National Adult Literacy Database

Through a nine-month project, Literacy Link South Central talked to young single males on Ontario Works to find out about their interests and activities, especially as they relate to technology. This research informed the content of a set of four modules (with accompanying practitioner overviews that speak to the Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework (OALCF) and a general introduction guide).

Working together, Ontario’s training system can achieve better employment and career advancement results for lower-skilled adults who are either on income support or are in low-wage jobs. By looking to the promising work being done in other jurisdictions, developing career ladders in Ontario could provide adults with concrete steps towards better skills and better jobs, contributing to a more productive, prosperous economy.

Literacy and lifelong learning are important tools that give Canadians the skills necessary to understand how to read, communicate with others and engage fully and confidently in all areas of life. One of the goals of Adult Learners’ Week is to promote and facilitate easier access to these opportunities.

Canada's system of education and skills remains one of the best in the world, but it needs to do much better at matching what Canadians learn to evolving labour market needs. Canada ranks second only to Finland among 16 developed countries in The Conference Board of Canada's Education and Skills report card.

Northern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area will be hubs of construction activity over the next few years, drawing in workers from outside Ontario's regions to meet the growing demand for skilled trades. A newly released labour market forecast from the Construction Sector Council says requirements diverge across Ontario, depending on the timing and scale of major projects, but that overall, the industry may need to recruit about 40,000 workers from outside the province.

If you're aware of an exemplary or innovative technology product, project or service that benefits the field of adult literacy and essential skills in Canada, the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) would like to hear about it.

The Native Women's Resource Centre of Toronto (NWRCT) is hosting the Minaake Awards, Toronto's first Aboriginal Women and Youth Community Achievement Awards, on April 10, 2013. NWRCT is an award-winning charity that offers life-enhancing resources, cultural ceremonies and teachings, and skill development programs to Aboriginal women and their children.

CLO will be circulating 'Literacy: Why It Matters' to all Ontario MPs and MPPs, with an accompanying letter to explain the importance of the Labour Market Agreement to literacy programming.

Jan Chappel, Senior Technical Specialist at the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, will speak at two upcoming conferences, on the topics of workplace bullying, vulnerable workers and evaluating literature and research data.

The new Ontario government has created a new Northern cabinet committee that will address the complex needs of Northern Ontario, including job creation, revitalizing transportation infrastructure and improving vital access to the Ring of Fire. Premier Wynne and her team are also looking at ways to improve access to health care and education in the region.

Defined in the simplest terms, a spelling bee is a competition in which individuals are asked how to spell a variety of words. Yet to the people who organized and participated in a recent event at Blossom Park Educational Centre in Woodstock, Ontario, it was considerably more.

On March 6, Bay Street's sharpest minds will compete against one another to raise money for Frontier College, Canada's original literacy organization. Frontier College President Sherry Campbell is inspired by the continued growth of the Scrabble Corporate Challenge, now in its ninth year. "It's a wonderful reminder of the value that the corporate community places on literacy," she said.

Tens of thousands of truck drivers are approaching retirement age, but very few young people and immigrants are entering the industry. A new Conference Board of Canada report concludes that the gap between the supply of drivers and the demand for them - estimated at 25,000 by 2020 - could be costly to the Canadian economy.

As part of its ongoing skills initiative, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce has unveiled the findings of its Symposium on Skills and Small Business held in November. From the outset of the project, it has been clear Canada must upgrade the skills of its domestic workforce, including the essential skills that are critical for improved training outcomes and productivity growth.

The second issue of Essential Skills Ontario's 2013 Essential Skills Bulletin Series is now available for free download on its website. PIAAC: Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments and the Survey of Skills Used at Work is the second of two bulletins that cover the highly anticipated international survey of adult literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills.