Posted: January 4, 2013 |

Categories: Essential skills, Learning
The National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) is beginning a new year with an updated Vision, Mission and Values/Guiding Principles. NALD staff, under the direction of CEO Bill Stirling, started the renewal process with the NALD Board of Directors, including the CEO, adding the finishing touches and formalizing the new guidelines and the NALD Value Proposition at a recent board meeting.
Posted: August 21, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
According to a survey of 1,180 Ontario high school students in grades 10 and 11, commissioned by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, tomorrow's college and university students are decidedly job-focused today.
Posted: August 21, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
David Bednar, general manager of the CNE for the past 14 years, says the main change he’s seen in the hundreds of students he hires every year is that most kids today can’t seem to get earbuds out of their ears. “Take a young person today who’s never had a job and they literally don’t get it,” Bednar says. “They say, ‘I live my life on the phone, texting.’ They want to do that while they work.”
Posted: August 20, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
A new CIBC poll of Canadians in the heart of the baby boom (aged 50-59) shows that while retirement is just around the corner for many, they have come up short on their savings goals and plan to supplement their income by working in retirement.
We invite you to send us information about events you may be hosting in your community or projects you may be working on to mark the occasion on or around September 8, 2012.
Posted: August 20, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
As September fast approaches, so does the shopping scramble to outfit university- and college-bound students with electronics and other back-to-school gear. How do you know which tools will actually make a difference in the classroom, or which will give you the most bang for your buck?
Posted: August 17, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Over the past decade social media have changed how individuals connect online and share information and how organizations interact with stakeholders and customers. Did you know that social media are now being incorporated into learning programs from Kindergarten right on up through adult education?
Posted: August 17, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
In the survey, nearly four out of 10 (39 per cent) workers interviewed said knowing their career path is very important to their overall job satisfaction. Nearly half (48 per cent) of respondents feel this feedback is at least somewhat important.
Posted: August 16, 2012 |

Categories: Essential skills, Learning
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) took some time to talk with its member, Essential Skills Ontario, about one of the most pressing challenges facing Ontario employers – skilled labour.
Posted: August 16, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Employment growth in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) is expected to strengthen rapidly through 2016, with the addition of about 12,000 new jobs as shipbuilding activity ramps up, according to a new report
Posted: August 14, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Just as candidates use new and creative methods to secure work, employers need to be pro-active when it comes to finding the people they need. This includes being aware of common pitfalls recruiting managers make and how to avoid them in your next recruitment and selection project.
Posted: August 13, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Following two months of little change, employment in July declined by 30,000, the result of losses in part-time work. The unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 7.3 per cent.
Posted: August 10, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
AlphaPlus’ most recent report, Incorporating Digital Technologies in Adult Basic Education: Concepts, Practices and Recommendations, explores how digital technology is changing what it means to be literate in today’s world. It also explores the impact digital technology has on teaching and learning in Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs.
Posted: August 9, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Social finance is an approach to investment or managing money that aims to deliver social and/or environmental benefits. Social finance models are being widely explored as potential new sources of funding to address social/environmental issues. Since these investments must produce both a social and a financial return, proponents assume that social finance approaches are more likely to generate innovative practices and better performance by funding recipients.
Posted: August 8, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
If you're a Canadian job seeker, the traditional means of finding a job are still the most commonly used. Canadians ranked online job boards and newspaper ads as the most common ways to find jobs, according to a survey conducted by ICMA International and sponsored by Randstad Canada.
Posted: August 7, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Sudbury's mining sector will soon be getting a sense of how many skilled workers are needed in the community, thanks to an upcoming study.
Posted: August 7, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
A new program designed by the Native Council of P.E.I. is helping people achieve success in education and fill jobs on P.E.I. in sectors where there are skill shortages. The SMART (Strengthening and Mentoring Aboriginal People for Realistic Training to Employment) program goes beyond the delivery of high school education, offering post-secondary training in areas where workers are needed on P.E.I.
Posted: August 7, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
The Canadian group will join 100 students from other APEC economies including the United States, Mexico, China, Russia and Japan. The Camp will include a Youth Forum; field visits to vocational colleges, enterprises and public training facilities; skills demonstrations among participants; and cultural tours.
Posted: August 3, 2012 |

Categories: Essential skills, Learning
Each month NALD releases Library user statistics in a feature known as the Top 20 downloads. The report examines the number of NALD Library documents which are viewed and downloaded by visitors to the NALD website.
Posted: August 2, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
"The financial support from the Government of Canada is paramount in promoting Aboriginal women into positions of authority and decision making," said Cheryl Maloney, president of the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association. "Often barriers prohibit Aboriginal women from getting positions within their fields of expertise, or opportunities are not fully explored."
Posted: August 1, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
The roundtable was an opportunity for Minister Lisa Raitt to hold open dialogues with key stakeholders and seek their input on a number of issues faced by women in the workplace. Discussion topics included employment equity, workplace violence, harassment, discrimination, recruitment and retention.
Posted: August 1, 2012 |

Categories: Essential skills, Learning
One organization that has been promoting literacy and learning among its members, for over a decade, is the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). CUPE released a new video earlier this year titled ‘Why is CUPE involved with literacy work?’
Posted: July 31, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
After nearly 20 years of operation, the Nunavut Implementation Training Committee (NITC) closed its doors for the last time in the spring. The organization provided scholarships, workshops, and employment training for Inuit in Nunavut.
Posted: July 31, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
An overwhelming majority of Canadians (94 per cent) believe that small businesses play a critical role in the growth of the economy and almost nine-in-10 (88 per cent) view them as vital job creators, according to an RBC/Ipsos Reid survey.
Posted: July 31, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
The Government of Canada is looking for volunteers. Try out an early version of the problem-solving and reasoning ability component of the new Public Service Entrance Exam this summer and get feedback on your performance!
Posted: July 30, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
In 2010/2011, the vast majority (90 per cent) of Canadian children aged 1 to 3 living outside Quebec had working mothers who took some type of leave following the birth of their child. On average, the leave lasted 44 weeks. About 26 per cent of these children had working fathers who took leave; their average leave was 2.4 weeks.
Posted: July 30, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Government figures show that Canada issued 34,185 temporary work permits to Americans last year, just shy of the record 35,060 handed out in 2010, and officials expect that number to keep growing.
Posted: July 30, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
The squeaky wheel may get the grease, but it can also set everyone’s teeth on edge. And in a business setting, chronic complainers do more than fray nerves – they can actually cause real harm to productivity, performance and profits, say business and workplace experts.
Posted: July 27, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Employees most likely to suffer burnout are those who feel trapped in their current jobs and have no prospects for alternative employment, says Alexandra Panaccio, assistant professor of management at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business. They’re aware that “if you lose the job, you lose all the resources that come with that job, such as salary and benefits.”
Posted: July 26, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
Educators now focus on how to teach students the 21st-century skills they'll need to thrive in college and to succeed in a very different type of workforce. Corporate leaders, university professors and others have worked to define and describe those skills, which include critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration and ethical leadership. What's striking is how closely these proficiencies mirror the lessons taught by athletics.
Posted: July 24, 2012 |

Category: Essential skills
The report explores skilled labour shortages in five trades in five Canadian provinces - Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador. CGA-Canada looked at the five largest trade groups: carpenters; automotive service technicians, truck and bus mechanics and mechanical repairers; welders and related machine operators; construction millwrights and industrial mechanics; and electricians.