Introduction
Pursuant to Section 31(1) of the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA),
Treasury Board, as employer, is responsible for establishing qualification
standards in relation to education, knowledge, experience, occupational
certification, language or other qualifications that the employer considers
necessary or desirable having regard to the nature of the work to be performed
and the present and future needs of the public service. The Public Service Human
Resources Management Agency of Canada (PSHRMAC) will develop and maintain these
standards on behalf of the employer.
For use in departments and agencies in the core public administration, the
Treasury Board has approved the adoption of:
- the Public Service Commission Group Specific Standards from the Standards
for Selection and Assessment as Section 2 of the Qualification
Standards – to be renamed the Occupational Group Qualification
Standards. Departments will continue to use these minimum standards when
determining the qualifications in an appointment process, and
- the Public Service Commission General Second Official Language
Qualifications and Qualifications Requiring Code P – to be renamed the Qualification
Standards in Relation to Official Languages.
The Occupational Group Qualification Standards (Section 2) outline the
minimum requirements to be used when staffing positions in the public service.
In addition to providing for a competent public service, these standards also
serve to ensure selection according to merit and the promotion of the staffing
values of non-partisanship, fairness, access and transparency.
The Qualification Standards in Relation to Official Languages (Section 3)
outline the different levels of official language proficiency required for
bilingual positions in the core public administration. They consist of standards
previously published in the PSC document “Determining the Linguistic Profile
for Bilingual Positions”.
The Organization of the Qualification Standards
The Qualification Standards comprise three sections:
- The first section provides an overview of the application of the Qualification
Standards and related information;
- The second section outlines conditions applicable to the Occupational
Group Qualification Standards and provides the actual minimum standards in
terms of education, occupational certification, etc. for most of the
pre-1999 occupational groups; and
- The third section outlines the different levels of official languages
proficiency qualifications required for making appointments to bilingual
positions in the core public administration.
Supporting the Qualification Standards are the Guidelines on
Establishing Qualifications which provide general information for deputy
heads when establishing qualifications to be used in appointment processes.
Traditionally, the PSC Group Specific Standards were organized by
occupational categories. However, these categories were repealed by the Public
Service Reform Act (PSRA) in April 1993 and are no longer in use.
In 1999, Treasury Board approved a streamlined occupational group structure,
which maintained the existing bargaining agent affiliation and amalgamated some
groups. Consequently, the Occupational Group Qualification Standards are
now organized by the occupational groups that were approved by the Treasury
Board in 1999 and further restructured in 2005.
The occupational group qualification standards for the pre-1999 occupational
groups are still in use, as are many of the classification standards. As PSHRMAC
develops and implements classification standards for the 1999 occupational
groups, corresponding qualification standards will also be developed.
Section 1: Overview
Section 2: Occupational
Group Qualification Standards
Section 3 - Qualification Standards in
Relation to Official Languages
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