National Adult Literacy Database

Authors: Louise Brazeau-Ward

Collection: Research Materials

This document, written in clear language, offers a starting point for those who want to learn more about dyslexia. The author has included information on the causes and characteristics of dyslexia and describes the dyslexic way of learning.

The author outlines the kinds of accommodations that may be needed in course requirements and testing. The document also includes a sample request for accommodation and a form to be attached to the student’s work.

Added: 2012-03-27

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• La dyslexie et l'université

Authors: Bow Valley College

Collection: Research Materials

The goals of this study are to assess essential skills levels for Employment Benefits and Support Measures (EBSM) clients and to determine the role of essential skills in the delivery of EBSM.

The study involved 436 clients of employment assistance services in Ontario and British Columbia who completed a Test of Workplace Essential Skills (TOWES) and provided background information on themselves. Forty-eight service providers shared their perceptions through an online survey and 15 organizations participated in follow-up telephone interviews.

Among the key findings of the study, the authors note that participants demonstrate a significant skills deficit in document use; clients who are immigrants scored lower than EBSM clients born in Canada; most service providers feel there is a role for essential skills and TOWES in the delivery of EBSM; and clients who benefit most from TOWES are those with low essential skills scores and those interested in career exploration.

Key recommendations include doing further research; coordinating the integration of selective essential skills in EBSM; creating an inventory of resources and ideas currently available for essential-skills upgrading; and marketing essential skills to employers.

Funders:

Added: 2010-05-18

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Series: Essential Skills Videos - HRSDC

Authors: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)

Collection: Learning Materials

In this brief video, a woman describes how after years of working at three jobs to support her family, she improved her literacy skills and realized her dream of opening her own business.

She took part in a literacy skills upgrading program, funded by Human Resources and Social Development Canada’s Office of Literacy and Essential Skills and delivered by the PEI Literacy Alliance. The day before her 50th birthday, she received her Grade 12 certificate.

Now, she owns a licensed community care facility that employs 14 people in Prince Edward Island.

Added: 2012-12-18

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• Une entrepreneure couronnée de succès [Vidéo - 1:31]

Authors: Western Canada Workplace Essential Skills Training Network (WWestNet)

Collection: Research Materials

The focus of Essential Skills and the Northern Oil and Gas Workforce was on effective training with a particular emphasis on the role of essential skills enhancement in the development of the northern workforce. It was hoped that this conference would help to raise awareness of essential skills and provide a jumping off point for increased essential skills integration in education and workplace training programs.

Added: 2006-05-05

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Authors: Lee Torvi, Gary Johnston

Collection: Research Materials

This survey was carried to determine why workers affected by plant closures and layoffs in Ontario’s Renfrew County weren’t enrolling in programs offered by the area’s literacy and basic skills (LBS) agencies.

The survey showed that participants who have completed high school may still need further upgrading, especially if they are moving into other careers or seeking higher education; they are frustrated by the lack of coordinated services; and they are not aware that literacy and essential skills training are available, free of charge, in the community.

The authors have included the survey questions and a summary of responses.

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• Ontario Ministry of Education and Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

Added: 2010-08-24

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Series: Composite Learning Index

Authors: Canadian Council on Learning (CCL)

Collection: Research Materials

According to Statistics Canada, the proportion of working-age Canadians with a university education increased steadily between 1993 and 2009. In 1993, 18 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 64 had received a university certificate, diploma, bachelor’s degree or graduate degree; by 2009, that proportion had jumped to 28 per cent.

The authors of this document point out that during the same time period, university attainment rates for women rose more than the rate for men. In 1993, only 16 per cent of women in Canada had completed a university education, compared with 20 per cent of men. By 2009, Canadian women had passed men in this regard, with 29 per cent having attained some form of university education, compared to 27 per cent of men.

According to a 2008 study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada placed second on an international list of countries comparing overall post-secondary attainment.

The authors note that research clearly shows the social and economic benefits of higher educational attainment for individual Canadians, the communities they live in, and the country as a whole.

Added: 2011-12-02

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• Feuillet d'information - Apprendre à savoir : Études universitaires

Women's Education des femmes, Sept. 1989 - Vol. 7, No. 3

Series: Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women (CCLOW)

Authors: Cynthia Creelman Hill

Collection: Research Materials

The introduction of the Federal Contractors Program in 1986 was to be a means of bringing equity to women working or wishing to work as faculty and staff in a number of Canadian universities and colleges. In this article, the author discusses this program and suggests changes that could make the program more effective.

Added: 2004-07-28

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CLLN Responds

Authors: Canadian Literacy and Learning Network (CLLN)

Collection: Research Materials

In November 2011, the Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation at the University of Toronto released a report calling for a revamped Employment Insurance (EI) system for Canada, with common eligibility standards and identical benefits. In this document, the Canadian Literacy and Learning Network (CLLN) responds to the recommendations contained in the Mowat Report.

CLLN believes that a robust EI system is vital in today’s economy to help unemployed workers as they make the transition to new jobs. Such an EI system should include strengthened literacy and Essential Skills (ES) training.

The Mowat Report does mention the need for a pan-Canadian human capital strategy. However, says CLLN, the final report doesn’t really address this issue, except to say that provinces and territories are in a better position than the federal government to understand and deal with their own labour market training needs.

The authors of this document go on to say that it is unclear how a pan-Canadian human capital strategy is possible within the context of a reduced federal role.

Added: 2012-05-28

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Authors: Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

Collection: Research Materials

The National Strategy on Inuit Education is the result of an initiative launched in 2006. At that time, data suggested that about 75 per cent of Inuit children were not completing high school, and many who did graduate found that their skills and knowledge didn’t compare to those of their non-Aboriginal counterparts.

The national strategy sets out a number of core investments in Inuit education intended to achieve three broad goals: offering support to children to help them stay in school; providing a bilingual curriculum to achieve literacy in the Inuit language and at least one of Canada’s official languages, and learning resources that are relevant to the Inuit culture, history and worldview; and increasing the number of education leaders and bilingual educators in schools and early childhood programs.

In addition to these three broad goals, the strategy includes recommendations to address several other issues in Inuit education. These include developing a standardized writing system for the Inuit language; establishing a university that focuses on Inuit studies; and setting up a national research and performance monitoring body.

The authors of the national strategy also recommend the creation of an Inuit education secretariat advised by the National Committee on Inuit Education.

Added: 2011-09-23

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• Les Premiers Canadiens, Canadiens en Premiers : Stratégie nationale sur la scolarisation des Inuits

Authors: Dr. John Benseman, Robert Tobias

Collection: Research Materials

This study has sought to map the impacts that two adult literacy programmes in New Zealand have had on their participants. In recognition of the fact that change achieved by education does not always happen immediately, the study has focussed on the experiences of students who have been out of the programme for some time. Its value lies in its demonstration of the diversity of impacts over the longer term.

Added: 2006-05-30

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