Appendix A:
Some Basic Tools and Resources

Essential Skills Profiles

Profiles explain how workers in an occupation group use each essential skill. A profile describes the occupation and provides sample tasks, complexity ratings, future trends, physical aspects and attitudes needed. Stakeholders use the profiles to set training standards appropriate to particular occupation(s). www.hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca/essentialskills

In 1994, the Essential Skills Research Project (ESRP) identified measurable, transferable, teachable skills present in all occupations. The project identified nine essential skills: reading text, document use, writing, numeracy, oral communication, thinking skills, working with others, computer use and continuous learning.

Test of Workplace Essential Skills (TOWES)

Bow Valley College and SkillPlan – BC Industry Skills Improvement Council. Tests three essential skills: reading, document use and numeracy. TOWES uses authentic workplace documents to recreate tasks as source items for the test. The measure-up is a free self-assessment component of the web site
www.towes.com

ES Learning Tool

This is an interactive, web-based tool. It uses authentic workplace materials to give users a firsthand sense of the various essential skills and their complexity levels. It demonstrates differences between each level of the nine skills.
http://srv108.services.gc.ca/english/general/learning_tool_e.shtml

Applications of Working and Learning (AWAL) Innovations

Educators develop classroom activities that link curricula to the world of work using the lens of essential skills. AWAL brings the workplace to the classroom and students go to the workplace.
www.awal.ca

Business Results Through Literacy

CME’s guide to workplace literacy training includes workshop materials for needs assessment, business case development and program implementation.
www.cme-mec.ca/on/documents/Literacy_Guide_CD.pdf