National Adult Literacy Database

Workplace Education Manitoba (WEM) began in 1991 when the government of Manitoba issued a report uncovering the critical need for the province to address workplace literacy as a means of economic growth.  Leaders in labour and business took notice too and representatives from all three sectors came together to form the Workplace Education Manitoba Steering Committee (WEMSC).

Twenty years later, with accessible online information, offices and coordinators that have created a network of projects across the province, WEM has become the touchstone for workplace learning and training.

When asked what has made WEM so incredibly successful, Sandi Howell, Manitoba’s Coordinator for Essential Skills, says “Everything is from a functional perspective.  We don’t just teach writing.  We ask, ‘What is the writing used for in the workplace?’ ”

It is this consistently workplace-relevant application of each essential skill that WEM finds “highly motivating for the learners,” she said.

WEM knows exactly what the employers and workers are looking for. Its partnership model takes a systemic approach that begins by asking: what are the specific needs of both employers and workers?

Lindsay Laidlaw, Special Projects Coordinator at WEM, says “Every part of the process is not only customized but is guided by an essential skills framework where the end goal is to support workers in becoming more effective, efficient and adaptable.”

The model is an ongoing process of awareness and application with partners, with Lindsay quick to point out that the learning is never truly over, that essential skills never fall out of vogue, and that the need for skilled workers never goes away.

So what does success look like over the next 20 years?

WEM Communications Coordinator Jonathan Cote says “The moment when employers and employees begin to see everything through an essential skills lens, when their mental model has changed, this is when they begin to perpetuate it and tell others about it.” In essence, success is when the work speaks for itself, he said.

For more information visit the WEM website.

Source:  The Essential Skills Bulletin produced by the Ontario Literacy Coalition