This document describes a project designed to examine and test the effectiveness of workforce training models that integrate both job-specific skills and Literacy and Essential Skills (LES) in the food-processing industry. The goal is to create a clearer sightline between those who want to work and the employer who needs workers with specific skill sets.
This brief document offers an overview of the concept of career ladders, a means of enabling low-skilled, low-income workers to enter and ascend up a career pathway in a given industry or occupation on their own time.
This document summarizes the Canadian results of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) initiative that provides internationally comparable measures of literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments (PS-TRE). As well, it points to areas of concern those results suggest.
Becoming State of the Art: Research Brief No.3, 2013
This research paper is the third in a series prepared by Essential Skills Ontario (ESO) to encourage innovation in the delivery of literacy and essential skills.
The paper introduces the concept of “career ladders,” an approach that helps those facing employment barriers, including low education levels, to participate more fully in the labour market.
The “career ladders” approach is designed to help those facing employment barriers, including low education levels, to participate more fully in the labour market. It is based on a series of connected literacy, language, and skills training programs that help individuals to find work within specific industries like retail and customer service, manufacturing, healthcare, and others.
Produced by Essential Skills Ontario (ESO), this brief video features ESO officials, along with representatives from both the public and private sector, discussing the ways that both jobs and skills have changed over the past 25 years.
One person points out that jobs once considered menial now require digital skills. For example, a maid in a hotel may have to use a handheld electronic device to report which rooms have been cleaned.
This webinar, presented by the manager of research and business development at Essential Skills Ontario (ESO), offers an opportunity for discussion of the research paper of the same name.
Even with improvements in the economy, people without high school diplomas are staying unemployed, he points out. This represents a long-term decline in job prospect for those with low educational attainment.
In June 2009, Essential Skills Ontario, then called the Ontario Literacy Coalition, published a document entitled “Literacy in Ontario.” This document updates the 2009 publication, incorporating the most recent information available on literacy and Essential Skills programming trend data.
The authors of this document argue that in an uncertain economic climate, Ontario’s local economies can endure by planning ahead, staying competitive, and adapting to change. Workforce planning boards and regional literacy networks can contribute a great deal to this effort.
Becoming State of the Art: Research Brief No.2, 2012
This research brief, prepared by Essential Skills Ontario (ESO), explores options for involving business and industry representatives in the design and delivery of Literacy and Essential Skills (LES) training to provide a clearer path to employment for adults who lack a high school diploma.
