The Story of the Essential Skills and Workplace Literacy Initiative

In the early 1990's literacy researchers noticed that certain skills are important to people in virtually all occupations and facets of life. They called these Essential Skills.

This research identified nine Essential Skills:

• Reading Text
• Document Use
• Numeracy
• Writing
• Oral Communication
• Working with Others
• Continuous Learning
• Thinking Skills
• Computer Use

These skills are used in virtually every occupation in Canada, in different forms and at different levels of complexity.

To better understand the importance and relevance of Essential Skills, particularly how they relate to different occupations, the Government of Canada launched a national research study—the Essential Skills Research Project in 1994. Working within this project, the researchers created occupational profiles for nearly 200 different occupations. Each of these occupational profiles shows how each of the nine Essential Skills are used in a specific occupation and at what complexity levels. This research is the basis for the Essential Skills Profiles presented on this site.

The Essential Skills Research Project focused on occupations requiring a secondary school diploma or less and on-the-job training. These occupations were identified using the National Occupational Classification.

The research also provided the opportunity to begin collecting authentic workplace materials (forms, charts, tables, etc.), resulting in the sample of Authentic Workplace Materials also presented on this site.

The Essential Skills and Workplace Literacy Initiative builds on the research work conducted so far. The Initiative was launched on April 1, 2003 and involves Human Resources Partnerships and the National Literacy Secretariat. Its goal is to enhance the skill levels of Canadians who are entering-or are already in-the workforce. The Initiative addresses this by seeking to increase awareness and understanding of Essential Skills, supporting the development of tools and applications, building on existing research, and working with other Government of Canada programs.

The ES&WL Initiative is composed of four areas of activity: Outreach, Synergy, Applications and Research.

Outreach

Outreach helps to build a national understanding of the importance of Essential Skills. Fact sheets, promotional items, a brochure, and a resource guide have recently been produced to raise awareness of Essential Skills. A newsletter is also being developed in order to provide up to date information to our partners.

Outreach is also building new partnerships by delivering presentations on Essential Skills to various stakeholders. If you are interested in receiving promotional material or having a presentation at a skills—related event, please contact us.

Synergy

Synergy builds partnerships within Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and other government departments and agencies to support the integration of Essential Skills into other areas of programming. Current external partners include Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Correctional Service Canada.

Are you a program area within the Government of Canada and want more information on how Essential Skills could benefit your clients? Contact the Synergy stream.

Research

Research provides the foundation for the development of Essential Skills resources. Essential Skills occupational profiles and the collection of Authentic Workplace Materials explain how people use Essential Skills in various occupations. Work is well underway to complete Essential Skills occupational profiles for all A and B level occupations of the National Occupational Classification.

Research also builds partnerships with organizations like the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Statistics Canada. Current research related to Essential Skills includes return on training investment, the best method of developing new assessment tools and how Essential Skills are transferable between workplaces.

Are you interested in learning more about methodology, studies and current research papers on Essential Skills? Contact the Research stream.

Applications

Applications supports the development of tools to help Canadians enhance their skill levels. To learn how Essential Skills are used in some concrete applications in the workplace, please visit the tools and applications section.

For information on funding of Essential Skills application projects, please visit the Grants and Funding Program section of the National Literacy Secretariat's Web site.