Posted: February 7, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Nova Scotia's sector councils and government are starting a new partnership to more strongly support the province's industry with human resource strategies.
Posted: February 7, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
“Apprenticeships and occupational certifications have moved to the forefront of the economy in the Northwest Territories,” said Employment Minister Jackson Lafferty. “The 2012 theme Get With Apprenticeships is especially appropriate this year as the government works with industry and educational institutions to ensure the territory develops a work force ready to take advantage of job opportunities that result from emerging industries.”
Posted: February 7, 2012 |

Category: Learning
“Reading opens the door to lifelong learning,” said Nancy Allan, Manitoba's education minister. “Once a child becomes a reader, his or her life is vastly enriched. I Love to Read Month is the perfect time to develop the reading skills necessary for rewarding school and life experiences.”
Posted: February 7, 2012 |

Category: Learning
The three-year “Investissement-compétences” project is intended to support employees and companies that invest in employee training, much of which is expected to focus on continuing education-type programs.
Posted: February 7, 2012 |

Category: Learning
A group dedicated to promoting literacy in Newfoundland and Labrador is asking the provincial government why it has not released its plan for advancing adult literacy.
Posted: February 7, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
According to the results of Randstad's latest Global Workmonitor, surveying employees in 29 countries around the world, over half of Canadian employees expect to keep working beyond their official retirement age. Interestingly enough, nearly half of the respondents say they're happy about it.
Posted: February 7, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
"We are delighted with this recognition, which strengthens the Conference Board's ability to attract and retain the high-calibre talent who will enable our continued success," said Barb Hogberg, Executive Director, Human Resources. "Part of the Conference Board's mission is to create and share insights on organizational performance through our research and networks. This mission inherently raises the bar for our own HR practices."
Posted: February 7, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
"Mental health does not carry the stigma that it once did, but our research shows that that there is definite evidence of stigma in the workplace," says Paula Allen, VP Health Solutions & Practice Leader, Consulting, Morneau Shepell. "There are several important drivers for organizations to address this issue strategically, and with practical and meaningful steps. We are urging employers to get involved in the discussion regarding how."
Posted: February 7, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Research shows that employees who thrive – people who are highly energized, and aware of how to avoid burnout – are more effective than their counterparts. But what helps a person thrive, even in stressful workplaces?
Posted: February 7, 2012 |

Categories: Essential skills, Learning
The report examines the number of NALD Library documents, in both English and French, which are viewed and downloaded by visitors to the websites NALD and BDAA.
Posted: February 6, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Young people are still having a tough time finding work -- and if anything, their situation has worsened. At the same time, women aged 55 and over continue to land jobs. This group has seen the biggest percentage gains in job growth of any demographic group over the past year.
Posted: February 6, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
The first major fund-raising campaign by Canada's leading communications foundation has surpassed its goal. The Communications + Public Relations Foundation will use proceeds to conduct original research to establish the profile of today's public relations practitioners and determine the skills and aptitude that Canadian employers will be expecting from public relations professionals in the future.
Posted: February 3, 2012 |

Category: Learning
Financial help for Aboriginal students and extra assistance for those taking teacher training are key elements of a wide-ranging provincial plan to encourage more First Nations students to enrol in colleges and universities.
Posted: February 3, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
The Government of Canada has officially launched Canada Summer Jobs 2012, creating thousands of job opportunities for students.
Posted: February 3, 2012 |

Category: Learning
The National Film Board has debuted Paula Kaston’s documentary “Literacy and Life” in Toronto. The profiled adults have overcome many challenges on their journey including assimilating into a new country in Canada, overcoming stigmas from past educational experiences and embracing new learning styles despite perceived learning disabilities.
Posted: February 3, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Statistics Canada will use 2011 census results to shine a spotlight on gradual but profound shifts in this aging country – one where the elderly will soon outweigh children as a share of the population and there will be difficulty finding sufficient younger workers to replace those ready to retire.
Posted: February 3, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Employment was virtually unchanged in January, and the unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 7.6% as more people searched for work. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment rose by 129,000 (+0.7%), with most of the growth occurring in the first six months of this period.
Posted: February 2, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
With an unemployment rate in northern B.C. sitting at 11.5 per cent and layoffs looming at northern colleges, the B.C. government's vaunted BC Jobs Plan is failing northern communities, unions representing post-secondary workers say.
Posted: February 2, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
An AlphaPlus research paper titled "What is in a technology competency" details the development work undertaken to define a digital technology competency as an aid to stakeholders in adult literacy education and employment education. In reviewing how tasks apply to the digital technology competency, researchers discovered that many technology tasks had connections to other competencies.
Posted: February 2, 2012 |

Categories: Essential skills, Learning
Not all francophone minority communities carry the same weight or have the same institutional support. “On the Acadian peninsula of New Brunswick and in certain regions of Ontario, people can easily obtain services in French. They have institutional support whereas in British Columbia it takes people a long time to obtain services in French. It is important to make that distinction,” says Yvon Laberge, a member of the NALD Board of Directors.
Posted: February 1, 2012 |

Categories: Essential skills, Learning
Summer Institute 2012 will consolidate the learning from the last three years, examine several models of WLES that have been effective in specific contexts and ask how and why they worked, and why so few transfer well in other settings. Early registration is recommended.
Posted: February 1, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of chief financial officers (CFOs) interviewed for a new survey from Accountemps said an employee's sense of humour is important for fitting into the company's corporate culture.
Posted: February 1, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Randstad Canada, a leader for staffing, recruitment and HR Services, says it's important for job seekers to use the power of social media as a viable tool to find employment or advance their careers.
Posted: February 1, 2012 |

Category: Learning
According to a recent national survey reporting on nearly 10,000 Canadian classes, one in every six students has an identified learning exceptionality. In addition, more than one in 10 students in these classes have challenges understanding the school's language of instruction. The survey, conducted by the Canadian Teachers' Federation drew responses from nearly 3,800 teachers, the largest number obtained in a CTF online survey to date.
Posted: February 1, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
For young people today, it's more and more common to study multiple languages as many careers require not just one foreign language, but two or even more. Education First is responding to this trend by opening four new language schools across Europe and offering a special study program for accelerated multilingual learning.