National Adult Literacy Database

Even for those who are not out of work, learning new skills or brushing up old ones is always beneficial. Several experts said classes that offer certifications are particularly helpful.

Seven short videos from the former Adult Learning Knowledge Centre website illustrate the power of adult learning. Each provides a story on how adult learning has positively affected communities, individual learners and professional/community-based organizations.

The new executive director of AlphaPlus is enthusiastic about the integration of technology in the information management process, and is looking forward to applying his extensive experience and skills to AlphaPlus and the adult literacy sector.

“We cannot hope to have a skilled workforce and a strong economy when 43 per cent of the population does not have basic literacy and essential skills,” said Lindsay Kennedy, president and CEO of CLLN. “Skills development is a vital part of Canada’s economic strength and a national literacy and essential skills strategy must be the foundation for a productive workforce.”

In the just-released The Great Employee Handbook: Making Work and Life Better, author Quint Studer makes clear that high-level leaders value certain skills in the people who work for them - and those skills may not be what you'd expect.

"The ITW resource kit will be of huge help in terms of navigating the processes with hiring international workers," says Lynn Meloney, Project Chair and HR Specialist at Emera Utility Services. "With so much growth in this industry it is important to reach out to skilled workers all over the world. This kit is a resource for both industry and workers as well and contains a collection of tried and tested ideas and resources from industry across Canada."

Adult learning in Canada and around the world since the Second World War owes a great deal to a handful of Canadians who continue to provide leadership today. Although adult education has been practised in Canada since the early 19th century, it wasn’t until after the war that it developed its own formal field of study.

"Over the past decade, BDC's E-Spirit competition has tapped into the entrepreneurial spirit of Aboriginal students and equipped them with the tools and resources needed to develop a business," said Wilson Neapew, national director, Aboriginal Banking Unit, at BDC. "Whether it's to develop solutions that benefit their local communities or even consider a business degree for the first time, students who participate in E-Spirit will always benefit from this new set of entrepreneurial skills."

As labour minister, Lisa Raitt is responsible for upholding the Labour Code in federally regulated workplaces in regard to industrial relations, health and safety, labour standards, and the Employment Equity Act. "Each and every one of us has a role to play in creating workplaces where diversity and special needs are accommodated and respected.”

Over the coming two decades people are likely to stay in the workforce much longer - by about five years - according to a report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In "Later Retirement: The Win-Win Solution," author Peter Hicks finds there will be a strong trend towards later retirement by baby boomers as a result of social and economic pressures, without any policy action by government to raise retirement levels.

The Government of Saskatchewan and the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) has announced the panelists who will lead the Joint Task Force on Improving Education and Employment Outcomes for First Nations and Métis people in Saskatchewan.

Questions about your five-year professional plan, your strengths and weaknesses and how you resolved a conflict with a co-worker are unlikely to be dashed from interviewers’ clipboards anytime soon, so it’s smart to come up with a safe answer.

Job seekers need strong communications skills to implement the recommended networking strategy involved with finding new work.

Lindsay Kennedy, president and CEO of CLLN, says, “We would like to ask you to join Canadian Literacy and Learning Network in celebrating adult learners during the week of March 24 to April 1, seek out and listen to adult learners across the country, and be part of the force of change that life-long learning can bring to Canada.”

Through the Government of Canada’s Skills and Partnership Fund, the Okanagan Training and Development Council is receiving more than $1.27 million for its Work Force Connects: Return to Work through Forestry Partnerships project.