellors need to be able torecognize when clients have the skills to accesstechnical skills programs and when clients needto upgrade their skills before entering technicalskills programs.

An aging Canadian population will reduce thesize of labour force and affect economic growthand productivity. Even though people are stayingin the workforce longer, there is not enoughpopulation growth to compensate for skilledemployees who are retiring. However, groupswith high jobless rates such as First Nations,Métis, Inuit, recent immigrants and those withdisabilities are struggling to find good jobs.Youth unemployment is nearly 14%. Despite this,employers across the country say they can’t findthe right workers for all kinds of available jobs.With the current skills shortage in Canada, it isimportant that adults needing to upgrade theirskills to meet current demands have access toquality programs. It is also vital that employersrecognize the ability of an Essential Skills culturewithin the workplace to increase productivity,improve workplace health and safety and buildbetter team performance. The clear link betweenliteracy and economic growth provides theimpetus to increase the number of Literacy andEssential Skills programs.

The knowledge-based economy and increasingskills requirements of even “low level” jobsillustrate the need for a stronger emphasis onLiteracy and Essential Skills. An effectiveLiteracy and Essential Skills program, whether

offered by organized labour, workplace trainersor external trainers, can have a positive impacton productivity, safety and quality while stillproviding benefits to the individual, such as abetter understanding of their rights andresponsibilities. Essential skills also transfer toother aspects of a person’s life, but alsocontribute to higher earnings. Broader economicbenefits include less need for social assistance,employment insurance and workerscompensation.

Low-skilled work has been most affected bytechnological change. There is an increasing needfor entry-level employees to access, use andinterpret information using digital technology.This is an issue that needs to be addressedthrough active collaboration between employers,policy makers and the Literacy and EssentialSkills workforce.

Strong Literacy and Essential Skills provide thekey to success for individuals, the communityand businesses. It is important to breakdownnegative attitudes to upgrading Literacy andEssential Skills and persuade people to improvetheir Essential Skills even when they think theyare doing all right now.

CLLN believes it is critically important for theL/ES workforce, regardless of program setting, tohave a key set of skills and competencies; thesemust be kept current to ensure educators havethe means to deal with increasing and changingdemand. We also believe it is important toexamine the skills and competencies of thisworkforce so that they can be recognized for theskills they currently have and to develop newskills. Creating career pathways will benefitpeople currently working in the L/ES field andwill help to attract new practitioners into thefield.

Literacy and Essential Skills agencies need tocontinue to build partnerships withorganizations such as Chambers of Commerce,


Canadian Apprenticeship Forum and theCanadian Public Policy Forum. Theserelationships are needed as they have aninterface with employers.

Government, Literacy and Essential Skillsorganizations and program providers all agree onthe importance of outcome measurement anduse of measurement tools; however, there is agap in measurement consistency. Without thedevelopment of a measurement systemsupported by both program providers andgovernment ministries, outcomes of Literacy andEssential Skills investment will be difficult todetermine. CLLN believes there is value increating national standards and qualifications.The Mining Industry Human Resources Council,for example, has successfully developed andimplemented a credentials program recognizingessential skills in the mining industry. Anotherexample is the Ready to Work (RTW) program ofthe Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council,which delivers a structured transition into thetourism workforce through classroom andworkplace training based on emerit NationalOccupational Standards.

CLLN is fulfilling an important role byinterpreting pertinent data for the literacy field.CLLN shares those findings with other sectorsthat have not traditionally seen themselves asfacilitators of learning. CLLN is seeking toengage a very broad range of stakeholders,

illustrating the deep connection between anengaged, learning society and the degree towhich society will thrive – individuals as much asthe nation.

CLLN and our national partners, L/ES and non-L/ES, will continue to work together to furtherincrease our understanding of the state of theLiteracy and Essential Skills field as trendsdevelop. CLLN will lead the examination of gapsand identify ways to advance the state of the fieldthrough our environmental scans and actionplans. Our goal is to improve the Literacy andEssential Skills of Canadians.

To address challenges resulting from economicchanges affecting industries, CLLN will continueto work with OLES and its national networkpartners to identify strategies and share bestpractices for improving the Essential Skills ofCanada’s labour force, especially those who arehistorically underrepresented in the labourmarket. We will create and maintainpartnerships with industry, workers, organizedlabour, governments and educational andacademic institutions.

