Understanding Essential Skills

Essential Skills are the skills needed for work, learning and life. They provide the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve within their jobs and adapt to workplace changes. Through extensive research, the Government of Canada and other national and international agencies have identified and validated nine Essential Skills. These skills are used in nearly every occupation and throughout daily life in various ways and at various levels of complexity.

The nine Essential Skills are:

• Reading Text

• Document Use

• Numeracy

• Writing

• Oral Communication

• Working with Others

• Continuous Learning

• Thinking Skills

• Computer Use

For more information, please click on any of the Essential Skills above.

Source: http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/workplaceskills/essential_skills/general/understanding_es.shtml