Research

To research practitioner development as it has been delivered across Canada in recent years, in-person interviews were conducted with administrators and planners directly involved with Workplace Education. In addition, research into other organizations offering practitioner training was conducted on the Internet. In all, over 35 people (representing each province and territory) were asked to describe local and/or regional practitioner development opportunities.

The primary focus was on structured training designed specifically for Workplace Education practitioners. This means that although Workplace Education issues may also be addressed in training programs offered for other educators and professionals (eg. high school teachers, HR personnel, community literacy teachers, etc), these could not be included in detail in this report. Similarly, a number of informal professional development options were identified in the interviews, but could not be discussed in detail. They are listed in brief in "Other Professional Development Opportunities".

Overview of Findings

Audience: Professional development generally addresses one or both of the following groups of Workplace Education practitioners:

• adult educators working in related fields and interested in joining Workplace Education;
• adult educators with experience in the planning, delivery and/or evaluation of Workplace Essential Skills;

A few programs have been designed for employees and labour activists/ educators who will be taking on peer instructor responsibilities. A few programs were also delivered for planners and field officers whose main responsibility was for marketing, organizing and monitoring Workplace Education programs.