CLLN’s hope is that the State of the Literacy and

Essential Skills Field report will help to promotethe development of a more coordinated andcomprehensive approach to upgrading and skillsdevelopment both inside and outside theworkplace.

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Level 1 Read relatively short text, locate, and enter a piece of information into that text,and complete simple, one-step tasks such as counting, sorting dates, or performingsimple arithmetic. (However, it should be noted that only 3.8% of Canadians haveextremely limited word reading ability, what the public might consider “illiterate”)

Level 2 The ability to sort through “distracters” (plausible, but incorrect pieces ofinformation), to integrate two or more pieces of information, to compare andcontrast information and to interpret simple graphs.

Level 3 Demonstrate the ability to integrate information from dense or lengthy text, tointegrate multiple pieces of information and to demonstrate an understandingof mathematical information in a range of different forms. Level 3 taskstypically involve a number of steps or processes in order to solve problems.

Level 4 Tasks involve multiple steps to find solutions to abstract problems. Tasksrequire the ability to integrate and synthesize multiple pieces of informationfrom lengthy or complex passages, and to make inferences from theinformation.

Level 5 Requires the ability to search for information in dense text that has a numberof distracters, to make high-level inferences or use specialized backgroundknowledge and to understand complex representations of abstract formal andinformal mathematical ideas.

Descriptions of the International Literacy Level

Appendix 1: International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey

In 2003, the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS) measured the literacy levels of23,000 working age Canadians 211. Level 1 indicates very low literacy skills. Level 2 is considered to beless than the skills needed to graduate from high school. People with skills at Level 2 often eitherassume that they understand information or don’t feel the need to increase their skills, even thoughthey do not have the skills associated with a high school diploma. IALSS Level 3 is the level needed formost literacy tasks in our society. It is the level of literacy needed to graduate from high school andenter college. The table below gives a brief description of the characteristics of each level.

211 In the 2003 survey literacy tasks covering prose, document use, numeracy and problem solving were scaled bydifficulty from 0-500. This range was divided into five broad literacy levels. Level 1 indicates very low literacy skills, wherethe individual has very basic reading skills. Skills at levels 4 and 5 reflect college and university skill levels and require theability to integrate several sources of information or solve complex problems.http://www.nald.ca/library/research/booc/booc.pdf

Source: Canadian Council on Learning,

Reading the future: planning to meet Canada’s future literacy need, 2008

Figure 13: Level of Education by Age (%)

Source: HRSDC, 2010

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Figure 12 shows that 42% of the adult population in Canada is working at less than Level 3. Nine millionadults have skills at Levels 1 and 2. The number rises to twelve million if seniors are included. Overseven million adult Canadians working at Levels 1 and 2 don’t identify literacy as an issue. This canimpact their motivation to improve their skills and this has a negative impact on the Canadianeconomy. Consequently, it is important to look at ways in which Canada can make changes to raiseawareness of the importance of lifelong learning.

Literacy is an issue for people who were born in Canada as well as for immigrants. Research shows thatliteracy skills improve with practice and deteriorate if not being used. Literacy levels are not necessarilya reflection of educational levels. Figure 13 shows Canadians’ level of education from less than highschool diploma to university degree in three different age groups. It can be seen that the situation isimproving for the youngest age group but there is still room for improvement.

Figure 12: IALSS Levels in Canada

Source: The Big Picture, CLLN, 2012

Figure 14: Learning to Read, Reading to Learn (IALSS data)

Source: DataAngel, 2011

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The following lists (from IALSS) show the breakdown of information for Canadians at IALSS Levels 1and 2. People who are working at IALSS Levels 1 and 2 who are employed may find aspects of theirwork very challenging and could find themselves facing problems if the requirements of the job change.If they lose their jobs it takes them longer to find new jobs. Low literacy skills also have a negativeimpact on safety in the workplace, which in turn leads to increased health care costs.

