Kurtis Kitagawa

The Faculty of Arts Employability Skills Initiative at the University of Alberta is raising awareness among professors, students, and employers of the vital role that employability skills play in getting and keeping a job.

The University of Guelph in Ontario is promoting the development of employability skills through its learner-centred strategy.

Guelph’s learner-centred strategy is based on four key concepts: self-reliant learning; the research-teaching link; skill development; and experiential learning.

The Work Keys® System developed by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges is an assessment tool that links generic skills to specific workplace situations.

In 1988, Syncrude partnered with Keyano College in Fort McMurray, Alberta, to launch Canada’s first workplace literacy program, Effective Reading in Context (ERIC). Since then, Syncrude has built on the success of its initial program with a variety of initiatives that promote lifelong learning.

The Personal Employment and Academic Competencies (PEAC) course offered by Bow Valley College in Alberta helps adult learners and at-risk youth strengthen the academic skills they need to succeed as students, and the personal employability skills they need to prepare for the world of work.

Effective Reading in Context (ERIC), Canada’s first workplace literacy program, was launched by Syncrude in 1988. The program was so successful that it is used throughout Alberta, and in parts of Africa.

Statistics Canada’s intensive six-week Survey Skills Development Course offers employees the opportunity to design and carry out an actual survey under real-life conditions and, in the process, to develop a range of both generic and job-specific skills.

The Southwest Regional School Board in Nova Scotia has established a School-to-Work Transition (SWT) project that partners education, business and the community to develop secondary school students’ employability skills.

A new program at British Columbia’s Simon Fraser University is using the great books tradition to allow adults to work part-time towards a Bachelor of General Studies degree in the liberal arts.

The Integrated Studies Program is a three-year program intended for mid-career employees who have completed half of a four-year degree, and who wish to finish their degree on a part-time basis.

The Workplace Learning Program (WLP) at BHP Billiton Diamonds’ remote Ekati mine site in the Northwest Territories helps to meet corporate production and safety needs, as well as the learning goals of individual workers.