Core Skills
Introduction
| Skills Common to All Literacy Practitioners | Literacy Skills by Sector | Emergent Skills for Literacy Practitioners |
Literacy practitioners in Ontario are an extremely skilled group. If you are visiting this website to learn more about the literacy field, then familiarizing yourself with the skills needed by adult literacy practitioners can be a good place to start. If you are a practitioner planning for your future professional development, starting with recognized skills can be a useful way to begin an assessment of your own skills inventory. This section will help anyone to better understand the adult literacy profession in Ontario by taking a closer look at the skills that are essential for literacy practitioners.
Skills Common to All Literacy Practitioners
The literacy field has done extensive research and reflection on the skills needed for effective literacy practice. By 1999 a series of projects were completed by the Ontario Literacy Coalition (OLC) and resulted in the Adult Literacy Educator Skills List, written by Mary Ellen Belfiore in collaboration with the OLC Task Force on Literacy Worker Recognition. The Adult Literacy Educator Skills List describes the knowledge and skills demonstrated and valued by the literacy profession. This OLC skills list was considered a foundational document that would provide the groundwork for further skills lists specific to particular literacy roles and contexts. It was developed to show what is reasonable and expected for an experienced literacy educator. The list also describes the fundamental knowledge and skills required for the many roles in adult literacy, including instruction, program coordination, assessment and evaluation, and practitioner training. (Source: Belfiore, Mary Ellen, Adult Literacy Educator Skills List, Ontario Literacy Coalition, 1999.)