Level 1

4 3.1 million adult Canadians are at this level (54% male, 46% female)

4 1.4 million are immigrants

4 60% are employed

4 12% are unemployed

4 28% are not actively seeking employment

4 50% have less than high school

4 30% finished high school

4 20% have post-secondary education

Level 2

4 5.8 million adult Canadians are at this level (52% male, 48% female)

4 1.2 million are immigrants

4 70% are employed

4 8% are unemployed

4 22% are not actively seeking employment

4 28% have less than high school

4 37% finished high school

4 35% have post-secondary education

Essential Skills levels correspond to IALSS levels.

Reading Proficiency

Figure 14 below highlights the fact that below a score of 250 on the IALSS scale, adults are still in theprocess of learning to read, in the sense that they have yet to master the mechanics of reading thatunderlie the emergence of fluid and automatic reading. Above a score of 250, adults are fluid andautomatic readers, a fact that frees up space for building meaning and higher order problem-solving.

Literacy enables people to ‘read the world’ by providing the tools for people to reflect and take actionbased on the information they have accessed. A population that embraces lifelong learning and isadaptable to change will enable Canada to better cope with economic and social challenges.


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Appendix 2:National Network Partners Baseline Survey: Practitioners

The Executive Directors of provincial and territorial literacy coalitions were asked to complete thissurvey in May 2012. CLLN analyzed the results to help guide its future directions.

What would you like to see happen to strengthen the position of practitioners?

Please circle the statements that you agree with:

I want to enhance perception and understanding about practitioners. 10

Together we could play a leadership role in bringing key stakeholders to the table. 9

There needs to be more consistency around practitioner training and PD. 8

Practitioners need more recognition and respect. 11

We need to have a road map of how to proceed with strengthening field. 10

Practitioners need opportunities to network and share. 12

Practitioners need more training opportunities. 11

We need to build a collective sense of professional pride among practitioners. 10

There should be standards for L/ES programs. 10

There should be NOC codes for L/ES workforce. 8

Other statements that you

think are key to

strengthening the position

of practitioners Please list

anything that wasn’t

included in the boxes

above:

• recognition of all direct delivery providers – both volunteerand paid instructors

• at our college they get no benefits – laid off 4 months of year – need some advocacy


210 Tutor Training Handbook, Toronto District School Board, 2010


Appendix 3:Profile of a Learner

Source: Toronto District School Board, Tutor Training Handbook212.

Adults with IALSS Level 1 and 2 skills may be:

4 people who didn’t get their grade 12 and graduate

4 older people who grew up in Canada at a time when it was much easier to get a skilled job with little education

4 people with physical disabilities, mental health issues and/or learning disabilities, people who never had the opportunity to attend school, or to attend school for very long

4 immigrants with limited literacy in their first language

4 people who haven’t been using their literacy skills as adults

In some other countries, education is too expensive for the majority of people.

A young person coming to Canada with very little schooling may be placed in a class appropriate to agelevel, but not to skill level. This person may become frustrated and drop out of school.

If an individual has a learning disability that was not addressed in school, she may feel frustrated anddrop out of school.

For some learners, their difficulty in school wasn’t related to actual learning difficulties, but to socialand/or family troubles, drug or alcohol abuse, mental or physical health problems, unsupportivelearning or home environments.

Poverty can have a negative effect on education as it can lead to hunger and this affects a person’sability to concentrate on learning. Poverty can also cause tension stress and result in frequent moves.

Peer pressure, drug and substance abuse, pregnancy or family problems may also cause children todrop out of school.

An individual may leave school at an early age because of the structure of the school system. Forexample, a residential school system may have presented a difficult learning environment for anAboriginal person.

An individual who was doing well in school, but left early for economic reasons, will have a differentexperience of school than someone who left out of frustration. Someone who enjoyed school, and is nowgetting the opportunity to return to learning, will approach the learning experience very differentlyfrom someone who associates learning with frustration and fear of failure. For example, someone whofelt humiliated in front of classmates for making mistakes in written work or in reading out loud will bevery wary of exposing herself to that kind of risk again.

Similarly, someone who never had the opportunity to attend school will approach learning differentlythan someone who didn’t do well in school.

Many people who have completed high school still have problems with reading and writing. Someindividuals who faced the problems in school may have developed coping strategies that enabled themto finish school while still feeling uncomfortable with their reading and writing. Their nervousness

about risk taking may be compounded by the fear of being “found out”. However, because they stayed inschool and were passed through with their age mates (social progression) they may have enjoyed thesocial aspects of school.

