ACCC Essential Skills
     
     
 
 

Project -

Canadian Colleges and Institutes and Workplace Essential Skills: Working with the Community

 

Project funded by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)
April 2009 to March 2011

Purpose of the project

This project targets the development of Essential Skills (ES) tools and practices to contribute to the development of Aboriginal people, immigrants and Francophones outside Quebec to meet the need for skilled workers. Tools will be created and tested in collaboration with industry participants.

The project will span a period of two years. ACCC is responsible for the management, follow-up and achievement of the project objectives. The services of an independent evaluator will be retained in order to establish an evaluation and follow-up plan.

Project activities

  1. Identify, with the support of a national advisory committee, six colleges / institutes as leader colleges according to their experience with the target populations and the businesses that hire them.

  2. Identify 20 other colleges / institutes that will collaborate with the six leader colleges to implement, adapt and utilize newly developed tools and practices.

  3. Establish partnerships with workplace organizations such as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Alliance of Sector Councils and/or the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, to enourage their participation in the project by facilitating access to their resources, delegating representatives or informing their members of achievements on a national scale.

  4. Develop, with the collaboration of ES experts and colleges / institutes, new tools and practices for any of the nine Essential Skills: reading text, document use, numeracy, writing, oral communication, working with others, thinking skills, computer use and continuous learning.

  5. Develop tools and practices to be made available to 150 colleges / institutes and to workplace organizations via the ACCC ES Web page.

  6. Hold a national forum on the development of ES for Aboriginal people, immigrants and Francophones outside Quebec, to be held in early 2011 in order to ensure follow-up on actions.

Expected results

  • Close to 2,000 current and potential workers will benefit from support activities for ES development;

  • Close to 125 businesses will be familiarized with the implementation of ES in the workplace;

  • The lessons learned from this project will be presented at the ACCC Annual Conference, which brings together close to 1,000 participants;

  • A best practices guide will be produced (3,000 copies) and distributed throughout the college and institute network, as well as to businesses hiring workers of identified target populations.

  • Project experiences and testimonials as well as recommended actions will be distributed.