Individuals who completed secondary school (depending on place and era) in the “basic stream” maynot have developed strong reading and writing skills. They may have been placed in this stream becauseof developmental disabilities, undiagnosed learning disabilities, behavioural issues, or because theywere behind for any number of reasons. They may feel cheated by the school system and distrustful in alearning environment.

Learners may be:

4 frightened 4 facing financial issues

4 insecure 4 lacking in child care

4 isolated and/or depressed 4 having health issues

4 fearful of failure 4 lacking free time

4 inconsistent in their progress 4 stressed

While learners may be used to making decisions and having responsibility in other areas of their lives,they may be passive learners. This could be a result of previous negative experiences or because theyhave established fixed habits and patterns of thought related to education.

However, learners may also:

4 know what they want to learn

4 learn well, given encouragement and feedback

4 be enthusiastic and highly motivated

4 have good memories

4 be creative and adaptable

4 be continually growing

Reasons for Joining a Literacy Program

4 to cope with life changes

4 to become more independent

4 to get qualifications and go onto further training

4 to get a job

4 to be able to cope with changes to their job

4 to learn skills for a new job or promotion

4 to keep up with their children’s education

4 to help their children with homework

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210 The project is being managed by the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC), a non-profitorganization specializing in policy research. The project is funded by the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES), abranch of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

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Appendix 4:UPSKILL Essentials to Excel

UPSKILL Essentials to Excel is a pan-Canadian research and demonstration project that aims to fillthe knowledge gap by implementing a model of Essential Skills training based on best-practice andtesting it with the most rigorous research methods210. The study is utilizing a randomized control trial(RCT) to measure the impacts of Essential Skills training on workers, their job performance, andbusiness outcomes.

The project is being implemented through a pan-Canadian set of partners including the CanadianTourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) and their counterparts in the provinces of British Columbia,Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Department of Labour and Advanced Education is currently being engaged to coordinate delivery oftraining in the province of Nova Scotia. National and provincial literacy organizations – including theCanadian Learning and Literacy Network (CLLN) as well as Literacy Nova Scotia – are being consultedon the design, the recruitment and referral process, and engaged in an ongoing dialogue to help interpretthe research findings.

The study began in the spring of 2010 and will run for three years through March 2013. Nearly 100 firmshave been recruited in seven provinces, with over 1,200 workers participating, half of whom will receivetraining, while the other half serves as a control group in the study. The research strategy includes threemain components – an experimental evaluation of impacts, implementation research to explore deliverylessons and best practices, and a cost-benefit analysis to estimate returns on investments in EssentialSkills training by firms and government.

The program is offering employers a customized training solution for their frontline staff to help improveperformance on-the-job while providing professional growth for employees. By addressing underlyingEssential Skills needs of workers, the program aims to serve as a “bridge” towards higher levels ofperformance, which is critical for both business success and for professional growth of employees.Accommodations in the tourism industry, provides a suitable environment for a successfuldemonstration project and one that has broad applicability to other service sectors. Over a dozenfrontline occupations are represented in the project including a number in retail sales, food services,clerical and administrative positions.

Employers will be provided with an organizational needs analysis to determine if any performance gapsexist and how they may relate to underlying Essential Skills training needs of their frontline staff. Thisprocess will ensure that the training solution will be well aligned with the business needs of theorganization. The training curriculum will be tailored to the specific jobs and needs of employees isprofessionally designed by recognized leaders in workplace education and in their establishment. Theprogram is being delivered in partnership with several recognized leaders in Essential Skills training,including SkillPlan, the Training Group at Douglas College, and Workplace Education Manitoba.

The program will provide up to 40 hours of training, over a three-month period, for about 20 employeesper firm, at no charge. The participation of all employees in the program will be voluntary. It will bedelivered during work hours using a blend of group sessions, one-on-one instruction, and self-pacedlearning. In addition to paying for the development and delivery oftraining, the program will also payemployers for up to half of the required release time for their employees to participate in training. Aspart of the research, participants will engage in assessments that can provide partial credit foroccupational certification offered by national and provincial sector councils, which can provide furtheropportunities for professional growth.

The results of this research will be very important in informing the future of workplace Literacy andEssential Skills programs

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